John Berra

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Screen Daily
For 35 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 62% higher than the average critic
  • 11% same as the average critic
  • 27% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

John Berra's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 69
Highest review score: 90 BuyBust
Lowest review score: 30 7 Guardians of the Tomb
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 35
  3. Negative: 2 out of 35
35 movie reviews
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    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Viet and Nam
    Viet And Nam may studiously occupy a certain world cinema niche, but Truong’s flourishes ensure that it offers a richly personal blend of the authentic and the abstract.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Mongrel
    Anchored by a lived-in performance from Wanlop Rungkumjad as a bedraggled migrant caregiver striving to maintain his humanity despite being exploited by his employer, this is a deeply sobering expansion of Chiang’s thematic focus.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Brief History of a Family
    It is a premise that facilitates a forensic examination of China’s family planning model within the quasi-futuristic trappings of its urbanised present. It is also paradoxically highly specific in its subject yet incredibly difficult to pin down in terms of its broader identity, as it skilfully skirts genre lines.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    The Goldfinger
    As a film concerned with the power of perception, The Goldfinger largely succeeds as a style exercise.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Return to Dust
    It packs a quiet emotional punch.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Streetwise
    Streetwise is too familiar in terms of plot beats to completely stand out from the crowd but its unerring sense of place will nonetheless make Na a director to watch.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Ride On
    It’s rather meta since the backstory riffs on the star’s life and reputation, yet Yang gives the proceedings cross-generational family appeal through focusing on the protagonist’s deep bond with his steed.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Full River Red
    Its blend of styles and sensibilities may be occasionally confounding, but Full River Red is certainly never less than entertaining in its richly inventive mining of history.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 John Berra
    The Wandering Earth II
    There is certainly much to admire about this ambitious homegrown sci-fi saga, even if it feels rather protracted with the running time clocking in 45 minutes longer than its predecessor.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Love After Love
    Although rarely as compelling as the estimable director’s finest achievements, it certainly merits attention as a sumptuously detailed evocation of a rarefied world defined as much by a unique set of rules as its abundant material comforts.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 John Berra
    Railway Heroes
    In a bid for blockbuster status, Yang strives to balance an air of reverence with increasingly ramped-up set pieces. It’s not always a seamless blend, but he certainly displays impressive technical proficiency.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Sheep Without a Shepherd
    Although the premise is undoubtedly far-fetched, Malaysian director Sam Quah succeeds in constructing the kind of tightly wound suspense piece for which disbelief can be suspended.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Cliff Walkers
    He may not add anything new to the spy genre, but Zhang knows how to deliver a ripping yarn with the requisite panache.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    The Paper Tigers
    It’s a largely harmonious blend of action, comedy and drama which derives much of its buoyancy from three well-cast leads who generate a credible sense of reconnection.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 John Berra
    Detective Chinatown 3
    Even when it is more dedicated to brand extension than the art of deduction, Detective Chinatown 3 exudes a heightened zaniness which is most welcome in today’s largely homogenised franchise landscape.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    A Writer's Odyssey
    The result often verges on sensory overload but is nonetheless largely coherent and frequently inventive while evincing a determinedly dark sensibility.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 John Berra
    Vanguard
    More of branding exercise than a fully fledged star vehicle, this fast moving but instantly forgettable adventure allows Chan to participate in the set pieces while ceding the really strenuous activity to his up-and-coming co-stars.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Jiang Ziya
    Impressively for a piece of foundation-stage universe building, Jiang Ziya manages to hint at a world beyond the frame without mitigating its individual pleasures.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 John Berra
    The Best Is Yet to Come
    It is the film’s ever pertinent call for objectivity and humanity in the daily news cycle which makes it stirringly relevant.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Better Days
    Better Days may slide into somewhat hollow artfulness, but it’s hard not to be moved by its genuine concerns.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Only Cloud Knows
    Only Cloud Knows doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel as the catharsis of the final act hinges on revelations, but what could have been rather mournful instead becomes a poignant celebration of life thanks to Feng’s deft handling of patently sincere material.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Dying to Survive
    Regardless of where it lands politically, Dying to Survive is a rousing piece of torn-from-the-headlines storytelling that delivers laughs and tears in equal measure.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    Cities of Last Things
    The film is at its most arresting in its slick neo noir middle section.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 John Berra
    The Third Wife
    If this focus on fleeting pleasures occasionally risks exoticizing the subject, Mayfair’s sensory approach to illustrating an almost unbearable absence of female fulfillment achieves a powerful universal resonance.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 John Berra
    One Child Nation
    One Child Nation is an utterly compelling documentary that examines the consequences of this staunchly enforced ‘social experiment’. If it stops short of making an explicit political statement, a series of powerful testimonies leaves a harrowing micro-level impression.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 John Berra
    Buffalo Boys
    This is a film that often feels more assembled than directed, crucially lacking the sheer verve that would enable it to transcend the influences that it proudly wears on its dusty sleeve.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Last Letter
    Last Letter is snugly nestled at the sugarcoated end of the director’s tonal spectrum with its tale of a family tragedy which revives a high school love triangle decades after it had seemingly ended in heartbreaking fashion.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 John Berra
    BuyBust
    As much as BuyBust seems to be engineered for maximum excitement, it’s not without the complexities that are typical of Matti’s ambitious genre pieces.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 John Berra
    Lobster Cop
    With more inspired lunacy or smarter plotting, Lobster Cop could have been a surprising treat. As it is, this is perfectly digestible light entertainment that won’t have anyone coming back for seconds.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 John Berra
    Us & Them
    Us and Them may be too familiar to thoroughly distinguish itself from the spate of similarly themed love stories that have been churned out following the breakthrough success of Zhao Wei’s So Young (2013), but it’s certainly one of the more nuanced entries in the cycle and bodes well for Liu’s future behind the camera.
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