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Michael Blowen
Michael Blowen's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).
Publications:
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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A Room With a View (1986) |
The performances -- particularly by Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter and Denholm Elliot -- are superbly wrought in this tale of conflicting cultures, embattled sexes and changing values. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Letter to Brezhnev (1985) |
A low-budget, tart-tongued comedy as audacious as it is funny. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Heartburn (1986) |
So far it's the best American movie of the year. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) |
A sparkling comedy that skips along on the strength of Matthew Broderick's deceptively difficult performance. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Aliens (1986) |
Even though it's too long, director James Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien is a worthy successor. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) |
Pacino's inner alienation transforms this film into something far beyond a simple historical recreation of an "actual" event. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 07, 2024
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The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) |
The producers have transformed a gentle, well-meaning, satirical Broadway musical into a parody of itself. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Dec 31, 2023
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The Duellists (1977) |
Overall, the lavish mixture of painfully slow pictorial scenes, historical authenticity, and a few interesting duels never coalesce into an effective pattern. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Nov 20, 2023
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The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) |
The Legend of Billie Jean, while neither as grotesque as Rambo nor as sleazy as a slasher movie, is repulsive in its vacuous cheerleading for an empty heroine and her ridiculous escapades. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Nov 17, 2023
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Alien (1979) |
Alien is another triumph of technology over art. It is also a horror movie set in space -- and it just doesn't work. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Nov 16, 2023
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The Color Purple (1985) |
Spielberg's The Color Purple seems as close to the real, American black experience as Disney World's Frontierland is to the American West. - Boston Globe
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| Posted May 25, 2023
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To Be or Not to Be (1942) |
The running gags, swift direction, and concise script makes it the best comedy about Fascism since Chaplin's The Great Dictator. - Boston Globe
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| Posted May 17, 2023
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Evil Dead 2 (1987) |
Raimi combines animation, models and process photography with dazzling camera angles and sharp cutting to create a marvelous collection of tricks. I hope someone gives him a chance to make a better movie some day. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Mar 29, 2023
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Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) |
A cauldron of magic, symbol, humor, dreams, and skits, that is ultimately defeated by its inordinate length. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Creepshow (1982) |
It's just too bad that Creepshow wasn't like a real comic book. You could skip the first four stories and read the finale. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Aug 09, 2022
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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) |
Hoffman, Streep and Henry persuade you that they are "real" people in a "real" situation, and that is a rare phenomenon in contemporary movies. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Aug 05, 2022
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Thief (1981) |
Thief looks like a good movie... But, in spite of director Michael Mann's authentic sets and a workmanlike performance by Caan, the film never crackles. It merely ambles across the screen with no particular place to go. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jul 07, 2022
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The Witches of Eastwick (1987) |
In spite of the script's drawbacks and the director's weak knees, the performances of the stars and the superb supporting cast make The Witches of Eastwick an intelligent adult comedy. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 22, 2022
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Annie (1982) |
Producer Ray Stark and director John Huston have relied more on the rigid style of the comic strip than on the high-steppin' pizazz' of the Broadway show. They've transformed a big-hearted hit that won seven Tonys into a small-minded musical. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 15, 2022
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Excalibur (1981) |
The absence of a central dramatic concept robs Excalibur of the artistic thrust it desperately requires... Each part works as an isolated set piece, but Boorman fails to weave them into a significant whole. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Dec 28, 2021
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The Secret of NIMH (1982) |
Don Bluth, a former Disney Studios animator, has created a sophisticated, visually stunning, dramatic feature that may very well end Disney's dominance of the animated feature film market. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Nov 09, 2021
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Poltergeist II (1986) |
Unlike many sequels, this continuation is an admirable effort that, in many ways, surpasses the original. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Nov 01, 2021
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The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) |
A prime example of an excellent movie that could have been great. The hot acting and snappy script set a savage pace that leaves director Stuart Rosenberg in the dust. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Oct 30, 2021
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Ghost Story (1981) |
The transformation of "Ghost Story" from novel to film is this year's best example of why some writers hate to see their books made into movies. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Sep 19, 2021
