Kevin Thomas

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Los Angeles Times
For 1,782 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 75% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 24% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Kevin Thomas' Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 Grand Hotel
Lowest review score: 0 The Tiger and the Snow
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,177 out of 1782
  2. Mixed: 442 out of 1782
  3. Negative: 163 out of 1782
1782 movie reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Cat's Eye
    Because of King's phenomenal popularity as a master of the comically macabre, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis has stinted on nothing to bring these tales alive. This means that the special effects are impeccable and Giorgio Postiglione's production design meticulous and inspired. Yet it's the well-drawn characters, plus the brisk, stylish direction of Teague and superb camerawork of Cardiff, that make it work.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    !Women Art Revolution
    In her vibrant !Women Art Revolution Hershman focuses on a number of the many women who created what has been called the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    The School of Flesh
    A handsome work of authoritative yet understated style, responsive to mood, subtleties and nuance in exploring its especially well-drawn and intelligent lovers.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Nora
    The filmmakers' special triumph lies in the inspired way that in the nick of time it draws its story to a close, with Nora and Joyce struggling toward a new level of understanding.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    En la ciudad sin límites
    Somber yet not without flashes of humor, The City of No Limits unfolds with a steady, cumulative power to a climax of surprises within surprises.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Big Trouble
    Deliciously funny.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Strayed
    What makes this film special, as in his other films, is the getting there. Téchiné is the master of subtle shifts in mood, an acute delineator of psychological interplay, and therefore demands the utmost of his actors.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 100 Kevin Thomas
    Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
    May well be Imamura's funniest film; it is also one of his most accomplished. It is the work of a mature artist who has kept his adventurous spirit alive, which he has expressed in a complex and risky work carried off with an effortlessness that comes only from wisdom and experience.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Tears of the Black Tiger
    It is astonishing to realize that the highly confident Tears of the Black Tiger marks the directorial debut of Sasanatieng, after having written two movies hugely successful in Thailand, yet in truth he belongs to a long line of first-rate filmmakers who understand the wisdom of taking big chances the first time at bat.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Kevin Thomas
    House of 1000 Corpses
    The endless gore and violence make the experience torturous -- and not just for the victims in the movie.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Kevin Thomas
    Thumbsucker
    Thumbsucker aims high but swerves too frequently between the engaging and the credibility-defying to be satisfying.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 100 Kevin Thomas
    The Cruise
    The Cruise validates beautifully a life that is its own validation.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Dung che sai duk
    "Ashes" is glorious and ultimately wrenching, but it's a tough journey.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Beeswax
    Beeswax has a rhythmic quality, and it eschews conventional plotting for sharp observation of human strengths and foibles.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    I Went Down
    The way I Went Down, with its lovely score, plays out under Breathnach's gentle, compassionate touch becomes wryly amusing, ironic and entirely satisfying. Its cast is a glory, adept at setting off a sly humor with a touch of pathos, and it brings to the fore Brendan Gleeson, so good in so many supporting parts, as a seriocomic powerhouse in the central role. [1 July 1998, p.F4]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The Cooler
    Director Wayne Kramer and co-writer Frank Hannah pull off a sleight-of-hand trick here, playing a gritty surface reality against dark Vegas mythology and getting away with it through a combination of shrewd, witty characterization and sure-footed storytelling skills.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Buffalo '66
    Alternately satirical and romantic, full of pain and humor, Buffalo '66 is a winner.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Butterfly Tongues
    A beautiful, harrowing film of understated power and perception that affords Fernando Fernán Gómez, the Spanish cinema's great, weathered veteran, yet another of his unforgettable performances.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Small Time Crooks
    Handsome as all Allen films are, and it proceeds with the brisk, sophisticated air of throwaway confidence and lack of pretense that we expect from the contemporary master of grown-up comedy.
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Monster's Ball
    Hank is but the latest of Thornton's strikingly taciturn characters in a whole string of movies, but for Berry, Leticia represents a big-screen breakthrough.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The In-Laws
    As the film's linchpin, Falk comes across as a crummy, low-life Pied Piper with a stupefyingly irresistible charm. [18 Aug 1985, p.5]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Forgiving Dr. Mengele
    The very title suggests that this compelling and provocative film is going to be different from other Holocaust documentaries.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Double Team
    This is one slam-banger that looks to connect with action fans at home as well as abroad.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The Girl Next Door
    Insightful and thoughtful.
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    The Last September
    A luminous, piercing film from the Elizabeth Bowen novel, richly evokes a world of privilege on the verge of disintegration.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
    The look and feel of the film is entirely beguiling. It is deliberately not a period piece, heavy with dated styles and fads, but instead evokes a sense of timelessness.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Kevin Thomas
    Little Lili
    La Petite Lili itself is pretty good, but it is also assured to the point of glibness.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The Company of Wolves
    By the time this distinctive 1986 film is over we have been treated to a lavish fugue on the themes of childhood, wolves, eroticism and myth. [11 Jun 1989, p.2]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Le bossu
    Splendid entertainment, young in spirit but accomplished in all aspects with the fullness of spirit and sense of ease that comes only with experience.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Cotton Mary
    Not only is it Merchant's best directorial effort to date but also is among the finest films the Merchant Ivory company has ever made.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    Quo Vadis?
