Brian Lowry

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Variety
For 153 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 13 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Brian Lowry's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 53
Highest review score: 100 The Pelican Brief
Lowest review score: 10 Cool World
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 153
  2. Mixed: 104 out of 153
  3. Negative: 17 out of 153
153 movie reviews
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    • 58 Metascore
    • 55 Brian Lowry
    The One and Only Ivan
    The closing kick of The One and Only Ivan is somewhat stirring -- and certainly works hard at being so -- but it's pretty tepid until then.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Brian Lowry
    The Indian in the Cupboard
    Indian in the Cupboard is yet another example that Hollywood can make movies in which critics of sex and violence can find nothing to complain about. It’s also a reminder that family values can be, well, kind of boring.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 75 Brian Lowry
    Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
    Feeling the years and the miles, Harrison Ford cracks the whip for the last time, in a film that offers the requisite thrills and proves fairly emotional before it’s over.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Brian Lowry
    Wicked: For Good
    "Wicked” should be considered as one sweeping, five-hour canvas. And if the slightly shorter second half doesn’t fully measure up to the original, that does little to detract from director Jon M. Chu’s overall accomplishment.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Brian Lowry
    Elemental
    Elemental doesn’t quite join the studio’s hallowed top tier, but it does yield moments of magic and beauty – reflecting both the immigrant experience as well as the power of love – worthy of that legacy.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Brian Lowry
    Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)
    Given the frequent weeping captured from her die-hard, singing-along fans, 4DX would really be the killer app, approximating the spray of their abundant tears of joy.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Brian Lowry
    The Laundromat
    The Laundromat makes a pointed political statement, while spinning out a garbled mess of a movie. In the process, director Steven Soderbergh mostly squanders a cast toplined by Meryl Streep, in a Netflix film that plays like a darkly satiric connection of vignettes that lost something -- mostly, a coherent narrative -- in the rinse cycle.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Brian Lowry
    Antlers
    The net effect isn't necessarily bad assuming that expectations are modest, and there's something to be said for a more understated, small-scale approach to horror that doesn't confuse body count with scares. Yet considering where the story starts, the place where Antlers winds up doesn't leave much to hang one's hat on.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Brian Lowry
    Road House
    The challenge with any reboot invariably involves capturing what people liked about its inspiration while bringing fresh wrinkles to it. On that level “Road House” moderately works – specifically, for the intended audience – with the disclaimer that trying to look bigger and being bigger aren’t necessarily one and the same.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 45 Brian Lowry
    Army of the Dead
    While this might represent a diverting lark in its dizzying combination of movie conventions, this is another one of those instances where what happens in Vegas probably should stay there.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 45 Brian Lowry
    Extraction 2
    The sequel, Extraction 2, hammers away at the same basic outline, while feeling particularly simple minded even by the standards of the genre.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Brian Lowry
    Shirley
    The result is a sturdy but unspectacular film, one that honors Chisholm’s place in history while representing just one, too-concentrated facet of her giant shadow.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Brian Lowry
    Thor: Love and Thunder
    The impressive mix of tones and styles that director Taika Waititi pulled off in “Thor: Ragnarok” largely fizzles in “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which isn’t as funny as it wants to be, as stirring as it needs to be or romantic as it ought to be.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Brian Lowry
    The Fall Guy
    The Fall Guy is too flat in the early going to fully meet that challenge, rallying toward the end without reaching the heights required to make a really big splash.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Brian Lowry
    Iron Man 2
    Isn't as much fun as its predecessor, but by the time the smoke clears, it'll do.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Brian Lowry
    Cold Pursuit
    A wholly forgettable movie, most likely to be remembered, lamentably, for its contributing role in Neeson landing in hot water.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Brian Lowry
    Snow White and the Huntsman
    Handsome but hollow, Snow White & the Huntsman is easily among the stranger additions to a roster of rebooted fairy tales.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Brian Lowry
    Finch
    Director Miguel Sapochnik ("Game of Thrones") does what he can to wring the maximum amount of emotion out of this unlikely trio, finding moments of tenderness and humor in their interactions.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Brian Lowry
    The Perfect Find
    The Perfect Find falls well short of perfection, but it’s the kind of low-key romance that often finds an appreciative audience on Netflix.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Brian Lowry
    Wrath of Man
    Taken on its terms, the movie isn't terrible strictly as mindless escapism. But beyond the most basic, visceral thrills, Wrath of Man's bitter fruit yields a slim harvest.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Brian Lowry
    Remarkably Bright Creatures
    A near-irresistible and highly emotional adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling novel.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Brian Lowry
    The Bride!
    The stitched-together concept proves too bizarre and disjointed to catch lightning in a bottle.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Brian Lowry
    Extraction
    Far more interested in stunts than story, Extraction is a simple-minded action vehicle for Chris Hemsworth that should benefit from providing a theatrical-style adrenaline rush when the spigot for such fare has closed. Basically, Netflix is serving up an old-fashioned B movie, at a moment when the A-list blockbusters have been postponed.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 45 Brian Lowry
    Minions: The Rise of Gru
    "Minions” certainly has to be evaluated in the modest context of what it’s trying to achieve – like fueling fast-food giveaways and toy sales – but even compared to the earlier movies in the franchise, this one feels particularly limited in its scope and ambitions.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Brian Lowry
    Fever Pitch
    The Farrelly brothers are growing up, which in this case isn't a bad thing. With a tacked-on ending made necessary by the Boston Red Sox's improbable World Series run last fall, Fever Pitch proves a charming romantic comedy against "A Beautiful Mind"-type framework.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 55 Brian Lowry
    Monster
    Ultimately, though, the movie feels most notable for the cast assembled, from Harrison -- who subsequently starred in "Waves" and "Luce," and is again very good here -- to smallish roles for Jerome (an Emmy winner for "When They See Us") as a witness and Washington ("Tenet" and "BlacKkKlansman") as James' partner in crime.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 55 Brian Lowry
    Migration
    The best one can say about this mildly fun film is that it runs a brisk 80-something minutes, meaning parents can take the kids and have time left over for other holiday errands.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 65 Brian Lowry
    The Eyes of Tammy Faye
    The stars outshine the movie in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a dazzling showcase for Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield as Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker in a dutiful, somewhat disjointed chronicle of how the televangelists amassed great wealth before his disgraced fall.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 55 Brian Lowry
    Radioactive
    Neither film is especially memorable, which is too bad, squandering Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie and Ethan Hawke, very intense and brooding as Nikola Tesla.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Brian Lowry
    Deadpool & Wolverine
    Like its predecessors, Deadpool & Wolverine is loud, proudly vulgar and repeatedly shatters the fourth wall with gleeful naughtiness. Yet beneath the outlandishness, half-dozen belly laughs and nerd-centric beats resides sweet nostalgia for the last quarter-century of superhero movies, while demonstrating that Marvel Studios possesses the power to laugh at itself.
    • CNN
      • Posted Jul 23, 2024
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