Michael Rechtshaffen

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Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter
For 1,187 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 10% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 8.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Michael Rechtshaffen's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 57
Highest review score: 100 Coco
Lowest review score: 0 The Assignment
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 530 out of 1187
  2. Mixed: 449 out of 1187
  3. Negative: 208 out of 1187
1187 movie reviews
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    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Deja Vu
    Unlike the last Scott-Washington matchup, "Man on Fire," Deja Vu boasts a muscular, fast-forward story that won't be overwhelmed by Scott's need for speed in the form of rapid cuts and all that visual fusion that have become his stylistic trademark. Here, the approach is perfectly suited to the picture's time-shifting, multitasking structure.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Wuss
    While director-writer Liford...hits a bit of a snag with an abrupt mood shift in the last 15 minutes that doesn’t feel true to the prevailing vibe, he usually hits the perceptive mark.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Noble
    Uneven but nonetheless emotionally gratifying.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    The Rolling Stones Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America
    And although the film might stint on full renditions of their songs, one of the few played in its entirety is a gorgeous, relaxed acoustic version of “Honky Tonk Women” delivered by Mick and Keith in a vacant dressing room.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Big Miracle
    It's the affable cast, headed by Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, that really makes the picture so widely accessible.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Akeelah and the Bee
    Effectively anchoring the picture is Keke Palmer's lovely lead performance as Akeelah Anderson.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Ghost Town
    A winning mix of sharp comedy and touching bits that keeps the laughter -- a few tears -- flowing.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Ethel & Ernest
    While time inevitably marches on, director Roger Mainwood has a splendid constant at his disposal in the pitch-perfect voice performances of Blethyn and Broadbent, who inhabit their hand-drawn characters with a vivid, fully-dimensional authenticity.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    The Talent Given Us
    An engaging portrait of a functionally dysfunctional family.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Earth to Echo
    Credit a youthful, energetic spirit, nicely conveyed by its cast of naturally-acting newcomers, a workable raw-footage construct and a spare but smartly spent special effects budget for the satisfying end result.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Land of the Dead
    The latest installment could well be Romero's masterpiece. Taking full advantage of state-of-the-art makeup and visual effects, he has a more vivid canvas at his disposal, not to mention two decades worth of pent-up observations about American society.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Michael Rechtshaffen
    A Monster with a Thousand Heads
    Although the title might suggest cheesy sensationalism, A Monster With a Thousand Heads serves as a sobering, all-too-relatable indictment of the bureaucratic Hydra that is the medical insurance industry.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Pete's Dragon
    Haphazard plotting and seriously undernourished character development aside, none of the emotional stakes have been planted deeply enough to elicit audience involvement in young Pete’s plight.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Ralph Breaks the Internet
    A turbo-charged satire that swaps out Gen X video arcade nostalgia for our current, all-consuming social-media-fueled obsession, the endlessly inventive Walt Disney Studios Animation follow-up impressively levels up with laugh-out-loud consistency.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Jim Allison: Breakthrough
    With the colorful Allison — he’d fit right into one of KFC’s revolving Colonel spots — and narrator Woody Harrelson at his disposal, Haney could have easily done without all the glossy dramatic recreations and frequent shout-outs to Bristol-Myers Squibb, which occasionally create the undesirable effect of a corporate promo video.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Wildcat
    On its exotic surface, Wildcat might hold all the trappings of a standard wildlife conservation documentary, but lurking beneath the lushly photographed camouflage is a tenderly moving, deeply empathetic human survival story that has as much to do with emotional trauma as it does with the physical.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo
    Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo is a well-crafted, revealing British documentary.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Always in Season
    The impact of hearing Danny Glover’s calm voice reading published invitations to lynching parties remains chillingly undiminished.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Rooted in Peace
    While its own roots never go quite as deep as they might, there’s still something goofily endearing about seeing Reitman, armed with that trusty bonsai, traipsing around the country on a healing mission.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 0 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Unfallen
    A risible misfire of a contemporary war drama, the low-budget “Unfallen” stands as an epic fail on all fronts.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Mad Hot Ballroom
    Resistance is futile. It's impossible not to be swept up into the uplifting world of Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary that can be neatly summed up as the "Spellbound" of competitive ballroom dancing.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Michael Rechtshaffen
    How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
    Pulling off a rare three-peat, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a tender, spirited coming-of-age CG-animated feature that proves every bit as emotionally resonant and artistically rendered as its 2010 and 2014 predecessors, if not even more so.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    The Nomi Song
    The film fittingly embraces the elements of camp and kitsch that played such a major role in defining the Nomi persona.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Falcon Lake
    A work of surprising, commanding depth.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    No Date, No Signature
    Beautifully performed and penetratingly photographed, Jalilvand’s assured second feature bears the probing precision of one of those meticulous autopsies.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Training Day
    Denzel Washington ventures into the dark side as a seriously corrupt narcotics cop in Training Day, and the results are electrifying. So is the picture, thanks to taut, sinewy direction by Antoine Fuqua and a compelling script by David Ayer (The Fast and the Furious).
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Come As You Are
    At once frank, tender and unapologetically funny, Come as You Are is a sweet surprise.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
    A fiendishly entertaining Christmas yarn rooted in Northern European legend and lore, complete with a not-so-jolly old St. Nick informed more by the Brothers Grimm than Norman Rockwell.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Remote Area Medical
    Although the documentary can feel like a volunteer instructional video at times, the faces on those who have fallen through the cracks in the system speak volumes.
    • 13 Metascore
    • 20 Michael Rechtshaffen
    Armed Response
    By the time one of the gun-toting members of Team Snipes growls “Let’s finish this!” viewers would be hard-pressed to disagree.
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