    Kawalerowicz directs with briskness and vigor but cannot keep the first half of his film from slipping into tedium.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Signs & Wonders
    Abounds in psychological suspense and plays like a mystery film, even though the mystery at hand may be purely one of the human heart.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The Elephant in the Living Room
    This impeccably made film is chock-full of enlightening and sometimes bizarre moments.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Live Flesh
    Live Flesh is an effortlessly articulated tragicomedy by Pedro Almodovar, a world-renowned filmmaker at the height of his powers. [30 Jan 1998]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    The Hidden
    The Hidden has enough smarts that it doesn’t need to be so total and unrelieved a massacre. The caustic dark humor with which it begins ends up drowning in an ocean of blood.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Vodka Lemon
    An appealingly wry little film that is as appetizing as its title.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The Wild Thornberrys Movie
    A witty and delightful Christmas present for the entire family.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Goyangileul butaghae
    There is a wonderful natural quality to Jeong's storytelling that is enhanced by cinematographer Young-hwan Choi's graceful camerawork and by a dynamic, contemporary score from M&F.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Intimacy
    A triumph for all concerned, it is especially so for the multitalented Chereau.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Adorenarin doraibu
    A rip-roaring romantic comedy that's as funny as it is light on its feet.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Monsieur Ibrahim
    Surely there is room in the movies for a small film with an unabashed, even old-fashioned but timeless humanist spirit -- and a triumphant portrayal by a veteran star that is likely to be regarded as one of the year's best.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    A Housekeeper
    A summer treat for sophisticated moviegoers -- graceful and serious, yet not overly so. This easy-to-take movie gets everything just right and is a pleasure to watch.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Jump Tomorrow
    Many try but few succeed as well as writer-director Joel Hopkins with his beguiling first feature, Jump Tomorrow, in giving a fresh spin to '30s screwball comedy.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Così ridevano
    The sweeping, confounding conclusion therefore unfolds with a beauty and an ease that seem truly organic. The Way We Laughed has that feeling of being a work of art.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    Chain Camera
    On the whole, Chain Camera is encouraging.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Girls Can't Swim
    Birot is an engaging storyteller who can inspire luminous, spontaneous portrayals, but her ending is so drastic that it feels unearned, a note of bleakness struck merely for its own sake.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Alice et Martin
    Boldly structured, intensely focused and briskly paced, Alice and Martin has a tremendous emotional density that places the utmost demands upon its actors--and asks a lot of audiences, too.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Burnt Money
    It is a bravura work that attests to Pineyro's command of a style rich in texture and nuance and also of multilayered material.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Creature from the Black Lagoon
    A drive-in classic that is one of the most cherished horror pictures of the '50s. [30 Oct 1997, p.F17]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Chopper
    A most ambitious first film. Dominik pulls it off impressively, assisted by a selfless cast, a driving score by Mick Harvey, and gifted cameramen Kevin Hayward and Geoffrey Hall.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Some Came Running
    A rambling fat memoir about a soldier returning home to a Midwestern city, where his roughhouse, bravura ways tear the delicate social fabric apart, has lots of sleazy, low-life glamour on the screen. Scenarist John Patrick and director Vincente Minnelli made it work in this memorable 1959 film.
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Henry Fool
    The result is a career milestone [for Hal Hartley] and a film that could become a landmark in American independent cinema.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Mule Skinner Blues
    An affectionate documentary about a free-spirited group.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Biandan, guniang
    The result is a film that is wise, fatalistic and romantic in just the right proportions--in the best noir tradition.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Play It to the Bone
    A wonderfully entertaining, raunchy, hilarious and savage foray into the lives of a couple of beat-up middle-weight boxers who get a second chance.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Shaolin Soccer
    An infectious knockabout kung fu comedy with amusing special effects combined with breathtaking stunts.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Gypsy 83
    They are tremendously appealing, and under Stephens' direction, Anson Scoville as an Amish runaway and Paulo Costanzo as a closeted gay college fraternity man are also memorable.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Brotherhood
    Nicolo Donato's bleak yet compelling Brotherhood, an unsparing neo-noir with the structure and inevitability of classic drama.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Office Space
    Bristling with shrewd observation, inspired humor and all-around smarts, Office Space is a winner about a guy who's beginning to feel like a loser.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Hustle & Flow
    Unfolds in the satisfying fashion of classic Hollywood movies that strike a balance between grit and heart.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Winter Sleepers
    Offers a riveting depiction of the classic collision of fate and character, with geography in this instance playing a crucial role.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Bread and Tulips
    Too lethargic and strung-out for its own good. Thankfully, it casts a pleasant, amusing and touching spell anyway, but more energy and a markedly shorter running time might have turned a sunny diversion into something more special.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Bon voyage
    Not long into this most exhilarating and enjoyable of movies, it becomes reminiscent of such vintage jewels as Carol Reed's simultaneously thrilling and amusing "Night Train to Munich."
