Mike Ryan

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UPROXX
For 162 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 69% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 28% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 7.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Mike Ryan's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Dune: Part Two
Lowest review score: 20 Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 119 out of 162
  2. Mixed: 37 out of 162
  3. Negative: 6 out of 162
162 movie reviews
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    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Ryan
    Trolls World Tour
    Look, I am in desperate need for entertainment and if Trolls World Tour is all you’re selling, well, right now, I’m buying. And here’s another thing: I like everything right now. There are no bad movies. If your piece of entertainment can knock off a couple hours of my day, that’s literally all I’m asking for right now.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Mike Ryan
    The Invisible Man
    Leigh Whannell’s version of The Invisible Man is a smart take on a story that seems next to impossible to tell in an interesting way, but here it somehow is.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Ryan
    Onward
    It’s almost as if the filmmakers just thought the idea of a pair of legs were funny, like if it were in a The Far Side panel. But then decided to try to base a whole movie on what should have been at most a single still or a single joke.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Mike Ryan
    The Call of the Wild
    I’m not sure who a faithful adaptation of The Call of the Wild would even be for in 2020. Instead, we get a pleasant movie about Harrison Ford having a nice time, laughing it up with his dog pal – and I really can’t imagine a better way to tell this story than that.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    Palm Springs
    Samberg and Milioti are great together.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 55 Mike Ryan
    Miss Americana
    I think the Swift we have ten years from now will make a much more fascinating subject. What we see now feels more like the very beginning of her story. And there’s just not enough here yet at this starting point to sustain a feature-length documentary.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Mike Ryan
    Bad Boys for Life
    For the first time ever, I cared about Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. And for the first time, yes, I hope some more Bad Boys come for me. Whatcha gonna do? Well, I’d watch them! Happily, for once.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Mike Ryan
    Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
    There were times it felt like The Rise of Skywalker was put together by reading angry reddit boards, just throwing in anything a fan might possibly want to see. It really is baffling.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    1917
    We basically just get our orders and go. But I get the sense this is Mendes’ point. His goal is to put us in World War I for two hours. And, no, it’s not a pleasant experience. But what the movie is trying to do absolutely works. 1917 wants to take us to hell and back, and, in that, it succeeds.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Mike Ryan
    Frozen II
    What’s smart about Frozen II is, instead of trying to just recapture its past glory, it decides to be interesting. And when making a sequel to a cultural phenomenon, “being interesting” seems both pretty rare and the best we can hope for.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    Ford v Ferrari
    Ford v Ferrari is almost as much about having to navigate having multiple bosses at a large corporation as it is winning a car race.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Mike Ryan
    Terminator: Dark Fate
    Though, yes, by nature the story does have to be a little convoluted after the events of T2 (and this time, it’s basically just a whole new evil entity), but Linda Hamilton is Terminator. And that’s why Terminator: Dark Fate is the best Terminator movie since T2.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    The Irishman
    The Irishman is terrific.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    Western Stars
    Don’t go into Western Stars expecting to see The Boss. That guy is on a break. What we get instead is Bruce Springsteen, a human being who seems a lot less sure of himself than The Boss ever did. Springsteen’s book gave us some details, but Western Stars looks straight into his soul.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Mike Ryan
    Waves
    This is a film that has such a strong first act, but then a head-scratcher of a second that left me actively disliking what I was watching in front of me, then an almost out-of-the-blue third act that ultimately won me back over.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
    If you do open yourself up, there’s something wonderful to find in this movie. You won’t watch A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and learn more about Fred Rogers, but you will learn more about yourself. And it might not be easy, but, again, as Mister Rogers would say, “and that’s okay.”
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Ryan
    Joker
    Joker is a movie that thinks it has a lot to say and fancies itself The Social Commentary Of Our Time, but in reality it’s a mishmash of Hot Button Social Issues without anything interesting to say at all. So, in that respect, it’s the perfect movie for 2019. Joker is our comeuppance.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 65 Mike Ryan
    It: Chapter Two
    It Chapter Two is about redemption and the Losers coming together again to learn how strong they all are together. And the actors make it work. But the biggest problem is IT, because IT can be everything and IT can be nothing. IT has no real rules or motivations, or rhyme or reason, for literally anything he does.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    Blinded by the Light
    Blinded by the Light features scenes of the most pure, unadulterated joy I’ve seen on screen in quite a while.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
    I’m glad this movie exists if, for nothing else, to introduce new generations to Sharon Tate. And, frankly, I include myself in this. What Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood does best – and most importantly – is frame Sharon Tate as a human being we should get to know.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    The Lion King
    The Lion King is a monumental achievement of technological advancement. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Mike Ryan
    Spider-Man: Far from Home
    Spider-Man: Far From Home is a heck of a lot of fun. And I can’t get over how great of a Mysterio movie this is.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 30 Mike Ryan
    Dark Phoenix
    Sadly, everything about Dark Phoenix just feels unnecessary – and it shows in the performances, as everyone just seems to be going through the motions, wondering how on Earth their contracts aren’t up yet.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 20 Mike Ryan
    Godzilla: King of the Monsters
    It’s just filled with a lot of stupid characters who all do stupid things to the point that the “plot” is just some crazy afterthought of nonsense. What a mess.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    Rocketman
    The sheer brute force of Egerton holds it all together. And despite some darker themes, Rocketman is still quite a ride. It plays more as a musical than a standard biopic.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
    Like John Wick himself, this third chapter feels like a lean, mean, fighting machine – and, yes, it’s the best film of the franchise so far, even surpassing the first film. There are moments in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum where I thought to myself, “Well, I’ve never seen that before.”
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Ryan
    Yesterday
    It has a killer premise, yet the movie seems to actively resent its own fantastic idea and just, instead, decided to become a fairly average romantic comedy — only with a lot more Beatles songs than the average rom com.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Mike Ryan
    Pokémon Detective Pikachu
    Detective Pikachu is one of those movies where, for about half the movie, I was trying to force myself to like it, until I just gave up. I kind of got the sense a lot of people around me were doing the same thing.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    Avengers: Endgame
    Avengers: Endgame is, without a doubt, the most confusing and convoluted of any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, yet it’s also unbelievably satisfying – and, yes, does act as an endpoint for many major character arcs.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Mike Ryan
    Shazam!
    After Shazam! ended I said out loud, “What a fun time at the movies.” You know, isn’t that all we need sometimes? A reason to leave the house and also not regret leaving the house? That is a tough combination to pull off...It’s just one of those movies that feels like a communal event. In the end, it’s about family. It’s just a nice movie to watch with other human beings.
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