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Cinefantastique

Cinefantastique is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Peg Aloi, Steve Biodrowski.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
5/5
Godzilla Minus One (2023) Steve Biodrowski ...goes beyond being a great monster movie to simply being a great movie - heartrending, frightening, and ultimately redemptive.
Posted Nov 04, 2024  Edit critic review
1/5
Lumina (2024) Steve Biodrowski Nothing sensible ever comes to light, and when the film reaches its big finale, it feels like a proof-of-concept demo reel of special effects and action sequences strung together almost at random.
Posted Sep 24, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Steve Biodrowski Is it as good as Logan? Of course not. Is it as good as Deadpool 1 & 2? Not quite. Is it still pretty damn good? Absolutely.
Posted Jul 27, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
Abigail (2024) Steve Biodrowski Abigail is scary and funny in a good way...but we were disappointed by the way it went from being fully convincing (despite the supernatural premise) to adopting a “let’s just make crazy stuff happen for the hell of it” attitude.
Posted Apr 25, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
Late Night with the Devil (2023) Steve Biodrowski Late Night with the Devil is a clever combo of showbiz satire and satanic scares that takes a while to pay off but is worth the wait.
Posted Apr 13, 2024  Edit critic review
2/5
Lisa Frankenstein (2024) Steve Biodrowski Stitched together from a variety of sources (silent movies, Gothic horror, Tim Burton, Heathers), it twitches and jerks across the screen with a semblance of life, but alas, that life is only artificial.
Posted Feb 29, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
Eye of the Cat (1969) Steve Biodrowski Eye of the Cat mixes conventional murder melodrama with suggestions of the supernatural to create an intriguing if oddball mixture. It is not a perfectly balanced cocktail, but if you swallow it whole, it will get you buzzed.
Posted Jan 30, 2024  Edit critic review
1/5
Night Swim (2024) Steve Biodrowski Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the pool comes a film that bellyflops like a showoff pretending he knows how to high-dive.
Posted Jan 11, 2024  Edit critic review
1/5
As We Know It (2023) Steve Biodrowski AS WE KNOW IT has a funny concept – the characters are too focused on their personal problems to deal with the zombie apocalypse – but the humor fizzles because the threat is not pervasive enough to make the human behavior seem truly absurd.
Posted Nov 17, 2023  Edit critic review
3/5
When Evil Lurks (2023) Steve Biodrowski Grim and gruesomely effective, When Evil Lurks takes audiences on a disturbing ride to a destination they may fear to go.
Posted Oct 10, 2023  Edit critic review
3/5
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) Steve Biodrowski Unembarrassed about its own absurdity, The Meg 2 delivers amusingly over-the-top aquatic mayhem by the bloody bucketful.
Posted Aug 25, 2023  Edit critic review
2/5
Haunted Mansion (2023) Steve Biodrowski Disney’s famous theme park attraction provides a great setting for a ghost story. Too bad the script does not provide a great ghost story.
Posted Aug 24, 2023  Edit critic review
2/5
End Times (2023) Steve Biodrowski Though overlong and rough around the edges, END TIMES is decently made and occasionally punches above its weight.
Posted Jul 21, 2023  Edit critic review
4/5
Final Cut (2022) Steve Biodrowski Not only does the remake out-meta the original; it is much more clever and satisfying than the similarly themed Matrix: Resurrection.
Posted Jul 18, 2023  Edit critic review
3/5
Belle (2023) Steve Biodrowski Though too low-key for its own good, BELLE ultimately works as an art-house horror film thanks to an ending that fully rewards audience patience.
Posted Jul 16, 2023  Edit critic review
3/5
The Blackening (2022) Steve Biodrowski The Blackening...is more than a funny spoof. It’s actually a good horror movie with some clever satire.
Posted Jul 09, 2023  Edit critic review
2/5
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) Steve Biodrowski With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, director James Mangold takes another shot at portraying the final adventure of an aging action-hero, but this time the result feels old and tired.
Posted Jul 01, 2023  Edit critic review
3/5
The Invitation (2022) Steve Biodrowski The Invitation deserves full credit for deftly juggling genres – and not just movie genres but their literary antecedents..... Think of it less as a marriage between rom-coms and horror movies and more as a marriage between Jane Austen and Bram Stoker.
Posted Sep 02, 2022  Edit critic review
4/5
Beast (2022) Steve Biodrowski There are two things you need to know going into Beast: The lion...is the Michael Myers of the animal kingdom... [and he] has a relatable motivation that makes him the film's most compelling character (and that is no slight on the human cast).
Posted Aug 27, 2022  Edit critic review
3/5
Squeal (2021) Steve Biodrowski Not quite fairy tale or horror film, SQUEAL offers a fanciful allegory for fans of art house cinema.
Posted Aug 19, 2022  Edit critic review
3/5
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) Steve Biodrowski Sure, it's all fun and games until the bodies start piling up - and then it becomes even more fun!
Posted Aug 12, 2022  Edit critic review
2/5
Tin Can (2021) Steve Biodrowski TIN CAN is admirably ambitious, but it fails to realize its full potential. Nevertheless, it provides ample proof that director Seth A. Smith and cowriter Darcy Spidle are talent worth watching
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/5
Gone in the Night (2022) Steve Biodrowski A solid mystery thriller with an unexpected twist of horror.
Posted Jul 29, 2022  Edit critic review
3/5
Nope (2022) Steve Biodrowski Jordan Peele's NOPE offers the writer-director's spectacular spin on crowd-pleasing entertainment, but the pace is marred by awkwardly embedded subtext.
Posted Jul 27, 2022  Edit critic review
4/5
She Will (2021) Steve Biodrowski Subtle and clever, She Will serves up horror elements but uses them in unexpected ways. Its a feminist take on the genre, but don’t let that scare you. It works.
