Brad Wheeler

Select another critic »
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
For 351 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 33% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Brad Wheeler's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Listen to Me Marlon
Lowest review score: 0 War Room
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 260 out of 351
  2. Mixed: 49 out of 351
  3. Negative: 42 out of 351
351 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 55 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    Knuckleball
    Knuckleball does not flutter; its pace and tone is lean, mean and eerie. Luca Villacis plays the home-alone little hero, a Rambo MacGyver Jr. in the making. Not all the kid’s ingenuity and wits are plausible, though, and a late-plot throw-in is a bit much. Still, there’s Ironside and enough cold-weather tension to make Knuckleball a swing-and-hit deal.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 63 Brad Wheeler
    MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A.
    Why is she a problematic pop star? That’s the premise, but I’m not sure we get the answer here.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    The Old Man & the Gun
    The pace is leisurely; this is no amped-up police procedural. I love what savvy director David Lowery does with the camera, panning here and there, picking up stray sights and happenings. Top-rate stuff.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Brad Wheeler
    Bad Reputation
    We learn a little about Jett’s activism, and hardly anything about her personal life.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    The House with a Clock in Its Walls
    A fantastical adventure, dandy ode to weirdos, and accessible anti-war allegory for all ages, especially 10-year-old boys.
    • 21 Metascore
    • 38 Brad Wheeler
    Life Itself
    Because it’s emotionally manipulative, unashamedly contrived and outrageously sentimental. Lead actor Oscar Isaac doesn’t care a damn about that, mind you, giving a memorably heart-wrenching performance anyway.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    White Boy Rick
    It’s a working-class story, albeit one that doesn’t involve officially recognized "work,” which raises questions about police corruption and racially slanted drug policies. Speaking of questions, why is a white character being held up as a shining symbol of the black man’s plight? Something to consider. Otherwise, White Boy Rick has much to say yes to.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    Woman at War
    Filmmaker Erlingsson has an eye for detail, a flair for the absurd – a sousaphone-based trio pops up here and there – and a deft touch with social commentary and political satire.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    What They Had
    An excellent cast (including Michael Shannon and Hillary Swank) hit the right notes in an evenly wrought family drama that rings true.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Brad Wheeler
    Quincy
    Tireless, ultra-talented and exceedingly charismatic, he emerges as a survivor in a film that spends too much time on his accolades and not enough on deciphering what makes this treasure of an octogenarian tick.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Brad Wheeler
    The Nun
    The plot is simple, the character development is lazy and the use of the oh-my-God-there’s-someone-right-behind-you device is tiring. Still, the premise is sound. Evil in the church – who would have thought? Duh-duh!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    Searching
    A clever twist-and-turn thriller.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    Juliet, Naked
    Open-hearted and sure to resonate with more than a few viewers, Juliet, Naked roms and coms in the most charmingly honest ways.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    What Keeps You Alive
    The action is grim and not without gore. Heebies, jeebies and even willies will be left on theatre floors like so much stray popcorn and spilled soda. That being said, the victory of What Keeps You Alive is not its heart-thumping (and a little too long) second act, but the question of survival versus vengeance the film raises.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    Nico, 1988
    “I’m selective about my audience,” says the singer. “I don’t need everybody to like me.” With a dour, sophisticated film that won’t be to everyone’s taste, writer-director Nicchiarelli seems to have taken those words to heart.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    Alpha
    There’s something delightfully clever in a narrative that is easily transferable to modern times. Speaking of which, seeing Alpha on as big and splashy a screen as possible is advisable, preferably with children who can handle occasional scenes of intense peril.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 38 Brad Wheeler
    The Meg
    The makers of The Meg may have gone to school on Spielberg, but the big-budget deep-sea thriller is nothing but bloodless summer filler. Unsure if he wants to have some fun and jump the Sharknado or make a seriously gory fish fest, director Jon Turteltaub has surfaced with nets empty.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    Cielo
    A serene, existential experience from the Canadian filmmaker Alison McAlpine, who takes to Chile’s Atacama Desert to look both skyward and inward.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Brad Wheeler
    Dog Days
    No clichés are avoided in the pleasant, if relentlessly adorable ensemble comedy Dog Days.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
    It is a heartfelt mediation on the creative process, with elegantly presented ideas on nature, music, mortality and things out of tune.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Brad Wheeler
    Our House
    A so-so remake of the low-budget 2010 film "Ghost from the Machine" that comes off as run-of-the-mill paranormal thriller. No electricity, one might say.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    Eighth Grade
    Apologies to Eugene Levy, but the award for best supporting actor in the role of an adorably well-meaning father goes to the superb Josh Hamilton.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 63 Brad Wheeler
    The Equalizer 2
    I’m not sure audiences are getting what they deserve with this plodding, so-so action-thriller, but they’ll get what they’ll pay for: Washington as a relentless old-man on a moral-code mission of setting things right (and sometimes setting things on fire).
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 Brad Wheeler
    Under the Tree
    This film moves from black satire to a horror-thriller so smoothly you don’t even realize it’s happening – like the proverbial slow-boiling frog. Grim stuff, gloriously so.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 38 Brad Wheeler
    Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
    The deal with the new Hotel Transylvania animated comedy is that Count Dracula needs a vacation, but, really, it’s the creative team behind the franchise who could use the time off.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Brad Wheeler
    The King
    Jarecki picks up all sorts of celebrated people and thinkers – probably too many. I would have liked to hear more from Elvis’s Graceland cook and less from Alec Baldwin.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 25 Brad Wheeler
    Skyscraper
    What doesn’t go in Skyscraper is watching Sawyer and his family face staggering calamity and danger with barely a concern raised or a sweat broken. As for the actors portraying them, they’re the brave ones. And if they were scared, they didn’t show it.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 25 Brad Wheeler
    Always at The Carlyle
    Unfortunately, because filmmaker Miele also places value in discretion, his snazzy documentary is celebrative – not investigative.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 63 Brad Wheeler
    Uncle Drew
    Facial prosthetics, Inside Hoops humour and "Barbershop"-styled trash talk ensue. Pepsi is one of film’s producers, but painkiller Aleve gets better product placement. Spare some for the arthritic plot, please.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Brad Wheeler
    Hearts Beat Loud
    The film hums to tepid indie-pop and is sentimental to a fault, but the cast is a soulful bunch (including Toni Collette and a wonderful Ted Danson) who breathes life into a film that is all heart.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »