Ben Kenigsberg
Select another critic »For 1,131 reviews, this critic has graded:
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29% higher than the average critic
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7% same as the average critic
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64% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 9.1 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Ben Kenigsberg's Scores
- Movies
- TV
| Average review score: | 57 | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest review score: | Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 | |
| Lowest review score: | Date Movie | |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 395 out of 1131
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Mixed: 600 out of 1131
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Negative: 136 out of 1131
1131
movie
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Ben Kenigsberg
If Durkin’s writing doesn’t always match his formal flair, The Nest has a bracing economy, cramming a lot into tight quarters.- The New York Times
- Posted Sep 17, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
An exploitation film that proceeds as if it were a solemn memorial, The Secrets We Keep doesn’t do right by the Holocaust history it invokes — or much else.- The New York Times
- Posted Sep 15, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Uribe directs for sensory effect rather than context, which is minimal and parceled out as needed, and deals with the politics of the construction project glancingly, an approach that registers as alternately poetic and coy.- The New York Times
- Posted Sep 10, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
In a sense, it’s less a documentary for posterity than an urgent broadcast. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth hearing.- The New York Times
- Posted Sep 9, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
At its best, the movie is a vertiginous, head-slapping examination of the tangible, unpredictable consequences of making art.- The New York Times
- Posted Sep 3, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
As potentially valuable as Robin’s Wish is for illuminating Williams’s death — initial reports noted his past struggles with addiction and depression — it is more affecting and appealing as a tribute. Stories of Williams as a matchless improviser, an unpretentious neighbor and a man who had a gift for consoling others suggest the world lost not just an uproarious presence but a kind one.- The New York Times
- Posted Sep 1, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
As Shimu’s efforts ramp up and appear increasingly futile, Made in Bangladesh acquires a quiet power.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
While the film may speak to viewers with a spiritual investment in these events, it does little to bring them alive for others.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Whether Sauper’s travels delivered a cohesive movie this time is debatable, but what he does find is always interesting.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 27, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Mostly The One and Only Ivan consists of fairly standard Disney lessons, about the hardships of losing parents (real and surrogate) and how difficult it is to embrace change.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 20, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Is Coup 53 trustworthy in every respect? Perhaps not. Both as a detective story and as a deep dive into a world event whose consequences linger, it is bracing, absorbing filmmaking.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 19, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
The competing agendas surrounding the case would prevent anyone from making a cohesive Hawkins documentary, and Storm Over Brooklyn never settles on a satisfying point of view.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 13, 2020
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- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 13, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
If Red Penguins doesn’t always strike a satisfying balance between the glib and the grim, the broader topic — the commercialization of hockey — affords it a novel lens on Russia’s economic transition.- The New York Times
- Posted Aug 5, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Though it might seem generic in some respects, Rebuilding Paradise resonates with the moment.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 30, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
If the filmmakers succeed in wringing drama from decisions that have already come down, their efforts at character development are hit-and-miss.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 30, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Mostly, Retaliation accords Bloom a chance to deliver some impressive, anguished monologues, although the scenes focusing on those around him (particularly a late conversation between Montgomery and Ferns’s characters) hint at a more expansive, unrealized complexity.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 23, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Despite stodgy trappings, Dateline-Saigon captures a swirl of personalities and conveys the excitement of reporting in a fast-moving, confusing and dangerous atmosphere.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 21, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
While Kosinski’s prose renders the grotesque vivid by understatement, this adaptation often seems to have little purpose beyond literal-minded visualization.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 16, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Jones’s former affiliation presumably helped with access; adherents seem to trust her, and some clips are credited to the church. It also gives her a complicated, at times surprisingly sympathetic outlook on the cult.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 16, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
At times, Mavromichalis himself seems starstuck, to the extent that he can’t distinguish the disarming from the banal.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 9, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
The movie is consistently seductive, and it makes lovely use of a composition by Shannon Graham that is woven into Veronica’s work as a music teacher. But several story shortcuts . . . ensure that the characters’ anguish feels more constructed than organic.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 9, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Seen with or without foreknowledge of its methods, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is only fitfully engaging — suspect as documentary, insubstantial as fiction.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 9, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Although the film uses a conventional format, it makes an urgent argument: that a new wave of voter suppression has threatened the rights that Lewis labored to secure.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 2, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
More than the informational nuggets the movie flashes onscreen, these scenes of personal interaction help make “Unsettled” distinctive.- The New York Times
- Posted Jul 1, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
It proceeds dryly and largely chronologically through her life, sometimes with an awkward sense of proportion.- The New York Times
- Posted Jun 25, 2020
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- The New York Times
- Posted Jun 25, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Not all the misdirection is elegant, but the film’s tenderness flowers in a lovely, unexpected final shot.- The New York Times
- Posted Jun 24, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
Long stretches are not a personal reckoning but an overview; many details overlap with “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” from last year, although the clips here are at least as good. It is also more sympathetic to Cohn than either Cohn’s reputation or the familial animosity would suggest.- The New York Times
- Posted Jun 18, 2020
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- Ben Kenigsberg
My Father the Spy doesn’t have a tidy point to make, but it succeeds at bringing a turbulent reminiscence to life.- The New York Times
- Posted Jun 17, 2020
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