ROTTEN TOMATOES: Jeffrey Overstreet

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JEFFREY OVERSTREET

Agrees with the Tomatometer 82% of the time.

Biography: Jeffrey Overstreet's first book about his career as a film critic--"Through a Screen Darkly"--is now available at Amazon.com and fine bookstores everywhere. Publisher's Weekly gave the book a coveted "Starred Review." His first novel--"Auralia's Colors"--is due from Random House in Sept. '07. Jeffrey publishes frequent film and music reviews at LookingCloser.org and lookingcloser.wordpress.com, and reviews films for Christianity Today, Paste, Risen, and Seattle Pacific University's "Response" Magazine.

Favorites: Wings of Desire, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Three Colors: Blue, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Code Unknown, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Apocalypse Now Redux, The New World, The Fisher King, Midnight Run, Blade Runner, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Stevie, Down by Law, Into Great Silence.

Publications: Christianity Today, Looking Closer

Total Reviews: 499

Location: Shoreline, Washington

LISTING OF ALL REVIEWS & ARTICLES

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date (default)

Fresh A-	Fresh 72%	The Road (2009)	" The Road prompts us to treat each other with kindness and to savor 'small graces.' ... Can we carry the light and heat of grace when survival demands that we carry a loaded gun? That is the question." — Looking Closer Posted Nov 30, 2009
Fresh A	Fresh 89%	S�raphine (2008)	" Provost's film has few equals in depicting the dangerous territory between artistic inspiration and madness." — Looking Closer Posted Nov 20, 2009
Fresh A-	Fresh 73%	Where the Wild Things Are (2009)	" Wild Things might have been just another crass cartoon. Most filmmakers would have made the monsters' wild rumpus the film's raison d'�tre. Instead, Jonze and Eggers have crafted a poetic, personal interpretation." — Looking Closer Posted Nov 20, 2009
Rotten C	Rotten 32%	Terminator Salvation (2009)	" Bale seems increasingly crippled by Tom Cruise syndrome. He equates one-note intensity with acting. He chooses determination over dimension, angst over exploration." — Looking Closer Posted May 21, 2009
Fresh A-	Fresh 81%	Lake Tahoe (2009)	" [Eimbcke finds] warmth, humor and grace in these ragged environments. Once we learn the cause of Juan's malaise, images we've already seen take on extraordinary significance." — Looking Closer Posted May 18, 2009
Fresh A-	Fresh 95%	Star Trek (2009)	" *This isn't just the most playful, surprising action movie in years. It's also the funniest. They're not* going where no man has gone before. But the way they go there ... wow.*" — Looking Closer* Posted May 8, 2009
Fresh A+	Fresh 92%	Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)	" Redux's virtues far outweigh its flaws. Apocalypse Now in any version remains one of the richest, most extravagant moviegoing experiences" — Looking Closer Posted Dec 30, 2008
Fresh A+	Fresh 91%	Stevie (2003)	" ... a potent reminder that grace, healing, and resolution are possible for the most broken of families." — Looking Closer Posted Dec 24, 2008
Fresh 3/4	Rotten 55%	The Tale of Despereaux (2008)	" Framestore Feature Animation makes us feel we've gone to the Louvre and walked right into paintings by Vermeer or Brueghel, scenes of breathtaking subtlety and texture." — Christianity Today Posted Dec 23, 2008
Fresh B+	Fresh 100%	We Are Together (2008)	" *Compared to the reality-TV programs that wring manufactured drama from manipulated situations, We Are Together* is an example of admirable restraint.*" — Christianity Today* Posted Dec 16, 2008
Fresh A	Fresh 96%	Up The Yangtze (2007)	" Yung gets to the broken heart of a dying culture by conveying the impact of the dam on two individuals affected by, and participating in, the government's vision for 'progress.'" — Looking Closer Posted Dec 12, 2008
Fresh B	Fresh 91%	Frost/Nixon (2008)	" Howard has learned a lesson that Frost learns early in the movie: 'The American people want a conviction, plain and simple.' ... But perhaps what we want and what we need have been confused." — Looking Closer Posted Dec 12, 2008
Fresh A-	Fresh 78%	Doubt (2008)	" Many will leave disappointed by Shanley's refusal to settle for some simplistic 'Gotcha!' scene. ... But I need films that subvert my desire to divide people into white hats and black hats." — Looking Closer Posted Dec 12, 2008
Fresh A	Fresh 93%	Shotgun Stories (2007)	" Like Malick, Nichols knows that the sight of a combine transforming an Arkansas cotton field into an apocalyptic dust storm is as eloquent as anything his characters might say." — Looking Closer Posted Nov 26, 2008
Fresh A+	Fresh 94%	My Kid Could Paint That (2007)	" One of art's richest rewards is its way of teaching us about our assumptions, doubts, and capacity for faith. ... My Kid Could Paint That gets people thinking and talking." — Looking Closer Posted Nov 26, 2008
N/A	Fresh 100%	Man On Wire (2008)	" So many things could have gone wrong -- should have gone wrong. Their accounts of stringing the line defy comprehension." — Looking Closer ESSAY Posted Nov 26, 2008
Fresh 3/4	Rotten 51%	Body of Lies (2008)	" *Like Blade Runner, the film reminds us of the corrupting nature of power, and how those who look down on others often fail to understand the consequences of their actions." — Christianity Today* Posted Oct 10, 2008
Rotten 1.5/4	Fresh 82%	Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)	" Woody Allen's work should be taking him deeper into complex and revealing stories about the heart. Instead, he's becoming more preoccupied with the lurid and the lewd." — Christianity Today Posted Aug 15, 2008
Rotten 2.5/4	Fresh 88%	Frozen River (2008)	" *The chill of Frozen River* is so unpleasantly relentless that it's likely to leave viewers dispirited, numb, and wondering what to make of it all.*" — Christianity Today* Posted Aug 1, 2008
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 32%	The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)	" If anything, this production should have been televised. There's nothing here deserving the big screen--except for the radiant Gillian Anderson, the beating heart of the film." — Christianity Today Posted Jul 25, 2008
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 77%	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)	" Dispelling all fears about age and ability, Harrison Ford puts on that legendary fedora and becomes Indiana Jones again, exactly as we remember him." — Christianity Today Posted May 20, 2008
