Marya E. Gates

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For 137 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 48% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 50% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Marya E. Gates' Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 The Voice of Hind Rajab
Lowest review score: 16 Dear Evan Hansen
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 78 out of 137
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 137
  3. Negative: 30 out of 137
137 movie reviews
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    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    The Monk and the Gun
    Lusciously lensed by cinematographer Jigme Tenzing, the ensemble comedy examines how the country’s upcoming mock elections affect the titular monk, a rural family, an election official, and a desperate liason from the city, all of whose lives collide in minor and major ways.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    Woman of the Hour
    Kendrick has made a slick ’70s-set thriller about a serial killer whose reign of terror lasted a decade.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    André Is an Idiot
    Tony Benna’s irreverent, frenetic bio-doc “André Is an Idiot” is unlike any cancer doc you’ve ever seen.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
    Winner of the Caméra d’Or for the best first feature film last month at the Cannes Film Festival, writer-director Pham Thien An’s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is a deeply felt three-hour spiritual odyssey about grief in its many forms.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    The Voice of Hind Rajab
    The structure dispels the idea that there is a “right way” to navigate the Kafkaesque complexities of an oppressive regime, as is made plain by the ultimate fate of Hind and the two ambulance first responders, Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Madhoun.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    Sketch
    The writer-director’s sharp script examines the many ways that the pain of grief can manifest, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and how it can fracture relationships if you let it. But his film is not all dark. It’s edited with a delightful humor, often landing a laugh with a quick cut or sly pan.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    The Princess
    I was blown away by the film’s use of mostly archival news footage after its premiere at Sundance earlier this year. Upon a second watch I found it even more compelling the way Perkins, and editors Jinx Godfrey and Daniel Lapira, expertly deploy this footage to tell not a biography of ‘The People’s Princess,’ but rather of the way the media shaped the perception of her public life.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    Plan 75
    Legislation has passed to fix Japan’s “aging problem,” and temper hate crimes against the elderly: anyone over the age of seventy-five can apply for government-funded assisted suicide. From this bleak premise, Chie Hayakawa’s beautifully humanist Plan 75 takes flight.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    The Blue Caftan
    The Blue Caftan deftly explores the complexities of interpersonal and romantic relationships. Halim, Mina, and Youssef share a love for each other and for their shared craft. They want to find happiness in this life without any regard for how society dictates they should. Touzani’s film is a rich, vibrant ode to love in all its many forms.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 100 Marya E. Gates
    Carpet Cowboys
    At first, it seems Carpet Cowboys, the debut documentary from co-directors Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier, intends to merely tell the unsung story of this niche industry and the quirky artists, businessmen, and scientists who earn their living working in it. But the filmmakers use it as a launching pad to chart the deconstruction of the American Dream.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 91 Marya E. Gates
    Bodies Bodies Bodies
    By combining petty drama, deadpan humor, and the terror of human emotions, the filmmakers effortlessly straddle a liminal space between comedy and horror, never quite tipping their hand too far into either genre.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Marya E. Gates
    Master
    Diallo has crafted an incisive, intelligent, and stridently political horror film that is distinctly all her own. The terror at the heart of this film reverberates far beyond the myths of this academic institution. Master excavates the very roots of our country’s foundation and dares us to face the haunted ground on which it is built.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Marya E. Gates
    A Little Prayer
    This little miracle of a film features a strong ensemble cast, mordant Southern humor, and sharp insights into the perils and comforts of loving with your whole heart
    • 72 Metascore
    • 91 Marya E. Gates
    Am I OK?
    Although AM I OK? follows a well-worn formula, it finds transcendence in Johnson and Mizuno’s authentic, intertwined performances and Pomerantz’s deeply personal, heartwarming screenplay.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Marya E. Gates
    King Coal
    Sheldon is a coal miner’s daughter, and her brother is a fourth-generation miner. Coal is intrinsic to her family. This is the story of her people, a celebration of their traditions, a condemnation of an economic system that failed them, and an elegy for a waning way of life.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 91 Marya E. Gates
    The Mad Women's Ball
    Laurent’s portrait of women pushed to the edge of society, exploited, and tortured for the sake of progress is uncompromising and fearless.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Marya E. Gates
    Sometimes I Think About Dying
    Anchored by a rich and resonant performance from Daisy Ridley, Sometimes I Think About Dying deftly explores the debilitating effects of social anxiety and chronic loneliness, and the transformative power of human connection.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Rose
    Inspired in part by Saada’s own grandmother, the filmmaker infuses “Rose” with an infectious sense of joie de vivre. It’s a film about appreciating the small pleasures in life, like dancing alone in your kitchen while baking sweet treats for a lover.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Anyone But You
    Anyone But You, from director Will Gluck and co-writer Ilana Wolpert, has the charm, wit, swoony romance, and, most importantly, star chemistry that has been solely missing from recent lackluster entries in the genre.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Everything Everywhere All at Once
    Yeoh is the anchor of the film, given a role that showcases her wide range of talents, from her fine martial art skills to her superb comic timing to her ability to excavate endless depths of rich human emotion often just from a glance or a reaction.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Bantú Mama
    Co-writers Albrecht and Herrera clearly have a deep connection to its setting in the Dominican Republic, to the island’s past, present and its future. They also deeply feel the ever-present current of African culture that persists throughout the post-colonial diaspora. They see the beauty and the complexity of feeling as though you belong in two places, to two cultures equally and at the same time.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Night Is Not Eternal
    The result is a striking look at the sacrifices and concessions people make in the fight for freedom and how propaganda can make it seem impossible to win.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
    Filled with easter eggs for fans of any facet of Cage's career, the filmmakers don’t place a judgment on which of his films have the most value, understanding that a favorite film is intimate and personal, and that what matters is that it does resonate on some level.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Medusa
    Eliciting powerful performances from her two leads and striking visuals from cinematographer João Atala, “Medusa” casts its gaze at the hypocritical and violent world of purity culture with unflinching honesty that will leave the audience spellbound long after the credits roll.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Fair Play
    Her thrilling mastery of slow-burn tension, insightful examination of power dynamics in business and personal relationships, and creation of exceptional performances prove Domont to be a director with a singular voice.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Matt and Mara
    The film offers no easy answer for their situation. No happy resolution. There is just love in all its forms; messy and simple, spoken and unspoken, shared and hidden.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
    Craig’s spin on Blume’s classic is just as exhilarating as her debut film “The Edge of Seventeen.” Her deep respect for the foibles of girldom and her emotionally intelligent exploration of prickly family dynamics make her a perfect match for the material, and elevates Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret far above most modern films that attempt to tackle similar material.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Love Life
    While there can be an artificiality to monologues, the raw and complex contradictions each character contends with are rooted in emotions that never once ring false, and the actors bring an authenticity that transcends treacle.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 88 Marya E. Gates
    Inshallah a Boy
    Although the script, from Al-Rasheed and co-writers Delphine Agut and Rula Nasser, is at times overstuffed and its symbolism obvious, its world is so well built out and Palestinian actress Mouna Hawa’s lead performance is so absorbing, the final result is a mesmerizing piece of personal, yet political filmmaking.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Marya E. Gates
    The Janes
    While it is great that the documentary gives their commitment to direct action proper respect, it sometimes downplays exactly how important the work of activists who got abortion legalized in states like New York, or who got Roe through the court system was. Where it does succeed well is in showing the socio-economic disparity in access to safe abortions, which cost roughly 5 times as much as a month of rent.
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