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Shadows on the Wall

Shadows on the Wall is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Derek Malcolm, Rich Cline.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
4/5
Heavyweight (2025) Rich Cline The sheer machismo on display is perhaps a bit exhausting, but it's balanced by a terrific sense of underlying emotion.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
H Is for Hawk (2025) Rich Cline This is a warmly emotional film that avoids even a hint of sentimentality, capturing our interest with arresting imagery and resonant themes.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
The Rip (2026) Rich Cline There's enough going on beneath the beefy surface to hold the interest, although writer-director Joe Carnahan never bothers to meaningfully grapple with the central themes.
Posted Jan 17, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Kokuho (2025) Rich Cline It's a riveting look into the culture of a distinctive art form, with glorious on-stage performances and even more involving back-stage interaction. It's very long, but powerfully well-made.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Sound of Falling (2025) Rich Cline With sparse dialog, director Mascha Schilinski hones in on the characters' innate curiosity. And a subtle whiff of surrealism creates an almost overpoweringly mesmerising vibe.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
3.5/5
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) Rich Cline Gifted director Nia DaCosta infuses the film with intriguing soulfulness amid the flurries of gruesome nastiness.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
3.5/5
People We Meet on Vacation (2026) Rich Cline It's colourful and over-slick, but also funny and sweet.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Chronology of Water (2025) Rich Cline For her writing-directing debut, Kristen Stewart crafts an ambitiously artful adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir. It's an impressive approach to storytelling that stresses senses and feelings rather than details and plot.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Plague (2025) Rich Cline Writer-director Charlie Polinger reveals unnerving details in seemingly innocuous situations, leaning toward horror as he explores a particularly dark side of adolescence.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Marty Supreme (2025) Rich Cline Shot in period style with grainy 35mm imagery and earthy sets and costumes, the film races through its narrative by the seat of its pants, matching the energy of the central character.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Song Sung Blue (2025) Rich Cline Writer-director Craig Brewer and the gifted cast adeptly navigate this narrative with insightful storytelling and complex characters, and it does get seriously wrenching.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Father Mother Sister Brother (2025) Rich Cline Writer-director Jim Jarmusch is particularly skilled at capturing the offhanded rhythms of human interaction, especially when things get rather awkward.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) Rich Cline To recount the life of the founder of the Shakers, filmmaker Mona Fastvold boldly embraces period-style music and apocryphal anecdotes, crafting a heady epic that is eerily mesmerising and often engulfing.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Vile (2025) Rich Cline With stunningly dark-hued 16mm cinematography, director-cowriter Majid Al Ansari inventively evokes an unnerving atmosphere, deploying cinematic flourishes involving sound and light without the usual cheap tricks.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) Rich Cline It's a hauntingly current film that walks a very fine tightrope between exploiting victims of a tragedy and calling attention to a complex, horrific situation.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Housemaid (2025) Rich Cline This a silly, super-slick film that takes several severe turns along the way, giving the audience whiplash as we try to keep up with these people and their dark secrets.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025) Rich Cline The plot is so pointless that it's barely worth pondering, but the ridiculous characters will connect to the 10-year-old inside us all. The key is to avoid trying to make sense of it.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Is This Thing On? (2025) Rich Cline Scenes feel improvised on the spot, and there's never a false note. The actors clearly relish playing unusually complex and likeable people who are simply trying to do the best they can.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Rich Cline James Cameron reveals stunning advances in performance-capture technology, as terrific details bring the characters to life. But aside from a few personal journeys, the plot never feels like it goes somewhere new.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Preparation for the Next Life (2025) Rich Cline Director Bing Liu, writer Martyna Majok and the gifted actors create a lovely sense that these characters are heading somewhere unknown.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
My Father's Shadow (2025) Rich Cline It's a warm, involving odyssey that's so authentic that it almost feels like a collection of home movies.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Sirāt (2025) Rich Cline Creating a loose but vividly driving narrative, director Oliver Laxe fills the screen with stunningly tactile details that continually take us aback with unusual beauty and deeper meaning.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Scarlet (2025) Rich Cline The imagery is often spectacular, rendered with a cinematic sensibility that continually takes us aback with unusual details.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (2025) Rich Cline Even if the narrative sometimes feels a little too pointed, this movie is utterly gorgeous to look at, and warmly moving too.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Ella McCay (2025) Rich Cline While it's talky and perhaps overly screwball, the extended family dynamics create a fizzy tone that's both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Goodbye June (2025) Rich Cline It's a rare film that balances the earthiness of real life with the powerful impact of death. And while it's certainly sad, it's remarkably uplifting too.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Eleanor the Great (2025) Rich Cline Warmly observant, this witty drama is beautifully anchored in another superbly sparky performance by the great June Squibb.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Dead Man's Wire (2025) Rich Cline Filling the screen with clever period touches, director Gus Van Sant never pushes the punchy themes, grounding the story in a specific time and place that gurgles with unnerving present-day parallels.