Fresh 4/4	Fresh 80%	The Flight of the Red Balloon (2008)	" Some critics complain that 'nothing happens' in this film. To borrow a line from James Cameron's The Abyss -- they 'need to look with better eyes than that.' It's meant to be observed the way you might study art in a museum." — Christianity Today Posted Apr 4, 2008
Fresh A+	Fresh 94%	Cafe Lumiere (2004)	" You don't take this journey for the bends in the road, but the fleeting sights along the way make it memorably rewarding." — Looking Closer Posted Dec 30, 2007
Fresh A+	Fresh 91%	There Will Be Blood (2007)	" *It's dedicated to Altman, and yet Blood* feels more like a collaborative effort from Kubrick, Malick, Weir, and Coppola. And the bizarre finale is 100 percent Anderson.*" — Looking Closer* Posted Dec 26, 2007
Fresh B+	Fresh 93%	Juno (2007)	" Juno's personality dominates the movie, which is both its strength and its weakness." — Looking Closer Posted Dec 5, 2007
Rotten C	Rotten 42%	The Golden Compass (2007)	" There's no sense of wonder in this frantic tour of wonderland, and Lyra escapes trouble so easily, there's little suspense." — Looking Closer Posted Dec 5, 2007
Fresh B+	Fresh 77%	I'm Not There (2007)	" There's a 90-minute masterpiece in this film, waiting for an editor to find it." — Christianity Today Posted Nov 27, 2007
Rotten 1.5/4	Rotten 52%	Margot at the Wedding (2007)	" Margot at the Wedding is a story told from a perspective that's as viciously condescending and critical as Margot's own worldview." — Christianity Today Posted Nov 21, 2007
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 94%	No Country for Old Men (2007)	" It's almost too good to be true that the Coen Brothers have adapted McCarthy's novel and brought it to the screen, though it is their bleakest work to date." — Christianity Today Posted Nov 9, 2007
Fresh A-	Fresh 74%	The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)	" ... it's the performances that make this picture compelling in spite of its snail's-pace narrative." — Looking Closer Posted Oct 18, 2007
Fresh B+	Rotten 45%	The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)	" It avoids gratuitous gore and the shocks that provide the backbone of most horror films. [Derrickson's] more interested in the spiritual questions at hand." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 21, 2007
Rotten D-	Rotten 33%	Entropy (1999)	" Since the main character makes foolish decisions, and then makes worse decisions, his pleas for our sympathy are annoying and unsuccessful." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 21, 2007
Fresh A	Fresh 88%	Italian for Beginners (2002)	" A rare delight ... a joyous comedy that is at the same time grounded in real life with characters whose company is a pleasure." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 21, 2007
Rotten C	Rotten 54%	How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)	" Unfortunately, Ron Howard is the Grinch who stole Christmas from Jim Carrey." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 21, 2007
Fresh A-	Fresh 92%	The Departed (2006)	" ... a fantastically entertaining crime thriller, crackling with energy from beginning to end. ... But Nicholson's outrageous over-acting becomes a distraction." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 21, 2007
Rotten C+	Fresh 85%	Chunhyang (2000)	" Chunhyang is a gorgeous, elaborate film that feels like a fairy tale with a fresh coat of paint. Unfortunately, the paint is the most interesting part." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh B	Fresh 83%	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)	" The material plays to [Burton's] strengths ... he's more interesting as a stylist than a storyteller." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A-	Fresh 75%	The Boxer (1997)	" ... a lasting testament to the power of love and the damage done by prejudice and hate." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A+	Fresh 96%	Born Into Brothels (2004)	" As bright as a box of new crayons, and just as full of creative potential, these children give us vibrant pictures of hope in the midst of oppression." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A+	Fresh 100%	Blue (1993)	" Blue -- Kieslowski's masterpiece -- is a story about the journey from grief and brokenness to rebirth, written on a woman's face." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A-	Fresh 92%	Amores Perros (2001)	" ... it is a hyperviolent movie against violence; a graphic portrayal of infidelity in the name of marriage; a tale of murderous sibling rivalry in the name of family." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A	Fresh 81%	The Age of Innocence (1993)	" It shows that while conformity can stifle honesty and love, acting in mere self-interest can be even more destructive." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A+	Fresh 94%	No End in Sight (2007)	" Ferguson consults not the administration's political opponents, but the very experts that the U.S. government selected and sent into the Baghdad fray ..." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 20, 2007
Fresh A-	Fresh 82%	Finding Neverland (2004)	" Finding Neverland is about hanging on to that belief in something that transcends the empirical world. It's a small, gentle, graceful motion picture." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 19, 2007
Fresh B-	N/A	Final Solution (2002)	" For his success in adhering to higher standards of art, for his restraint and honesty, I applaud Crist�bal Krusen. His first film is a promising work." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 19, 2007
Fresh A+	Fresh 93%	Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control (1997)	" ... an enthralling exploration of creativity, science, and imagination. Don't we all wish we could find as much fulfillment in our work as these guys do?" — Looking Closer Posted Sep 19, 2007
Fresh B+	Fresh 77%	Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)	" The action is fast and furious, and so are the punchlines." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 19, 2007
Rotten D	Rotten 0%	Hangman's Curse (2003)	" ... [these] are Christian filmmakers stooping to use the same manipulative storytelling tactics that anti-Christian filmmakers often use to express their own bias." — Christianity Today Posted Sep 19, 2007
Rotten C+	Fresh 89%	Eastern Promises (2007)	" In his severity, Cronenberg disrupts the audience's immersion in a story that might have become a landmark tale of corruption and conscience..." — Christianity Today Posted Sep 19, 2007
Rotten D	Rotten 40%	The Island (2005)	" It seems to assume that its audience is made of idiots, constantly reminding us of the simple plot details and having characters define things for each other." — Looking Closer Posted Sep 12, 2007

