Peter Rainer
Tomatometer-approved critic
The Friend (2024)
83%
3.5/5
“I don’t know if one can rightly call Apollo’s performance a performance. But whatever it is, it’s heartfelt. ” –
Christian Science Monitor
Apr 7, 2025
Full Review
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
97%
5/5
“The Ballad of Wallis Island is both modest and magical. One of its co-stars, Carey Mulligan, has described its tone as a “gentle euphoria.” That phrase perfectly expresses how this wonderful movie transports us.” –
Christian Science Monitor
Mar 27, 2025
Full Review
Global Harmony (2024)
“The whole movie is stiff, badly put together and makes no sense in a lot of ways.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Rose (2021)
81%
“The main reason to see it is Fançoise Fabian. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Brave the Dark (2023)
74%
“It's all rather standardized and cliché... But it's worth seeing, possibly because of Jared Harris' performance. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Eternal You (2024)
90%
“This is a really creepy movie... Really eye-opening.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Presence (2024)
88%
“It's a gimmick... But it's a good gimmick, not one I had really seen before. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Nosferatu (2024)
84%
“Eggers is trying to do something different than the other movies, but in a sense he's playing into the same overwrought scariness. The film could use a lot more lightness, if you will.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Babygirl (2024)
76%
“There's a lot that is supposed to be going on in this movie... But somehow, it didn't hold for me as either an erotic film or a film that dealt with power dynamics in a substantive way. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Feb 11, 2025
Full Review
Blue Velvet (1986)
91%
“It gets into areas of dread and shock and torment that are so profoundly dislocating and dreamlike that, watching it, you feel as if you're coiled right up inside the vision of an artist with a live feed to the unconscious.” –
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
Jan 22, 2025
Full Review
I'm Still Here (2024)
97%
5/5
“With everything this film has going for it, it might still not have hit home but for Torres’ shattering performance.” –
Christian Science Monitor
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Carry-On (2024)
88%
“A real guilty pleasure.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
The Last Showgirl (2024)
83%
“Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent in her tough cookie, cynical mode. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Oh Canada (2024)
64%
“The movie doesn't have as much emotional weight as it should have been the narrative is so fractured. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Nickel Boys (2024)
91%
“Just because the director has shot it in this way does not mean this was the best way to shoot it. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
September 5 (2024)
93%
“It's a very good movie, very well-paced. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
100%
“The most sheerly entertaining movie I've seen this year.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Porcelain War (2024)
95%
“The war footage is quite extraordinary... The structure of the film is a bit ungainly, but under the circumstances it's easy to see why.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (2024)
97%
“I wasn't that acquainted with Cole's work. It's quite extraordinary and on full display in this film. ” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024)
97%
“A powerful movie with a great moral dilemma at the center.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Maria (2024)
75%
“Angelina Jolie is very compelling as a diva burning her own flame, but she doesn't seem quite real... It doesn't seem as if we're getting the full person in this movie, and I think that's partly the fault of the director.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
Queer (2024)
77%
“It goes off the deep end, and the film was never that deep to begin with.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Jan 17, 2025
Full Review
The Fire Inside (2024)
93%
“[Brian Tyree Henry] invigorates the film and humanizes so much of it.” –
FilmWeek (LAist)
Dec 27, 2024
Full Review
A Complete Unknown (2024)
82%
3/5
“The filmmakers have set themselves a near insoluble task: How do you get behind the mask of a willfully enigmatic artist like Dylan? For the most part, they duck the attempt. To its credit, at least the movie doesn’t try to sugarcoat Dylan.” –
Christian Science Monitor
Dec 20, 2024
Full Review
Hard Truths (2024)
95%
4.5/5
“The performance of Jean-Baptiste transcends the clinical. She shows us what lies beneath Pansy’s suffering. This woman who can’t abide other people is terrified of being alone. ” –
Christian Science Monitor
Dec 20, 2024
Full Review
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