G. Allen Johnson

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San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner
For 523 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

G. Allen Johnson's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Fire of Love
Lowest review score: 0 The Out-Laws
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 345 out of 523
  2. Mixed: 83 out of 523
  3. Negative: 95 out of 523
523 movie reviews
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    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Fancy Dance
    Gladstone (“Under the Bridge”), Oscar-nominated for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is the heart and soul of “Fancy Dance,” which in other hands might have been a noirish thriller. But writer-director Erica Tremblay has something else in mind: a finely crafted drama about a woman and her niece who are unwilling to let the hopelessness of her situation define her.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 G. Allen Johnson
    Have a Nice Day
    A bleak, at times fascinating but strangely inert Chinese animated film.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    Corpus Christi
    A quite interesting and irresistible movie, a sort of cross between Paul Schrader’s recent film of spiritual crisis, “First Reformed,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Catch Me If You Can.” An impostor as anguished priest.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 25 G. Allen Johnson
    24 Frames
    Still, I’m not sure Kiarostami really intended this film to be a movie. It seems more like an art installation. Of note is the terrific sound design; the sound is credited to Ensieh Maleki, who captures full, rich, peaceful sounds of nature.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Human Nature
    Bolt tries mightily to make this weighty subject digestible to the average civilian, with some fancy, intricate animated sequences to show us how CRISPR and DNA manipulation work, and while I can’t say I came away from this film being able to coherently explain it, Human Nature works as a glimpse into possible futures and a moral dilemma that doesn’t have easy answers.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 G. Allen Johnson
    Jockey
    It’s as if someone made a backstage musical without any musical numbers, just the backstage part.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    The Promised Land
    Centuries ago, the heath lands of Denmark were rough-hewn, expansive and notoriously unforgiving. In the new Danish film “The Promised Land,” those words could also describe the face of its star, Mads Mikkelsen. One of the great visages in movies, it has a landscape all its own.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 63 G. Allen Johnson
    Jerry Maguire
    Now "Rod Tidwell," with Jerry Maguire as a supporting character, would be a movie to pay to see.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    Project Hail Mary
    It’s a masterpiece of a family popcorn movie, with eye-popping hand-crafted production design and outstanding creature design and puppetry work. This is the kind of movie that could have been made in the era of moon landings and space shuttles, when the general public found science trustworthy and wondrous.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Relic
    Just to re-emphasize, Relic is not a documentary about dementia, or a medically accurate look at the disease in the way that films such as “Away from Her” with Julie Christie or “Still Alice” with Julianne Moore were. It is a film that springs from the id, from deep-seated fear of a disease we don’t fully understand.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Leaning Into the Wind
    Leaning Into the Wind asks us to appreciate art for art’s sake, and that’s not a tough ask at all.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Flora and Son
    As always in Carney’s films, the music is emotional and lovely, with instruments played by its actors. The songs feel like they’re improvised on the spot, and Dublin is as inviting of a setting as usual.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    Citizen K
    That’s a strength in this documentary. It becomes clear that it’ll take a strongman to bring down a strongman, at least in this case.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 25 G. Allen Johnson
    Nightwatch
    What we get are quirky characters who are such cartoons that they undermine the effectiveness of the scare scenes (Brad Dourif's turn as the weird doctor is an example) and well-composed camera angles that mean nothing.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Girls of the Sun
    Girls of the Sun has an air of authenticity and grit that’s convincing, and Farahani, an Iranian-born actress, makes us care.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    No Sudden Move
    Even as everyone’s plans unravel, the film does not. The script, by Ed Solomon, is sharp, as is Soderbergh’s direction.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 G. Allen Johnson
    High Art
    Cholodenko's strategy of having the actors, in every scene -- whether it involves Lucy, the boyfriend or the Frame editors -- perform with an intonational flatness approaching monotone pretentiously undermines the effectiveness of her subject matter.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    The Usual Suspects
    This movie has everything but Humphrey Bogart, and I'm sure he's sorry he was unavailable.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Tigers Are Not Afraid
    Call it Buñuel meets Blumhouse, a film that is flawed but so full of ideas that it doesn’t matter.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    The Truth
    Deneuve has fun with her best role in years.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    The Fire Inside
    Women’s sports owes a debt to Shields. She finally has a movie that gives her deserved flowers.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    Encanto
    Every character, even minor ones, is well thought out and cast; the eye-popping visual design is not only inspired and mesmerizing but also functional; and memorable songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and others complement the story perfectly.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 G. Allen Johnson
    Jing Ke ci Qin Wang
    It's a more intelligent and dimensional epic than, say, "Anna and the King." Emperor is worth every single penny.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Nico, 1988
    Happiness might remain elusive in Nico’s last years, but after years of loneliness and fading fame, at least she can catch a glimpse from time to time.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 38 G. Allen Johnson
    Titanic
    No amount of excellent period costuming and brilliant set decoration can substitute for a good story and decent acting.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 G. Allen Johnson
    The Full Monty
    There isn't a whole lot of fancy subplotting, just a potpourri of funny and engaging characters.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Bring Her Back
    Bring Her Back belongs in the trapped-in-a-house subgenre of horror, but it has a creepy psychological depth and is filled with disturbing but impressively composed images. It really gets under your skin.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 G. Allen Johnson
    Raya and the Last Dragon
    Sure to be an instant animated classic as it expertly balances emotion, humor and social politics amid a backdrop of surreal, eye-popping visual beauty.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 G. Allen Johnson
    Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami
    A film with no context, it is a sporadically interesting, overlong look at the legend as she nears 70, still performing before her legions of fans.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 25 G. Allen Johnson
    Diamantino
    Diamantino is one of those movies that looks super fun to make but is mind-numbing to actually watch.
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