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Dan Bayer

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Daniel Bayer has been in love with movies all his life, in love with the theater since he could sit still, and in love with tap dance since seeing Singin’ in the Rain at nine years old. A nationally-ranked dancer in his teens, his theater credits are many and varied, both behind and on the stage. He now spends his days as a non-profit database manager and the rest of his time seeing, writing about, and talking about movies and theater. He is a proud member of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. You can find him on the AwardsWatch and Next Best Picture podcasts, and on Twitter @dancindanonfilm.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Drag (2026) 7/10 EDIT “"Drag" may be a thin premise to hang a whole film on, and despite the personality of the performers, the characters themselves are too generic, but it’s never a drag to watch.” – Next Best Picture Mar 20, 2026 Full Review Over Your Dead Body (2026) 73% 7/10 EDIT “This is not a film for the faint of heart, but then, marriage isn’t for the faint of heart, either. As "Over Your Dead Body" makes hilariously clear, the couple that fights together – for each other – stays together.” – Next Best Picture Mar 18, 2026 Full Review The Fox (2026) 7/10 EDIT “While Russo’s sense of humor may not be to everyone’s taste, his singular voice and unique premise make "The Fox" an exciting debut.” – Next Best Picture Mar 18, 2026 Full Review Hokum (2026) 95% 7/10 EDIT “Adam Scott is a great lead in Damian McCarthy's spine-tingling ghost story. Full of shivery atmosphere and effective jump scares that will actually make you jump.” – Next Best Picture Mar 16, 2026 Full Review Family Movie (2026) 91% 6/10 EDIT “The Bacon family has great laidback chemistry in this sweet, good-natured horror-comedy.” – Next Best Picture Mar 16, 2026 Full Review Crash Land (2026) 7/10 EDIT “Full of brash youthful energy and insight into the plight of contemporary young men.” – Next Best Picture Mar 14, 2026 Full Review Brian (2026) 100% 8/10 EDIT “Ben Wang is brilliant in this incredibly funny, disarmingly tender coming-of-age story.” – Next Best Picture Mar 14, 2026 Full Review A Safe Distance (2026) 7/10 EDIT “An intriguing story and strong character work from the cast keep this low-key drama compelling.” – Next Best Picture Mar 14, 2026 Full Review Pretty Lethal (2026) 64% 8/10 EDIT “But you don’t watch a movie like this for character or dialogue, you watch it to see fierce, strong young women twirl, kick, and stab their way through a pack of mobsters to the sound of Tchaikovsky. On that front, "Pretty Lethal" delivers.” – Next Best Picture Mar 14, 2026 Full Review I Love Boosters (2026) 100% 8/10 EDIT “Seeing a vision this unbridled onscreen is a breath of fresh air in a cinematic landscape overloaded with IP rehashes. Boots Riley is a genuine original, and in "I Love Boosters," he makes a statement as wildly entertaining as possible.” – Next Best Picture Mar 13, 2026 Full Review Reminders of Him (2026) 56% 6/10 EDIT “I felt good because I had finally watched a Colleen Hoover adaptation that didn’t make me reconsider all of my life choices, but considering how woebegone the previous ones were, I’ll take it.” – Next Best Picture Mar 11, 2026 Full Review I Swear (2025) 100% 7/10 EDIT “Aramayo seamlessly slides into John’s skin and lives there, inviting the audience to do the same. His BAFTA Award win for this performance was no fluke; this is character acting of the highest order” – Next Best Picture Mar 5, 2026 Full Review Scream 7 (2026) 31% 4/10 EDIT “The film’s refusal to engage with its own material and its franchise’s legacy may not be the only problem with "Scream 7,"but it’s certainly the biggest. For every good element, there’s an equally bad one.” – Next Best Picture Feb 26, 2026 Full Review Midwinter Break (2026) 61% 7/10 EDIT “All this makes "Midwinter Break" a richly emotional midwinter film for audiences starved for restrained, mature storytelling. For older audiences in particular, the film’s themes relating to time and emotional distance will resonate deeply.” – Next Best Picture Feb 17, 2026 Full Review Cold Storage (2026) 79% 4/10 EDIT “Neither funny enough to be a comedy nor scary enough to be horror, the film feels like it’s waiting for the right moment to kick into high gear, but the moment never comes.” – Next Best Picture Feb 10, 2026 Full Review Dracula (2025) 54% 3/10 EDIT “Unwilling to fully commit to his wildest ideas in favor of focusing solely on a romance that isn’t strong enough on its own to power a full feature, Besson has finally made a film that truly feels dead on arrival.” – Next Best Picture Feb 5, 2026 Full Review Mercy (2026) 25% 4/10 EDIT “Unlike an ideal justice system, "Mercy" doesn’t delve deeper than the surface, a discredit to both the people who made it, who are capable of better, and the audience, who deserve better.” – Next Best Picture Jan 21, 2026 Full Review Primate (2025) 78% 6/10 EDIT “Sure, the characters are paper-thin and do many things that defy all logic and common sense, but that’s part of the fun. "Primate" is bad in many of the ways you’d expect, but it’s better in many ways you won’t. It’s the best kind of January surprise.” – Next Best Picture Jan 8, 2026 Full Review The Housemaid (2025) 73% 4/10 EDIT “The so-bad-it’s-good last act may be fun enough to convince you that "The Housemaid" is a good time on the whole, and yeah, it kind of is. But that doesn’t make it good.” – Next Best Picture Dec 16, 2025 Full Review Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) 66% 8/10 EDIT “We may not know the full extent of this story’s success until we get those next installments, but for now, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, even if it mostly works.” – Next Best Picture Dec 16, 2025 Full Review Fackham Hall (2025) 74% 8/10 EDIT “Carr, alongside Patrick Carr and the Dawson Brothers (Andrew and Steve Dawson and Tim Inman), has constructed the screenplay as a near-perpetual joke machine, with something hilarious in practically every shot.” – Next Best Picture Dec 4, 2025 Full Review Zootopia 2 (2025) 91% 8/10 EDIT “"Zootopia 2" is a marvel of modern animated storytelling, a family film that really will have everyone in the family laughing, singing (in the case of the earworm "Zoo," sung by Shakira’s Zootopian pop star Gazelle), and perhaps even crying together.” – Next Best Picture Nov 25, 2025 Full Review Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025) 61% 7/10 EDIT “Yes, it’s ridiculous. No, it doesn’t make perfect sense. But, damn, if it isn’t a hoot and a half to watch.” – Next Best Picture Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Belén (2025) 95% 7/10 EDIT “Fonzi and her collaborators rise to the challenge, though, filling this true-life legal drama with a vitality that makes it feel all the more urgent, even if you know how the story ends.” – Next Best Picture Nov 6, 2025 Full Review Black Phone 2 (2025) 72% 6/10 EDIT “It’s easy to wish “Black Phone 2“ came together better, but you can’t deny that all the film’s individual elements are quite strong. It will chill you to the bone while watching, but it won’t haunt you for too long afterward.” – Next Best Picture Oct 15, 2025 Full Review
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