Jared Mobarak

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The Film Stage
For 641 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 65% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 31% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Jared Mobarak's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 High-Rise
Lowest review score: 25 The Dark Below
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 470 out of 641
  2. Mixed: 153 out of 641
  3. Negative: 18 out of 641
641 movie reviews
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    • 91 Metascore
    • 83 Jared Mobarak
    Cousins
    Since each one of these cousins has led such a distinct life from the others despite coming from the same place, everyone watching will be able to see a bit of themselves in one or more of them too. That’s why culturally relevant stories like Cousins are so crucial to understanding our world. They show us how alike we are no matter our religion, history, or skin color. To see their struggle is to sometimes know your role in its creation. To see their courage is to be inspired.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 50 Jared Mobarak
    Die in a Gunfight
    Your enjoyment is thus hinged on your ability to not care. Can you let the wild insanity be enough? I generally can and did for a large portion of Die in a Gunfight, but that still doesn’t make it more than a shallow lark to forget the minute you leave the theater.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    Great White
    The acting is good (Jakubenko and Bowden’s relationship feels especially real), the effects are great (moving above and below the waterline to show shark and lifeboat is a nice cinematic touch), and the suspense effectively earned my investment. This film might just surprise you too.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Jared Mobarak
    River
    There’s a way to let this new supernatural thriller co-exist with River’s emotional turmoil from start to finish as parallel interpretations of the same journey. Skye’s decision to segment them into two halves unfortunately prevents that marriage, leaving us to wonder if we’ve been led into a completely different movie as ambitions and motivations are turned on their head with zero regards towards where they originated.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    The Forever Purge
    With Native American activists (Zahn McClarnon), anti-Mexican cartel women vigilantes, and the eye-opening power of white guilt when indebted to someone for your life, The Forever Purge is erasing the line separating its high-concept fiction from the nation outside our window. This franchise has never looked quite so familiar.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    Sisters on Track
    Being on the track at all and using it to springboard themselves to higher education is the real victory here. It’s hard to dig ourselves out of trouble if we’re never given a chance. They got one and ran with it.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Werewolves Within
    Richardson and Vayntrub become the perfect straight-man characters to traverse the chaos with clear heads as everything devolves around them into petty grievances and homicidal bloodlust.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Gaia
    Bouwer utilizes a memorable aesthetic (think Annihilation) that personifies nature while also reducing humanity to its base yearning for satisfaction. And Kapp renders it all part of a bigger scheme revealed through dream-like trances stripped of subterfuge and hope of escape.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 91 Jared Mobarak
    Les Nôtres
    Director Jeanne Leblanc and co-writer Judith Baribeau pull no punches in portraying the malicious underbelly of the town at the center of Les nôtres.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    12 Mighty Orphans
    The delineation between good and evil maybe a bit too black-and-white throughout, but none of those aspects remove the potency of the lessons learned along the way.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer
    With excellent archival footage, first-hand accounts, animated portraits curated with relevant quotes, historians providing context, and the contemporary pursuit for justice, Rise Again proves itself to be an extensive deep dive into a subject that needs to be taught.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    La Dosis
    It’s using a taboo topic to compare/contrast how those existing within it can be angel and/or demon. It’s not, however, trying to comment on that topic, so don’t expect a message movie. This is a genre film utilizing its subject matter as a springboard towards drama.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 58 Jared Mobarak
    Infinite
    The funny thing is, though, that it does somehow work despite its flaws. Its A-to-B propulsion added onto Maikranz’s environmental framework might be basic and familiar, but it gets us to the end without too much manipulation.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    Holler
    We feel the futility of this reality with every exasperated sigh Blaze lets loose and defeated look that escapes Ruth’s usually stoic demeanor.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 83 Jared Mobarak
    The Dry
    The Dry reveals itself as an engaging thriller in the vein of fellow Australian production Top of the Lake with duplicitous figures sharing a contentious enough history to confuse facts with emotions thanks to having a familiar face heading up the investigation.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 58 Jared Mobarak
    Caveat
    The visuals ooze creepiness, even if the payoff doesn’t arrive until the very end.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    Into the Darkness
    The title De forbandede år [Into the Darkness] isn’t therefore solely about Hitler’s shadow absorbing Denmark into its empire. It’s about the insidiousness of white supremacy consuming those who believed themselves immune days earlier.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 83 Jared Mobarak
    The Oak Room
    The Oak Room is playing games with us as well.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    Five Years North
    By spending time with both sides, Five Years North (titled after the period of time many Guatemalans stay in the US en route to making money for a planned return) is able to foreground its big takeaway: privilege.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Plan B
    Verma and Moroles stick together even when things get too crazy to believe—each ready to take a bullet for the other if necessary. Their comedic timing is only outdone by their authentic, heartfelt terror about the unknown. Never let your fear of what others might think outweigh the fear of letting it dictate who you become.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Two Gods
    Real heroes are always one misstep away from being the cautionary tale they hope to prevent others from becoming. That’s why Hanif’s story is worth telling. That he can flirt with relapse, hit emotional brick walls that would defeat the best of us, and still look beyond today to realize the value of his life and that of those battling alongside him regardless of age, potential, or opportunity is why he’s an inspiration.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 42 Jared Mobarak
    The Djinn
    I wonder if the budget was perhaps too small to overcome since every moment The Djinn appears ready to transcend, it tragically deflates. Or perhaps its conceit deserved short film status instead. Going beyond twenty minutes simply isn’t viable.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Jared Mobarak
    The Water Man
    Chavis and Miller excel at living in the complicated areas of their characters’ psyches and the supporting cast doesn’t miss a beat in allowing them the room to do so, I think Oyelowo’s refusal to go all the way with the fantasy makes what little there is trivial.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Undergods
    Moya has a great eye for locales and his production and art designers go above and beyond utilizing what Eastern Europe has to offer.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    Silo
    The After School Special vibe at the back of Marshall Burnette’s Silo isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. Because beyond creating a captivatingly suspenseful premise with which to build a plot, grain entrapment is a significant enough issue to demand a path towards awareness as much as cinematic entertainment.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    The Columnist
    The result is entertaining satire with a dark edge of relatable excitement.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Jared Mobarak
    Paper Spiders
    For director Inon Shampanier and co-writer Natalie Shampanier to tackle something so complex is therefore commendable whether or not Paper Spiders proves a complete success.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Jared Mobarak
    The Paper Tigers
    Picking one direction and sticking to it may have served the whole better, but at least these issues can be dismissed as hiccups more than deal-breakers. They hold it back without sinking it. Credit the actors for this truth because they ensure the fun never ends.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    Cliff Walkers
    The seasoned director does a good job mixing in some kinetic action too, whether a high-speed car chase or multiple instances of one person desperately trying to shake off his/her assailants in pursuit.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Jared Mobarak
    The County
    The County shows that it only takes one person to beat the drum for change to occur. But it also posits just how sinister the opposition can be when its livelihood of means is threatened in the process. I think Hákonarson could have gone further with this aspect of the film because there’s some real suspense built as far as who should be blamed for the tragedy that sparks Inga’s crusade.
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