Martin Tsai

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Collider, Los Angeles Times, The A.V. Club, TheWrap
For 320 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 35% higher than the average critic
  • 12% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 15.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Martin Tsai's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 50
Highest review score: 100 The Emperor's New Clothes
Lowest review score: 0 Christmas Eve
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 92 out of 320
  2. Mixed: 132 out of 320
  3. Negative: 96 out of 320
320 movie reviews
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per page
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Tiger & Bunny: The Rising
    The mash-up of the superhero and buddy-cop genres turns out fresh and vital, offering glimpses of a future where reality television and drones proliferate and where conglomerates with bottom lines underwrite crime fighters.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Hit by Lightning
    An offbeat rom-com that ventures down the film-noir path, Hit by Lightning manages to make dark comedy fresh by combining two formulas.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Bound to Vengeance
    Even jaded viewers who have gathered vague ideas from clues planted by screenwriters Rock Shaink and Keith Kjornes about how things will ultimately play out might find a genuine surprise or two in store.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Unsullied
    It's almost inconceivable that this effective, nerve-racking thriller is the first feature from former NFL defensive end Simeon Rice. It requires the usual suspension of disbelief, and pacing problems are a sign of Rice's directorial inexperience. But the tension he creates is unrelenting.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll
    The film proves much more valuable as a historical allegory than as a musical survey.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Know How
    The musical numbers are inconsistent, ranging from radio-ready to after-school-special quality. Some story lines pale compared with the others. But overall, this is an immense achievement.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Prescription Thugs
    Despite [Bell's] casual aura, the filmmaker is eloquent and thoughtful. He argues that Big Pharma merely services consumer demand for quick fixes with "magic" pills, bringing his cautionary tale full circle.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Print the Legend
    Filmmakers Luis Lopez and J. Clay Tweel achieve the fairness and balance so rarely seen in documentaries nowadays.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    East Side Sushi
    Though the film has trappings of a crowd-pleaser like Jon Favreau’s “Chef,” writer-director Anthony Lucero has left much thematically to unpack.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Brothers ... Blood Against Blood
    Bollywood veteran Jackie Shroff, assuming Nick Nolte's part as the recovering alcoholic father, delivers the kind of acting reel that would guarantee an Oscar nomination for some Hollywood actors. It's a pleasure to marvel at his performance alone.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine
    The film is enough to prompt soul-searching among parents, educators and the LGBT community on how to provide adequate guidance and support for LGBT youths.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Hanna Ranch
    Without passing judgment, Dickman illustrates how Hanna's way of life and personal convictions compelled his politics. He also allows Steve Hanna a fair shot at presenting his version of the events.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Every Last Child
    The film couldn't be more timely and germane for the American audience. If it weren't a documentary, it would seem like a post-apocalyptic allegory of our own vaccination debate.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    The Tainted Veil
    The Tainted Veil resists taking a stance, and both sides of the argument are compelling and persuasive.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Echo Park
    Mastretta does beautifully realize the fluidity and messiness of coupling.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Stan Lee
    Gelb’s documentary gives viewers an overview of who Lee was and what made him tick, but mostly within the context of comics.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    MI-5
    The cast and crew work like a well-oiled machine, delivering the quality drama we've come to expect from British TV imports.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Laugh Killer Laugh
    Self-discovery through artistic expression is often trite, but Frank's rehabilitation and transformation readily win us over when we're least expecting it.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Bears
    Bears has warmth and fuzziness in spades, especially when the lot of them snoozes on logs. Amid its heaping serving of cuddliness, though, the film doesn't sugarcoat the harsh reality and unforgiving elements with which the bears have to contend.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
    Burton’s vision from 1988 remains fully intact. If anything, he has expanded on world-building. It’s the best possible outcome from the studio’s blatant cash grab as a singular vision is rigorously and thoughtfully preserved in the storytelling.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    The Great Invisible
    The Great Invisible gives voice to many of the previously nameless and faceless victims of the disaster. Some worked on the oil rig that fateful day; others have suffered its environmental and economic consequences.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Killers
    Directors Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto — collectively known as the Mo Brothers — skillfully handle the moral complexity of the script by Tjahjanto and Takuji Ushiyama. With some of its biggest twists happening out of focus and in the background, the film rewards the most observant viewers.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Finding Mr. Right
    Its depiction of esoteric facets of immigrant life lends an air of credibility seldom seen in rom-coms.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    The Houses October Built
    The documentary style makes the proceedings all the more frightening.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Hyena
    Writer-director Gerard Johnson resists all impulses to please the crowd. The graphic sex and violence never feel gratuitous, and there's something interesting in the way he deliberately denies his characters and the viewers any reprieve.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Martin Tsai
    Lucky Them
    Director Megan Griffiths and writers Huck Botko and Emily Wachtel flesh out a female perspective that's refreshing and engrossing without demonizing or objectifying men.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Martin Tsai
    Mr. Malcolm's List
    It’s a pleasant enough diversion, that will likely be best remembered for colorblind casting done right.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Martin Tsai
    Broker
    Though Kore-eda began his career as a documentarian, his positions on social issues are far from neutral. He reveres the resilience of those who have been dealt a bad hand in life, a sentiment that certainly shines through in Broker.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 65 Martin Tsai
    Chevalier
    While Chevalier is by no means terrible, it seems like such a huge missed opportunity for an important historical figure to have finally gotten his due.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 65 Martin Tsai
    Alone Together
    Alone Together frequently hints at Holmes’ gifts as a storyteller, so it’s disappointing that she has a proclivity for romance-novel fodder. If she could have workshopped the script somewhere and honed in on authentic feelings outside conventional narratives, she has the potential to be taken more seriously as a filmmaker.
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