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Kevin Thomas
    The Long Riders
    A striking Western but empty as it is elegant. [25 Jan 1987, p.5]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Archangel
    So much for the plot; what's important is Maddin's witty, knowing evocation of vintage movie kitsch. [11 Dec 1991, p.F11]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Walking and Talking
    It's a downright refreshing experience to be presented with people you can identify with, recognize yourself in them, without being asked to like them.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    Drunken Master
    As rambling as a Keystone Kops comedy (which it resembles in many ways), it's slapstick to the max, and thus likely to be a bit tedious except to dedicated martial arts fans. [20 Dec 1993, p.F5]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 45 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Defying Gravity
    A straightforward drama done with a maturity and conviction impressive for a first film.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Down Terrace
    Down Terrace is long on talk but generates its own internal rhythms and pace that makes it feel bracing and vibrantly alive.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Son of the Bride
    A warm and affectionate Argentine film of wide appeal that is an Academy Award nominee in the foreign-language category.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    Dear Diary
    This single joke rapidly gets pretty tired; you soon wish you could tell Moretti to try slapping on some calamine lotion--and getting on with his life. But stringing us along--with varying effectiveness-- is his life.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Erleuchtung garantiert
    As funny as it is nourishing, and it has stellar performances from Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav Peter Wohler, who play off each other like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Purple Butterfly
    As atmospheric and moody as a film noir, the stylish, sometimes perplexing Purple Butterfly is a remarkable period piece, evoking the bustling, dense and increasingly dangerous Shanghai of the '30s
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Warriors of Heaven and Earth
    May be a period piece but there's nothing antiquated about it except an overly populated, initially hard-to-follow plot.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    The Shining
    There are moments so visually stunning only a Kubrick could pull them off, yet the film is too grandiose to be the jolter that horror pictures are expected to be. Both those expecting significance from Kubrick and those merely looking for a good scare may be equally disappointed.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
    A brisk, handsomely designed film in which its hardware, sturdy as it is, never overwhelms its humanity.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    El Crimen Perfecto (The Perfect Crime)
    Perfectly delightful.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Santitos
    Has the same kind of humor, charm and sensuality that made "Like Water for Chocolate" the most popular foreign-language film until "Life Is Beautiful" came along.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    The Italian Job
    A fast and furious action-adventure. The film's comedy counts for as much as the clever and risky ways in which Wahlberg and company go after the nasty Norton, who has holed up in a Bel-Air mansion with a world-class security system.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Come Undone
    Brings maximum subtlety, nuance and insight into the timeless story of first love.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Jude
    Michael Winterbottom's handsome, uncompromising film. Jude glows with Eccleston's and Winslet's performances and with those in supporting roles.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The President's Last Bang
    An outrageous, savagely comical account of the disastrous circumstances surrounding the assassination of dictatorial South Korean President Park Chung Hee in 1979.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Kevin Thomas
    Opera
    Opera, while undeniably entertaining, winds up overwhelming its suspense with morbidity. [13 Jun 1990, p.F6]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    The Sentinel
    A complex and truly original film. [19 Jul 1993, p.F7]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Kevin Thomas
    Running on Empty
    Sophisticated, uncompromising and refreshingly original, it is one of those rare films which is likely to mean as much to teens as it does to their parents.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    In Search of Mozart
    Made to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth last year, In Search of Mozart is challenging and exemplary.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    An Ideal Husband
    Parker has shaped the play to make it more film-friendly and relevant, but he has done so with such subtlety you would have to be a Wilde authority even to notice.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    Edge of Seventeen
    A classic gay coming-of-age story, told with the utmost perception, sensitivity and humor by writer Todd Stephens and director David Moreton. [16 Jul 1998, p.F16]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Kevin Thomas
    I Vitelloni [re-release]
    It was this ineffably poignant semiautobiographical reverie that unleashed fully Fellini's shimmering, flowing poetic style, echoed perfectly in a plaintive score by Fellini's potently evocative collaborator, Nino Rota.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Kevin Thomas
    Life and Debt
    The damning commentary and revelations about the perils of globalization, not just for Jamaica but developing countries the world over, do come across loud and clear.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    A Decade Under the Influence
    It is often remarked that the years between "Easy Rider" (1969) and "Star Wars" (1977) marked a second golden age in American filmmaking, and this documentary, as comprehensive as it is incisive, is a reminder of just how many terrific pictures came out during those years.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Kevin Thomas
    The Business of Strangers
    Crisp and provocative, and no small amount of its pleasure derives from Channing's dazzling performance.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 30 Kevin Thomas
    XXY
    The genitally ambiguous as well as transsexuals and gay people deserve more than XXY's good intentions.
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