David Sims

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The Atlantic, The A.V. Club
For 464 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 47% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

David Sims' Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 One Battle After Another
Lowest review score: 10 Dolittle
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 313 out of 464
  2. Mixed: 102 out of 464
  3. Negative: 49 out of 464
464 movie reviews
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    • 55 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Old
    The central conceit of Old has so much juice, and Shyamalan gets to explore so many fun—if sadistic—avenues over the course of one very long day. It’s his most ambitious work in years, wrapped in the delightful, tawdry packaging of a pulpy thriller.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    i'm thinking of ending things
    I’m Thinking of Ending Things is long (two hours and 14 minutes) and often frustrating, but it’s also incredibly satisfying on rewatch, which makes its Netflix release a boon. There’s a weird thrill to getting lost inside this movie, only so you can study every odd detail from new angles, over and over again.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    The Phoenician Scheme
    It’s wiser, and it has the looser silliness that comes with middle age—but it’s looking up at those imposing father figures, tycoons or no, with awe and fear all the same.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    The Iron Claw
    It’s rich with feeling, shrouded in darkness, but not despairing as it digs into the trials the Von Erichs faced, without merely dismissing the family as cursed.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    A Hidden Life
    The current implications of A Hidden Life feel most pressing here: Malick is asking the audience (and himself) if they would capitulate in the face of tyranny or make Jägerstätter’s sacrifice. It’s a decision Malick memorializes beautifully, in a film that is his most affecting effort in almost a decade.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Zama
    There’s absolutely nothing else like it in theaters this year, which I mean as both a hearty endorsement and a necessary forewarning. Zama is a viewing experience that can be frustratingly inaccessible at first, but it blooms in bold, surprising directions.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    First Man
    First Man is about Armstrong’s landmark achievement, but it’s just as much about a country’s grinding, maniacal fixation on getting him there.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Da 5 Bloods
    If the necessities of the moment mean that Da 5 Bloods won’t get the big theatrical run it deserves, its bold immediacy still hits hard on a smaller screen. Hollywood has made many stirring tales of war heroism, of honor gained and lives lost, and even of the failures of the countries that sent men into battle. But there are shockingly few stories like this one.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    The Card Counter
    William is a strong character on his own, but he is also a metaphor for America’s struggle to overcome its grimmest failures and to break free from cycles of violence. Schrader understands that those are nigh-impossible tasks; still, he shows the value in trying nonetheless.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
    Given that this is a Part One, the film’s conclusion is inevitably less satisfying than a proper third act, but this is a worthy entry in America’s best ongoing franchise, one where sincerity and absurdity walk hand in hand with vital, triumphant conviction.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Marriage Story
    It’s sad and sometimes angry, with a heartfelt view of a relationship’s dynamics that some of the director’s prior works lacked.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Barry Lyndon
    It’s a movie that actually makes the past look otherworldly, unlike many period pieces, which strive to make history seem easy to slip into.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
    The result is a surprisingly funny and extremely melancholy hangout film, an elegy for a bygone era that reflects on how all art eventually loses its edge.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Mission: Impossible – Fallout
    As these films have gone on, they’ve become more and more fascinated with Hunt’s essential ludicrousness. Mission: Impossible – Fallout decrees him elemental—a crucial, indefinable component keeping the very fabric of humanity knitted together. The film is so dizzyingly fun that, at least while you’re watching, it seems like a sound conclusion.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    The Killer
    Although The Killer is a crisply told piece of pulpy neo-noir, it also has an element of self-parody to it, laying out a consummate professional’s precise process and then dashing it into chaos at every chance.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Little Women
    Gerwig manages to honor both the letter and the spirit of Alcott’s tale; Little Women is stuffed with trials and tribulations, yet overflowing with goodwill, just as Alcott described it herself.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Superman
    For as expensive and action-packed as it is, this Superman is also stuffed with whimsical concepts and ridiculous side characters.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Leave No Trace
    Granik’s ability to convey so much about how a community works without didacticism is part of what made Winter’s Bone (which was set in the Ozarks) such a thrill to watch. While Leave No Trace is a more muted drama, it has a similarly firm grasp on its characters and the places they comes across.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Marty Supreme
    Marty is vivacious, and the film around him is buzzing at the same frequency: itchy, anxious, yet unbearably exciting throughout, each minute defined by some hairpin plot turn.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Avatar: The Way of Water
    The final battles in The Way of Water are rousing, but they’re also feats of geography, astonishing in how they manage to keep the audience focused on a huge ensemble of characters who are jumping between various locations.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Let the Sunshine In
    Let the Sunshine In is a unique, spellbinding work, worthy of comparison to Denis’s best films.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Maestro
    It’s a celebration of the man, but also a quiet tragedy, with many regrets piling up to a muted and devastating conclusion.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    Madeline's Madeline
    A tense, loopy look at acting and writing, the movie is at times deliberately off-putting. But it’s anchored by a star-making turn from Helena Howard, who plays the fascinating, inscrutable figure at the story’s center.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    The Mule
    This movie is as much a eulogy for a country that Eastwood sees as slowly crumbling as it is for the life Earl chose to lead.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    Avatar: Fire and Ash
    For Avatar fans, I have great news: The latest installment of James Cameron’s magical-alien adventure saga is here, and you’re going to love it. . . The bad news for anyone not already on board: This film has no interest in you.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    Avengers: Endgame
    The film earns its length not by overstuffing the frame with opulent action, but by slowing things down and basking in the charisma of its ensemble.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    Hit Man
    It’s also just a sexy, fun movie for grown-ups that believes in its story rather than empty spectacle. . . this is a rare romantic comedy to see with a roaring crowd.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    Toy Story 4
    I’m all for the studio exploring new concepts and original characters going forward, and setting aside the endless anthologizing of its biggest hits for a good long while. But if I had to get another Toy Story, this is about as strange and beguiling an entry as I could have hoped for.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    The Killing of a Sacred Deer
    With his latest movie, Lanthimos has made a tense, heart-wrenching tale with an admirably askance view of humanity that’s a worthy successor to his prior works.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    The Sisters Brothers
    The Sisters Brothers feels special. It has the painterly visuals of a classic film, but its lead characters are black-hatted villains whose road to redemption is mostly motivated by exhaustion rather than guilt. The story is grim and violent, but the brothers’ relationship is shot through with ramshackle humor, and the men they’re ultimately tasked with pursuing are portrayed as loving and idealistic—an utter rarity for this kind of story.
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