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Bright Lights Film Journal

Bright Lights Film Journal is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Dan Callahan, Matthew Sorrento.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
9/10
Meek's Cutoff (2010) Matthew Sorrento Of Time and Place: An Interview with John Raymond on Meek's Cutoff
Posted May 08, 2011  Edit critic review
8.5/10
Cronos (1993) Matthew Sorrento The truly child-bound perspectives of The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are still to come, though Aurora has flights of del Torian wonder.
Posted Dec 07, 2010  Edit critic review
9/10
Modus Operandi (2009) Matthew Sorrento "Loving the Bad: An Interview with Frankie Latina and Sasha Grey on Modus Operandi"
Posted Nov 28, 2010  Edit critic review
9/10
Kawasaki's Rose (2009) Matthew Sorrento Rose cleverly uses its contemporary fictional narrative to depict documentary filmmaking's process of revealing truth.
Posted Nov 24, 2010  Edit critic review
6.5/10
Machine Gun McCain (1969) Matthew Sorrento [A] minor, worthy entry [...] Cassavetes, like Gene Hackman, had access to a reserve of energy.
Posted Nov 16, 2010  Edit critic review
7/10
For Colored Girls (2010) Matthew Sorrento [Perry] pulls off disturbing moments by finding conviction and vulnerability in his performers.
Posted Nov 06, 2010  Edit critic review
8.5/10
The Social Network (2010) Matthew Sorrento [Network's rise and fall] relates to the classic gangster film narrative ... More directly, [the film] positions itself as a new Citizen Kane, with its protagonist reaching the heights of a communication empire.
Posted Oct 02, 2010  Edit critic review
7/10
Catfish (2010) Matthew Sorrento The final narrative movement ... lets the early part of the film rest as the weaker premise that it is.
Posted Sep 24, 2010  Edit critic review
8/10
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (2009) Matthew Sorrento The Coens' Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) is cold blooded, but to see the new hitman's method of silent murder will unveil the real noirish heart of darkness.
Posted Sep 17, 2010  Edit critic review
6/10
Eat Pray Love (2010) Matthew Sorrento Rodney [Dangerfield] may have cracked about "praying after you eat," but this film reflects the need to surfeit before finding balance.
Posted Aug 13, 2010  Edit critic review
2/10
Inception (2010) Matthew Sorrento (S)tories should show, not tell, and Nolan keeps telling us that he can't tell this story.
Posted Jul 15, 2010  Edit critic review
6/10
The Last Airbender (2010) Matthew Sorrento Fantasy works best off linear narrative clarity, while many scene transitions whirl like air in the hands of Aang. Yet, Night ignites the separate moments with visual magic worthy of his mythology.
Posted Jul 02, 2010  Edit critic review
9/10
Mystery Train (1989) Matthew Sorrento (O)nce it plants itself within, it remains a vivid cultural memory.
Posted Jun 22, 2010  Edit critic review
2/10
Jonah Hex (2010) Matthew Sorrento The filmmakers try to squeeze action from their trampling of a genre.
Posted Jun 17, 2010  Edit critic review
10/10
Metropolis (1927) Matthew Sorrento The new release of Metropolis, fully restored to just shy of Fritz Lang's original vision, is an example of the grandest telepathy: what was thought to be lost forever.
Posted Jun 12, 2010  Edit critic review
8/10
Bluebeard (2009) Matthew Sorrento [S]omething very different and, as usual for the filmmaker, very fresh.
Posted Jun 02, 2010  Edit critic review
7/10
Two in the Wave (2009) Matthew Sorrento A tribute that also serves as an introduction ... For those of us already in the know, the film plays like a passionate return to a great conversation.
Posted May 20, 2010  Edit critic review
7/10
Babies (2010) Matthew Sorrento Babies is one of the most human fly-on-the-wall docs I've ever come across.
Posted May 11, 2010  Edit critic review
9/10
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) Matthew Sorrento Here comes a rich smell drawn from a load of bullsh-t.
Posted Apr 19, 2010  Edit critic review
3/5
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) Matthew Sorrento Cusack seem(s) like a casting error [in this hilarious comedy], a cameo miscast into a lead.
Posted Mar 30, 2010  Edit critic review
5/10
The Runaways (2010) Matthew Sorrento After all this, we can't help but ask, why Cherie, anyway? ... Shine on, Joan.
Posted Mar 19, 2010  Edit critic review
9/10
Revanche (2008) Matthew Sorrento The film's first half uses a restrained style to build interest, while the latter, as clever in its construction as it is human, elevates the characters of this potential potboiler.
Posted Mar 09, 2010  Edit critic review
10/10
I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932) Matthew Sorrento The film suggests the denial of the common worker, whose service to industry is only as worthy as his social status.
Posted Feb 02, 2010  Edit critic review
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) Dan Callahan It is obviously the film of a master and certainly feels like a swan song.
Posted Nov 25, 2008  Edit critic review
4/10
Hairspray (2007) Matthew Sorrento Even if the new Hairspray seems a welcome return to camp for Travolta, his mock seriousness is as frozen as ever.
Posted Jul 10, 2008  Edit critic review
Blast of Silence (1961) Tom Sutpen A model thriller and character study, it takes us step by step through Frankie Bono's process in setting up his prey for the eventual kill.
Posted May 12, 2005  Edit critic review
A Damsel in Distress (1937) Alan Vanneman George and Ira Gershwin probably turned out more first-rate popular songs than any of their competitors, including Irving Berlin.
Posted Mar 31, 2002  Edit critic review
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Robert Castle Fantasy as escape and entertainment is one thing, but one wonders whether Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is just fantasy-as-denial.
Posted Dec 09, 2001  Edit critic review
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) Gary Mark Morris Enthralling good company.
Posted Jan 01, 2000  Edit critic review
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