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To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) |
"To Live and Die in L.A." isn't the prettiest film of the year, but it's one of the best. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Aug 22, 2021
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On Golden Pond (1981) |
As a curious, stilted tribute to Fonda, Hepburn and Fonda, "On Golden Pond" serves its purpose. But, as drama, it's only one tiny bubble away from pure soap opera. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Aug 18, 2021
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El Super (1979) |
The central focus on Raymundo Hidalgo-Gato's portrayal of Roberto works for the first hour of the film but the actor doesn't have the staying power to sustain interest. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Aug 11, 2021
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Rear Window (1954) |
A movie that truly is a masterpiece. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jun 07, 2021
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Hopscotch (1980) |
Even Matthau's slumping shoulders can't carry the weight of Ronald Neame's heavy-handed direction. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jun 02, 2021
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Chan Is Missing (1982) |
Although the film's inordinately low budget lets us see too many seams in both the cinematography and editing, it also reminds us that technical flaws can be overcome by a story and characters that vibrate with sincerity, warmth, compassion and humor. - Boston Globe
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| Posted May 19, 2021
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Gallipoli (1981) |
Gallipoli is a predictable war movie filled with all the gung-ho cliches of the genre -- and I loved it. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Jun 29, 2018
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Dune (1984) |
Unless you have the book committed to memory, you'll find it practically impossible to follow the story. - Boston Globe
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| Posted May 02, 2018
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Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) |
The problem is not only that the film is divided into four short stories but that each director only gives us a 25% effort. - Boston Globe
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| Posted May 02, 2018
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Being There (1979) |
A brutal look at America and Americans that gently lifts up the mirror image that television gives us of ourselves, smashes it on the marble floors of our political institutions and holds a chunk of jagged glass to our throats. And then makes us laugh. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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My Brilliant Career (1979) |
It's hard to imagine a film filled with more quiet integrity, intelligent passion, realistic drama and genuine entertainment than Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Windows (1980) |
The most despicably silly movie of the year. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Happy Birthday, Gemini (1980) |
Remember, this isn't one of those good, bad movies such as Rock 'n' Roll High School -- it's a bad, bad movie. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Soldier of Orange (1977) |
Soldier of Orange is a movie made by filmmakers whose war experiences were created from watching films and reading books. They can't pass off their second generation insights with the guts and glory of the men who fought the fight. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Man of Marble (1977) |
Man of Marble, a 1977 Polish film by Andrzej Wajda, evokes the comic creation, and tragic desecration, of a national hero with savage brilliance. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Hot-Head (1979) |
A quietly sophisticated indictment of corruption delivered with skill and grace. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Rude Boy (1980) |
[Hazan and Mingay] should have either shot a few musical performances and made it a straight concert film or told the story of yet another Angry Young Man. They obviously couldn't do both. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Like a Turtle on Its Back (1977) |
Like a Turtle on Its Back is the perfect Cambridge movie. It dares to expose the rampaging disease that afflicts at least 50% of that city's population... it is a comedy about writer's block. - Boston Globe
Read More
| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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The Mountain Men (1980) |
The Mountain Men is, quite simply, the worst film of the year. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Up the Academy (1980) |
I can't remember anticipating the end of a film with such exuberance. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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The Immortal Bachelor (1975) |
Giannini, Vitti, Gassman and Cardinale should have spent this reunion basking in their own nostalgia instead of honoring The Immortal Bachelor. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Dressed to Kill (1980) |
Dressed To Kill is a nail-biting, seat-squirming, stylish murder mystery with a brain. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Airplane! (1980) |
The popcorn will probably stick with you longer than this silly saga but, if you need a few belly laughs, get a boarding pass. Airplane is the ultimate take-off. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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The Fog (1980) |
Carpenter scared the wits out of audiences from coast to coast with Halloween. That was a treat. But The Fog is merely a series of bewitching tricks assembled by a film-school craftsman who believed that he could frighten people with slick gimmickry. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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American Gigolo (1980) |
Richard Gere, the highly touted actor critics invariably defend as a talent in search of a script, proves that his method acting can't propel him through a bad script. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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Caligula (1979) |
If you want a turn-on, turn-off Caligula. Stay home and read Robert Graves' I, Claudius, it's much sexier. - Boston Globe
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| Posted Apr 28, 2018
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