Posted Dec 09, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Merrily We Roll Along (2025) Rich Cline It's a beautiful show, and the clever use of intimate cinematography brings out the emotional power in the performances.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Oh. What. Fun. (2025) Rich Cline It's never terribly original, but there's a lot of fun to be had with this enjoyably messy family.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
A Private Life (2025) Rich Cline Director Rebecca Zlotowski and cowriter Anne Berest pack the narrative with twists and turns that keep us guessing about the truth.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Magazine Dreams (2023) Rich Cline Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw's cameras prowl across Majors' skin as the actor and gifted writer-director Elijah Bynum create a remarkable portrait of a gentle giant whose obsession begins to take a nasty toll.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Folktales (2025) Rich Cline It's a remarkable look at people who care about helping young people find inner strength to face what the world has in store.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Cover-Up (2025) Rich Cline Expertly assembled from an impressive range of archival photos and footage, this documentary explores government secrecy through the eyes of an acclaimed journalist who has exposed buried stories for more than 50 years.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Secret Agent (2025) Rich Cline With a riveting plot that snakes through an epic running time, this expertly crafted Brazilian film combines comedy, drama and thrills in ways that continually catch us by surprise.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The President's Cake (2025) Rich Cline A fascinating slice of life from rural Iraq, this warmly involving drama pulls us in with its vivid characters as they navigate a series of tricky situations.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Magellan (2025) Rich Cline It may be somewhat dour, but this is a haunting, magnificent film.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) Rich Cline Bracingly shifting directions, Rian Johnson deepens and sharply focusses the underlying themes in this third whodunit for Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Zootopia 2 (2025) Rich Cline The corny plot is unnecessarily overcomplicated and the pace feels rather frantic, but writer-codirector Jared Bush remembers to keep us laughing.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Hamnet (2025) Rich Cline The film reverberates with its own natural rhythms, drawing us into the 16th century story of a young couple struggling with the issues of their day.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Eternity (2025) Rich Cline While director David Freyne and writer Patrick Cunnane lean into the goofier side of the fantastical premise, there are intriguingly serious things going on under the surface.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Cielo (2025) Rich Cline With vibrant colours, writer-director Alberto Sciamma infuses this fable with offbeat magical realism, pulling us into an odyssey that is packed with moments that are touching, provocative and wonderfully funny.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Old Woman with the Knife (2025) Rich Cline The action and drama are sharply directed by Min Kyu-dong and played with plenty of emotional spark.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
300letters (2025) Rich Cline There's a cheeky vibe to this comedy from Argentina, which inventively traces the arc of a relationship both in the present and in retrospect.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Nino (2025) Rich Cline Writer-director Pauline Loques assembles the film as a weekend odyssey that knowingly grapples with issues of grief, identity, mortality and connection without ever becoming either pushy or sentimental.
Posted Nov 23, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
No Other Choice (2025) Rich Cline Filmmaker Park Chan-wook uses his usual bravura style to bring the people and situations to vivid life while making pointed comments on modern culture.
Posted Nov 23, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Sauna (2025) Rich Cline The storytelling is a little uneven and elusive, going through a few stretches that are rather mopey, but the documentary-style realism continually surprises us with knowing details and subtle insights.
Posted Nov 23, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) Rich Cline Remarkably simple and outrageous, this is another entertaining guilty pleasure.
Posted Nov 23, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Left-Handed Girl (2025) Rich Cline It's a funny, surprising and thoroughly entertaining film.
Posted Nov 23, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Wicked: For Good (2025) Rich Cline This is a gripping dramatic epic that features a compelling depiction of friendship and an intriguing exploration of the good and evil inside all of us. And the heavier narrative offers strongly haunting moments as the big finale approaches.
Posted Nov 23, 2025  Edit critic review
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