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A	Toy StoryOffsite
A+	Lost in TranslationOffsite
4/4	A History of ViolenceOffsite
A-	Mean CreekOffsite
3.5/4	MillionsOffsite
B+	The Big LebowskiOffsite
3/4	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the...Offsite
B	Kingdom of HeavenOffsite
2.5/4	The ReckoningOffsite
B-	Open RangeOffsite
2/4	ConstantineOffsite
C+	Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyOffsite
C	Walk the LineOffsite
1.5/4	Assault on Precinct 13Offsite
C-	Brokeback MountainOffsite
1/4	EveningOffsite
D	Sin CityOffsite
0.5/4	The ReapingOffsite
D-	EntropyOffsite

A	S�raphineOffsite
A+	Apocalypse Now ReduxOffsite
A+	StevieOffsite
A	Up The YangtzeOffsite
A	Shotgun StoriesOffsite
A+	My Kid Could Paint ThatOffsite
4/4	The Flight of the Red BalloonOffsite
A+	Cafe LumiereOffsite
A+	There Will Be BloodOffsite
A	Italian for BeginnersOffsite

F	The Life of David GaleOffsite
0/4	CatwomanOffsite
D-	EntropyOffsite
D-	DreamcatcherOffsite
0.5/4	The ReapingOffsite
D	Hangman's CurseOffsite
D	The IslandOffsite
D	Sin CityOffsite
D	Arlington RoadOffsite
D	Anger ManagementOffsite

JEFFREY OVERSTREET

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