Posted Jul 23, 2022  Edit critic review
4/5
The Black Phone (2021) Steve Biodrowski The Black Phone is not an old-school splatterfest, but it does aim for the grim intensity of a '70s drive-in movie. Fortunately for us, it is better than most of those ever were.
Posted Jul 02, 2022  Edit critic review
4/5
The Witch 2: The Other One (2022) Steve Biodrowski ...an awesome and totally unapologetic genre film that hits the bullseye over and over.
Posted Jul 01, 2022  Edit critic review
3/5
Crimes of the Future (2022) Steve Biodrowski David Cronenberg’s return to body horror offers a nightmarish vision of the future. Or is it a pleasant dream?
Posted Jun 24, 2022  Edit critic review
2/5
Firestarter (2022) Steve Biodrowski Some solid performances and a few good scenes raise some expectations that this remake can exceed the original, but ultimately the film throws everything away in favor of a ridiculous ending added to set up a sequel no one wants.
Posted Jun 22, 2022  Edit critic review
3/5
Jurassic World Dominion (2022) Steve Biodrowski Sloppy screenplay reduces dinosaurs to costars in their own movie, delivers decent fan service and great fx if not a fully satisfying film.
Posted Jun 18, 2022  Edit critic review
2/5
DASHCAM (2021) Steve Biodrowski Creepy and scary entry in the found-footage genre seems poised to reinvent the genre until it loses track of its best ideas.
Posted Jun 10, 2022  Edit critic review
1/5
Morbius (2022) Steve Biodrowski ...feels like a generic template that someone forgot to fill in with interesting details before presenting it to the public.
Posted Jun 10, 2022  Edit critic review
4/5
The Ancestral (2021) Steve Biodrowski ...a solid horror film with stylish production that melds its genre elements to a dramatic story involving grief and family trauma.
Posted May 26, 2022  Edit critic review
2/5
Army Of The Dead (2021) Steve Biodrowski ...bogged down with useless subplots, pretentious allegories, and failed attempts at character building. But the zombie tiger is great!
Posted May 29, 2021  Edit critic review
3/5
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) Steve Biodrowski Godzilla vs. Kong transcends its flaws by embracing its own goofiness, which gives it carte blanche to toss in anything and everything the audience wants to see.
Posted Apr 02, 2021  Edit critic review
3/5
Countdown (2019) Steve Biodrowski Its influences are obvious, but that hardly matters, when the film deftly delivers the scares.
Posted Nov 13, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) Steve Biodrowski Summer movie junk food: it's not nutritious, but you will enjoy snacking on its empty calories as much as sharks enjoy snacking on empty-headed divers.
Posted Aug 28, 2019  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Ready or Not (2019) Steve Biodrowski Bloody, funny, scary, and hysterical, Ready or Not goes for the guts, figuratively and literally, unleashing gooey geysers that will leave you screaming with laughter.
Posted Aug 21, 2019  Edit critic review
2/5
Child's Play (2019) Steve Biodrowski It was too much to expect a satisfying...Child's Play reboot, but the film's most notable surprise is that it raises expectations just high enough to disappoint them.
Posted Jul 17, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
Toy Story 4 (2019) Steve Biodrowski Adding a dash of creepiness to the usual formula, Toy Story 4 exceeds expectations by - ahem - toying with them.
Posted Jun 29, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
The Dead Don't Die (2019) Steve Biodrowski The Dead Don't Die is so deadpan it could be the first film suffering from negative affect.
Posted Jun 15, 2019  Edit critic review
1/5
The Green Slime (1969) Steve Biodrowski Although the steaming pile of electrified goo that is The Green Slime never coalesces into anything resembling a good movie, it nevertheless demands attention for reasons having little to do with the usual "so bad it's good" assessment.
Posted Jun 14, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) Steve Biodrowski Director and co-writer Michael Dougherty's roided-up sequel offers exuberant fan service at the expense of dramatic storytelling, but the multitude of monster battles delivers king-sized entertainment.
Posted May 31, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Replicas (2018) Steve Biodrowski This modestly budgeted science fiction film never fully answers the questions it raises, but that almost seems to be the point.
Posted Feb 12, 2019  Edit critic review
2/5
Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) Steve Biodrowski It's a gory zom-com - with songs. Lots of songs. More songs than zombies. Too many songs, really.
Posted Dec 21, 2018  Edit critic review
1/5
Patient Zero (2018) Steve Biodrowski ...has enough good moments for a short subject or a trailer, but the movie itself feels like an overlong rough cut of filmed rehearsals.
Posted Sep 19, 2018  Edit critic review
2/5
The Nun (2018) Steve Biodrowski ...not much of a prequel, but it does provide more mindless fun than expected, especially when the scares are enhanced by the new immersive ScreenX format.
Posted Sep 12, 2018  Edit critic review
2/5
Down a Dark Hall (2018) Steve Biodrowski Moody and creepy, this Gothic thriller is admirable in its effort to achieve subtle scares but ultimately too tame to truly thrill - though it does feature a reasonably satisfying finale.
Posted Aug 18, 2018  Edit critic review
0/5
Attack of the Killer Donuts (2016) Steve Biodrowski The killer donuts take second stage to the unfunny comedy routines of the human characters, which run on so long it's as if the film is daring its audience to get fed up and walk out.
Posted Nov 19, 2017  Edit critic review
Synecdoche, New York (2008) Peg Aloi Even amid the complexity of his vision, there are moments of searing simplicity and emotional speechlessness that even the most hardened loner among us cannot fail to take to heart.
Posted Aug 08, 2017  Edit critic review
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