Alex Saveliev

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Film Threat
For 411 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 58% higher than the average critic
  • 10% same as the average critic
  • 32% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Alex Saveliev's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 No Country for Old Men
Lowest review score: 20 Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 245 out of 411
  2. Mixed: 144 out of 411
  3. Negative: 22 out of 411
411 movie reviews
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    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Alex Saveliev
    Mary
    Goi and his screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski must have thought that simply stuffing the film with as many shock tactics as possible would suffice. It doesn’t. This ship goes down with her captains.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 30 Alex Saveliev
    The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
    An eccentric local priest spouts nonsense, blood gushes out of the shower, bodies twist and contort at impossible angles, and creatures from hell crawl towards the camera. By the time the convoluted, shrieky finale arrives, it all blends together into nothing more than dull background noise. Your investment in the story will be indirectly proportional to its running time.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 30 Alex Saveliev
    Measure of Revenge
    The plot lurches from one awkwardly-staged, heavy-handed, poorly-lit, bathed in eye-scorching soft-focus sequence to another with little regard for tonal shifts or narrative fluidity.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    Portals
    Despite the involvement of some skilled filmmakers, Portals is a cinematic black hole – vacuous and barely perceptible in the vastness of space lit with far brighter stars.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 20 Alex Saveliev
    There Are No Saints
    Alas, instead of a scathing critique of racial injustice, a revamping of the “man seeks revenge after his family is murdered/kidnapped” trope, the director delivers gratuitously violent, vulgar, clichéd, jaw-droppingly sexist, and racist cinematic bile.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 30 Alex Saveliev
    King Knight
    An inkling of an inventive concept lurks somewhere deep within the murk. Unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to spot it amidst all the meandering diversions, prepubescent humor, imbecilic dialogue, and curious casting choices.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    Brahms: The Boy II
    None of it is remotely frightening or original, the admittedly good-looking film adding nothing new to this unfortunate horror subgenre.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    The Lost Girls
    Sometimes whimsical, at others quaint, flirting with darkness but brimming with childlike naivety, the plot provides a hell of a tonal whiplash, never finding its rhythm.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 60 Alex Saveliev
    A Violent Separation
    If the directors scaled back on the needlessly-complex tale and tightened the reigns, and if screenwriter Michael Arkof sharpened his dialogue (“I’m a deputy, not a vigilante!” Norm yells shrilly, before absconding to his trailer), they may have had something truly special here.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 50 Alex Saveliev
    Imprisoned
    Clumsy and meandering, Imprisoned seems unsure of whether it’s a story of personal revenge, an outcry against a corrupt regime, or a study of the Puerto Rican justice system.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Alex Saveliev
    How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
    The dialogue is biting, crisp, smart, and frequently heartbreaking. It’s disappointing, then, that the narrative drags in places, particularly in the middle stretch. Brevity is key here; it all just becomes too much.
    • 26 Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    Shortcut
    Attack the Block this is not. Shortcut is too violent and foul-mouthed for kids, yet too tame and juvenile for adults, bound to leave horror aficionados indifferent. You’ll be better off watching Jeepers Creepers 2 instead, and that’s really saying something.
    • 26 Metascore
    • 60 Alex Saveliev
    Rambo: Last Blood
    The film’s no-nonsense approach is a neat tribute to 1980’s action flicks of yore, where badass heroes said and did badass things.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 50 Alex Saveliev
    The Second Sun
    Gelfer may have missed the mark with this one, but she displays enough technical skill and empathy for her characters to deserve another shot.
    • 16 Metascore
    • 30 Alex Saveliev
    Trick
    Hardcore gorehounds will be disappointed by the lukewarm scares. Fans of throwback films will groan at the lack of tongue-in-cheek references. Anyone who’s seen a film will groan at the stupidity of it all.
    • 14 Metascore
    • 50 Alex Saveliev
    The Pretenders
    Pretenders pretends to be Bertolucci’s The Dreamers in its meshing of a saucy young love triangle with an impassioned ode to cinema of yore. Alas, Mr. Franco’s not quite there yet.
    • 12 Metascore
    • 20 Alex Saveliev
    She's Just a Shadow
    Nihilistic and offensive, it leaves you with more than a sour taste – nausea, perhaps, or a need to bathe in Listerine.
    • 7 Metascore
    • 30 Alex Saveliev
    Me You Madness
    Perhaps the worst thing about the writer/director/star’s feature is that it basks in the excess it purports to condemn, confident that pounding the viewer into submission is the way to go, in addition to ending on a hypocritical note that defies everything that’s occurred up to that point.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Alex Saveliev
    Game Changers
    Game Changers does a formidable job of patiently tracing the history of game shows from their very inception to the current deluge of such shows on TV.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Alex Saveliev
    Wonders of the Sea 3D
    It won’t necessarily blow your mind, but it’s refreshing to have a gentle, hopeful ode to our oceans, in contrast to all the “doom and gloom” environmental docs that come out these days.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Alex Saveliev
    Kill the Monsters
    Lonergan announces himself as a talent to watch with Kill the Monsters. He’s just gaining momentum. If he tones down his embellishments and tightens his focus, he could very well reach the leagues of the greats that so clearly inspired him.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    The 6th Friend
    In its favor, the film is competently edited, and the low production values aren’t too apparent – thankfully, it’s at least decently assembled.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Alex Saveliev
    Among Wolves
    Among Wolves is a subliminally powerful – if perhaps a tad too minimalist – statement on achieving redemption in a seemingly doomed place.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Alex Saveliev
    Welcome to Acapulco
    Welcome to Acapulco – at least partially – warrants your investment. It may not reach levels of great trash, but it sure aspires to such, and is always watchable, if only for the sight of thespians hamming it up for a buck. Here’s (vainly) hoping that Welcome to Acapulco will put those fallen legends back on the map.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Alex Saveliev
    Aquarians
    It may not be perfectly executed, or original in its approach, or particularly memorable, but McGuire’s poignant film possesses an arguably more important trait: it’s totally honest, wearing its heart on its thick parka sleeve.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Alex Saveliev
    Sobibor
    Sobibor may not fully do justice to the Russians’ involvement in WWII, yet it certainly serves as a powerful reminder that the nation, so ostracized by the US these days, has plenty of heroes of its own. Hopefully, it makes enough of a dent Stateside to help the less-aware think outside the box.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    Nothing to Do
    Nothing To Do doesn’t really do much of anything.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Alex Saveliev
    Manta Ray
    Spare and laconic almost to a fault, the film nevertheless haunts with its indelible imagery and enigmatic vibes.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    Ask for Jane
    For a film that purports to endorses equality and female empowerment, its female characters are so uniformly idealistic they’re borderline interchangeable.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Alex Saveliev
    Marilyn
    One thing that works well is Catalina Saavedra’s performance as the tormented Olga. The actress finds truth in an underwritten character. She reminds us that cinema needs more well-acted, nuanced films about those who are still inexplicably shunned. Sadly, Marylin brings little to that table. It purports to say a lot with a little but ends up saying very little with, well, a little.
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