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J. Don Birnam

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

I am a lifelong fan of all forms of cinema from historical epics to classics from the 1940s through the 1970s. I am a voting member of the New York Film Critics Online group and of the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association. I love attending film festivals over the world, travelling, and I sometimes moonlight as a lawyer. I am a fan of international and LGBT films. I was born and raised mostly in Mexico.

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Reviews

Movies 온라인카지노추천 Shows
Never Let Go (2024) 57% 7/10 “It may not keep you guessing, but it will keep you anxious and edgy for a good 100 minutes.” – Next Best Picture Sep 17, 2024 Full Review Sharp Corner (2024) 92% 5/10 ““Sharp Corner“ has an intriguing and admittedly creepy premise. Its execution, too, is effective, but the big swing ultimately yields nothing of true value.” – Next Best Picture Sep 10, 2024 Full Review The Penguin Lessons (2024) 78% 7/10 “It is not a literal masterpiece like the poems of Lord Byron that Tom teaches. Rather, a family-friendly tearjerker, like so many animal films with facile lessons, is all it is and aspires to be like so many before.” – Next Best Picture Sep 10, 2024 Full Review Without Blood (2024) 31% B- “There are plenty of reasons to watch Without Blood, principal among them the expert performances by Hayek and Bichir, two of Mexico’s most experienced and renowned actors.” – AwardsWatch Sep 9, 2024 Full Review Nightbitch (2024) 59% B “eller and Adams are content to reduce Nightbitch into a far more familiar, if still slightly edgy dramedy. A modern combination of Bad Moms with Kramer v. Kramer, with a series of dead animals on the porch and some serious growling mixed in between.” – AwardsWatch Sep 8, 2024 Full Review We Live in Time (2024) 79% C “Given the stacking of cliché upon cliché, it is also hardly surprising that the script makes little attempt to give these characters any originality, or any real conflict among them (beyond the obvious problem set out at the beginning).” – AwardsWatch Sep 7, 2024 Full Review Presence (2024) 88% B “There will not be a single jump scare, not a single beheading or special effect of blood gushing. Indeed, Presence hardly involves death at all. The end result is, magically, still terrifying.” – AwardsWatch Sep 6, 2024 Full Review Emilia Pérez (2024) 71% A “By the time Emilia Pérez is over, you will have seen an exacting analysis of modern Mexican society, and a thoughtful study about the search for and the affirmation of identity.” – AwardsWatch Sep 3, 2024 Full Review Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (2024) B+ “By the end of its two-hour runtime, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight leaves a lasting mark.” – AwardsWatch Sep 3, 2024 Full Review The Friend (2024) 84% 7/10 ““The Friend” does indeed differentiate itself from most of the “dog movies” of yore you have seen, making it worth the price of admission.” – Next Best Picture Sep 3, 2024 Full Review Nickel Boys (2024) 91% 9/10 “By the time the credits roll, Ross will have made a lasting and unique impression of heartbreak on the souls of all who watch his film—precisely the cinematic treatment that Whitehead’s novel required.” – Next Best Picture Sep 2, 2024 Full Review The Piano Lesson (2024) 88% 8/10 “Malcolm, in his directorial debut, delivers a persuasive rendition of the story’s core idea, which is that to expiate the ghosts of one’s past, one must confront them.” – Next Best Picture Sep 1, 2024 Full Review The White House Effect (2024) 4/10 “Despite a significant amount of interesting footage and the undeniable urgency of the problem at the core of this film, “The White House Effect” is ultimately simply full of hot air.” – Next Best Picture Aug 31, 2024 Full Review Piece By Piece (2024) 83% 7/10 “With the help of a superb team of animators, Neville creates a wonderfully magical world that feels both real and impossible, subtly messaging that we can all fit into the construction of something greater with enough perseverance.” – Next Best Picture Aug 31, 2024 Full Review Dune: Part Two (2024) 92% A- “A stunning below the line masterpiece that takes surprising and even dark tones, with brilliant performances by Chalamet and Ferguson, even if the story goes by very fast at the core of the film.” – Above the Line Feb 22, 2024 Full Review Lisa Frankenstein (2024) 52% D- “A monstrously stitched together film that lacks life and that cannot be brought back to life by even the most electric Hollywood magic” – Above the Line Feb 7, 2024 Full Review Mean Girls (2024) 69% B- “Fey both saws off the edges of her original script (unfortunately) and adds a few gags that she had clearly left in the tank (thankfully), resulting in a movie that has no reason to exist but whose source material” – Above the Line Jan 11, 2024 Full Review Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) 33% D- “Not one part of this movie--the effects, the storyline, the emotional core--works. Everything is recycled from other superhero movies. It's time to give the genre an at sea burial.” – Above the Line Dec 21, 2023 Full Review The Color Purple (2023) 81% C+ “The problem stems from the source from which this version is adapted—the musical. Taking out the emotional core of the story--the horrific suffering of the protagonists--in place of song and dance, does just that-eliminate the emotional core of the story.” – Above the Line Dec 19, 2023 Full Review Wonka (2023) 82% A “One possible way of measuring whether a prequel is a good movie is whether it makes you want to revisit the old original. The new Warner Bros. film, Wonka, makes you watch not only the original but also this worthy successor, again, and again.” – Above the Line Dec 19, 2023 Full Review The Boys in the Boat (2023) 57% B+ “The Boys in the Boat is a solidly enjoyable family film, though a few beats are too familiar.” – Below the Line Dec 16, 2023 Full Review Napoleon (2023) 58% B “It's a stunning, masterpiece of battlefield story-telling, and a middling, confused, confusing, and erratic piece everywhere else. Watch on the big screen or not at all.” – Below the Line Nov 22, 2023 Full Review Next Goal Wins (2023) 46% B “This paint-by-numbers sports triumph comedy is simple and amusing enough, with solipsistic director Taika Waititi mostly out of his own way” – Above the Line Nov 18, 2023 Full Review The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) 64% B- “A highly entertaining film with the signature, luscious costumes and sets, this "Hunger Games" prequel nevertheless stumbles with the uneven story of the franchise's main villain's origin story” – Above the Line Nov 18, 2023 Full Review The Marvels (2023) 62% B+ “In this simple, entertaining sequel, Captain Marvel has grown past her wobbly origin story and into a bond with two other impressive women who make her temporary team” – Below the Line Nov 17, 2023 Full Review
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