Mike Hale

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The New York Times
For 108 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 35% higher than the average critic
  • 8% same as the average critic
  • 57% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 12.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Mike Hale's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 53
Highest review score: 90 Pom Poko
Lowest review score: 20 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 108
  2. Mixed: 67 out of 108
  3. Negative: 13 out of 108
108 movie reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
    What it resembles more than anything is a deluxe extended episode of a television music-biography series like “Unsung” (or “Behind the Music” minus the scandals).
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Our Beloved Month of August
    The whole turns out to be less than the sum of its elegantly constructed and cleverly uncategorizable parts.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Me Him Her
    Mr. Landis’s sensibility, which combines sitcom jokiness with mumblecore sentimentality, tends to be more grating than amusing in Me Him Her, though scattered moments will make you laugh.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Tokyo Tribe
    "The Warriors” and the “Mad Max” films will come to mind as you watch Tokyo Tribe, and from scene to scene Mr. Sono’s visual inventiveness and sure hand with action stand up to the comparison. The cumulative effect, however, is numbing.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    The Flowers of War
    Mr. Bale, turning in a respectable if oddly chipper performance under the circumstances, has the unfortunate task of playing a character who doesn't really add up.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Saving Private Perez
    If you don't get the jokes, there isn't a whole lot else to get, and it's a safe assumption that non-Latino, non-Spanish-speaking viewers are going to miss a lot of them.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Colombiana
    The overall effect is distancing; there are some early comic moments that have you laughing along with the movie, but eventually the clashing tones and preposterousness just have you laughing.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    The Journals of Musan
    Mr. Park's screenplay, pedestrian direction and stolid performance don't set us up to care.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Final Destination 5
    A new wrinkle in how the killings spool out actually makes the film even more predictable, and the deaths, which tend to be squirmy rather than explosive, are so perfunctory and lazily jokey that they leave a decidedly bad aftertaste.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    The Harvest/La Cosecha
    The Harvest, in its modest way, calls to mind "The Grapes of Wrath" but with no glimmer of a New Deal or a union, or even of better economic times ahead.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Habermann
    The depictions of cosmopolitan Germans and mostly avaricious, bestial Czechs are likely to stir strong emotions among some viewers, but over all Habermann is more potboiler than political or historical statement.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Life in a Day
    It's a hard movie to engage with or even sit through, despite the fact that much of the material is interesting in its own right. Oddly, but perhaps predictably, the problem is the resolutely conventional and soft-headed way in which that material has been assembled.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Girlfriend
    The overall mildness and inconsequence of Girlfriend is disrupted for a while by Amanda Plummer, who gives a vivid yet gentle performance in a small part as Evan's patient, protective mother.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Summer of Goliath
    Carrying far more weight than their screen time would warrant, the "interviews" with actors playing young children are the best part of the film.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Flying Fish
    The intertwining of the narratives, along with the somewhat elliptical, or perhaps rudimentary, storytelling, makes for a confusing experience. But the stories are mainly an excuse for pretty pictures, some quite striking, of poverty and oppression, and for a closing frenzy of bloodletting.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Love Etc.
    That things tend not to end, or bode, well doesn't detract from the overall Hallmark vibe.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Reindeerspotting: Escape from Santaland
    It's also a pretty familiar story, and "Reindeer," despite Mr. Neuvonen's verve and Jani's charisma, can drag. Like a lot of addiction stories, it starts to mirror the monotony and self-absorption of the addict's life.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Some Days Are Better Than Others
    As a meditation Some Days has its virtues - if you're in the market for a picture-postcard bummer - but it will leave your mellowed mind pretty quickly.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Spork
    As uplifting stories of tolerance and self-discovery go, Spork has a messy appeal, but it's no "Hairspray."
