John Hartl

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Film.com, The Seattle Times
For 544 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

John Hartl's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 The Innocents
Lowest review score: 10 Drop Dead Gorgeous
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 340 out of 544
  2. Mixed: 113 out of 544
  3. Negative: 91 out of 544
544 movie reviews
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    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 John Hartl
    Noises Off...
    If you've ever been in a play, you may have a good time at Noises Off anyway. And what stage cast could top this one? Caine has rarely had a chance to display his versatility so entertainingly, Ritter always seems to blossom under Bogdanovich's direction, Elliott finds a surprising variety in his one-note part, while Hagerty makes the most of her oddly appealing brand of hysteria. [21 March 1992, p.C5]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 56 Metascore
    • 63 John Hartl
    A Very Brady Sequel
    Crude as it sometimes is, this sequel should please plenty of Bradyphiles. But No. 3 might be overkill. [23 Aug 1996, p.F5]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 54 Metascore
    • 63 John Hartl
    Yanks
    The director, John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy"), and writer, Colin Welland ("Chariots of Fire"), have captured the period with contagious affection, but there are only two first-rate performances to carry the story for 141 minutes. [03 Oct 1991, p.F3]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 45 Metascore
    • 63 John Hartl
    Joe Versus the Volcano
    Shanley demonstrates a fresh, giddy talent for visualizing his eccentric comedy ideas. [9 Mar 1990, p.20]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 42 Metascore
    • 63 John Hartl
    RoboCop 2
    Kershner never succeeds in creating anything more than a well-done carbon copy, self-consciously recycling themes and visual ideas from the first film while adding very little that he can call his own. If you've seen Verhoeven's RoboCop, there's no compelling reason to rush out and catch this talented imitation. [22 June 1990, p.22]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    The Limey
    Perhaps you have to have lived through the 1960s to relate.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Clay Pigeons
    An OK debut effort, but like so many "Pulp Fiction" wannabes, it lacks freshness and energy.
    • Film.com
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Up at the Villa
    Somewhere around the beginning of Hour Two, the narrative loses momentum, and Pino Donaggio's molasses-thick score begins to drag everything down with it. The ending also lacks the surprise twist that seems to be promised .
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    10 Things I Hate About You
    Unfailingly energetic, 10 Things is like a puppy that can't stop wagging its tail, begging for attention...Even more than "Cruel Intentions," this movie plays like an awkward high-school production of a classic.
    • Film.com
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Dr T and the Women
    It's a terrific showcase for Richard Gere, Shelley Long, Farrah Fawcett and a number of other actors who almost seemed to have been written off.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    A Civil Action
    All the ingredients are here for both a smashing courtroom drama and a legitimate tearjerker, but the film ultimately doesn't have the technique or the heart to deliver either.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Mumford
    Goes out of its way to suppress most natural dramatic conflict, so it's left to the actors to carry the day.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Fantasia 2000
    For all its flaws, Fantasia 2000 is certainly something to see.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Defying Gravity
    Has its clunky and wince-worthy moments, it does explore some new territory, and there are moments when it's quite fresh and moving.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Erin Brockovich
    Soderbergh demands a lot from his star here, and she delivers.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Kadosh
    Gitai, a veteran documentary director, refuses to find an easy resolution to the story, and that will frustrate as many people as it pleases.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski
    The evidence Herzog serves up is impossible to dismiss.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Outside Providence
    Entertaining as it often is, Outside Providence feels as if it were a collection of installments from an unusually raunchy television series.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 John Hartl
    Office Space
    Livingston is especially good at capturing Peter's passive rebelliousness, which suggests the suddenly uncooperative worker who defies employer logic in Herman Melville's "Bartleby."
    • Film.com
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Johnny Mnemonic
    The movie is a series of ostentatious effects, without much sense of narrative momentum or rhythmic pacing, and it leaves you feeling like you've landed on a treadmill. [26 May 1995, p.E3]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Judgment Night
    Judgment Night is almost completely lacking in conviction and originality. But Leary does a fair Dennis Hopper imitation, Gooding does his best with an insulting role, and the ending is witty enough not to give us the undying villain it leads us to expect. [15 Oct 1993, p.D27]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Boiler Room
    Fails to single out one plot thread and make a claim to it.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    White Sands
    The performances are more interesting than the convoluted plot. [24 Apr 1992, p.26]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Scream
    Doesn't know when to stop with the jokes about other horror movies and settle down to tell a coherent story.
    • Film.com
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
    This may be the easiest installment in the series for parents to sit through.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Trespass
    It carries the stale odor of something that was stuck in a drawer long ago and could easily have gathered more dust. Worst of all, there's something inauthentic and phony about the way Gale and Zemeckis crank out racial taunts and four-letter-word dialogue. The result is a movie that isn't just a throwaway but borderline offensive. [26 Dec 1992, p.C7]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Bringing Out the Dead
    Doesn't seem to have anything to say.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    A Dog of Flanders
    It can be treacly -- but in a crude way, it makes its point.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter
    Story II does feature some of the creatures from the first film (the luckdragon, the rockbiter), and Miller almost pulls off the finale, which suggests the emotional impact of the original film. But there's a lot of dawdling on the way.[09 Feb 1991, p.C10]
    • The Seattle Times
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 John Hartl
    Arizona Dream
    Depp, who has never looked so angelic, is covering familiar ground here, playing another Gilbert Grape type who's involved with an older woman. [9 Sept 1994, p.H34]
    • The Seattle Times
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