Movie reviews of Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen

The final concoction is not enough to ultimately call this a ‘good’ entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since this effort is far too bland, rushed, hacked to bits, and undeveloped to justify its overwhelming barrier to entry. It is, at best, a breezy guilty pleasure, and, at worst, it is just a mess. Review

Possession is creepy, deranged, comedic, and confusing. I do think it’s more of an art film about a separation’s chaotic descent into loss of self than a straight-faced and accessible horror film, so it isn’t for everyone, but I thought this was really fascinating in all the right ways. Review

There is a lot to chew on here for fans of the game and those interested in the complicated effort that goes into making a sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed video games ever made. Review

A near-masterpiece that I suspect will only grow to become even more admired as we look back on it, Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos at his very best. Review

Despite the early stages of the film that made me question the film’s global reputation, the second half of it turned me into a true believer due to the emotionally rewarding and affecting storyline, the sometimes gorgeous imagery, and the sweet- and kindness of its central message about the richness of gift-giving and the joy of mercy, openness, love, and artistry in full effect... Review

The dialogue and character-writing is so exceptionally done that you will probably recognize these characters from your own life, and you’ll probably see yourself in them as well — these are written in such a way that they always feel like fully-formed human beings. Review

Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is puzzling in the best way possible. Review

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is safe, straightforward, maybe a little bit bland, relatively unoriginal, and it is an empty-calorie movie. Review

In Alle For Fire, the jokes rarely land with anything more than a thud or lead to anything more than a forced smile... Review

There will be some — and I am one of those people — who find Saltburn and Emerald Fennell’s stab at gothic eroticism to be sufficiently entertaining to enjoy sinking their teeth into, even though her sophomore effort isn’t really all that original. Review

I think that the problem is that the franchise has refused to grow or even return to its roots in the post-Furious 7 era, opting instead to double down on the ridiculousness and the retcons that have now broken the formula of the franchise. Review

It is not nearly funny enough to be a solid family comedy, and not exciting or surprising enough to be an action-thriller. Review

It never quite reaches the highest highs of the original iconic Danish horror hit (and it won’t be as iconic), but it is an entertaining and relatively satisfactory sequel that every so often reminds you of just how impactful the original film was. Review

Sorcerer is absolutely shattering stuff perhaps especially because of the human fallibility of its unheroic suicide squad at the center of it all. This should be more widely loved because it is definitely a classic. Review

The solid cast, the location, the atmosphere, as well as the distinctive but somewhat dated visual aesthetic help to make this film still feel really nice to rewatch. Review

While it is a well-composed, designed, and acted adult drama fascinated by intimacy, it is also a little bit too lean to fully envelop its viewers in the character complexities of the narrative. Review

Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Birds: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an often engaging and exciting return to the world of Panem, even though it really ought to have been split into two distinct parts because here it often feels unevenly paced. Review

Blue Beetle feels like an uninspired assembly line product based on a pre-defined threadbare formula. Frustratingly, the few interesting ideas that this film has are underdeveloped and do not get the focus they merit. Review

Although David Fincher’s The Killer is not likely to be one of his most iconic efforts due to the generic nature of the premises, it is a thrilling piece of filmmaking that emphasizes that Fincher has his finger on the pulse and that he is still one of the world’s finest filmmakers. Review

I do think this is a tale of two halves, with the first half not being as successful as the second, which ended up really winning me over. But once it finds its legs (and it does), it is both laugh-out-loud funny, sweet, and warm. Review

There are some leaps in logic, the product placement is sometimes quite grating, and it is tonally confused, but Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon do a good job of keeping some of the adult comedy in the series, while Mckenna Grace makes for a solid new star for this franchise to follow. Review

The intoxicatingly beautiful Babylon features a splendid cast with notable A-listers, but it is relative newcomer Diego Calva who plays the pivotal central part. Review

Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World is a work of art that possesses infectious feelings of excitement at the beginning of new love, but, at the same time, it is a complex film in that it is also so much more than just a romantic drama — it is thoughtful about turning thirty, i.e. turning a corner in life, and what that means in our time with unending options at our fingertips. Review

Asteroid City snuck up on me. I expected it to be as stylized, charming, and witty as it is. But what I really warmed to about this multilayered Wes Anderson film was how it surprisingly carried this undercurrent of emotional heft to its themes. Review