Movie reviews of Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen

The Ninth Gate is fairly engrossing and sometimes appropriately atmospheric in spite of the languid pace, but, in pivotal moments, the campy execution lets the film down. Review

The Old Guard may appear a little rough around the edges, due, in part, to the familiar story and the film’s pacing issues, this superhero action flick has plenty of franchise-potential, as it features solid worldbuilding, as well as character relationships about which you actually care. Review

Defending Jacob is a sleek and gloomy but unhurried and overlong family-crime-thriller mini-series. Y... Review

Chris Sanders’ The Call of the Wild, which is essentially a dog’s coming-of-age film about becoming your own master, is weakened significantly by the decision to pair living and breathing actors with its computer-generated canine design, which appears unconvincing and is undeniably distracting from start to finish. Review

Brian De Palma’s meandering Americanised nordic noir B-movie, Domino, is a sometimes fascinating but mostly frustrating disappointment. Review

Dobkin’s predictably plotted The Story of Fire Saga is overlong and not at all as funny as it could’ve been. However, I have to say that in spite of all these significant problems with the film, I had a blast with it. Dan Stevens and Rachel McAdams are just fun to watch here, and the songs are undeniably catchy. Review

Sonic the Hedgehog has revealed itself to be a pretty decent and above-average family-friendly video game movie with a lot of heart that works in large part due to the performance given by Jim Carrey. Review

Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is a great must-watch film about the African-American war experience and postwar trauma that feels incredibly timely. Review

Cory Finley’s Bad Education is very entertaining, darkly funny, and it features a fantastic performance from Hugh Jackman. Review

Ole Christian Madsen’s Krudttønden: The Day We Died is an unfocused and superficial multi-narrative drama with thinly written characters and unconvincing dialogue. Review

Gerwig controls the effect of her film so impressively, and her structural confidence is exceptional. Review

The Gentlemen is a very entertaining film, in large part due to its extraordinary performances from Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell. Review

Michael Showalter’s The Lovebirds would not have worked if it were not for the comedic rapport shared by Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, who are both very fun to watch here. Review

Tyler Spindel’s The Wrong Missy suffers from unfunny — and sometimes very inappropriate — jokes and a terribly predictable plot. However, Lauren Lapkus’ unrestrained and wild performance is sometimes entertaining. Review

The Half of It is a solid coming-of-age romantic-comedy, but I wish it stuck the landing. Review

A riveting and affecting Danish drama... Review

Although the film suffers from a bland, predictable, and somewhat problematic script, the film works due to the first-time director’s ability to showcase hectic and electrifying action sequences. Review

Greg Barker’s Sergio is a warm but sad film about a beloved diplomat and the woman he loved at the very end, but the political career is not as gripping as it definitely should be. Review

Coffee & Kareem is an action-comedy buddy film failure. Review

Tigertail is an ambitious and promising but somewhat incomplete directorial feature film debut, and, frustratingly, with some fine-tuning this could’ve been a truly memorable debut. Review

Martin Scorsese’s After Hours is an overlooked and clearly influential genre-bending gem from the legendary director’s exceptional filmography that feels like a mixture of a hellish episode of The Twilight Zone and cringe comedy. Review

An effective science-fiction horror film with something on its mind. Review

It feels frustratingly unfulfilled because of the narrow scope of the film, but not because the mystery at the center of the film is unsolved. Review

Spenser Confidential is a Boston-set action-comedy buddy film on auto-pilot. Review