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Sean Patrick
Bio
Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.
Stories (1737/0)
Movie Review: 'Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool'
I fell in love with Gloria Grahame, as so many movie fans did, in her pitch perfect performance in In a Lonely Place, one of my all-time favorite films. Grahame plays one of those self-possessed, take-no-crap dames that always seemed to play opposite Bogart. He loved strong women, breaking down their defenses was what made him a screen icon, and them the envy of women everywhere. Grahame stood out, however, as she allowed herself just a little more vulnerability than the others, a note of extra sadness to go with the sass.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Roman J. Israel Esq'
There is just something off about Roman J. Israel Esq. The pieces are all there for a good movie but something intangible is lacking. That is strange considering we are talking about a Denzel Washington movie that is part character piece and part legal thriller. These commercial and artistic elements should work well together, especially considering that Denzel Washington is one of our finest actors, but it just doesn’t come together as I am assuming it was intended.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Lady Bird'
Lady Bird is a remarkably emotional experience, even if you’re not a teenage girl from Sacramento. Writer-director Greta Gerwig has, in her first directorial effort, relayed a masterpiece of the coming-of-age genre. Lady Bird is a wonderfully human, sympathetic, and smart movie, more in touch with real human emotion than most films of its kind. The film ranks next to my other favorite movie of 2017, The Big Sick, as that all too rare humane masterpiece.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Thelma'
Thelma is a fascinating and immersive supernatural drama that never fails to surprise. Director Joachim Trier, on his third feature following the remarkable duo of Reprise and Louder than Bombs, has crafted the most unlikely and unusual coming of age story that I have ever seen. Bristling with the awkward tension of newly discovered sexuality and a dangerous supernatural awakening, Thelma is among the most refreshing takes on the coming of age tale you could possibly imagine.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Wonder'
Wonder is a real, well, wonder. Rarely do tear-jerkers work as well as what director Stephen Chbosky assembles here. Everything in Wonder seems set to be a clichéd way of sucking out tears. A child with a facial deformity, a pair of goodhearted parents, a sick dog, these are all elements that under the guidance of a lesser director, would be used to physically assault audiences in the search for tears. Stephen Chbosky is, quite thankfully, a terrific director and he employs these elements in the way a good director does.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Angelica'
Angelica starring Jena Malone has had quite a struggle to get to the big screen. The film was completed and shown to festival audiences all the way back in 2015. Only now, however, is this Mitchell Lichtenstein-directed Victorian-era thriller starring Jena Malone finally making it to a release date. I have no insight as to what has held the film back from release, though the strange and ambitious story and daring sexuality may have had a role to play. Angelica is not a movie that mainstream marketers would love to be assigned.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Horror
Movie Review: 'Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House'
It baffles me that any filmmaker could screw up making a movie about Mark Felt. How is it possible to fumble a subject so timely, important, historic, and filled with all of the great cinematic trappings. I’m left baffled by the movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. This Liam Neeson-starring drama should have been a slam dunk. This a subject that should be front and center in the day and age of a President who faces pressures that only Richard Nixon could truly relate to.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Mudbound'
Is Hollywood finally being forced to grow up? On one hand, no, as the fact that Superhero movies still dominate our box office allows us all an escape hatch back to childish notions of good and evil. On the other hand however, a grown up conversation about race and racism has emerged as a significant narrative in Hollywood 2017 and it’s a conversation for grown-ups only. Get Out, Jordan Peele’s exceptional meta-horror movie, began the conversation with a spoonful of genre horror to help the medicine go down. Detroit, followed this past summer by serving up some recent true crime history.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Justice League'
The problem with Justice League and the problem with the entirety of the DC cinematic universe is the vision of Zach Snyder. I realize that laying the blame for what many perceive as a significant failure on one person is a little unfair, but hear me out. I like the movies that Zach Snyder has made in this universe. I like Justice League but the fact of the matter, for me, is that these movies fail to transcend into being truly great movies because Zach Snyder isn’t a great director, just a pretty good one.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review - 'Call Me By Your Name'
Luca Guadagnino is the poet of idle sexuality. His A Bigger Splash captured the sadness and tragedy of lost love while barely raising its pulse above that of the luxurious, idyllic location, a beachfront European coast where clocks don’t seem to exist. Yes, that film has a tragedy in it that drives the engine of the plot but Guadagnino’s interest lies not with exploring that tragedy but in lingering within the lives of people whose path is toward tragedy, but not a journey defined by that tragedy.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'My Friend Dahmer'
My Friend Dahmer starring Disney Channel veteran Ross Lynch is a unique and daring examination of the serial killer before the killing. Based on the true life graphic novels of John 'Derf' Backderf, a real life classmate of Jeffrey Dahmer at a small town high school in Ohio, My Friend Dahmer doesn’t aim to sympathize with the killer. Rather, like so much of the best true crime media, My Friend Dahmer feeds our fascination with what if and why scenarios. Our minds can’t resist trying to make pieces fit together and true crime adaptations are one way we seek to bring order to chaotic histories.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Criminal
Movie Review: 'Murder on the Orient Express'
Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is the most famous detective in the world. It is 1935 and Poirot is leaving Israel, having solved a crime that likely prevented a religious genocide. His work is that important, apparently. Poirot hopes for some rest and relaxation but unfortunately, he’s been called back to London on a matter of grave importance. The fastest way to travel in 1934 is the train known as the Orient Express, a bullet train from Istanbul all the way to Paris.
By Sean Patrick7 years ago in Geeks
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