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Life 2.0
    Whether you're predisposed to seeing Second Life as liberating or creepy, Life 2.0 would have been more interesting and original if it, like its subjects, had dwelled more in the virtual world, and if it had told us more about that world's mechanics and folkways.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Priest
    It becomes clear pretty quickly that the only real thought in the movie has gone into the cowboy-gothic costumes and the computer-generated effects.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    True Legend
    After a stirring opening battle, however, the fights in True Legend become pretty routine. And beyond some lovely mountain scenery and a tiny cameo by a radiant Michelle Yeoh, there isn't much else to look at.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    The People vs. George Lucas
    Frenetic, paper-thin but entertaining documentary.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Exporting Raymond
    It has the structure and some of the pleasures of a well-made sitcom or docu-reality show, despite the nervous-looking, unhappy guy at its center; it could have been called "Nobody Understands Phil."
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    The Robber
    The Robber may have less on its mind than its sheen of seriousness would suggest, but the view is gorgeous.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    When Harry Tries to Marry
    Producing smarm at the high level of When Harry Met Sally requires special talent, and when you fall short all you're left with is garden-variety smarm.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
    It's generally fun to watch Mr. Yen move and not much fun to watch him act, and Legend of the Fist is no exception.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Phillip the Fossil
    That the movie remains consistently watchable is largely a tribute to Brian Hasenfus, a Needham, Mass., contractor making his acting debut as Phillip.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Scream 4
    The central conceit of the characters' fates being determined by the "rules" of horror movies feels irredeemably tired; a clever idea that was worth one movie.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Insidious
    The strongest analogue for the second half of Insidious is one that the filmmakers probably weren't trying for: it feels like a less poetic version of an M. Night Shyamalan fairy tale.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
    About the most you can say for it is that it's inoffensive.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Mars Needs Moms
    It seems that it's time to admit that dressing actors in LED-studded catsuits, asking them to give performances on sterile white sets and handing the results to a team of computer animators is not a way to make a good movie.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Ex Drummer
    As the not-so-comic violence and the violent, misogynistic sex pile up, it becomes the kind of black humor in which the joke is largely on the audience.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    The Grace Card
    Responses to religious films are bound to be personal, so at the risk of sounding patronizing, I'll say that my main reaction to The Grace Card was one of pleasant surprise at its competence.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Zero Bridge
    Handicapped by Mr. Tapa's sometimes sketchy screenplay and the limitations of his nonprofessional cast. (His clumsy staging of their dialogue scenes doesn't help.)
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    The Sky Turns
    The overall effect is one of lulling beauty and immersion in the landscape and culture - certainly enough to carry you through the film - but also an irritating sensation of being led by the nose through Ms. Álvarez's highly aestheticized ruminations.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
    Everyone involved in "Never Say Never" is working overtime to prove that he is, as one of them puts it, "just a regular kid who had a dream," while everything about the movie screams the opposite.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    From Prada to Nada
    Angel Gracia, whose career has been in European music videos and commercials, imbues his feature directing debut with a televisionlike crispness and disposability.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Gabi on the Roof in July
    Their characters are instantly recognizable; how you respond to the film may depend largely on whether you find any of them in the least likable and whether you think that matters.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
    It's strictly for the fans, who will furiously parse the changes in the narrative (including a new female pilot) and the nonsensical stew of philosophical and religious symbolism.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Ong Bak 3
    Ong Bak 3, which picks up the largely incoherent story of the rebel prince Tien battling evil lords and demons in some mythical pocket of Thai history, is actually less bloody than its predecessor.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Yogi Bear
    There's exactly one thing about the misbegotten big-screen Yogi Bear that might make you think back with any fondness to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons on which it's based. That would be Justin Timberlake's charming performance as the voice of Boo-Boo Bear.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Saw 3D
    Be aware: if you see the film in a theater equipped with RealD 3D and Dolby sound, you'll come away with a pretty good idea of what it would feel like to have flying body parts hit you in the face.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Beijing Taxi
    The film works quite well as a melancholy travelogue - an elevated version of something you might see on cable television - but its aspirations for depth of feeling or more profound social commentary aren't quite realized.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    The Warrior's Way
