Maybe there's something here about the insanity of genius, but the film doesn't want to reach for anything that insightful. All it wants is to provide a few scares and let its flashy camerawork attempt to prop up a subpar story. Unfortunately, it can't.

| Original Score: F | May 10, 2024

Episode 38: Brightburn / The Perfection / Rocketman

| Original Score: 36/100 | Oct 4, 2021

Allison Williams makes for a strong lead, but with weak support, a flimsy story and messy timeline, there's not much going for this straight-to-Netflix release.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 1, 2021

This film really couldn't be any more poignant and relevant if it tried, focusing on our obsession with being perfect and giving in to internal and external pressures.

| Jun 10, 2021

Good trash is a kind of art. Overdo it and it's unwatchable. Underdo it and it's dull. The Perfection is some really pretty great trash.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 29, 2021

The Perfection aims high and wide with its imagery and absolutely bonkers twists and turns, but never quite lands among the high-brow pantheon of films it's inspired by...

| Original Score: B- | Jan 29, 2021

Director Richard Shepard puts the material on edge by stylizing it heavily from the jump, setting up more split-diopter shots than you're likely to see in a year of movie-watching

| Original Score: B- | Jan 28, 2021

Unfortunately... The Perfection is anything but.

| Dec 16, 2020

Its later stretches are as topical as they are confused at points. It's trying something, but by the end, The Perfection's title isn't a reference to the movie itself.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 27, 2020

Production values are high and the two leads play a perfect fiddle to one and other, but the switchback plot, while fun initially, plays on too long.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 4, 2020

It is complexly, an emotionally draining, exhilirating, and liberating quest.

| Feb 11, 2020

The fact that most of it works pretty well is a happy, bloody, and creepy surprise.

| Jan 18, 2020

It's difficult to know when bungled takes are compensated by good enough film-making that the end result is acceptable...

| Original Score: C+ | Jan 8, 2020

Entertaining in a way that's at once showy and rather clinical.

| Jan 1, 2020

In its final form, this one-of-a-kind genre Frankenstein is a stand-out terror in an increasingly inventive and competitive field. Controversial, slippery, and sickening, The Perfection will get you screaming, then talking.

| Dec 7, 2019

For those who like their films a little darker than mainstream studios are willing to bankroll, The Perfection might be right for you. It's dirty, messy moviemaking with a message.

| Oct 3, 2019

This movie is insane and I totally dug it. I almost don't want to talk about it... Just go see it and trust me on this.

| Sep 30, 2019

As the twists and turns get even more egregious, The Perfection just becomes a chore to watch. It's unfortunate because the final beat is actually chilling and portends what could have been. A lighter touch would have been welcome.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 25, 2019

A horror-thriller with humorous elements and a playful structure.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 23, 2019

Violent, gory horror-thriller; language, sex, nudity.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 12, 2019