Giving moviegoers the most accurate picture of movie reviews possible
Home
Out on DVD
Search Movies
Compare Movies
Critics
Publications
About Us
Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:

BEN MERCER Movie Reviews

23 reviews, averaging 53.3% positive
page 1 of 2
Ben Mercer's reviews, by date ascending
Find Ben Mercer's review of:
Find another critic with last name starting with...
A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Y   Z  
Click any column header to sort reviews by that column
Title
Publication
Click to Change Sort Order
Review
Date
Rating
Quote
1.

Mr. Nice

Village Voice
06/01/11 Good (Not Great) "Though told here with appealing drollness, Marks's story makes an odd vessel for the filmmakers' casually advanced drug legalization arguments..."
2.

Battle for Brooklyn

Village Voice
06/15/11 Fair "...a useful primer... but figures who might have made more compelling documentary subjects than the always on-message Daniel Goldstein crowd the sidelines."
3.

Crime After Crime

Village Voice
06/29/11 Good "...lobbies for the rights of battered women, and, like many cause documentaries, it looks rather plain.... But otherwise does justice to its subject's wrenching story."
4. 07/07/11 Good "...sounds like a repeat-offender case study, but instead concerns the injustice done to Deborah Peagler, an incarcerated mother of two."
5.

Girlfriend (2011)

Village Voice
07/13/11 Weak "...for a time almost works as a sordid cross-purposes noir, set in a woodsy nowhere-in-particular. But implausibilities mount..."
6.

Bad Posture

Village Voice
08/10/11 Good (Not Great) "...sure to unsettle those who prefer films to pass clear judgment on not-so-upstanding types, but it's hard not to admire such a drolly off-kilter pass at the domestic regionalist indie."
7.

Summer Pasture

Village Voice
08/10/11 Excellent "...remarkable not merely for documenting the disappearing way of life of Tibetan nomads, but for registering the depth of Yama and Locho's uncertainty about moving on from it."
8. 08/17/11 Good (Not Great) "...by playing Seung-chul as extremely sullen, and by constantly calling attention to his disheveled appearance, writer/director/star Park provokes viewers to blame the character for his own problems -- and thus confront their similarity to the movie's hard-hearted citizens."
9. 08/17/11 Moderate "...examines the psychological trauma wrought by a serial killer... By making absurd connections between the killer and the sick-fuck society-at-large, 'A Horrible Way to Die' gradually undermines the creepy intimacy that had distinguished it."
10. 08/18/11 Fair "...recounts the tireless anti-Atlantic Yards efforts of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn co-founder Daniel Goldstein."
11.

Mr. Nice

LA Weekly
09/08/11 Good (Not Great) "...refreshingly declines to put its protagonist through the motions of repentance as it descends into legal morass..."
12. 09/14/11 Good (Not Great) "...cringe comedy... questionable black-historical shorthand detracts from what is otherwise a well-performed and fitfully amusing film."
13. 09/15/11 Good (Not Great) "...a story about overcoming prejudices to gain self-respect; perhaps director Anne Sewitsky is just going for gleefully un-PC quirk."
14. 09/15/11 Excellent " 'There is a lot of work to be done in the summer,' says Tibetan nomad Yama... Yama collects yak dung, wrangles pots and pans in the yurt, and milks the livestock..."
15.

Abduction (2011)

Village Voice
09/28/11 Poor "...a blockhead espionage thriller... Most of this takes place in and around Pittsburgh, and none of it has anything to do with abduction."
16. 09/29/11 Poor "Lautner gets emotional: 'I just saw my parents get murdered in front of my eyes,' he says at one point, looking very much like a stranger in his own performance."
17.

To Be Heard

Village Voice
10/12/11 Good "...uplifting... shot over the course of several years, takes a surprisingly unflinching look at the home lives of the three high schoolers."
18.

Norman (2011)

Village Voice
10/19/11 Moderate "...succeeds in fleshing out its troubled main character; [however,] the actions of his peers are consistently harder to accept."
19.

Norman (2011)

LA Weekly
10/20/11 Moderate "Norman (Dan Byrd) is as sarcastically disconsolate a protagonist as you'll see in a movie involving a romance with the new girl in school..."
20.

To Be Heard

LA Weekly
11/03/11 Good "On balance, the message stays positive: Two of 'To Be Heard's' four credited directors (Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan) co-founded the South Bronx after-school program the documentary revolves around..."

get one email
Update
every Friday when
the reviews are in
GO

Opening Soon
   (Early Figures)

Friday, May 24
Epic (2013) 76.1% May 24
Fast & Furious 6 69.3% May 24
The Hangover Part III 39.9% May 23
A Green Story 26.0% May 24
Alyce Kills 62.5% May 24
Before Midnight (2013) 94.6% May 24
Charge 75.0% May 24
Fill the Void (Lemale et ha'halal) 84.5% May 24
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks 74.1% May 24
Friday, May 31
After Earth nr May 31
Now You See Me (2013) nr May 31
American Mary 66.6% May 31
Hannah Arendt 65.6% May 29
I Do (2013) 54.5% May 31
Shadow Dancer (2013) 73.3% May 31
The East 85.3% May 31
The Kings of Summer 75.0% May 31
Friday, June 7
The Internship (2013) nr Jun 7
The Purge nr Jun 7
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie nr Jun 7
Dirty Wars 83.0% Jun 7
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) 95.6% Jun 7
Passion 53.5% Jun 7
Rapture-Palooza nr Jun 7
Syrup nr Jun 7
Tiger Eyes nr Jun 7
Violet & Daisy 58.0% Jun 7
Wish You Were Here (2013) 72.7% Jun 7
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet (Vous n'avez encore rien vu) 71.1% Jun 7
Friday, June 14
This Is the End nr Jun 12
Man of Steel (2013) nr Jun 14
Berberian Sound Studio 76.8% Jun 14
Storm Surfers 3D 79.5% Jun 14
Stuck in Love nr Jun 14
The Bling Ring 65.6% Jun 14
Vehicle 19 25.0% Jun 14
Beyond
Don Jon 55.6% Oct 18
Battle of the Year nr Sep 13
Ain't Them Bodies Saints 86.3% Aug 16
Crystal Fairy 65.0% Jul 12
Fruitvale Station 89.3% Jul 26
I'm So Excited! 54.7% Jun 28
In a World... 81.5% Aug 9
Inside Llewyn Davis 79.8% Dec 6
Lovelace 73.5% Aug 9
Prince Avalanche 77.9% Aug 16
The Attack (L'attentat) 62.8% Jun 21
The Hunt (Jagten) 71.3% Jul 12
The Spectacular Now 82.2% Aug 2
The Way, Way Back 87.6% Jul 5
Touchy Feely 61.5% Sep 6
V/H/S/2 68.3% Jul 12
Wadjda 90.1% Aug 30
You Will Be My Son (Tu seras mon fils) 71.3% Sep 13
Young & Beautiful (Jeune et Jolie) 81.6% Aug 21