    The sometimes impressive visual effects make these battles entertaining, in a mindless way, but it's impossible to work up any feeling about them. The only thing supplying that is the occasional laugh, pout or gurgle by Ms. Rudd.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Today's Special
    An immigrant-family comedy that hits all the sentimental clichés of the genre as if they were stops on the No. 7 train.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Eichmann
    Mr. Kretschmann holds your attention through each whining complaint and bland denial. His character may be banal, but his portrayal is the only thing that keeps you watching.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Punching the Clown
    Holding things together are Mr. Phillips's quiet charm and his songs, which really are funny.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Knucklehead
    A number of talented performers are stymied by this mediocre material.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Modus Operandi
    You can admire the craftsmanship and enjoy the retro soundtrack, supplied by a roster of Milwaukee musicians, but it seems likely that Modus Operandi was more amusing to make than it is to watch.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Audrey the Trainwreck
    Frank V. Ross wrote and directed this slice of Midwestern mumblecore in a style -- overlapping dialogue, off-center compositions, a jumpy, disconnected narrative -- that suggests Robert Altman without any of Altman's instincts for character and poetry.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Ramona and Beezus
    Parents may also be happy to see a movie for children that doesn't involve wizards, vampires or action figures that can be bought in the food court. They should be warned, though, that the price of contemporary realism is a story that includes layoffs, bickering and unpaid bills.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    The Crazies
    Mr. Romero is executive producer of the new film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have his style or sense of humor.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Valhalla Rising
    Mr. Refn, who can pull off stylish brutality (in the "Pusher" films and "Bronson" ), shows no knack for the kind of visionary, hallucinatory image making that would render Valhalla Rising memorable.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Nanny McPhee Returns
    Neither the dangers of the plot - a dissolute uncle who wants to sell the farm, a father missing in action - nor the forbidding Nanny McPhee herself are as fearsome as they were the first time around.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    The Juche Idea
    The Juche Idea is meant to be a comedy, one that cuts two ways: mocking the strictures placed on moviemakers in both Communist and capitalist systems. Viewers who don’t share the radical-nostalgist sensibility of Mr. Finn, who teaches at Emerson College in Boston, may find the humor both too rarefied and too obvious.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Last Letters from Monte Rosa
    What leaves a bad taste in the mouth is not the film itself, which is passable for a low-budget war picture, but the fact that neither the official Web site nor the press notes even suggest that it largely has been scavenged from an existing movie.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    Alpha and Omega
    This talking-animal tale - has old-fashioned backgrounds that occasionally achieve a touch of grandeur, but that's about the best that can be said for it.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    The Happy Poet
    The consistent comic tone of those earlier scenes - a gentle squirm - makes The Happy Poet a promising debut.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
    A toothless satire whose targets include vampire mania, low-rent theater, indie romantic comedies, Scorsese, Shakespeare and “Law & Order,” it plays like a Web series expanded to feature length, or an adaptation of one of the Naked Angels’ staged serial soap operas.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    The Anchorage
    At several points the depiction of Ulla's isolation takes on slasher-movie overtones, which undercuts the general solemnity but doesn't really add anything to the experience.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
    When the material is condensed, nearly everything that made the first two-thirds of the television series distinctive _ — the deliberate pace, the wry humor, the subtle (for anime) characterizations — is lost. “Evangelion” becomes just another giant-robot story.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Convention
    Some of this is awfully pedestrian, but there are moments of both high comedy and high drama.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Hale
    My Soul to Take
    A thoroughly dreary, by-the-numbers exercise.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Hale
    Whisper of the Heart
    Mr. Miyazaki wrote the screenplay for a love story about a shy girl and an aspiring violin maker (and a talking cat), but the result looks like a lot of non-Ghibli anime.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Ip Man
    Over all, the film is a prime exhibit in the relentless and regrettable shift away from a natural, allusive, romantic Hong Kong style and toward a mainland studio aesthetic that is stagebound, literal, overstuffed and sentimental - like the big-budget Hollywood weepies of the '60s or the '80s.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Hale
    Only When I Dance
    The lack of information about the school, or about any aspect of the two dancers’ lives that doesn’t involve training for and competing in international competitions, can be startling. When another Centro de Dança student, a petite woman, is a winner at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, we’re stunned. We didn’t even know she was there.

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