Betsy Sharkey

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Los Angeles Times
For 635 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 61% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 37% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1 point lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Betsy Sharkey's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Prisoners
Lowest review score: 0 Nothing Left to Fear
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 342 out of 635
  2. Mixed: 255 out of 635
  3. Negative: 38 out of 635
635 movie reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    I'll See You in My Dreams
    Director Brett Haley, who co-wrote the film with Marc Basch, has managed to create a film about those final years that gets to the heart of things like loss and love without patronizing or parody. No small thing to create a movie whose cast is mostly in their 70s yet whose story is so relatable whatever your age.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
    From the beginning, the filmmakers promise an affectionate look at the man, and in that they deliver.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    Pitch Perfect 2
    The comedy choir wars are more intense, more absurd and more lowbrow fun than ever in Pitch Perfect 2. It is almost impossible not to be amused by the cutthroat world of competitive a cappella.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
    There is a great deal of silliness about Allan's journey from start to finish and no real message other than to never stop taking life as it comes. But there is also a great deal of fun in watching a 100-year-old man climb out a window and disappear.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Between the sheer on-screen beauty and the finely wrought performances of Mulligan and Schoenaerts, Far from the Madding Crowd has its appeal. Yet like unrequited love, one can't help but lament what might have been.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    Welcome to Me
    Though some of the jabs "Me" takes at reality TV are clever, the film, like Alice, tends to fracture at key moments. What makes it worth watching is Wiig.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    24 Days
    Knowing the outcome behind the true-life tragedy 24 Days doesn't diffuse the horror, the tension or the sadness of watching one family's drama unfold day after agonizing day when a son is kidnapped and hope dies.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    Adult Beginners
    The kind of comedy that goes down easy even as it looks at the hard stuff.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Betsy Sharkey
    Clouds of Sils Maria
    Stewart does exactly what Valentine describes as Jo-Ann's great gift — she becomes the character, completing disappearing inside Valentine. It makes the interplay between Binoche, a master of that sort of disappearing act as well, and Stewart mesmerizing to watch.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    Ned Rifle
    When the writer-director is on his game, as he is in Ned Rifle, the effect is bizarre black comedy that is designed to set you thinking about what his satire is really saying.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    Furious 7
    Furious 7 is the fuel-injected fusion of all that is and ever has been good in "The Fast and the Furious" saga.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    Seymour: An Introduction
    Ethan Hawke's documentary on pianist Seymour Bernstein is very much like the sonatas Bernstein plays so beautifully, teaches so insightfully — quietly moving, infinitely deep.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
    Though it might not sound it, watching Kumiko brood is mesmerizing. Kikuchi uses her mournful eyes to take us to dark places, though she's equally adept at surprise and confusion, even joy when it comes along.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    Cinderella
    As pure of heart as its heroine, Cinderella floats across the screen like a gossamer confection, full of elegant beauty and quiet grace.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    Focus
    The film is breezy from start to finish.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
    The tragedy here is not a single story but that a process so inequitable and so inane continues in a place that is considered to be enlightened. Gett, in moving and infuriating ways, exposes a very bleak corner of that world.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    Kingsman: The Secret Service
    Directed by "Kick-Ass" action specialist Matthew Vaughn with slightly more vigor than necessary and a shade less restraint than needed, it's a bit too too to be "brilliant," as the Brits say. But it's not half bad either.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    Timbuktu
    The screenplay — by the French Mauritania director and Malian co-writer Kessen Tall, in her feature debut — is a mesmerizing blend of the horrific and the humorous as it boils ideology down to the personal level.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    Winter Sleep
    Like so much of Ceylan's work, Winter Sleep is a haunting piece.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    Paddington
    Artfully and cleverly, the sweet spirit of that young bear from darkest Peru and his many London misadventures materializes brilliantly on screen in the very good hands of writer-director-conjurer Paul King.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Betsy Sharkey
    Two Days, One Night
    That Two Days, One Night retains such an organic sensibility, even with a major star in the lead, is credit to both filmmakers and actress.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    Into the Woods
    What makes Into the Woods so entertaining is the cleverness of the tale itself and the way specific characters match the talents of its storytellers.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Betsy Sharkey
    Top Five
    Top Five is fully loaded. The laughs are earned, the intelligence never disappears, all the performers shine. But Rock is the diamond — raw, rough and rare.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Betsy Sharkey
    Inherent Vice
    Joaquin Phoenix and the terrific acting ensemble that joins him in this pot-infused '70s-era beach noir create such a good buzz you can almost get a contact high from watching.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    Wild
    Though there are occasional stumbles along the 1,100-mile hike, the peaks in Wild make the journey more than worth it.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    The Babadook
    The film is quite serious about pushing its players and its audiences through the mental, as well as emotional, meat grinder. Many times along the way, you fear you know where things are going. But Kent is clever in choosing unexpected spots to pull the rug out from under you.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Betsy Sharkey
    The Invisible Front
    We look to documentaries like The Invisible Front — dense with detail, straightforward in laying out the issues — to put history in perspective. And in this case to illuminate a little-known page from it.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
    It is the way in which the writer-director uses the specter of vampires and vices to take an off-center cut at Iranian gender politics and U.S.-Eurocentric pop culture that sets the film apart.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Betsy Sharkey
    National Gallery
    In a time when so many documentary filmmakers take on advocacy roles, National Gallery represents the heart of what Wiseman does best — step back and let the place and its people lead the story.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Betsy Sharkey
    The Homesman
    The film's difficulties are in the roiling emotions that run through it. Intimacy and the interdependence required to survive a harsh environment are more easily achieved. Swank and Jones, in particular, are a very good odd couple, playing saint and sinner, sometimes reversing the roles.
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