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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    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Fallen Angels
    Fallen Angels is proof that Wong will try anything, and the result is an eclectic mix of images and disjointed editing, sounds and rhythms that are at times as powerful as any piece of filmmaking likely to be seen all year. It can also, every once in awhile, be tedious and trying.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Normal
    Like “Nobody” and “Nobody 2”, “Normal” is a satisfyingly amusing, get-in and get-out (all three films are about 90 minutes) piece of violent mayhem.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Penguin Highway
    The joy of discovery is at the heart of Penguin Highway, a delightful new anime that is about the mysteries of life, both scientific and personal. Oh, and it’s about penguins, too.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    I Know What You Did Last Summer
    Look, I Know What You Did Last Summer is fun, recapturing a ’90s slasher film vibe. It’s no “Bring Her Back,” the Aussie horror chiller released around Memorial Day, but it’s not meant to be...But kids, if you ever run into trouble on the Fourth of July, just call 911 and file a police report. You’ll be OK.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Spontaneous
    Bloody good.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Lorne
    Lorne makes it clear that nearly everyone in the entertainment industry who is known for creating laughs owes a debt of gratitude to the master.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Wolf Creek
    What's Christmas Day without a good serial killer movie?
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Rental Family
    It wears its heart on its sleeve and is a bit too sentimental, but it is sweet and pleasing.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Breakthrough
    The story is well-told, but what makes it interesting is that each character confronts his or her own crisis — even Tommie, the paramedic who rescued him. It also drives home the point that a seemingly small tragic event can affect an entire community.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    MaXXXine
    MaXXXine, clearly boasting a higher budget, stands as a bloody valentine to Hollywood. It’s a cesspool, all right, but it’s our cesspool, he seems to say, and guess what? Every once in a while true art comes out of it.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    The Third Murder
    A consistently absorbing, often gripping, sometimes muddled whydidhedoit (because we already know whodunit), The Third Murder moves along Kore-eda’s customary careful, incisive pace, yet manages to be, for the most part, a riveting legal thriller.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Snow White
    Efficiently directed by Marc Webb (the Andrew Garfield “Spider-Man” movies) with an excellent production design by Kave Quinn, “Snow White” is everything you need it to be and nothing more.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    The Third Wife
    What we have here is a small, delicate mini-masterpiece, and bright new talent behind the camera.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love
    Leonard & Marianne suggests that these were two immensely intelligent and talented people who never found happiness. The total love each person sought over the decades may have been right there all along. Or at least, it was there, in decades past, on Hydra.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Far from the Tree
    There is much to think about in Far From the Tree, a worthy and at times tender film.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    L.A. Confidential
    "The Big Sleep" and "The Maltese Falcon" echo loudly throughout.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Last Breath
    This is a lean, fast-moving and effective movie, with an undersea world that is as vast and lonely as outer space.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Unrest
    Like many first-person medical documentaries — such as the recent “Gleason” — Unrest can be really hard to watch. Brea’s film, though, might be the beginning of hope for millions of sufferers who might see the film, and could be a conversation starter for additional funding into research.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Dolphin Reef
    Overall, Dolphin Reef is spectacular. The filmmaking team does an excellent job of detailing the delicate ecosystem that supports these creatures. Although Echo and his fellow dolphins are the stars, there is a vast supporting cast of humpback whales, sharks, razorfish, sea turtles, mantis shrimp, parrotfish.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    The Fencer
    The Fencer, directed by Klaus Haro, is basically a “Hoosiers” remake — a true story set in a 1950s small town, in which a coach with a mysterious past arrives to shape a rag-tag bunch of kids into tournament contenders (there’s even a halfhearted romance that seems thrown in at the last minute in both films) — but that’s OK. It’s a winner here, too.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Jules
    Marc Turtletaub’s gentle, winning comedy Jules is technically a science-fiction film, but it is actually about loneliness and aging, much like the classic ’80s audience-pleaser “Cocoon,” which this film often resembles.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    The Phoenician Scheme
    If there’s hope in these films, it’s in a reestablishment of human connection. As father and daughter, Del Toro and Threapleton (daughter of Kate Winslet), establish real chemistry as people willing to change for the better.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Good Night Oppy
    White structures the documentary as an absorbing adventure tale, and that it is.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Lizzie
    Directed with restraint by Craig William Macneill, Lizzie never quite gets to what made Lizzie Borden tick, but it’s possible no film ever could. But it remains an entirely watchable drama thanks in no small part to the charisma of its two lead women.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    20 Days in Mariupol
    Although the war in Ukraine is still raging, 20 Days in Mariupol is already a historical document. So much has happened in the war in the 14 months since these events, and graphic, front-lines reporting is now ubiquitous. However, Chernov’s team was among the first to document what many say are war crimes by Russian troops, and it provided an early window into the conflict for Western news media.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Rebel in the Rye
    Salinger, who died in 2010 at age 91, probably would have hated this movie. If Jones doesn’t quite pull it off, it is at least a film of many pleasures and a thought-provoking look at American literature’s most famous loner.
    • 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.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Kusama - Infinity
    A fascinating guide to its subject and her work, but the emotional wall Kusama lives behind remains unbroken. She is a loner and a mystery.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    In Search of Greatness
    Obviously, sports fans will get the most out of In Search of Greatness. But there are self-help tropes for everyone.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 75 G. Allen Johnson
    Superpower
    Superpower, one of several documentaries about the war in Ukraine, doesn’t break any news, but Penn, a two-time Oscar-winning actor and director of several feature films, is a skilled storyteller. He and Kaufman do an excellent job of providing a contextual overview of the conflict, from its origins — the trajectory of both Russia and Ukraine in the post-Soviet era — to its political stakes, the mood of the Ukrainian people and the fascinating man who is leading them.
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