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Frank J. Avella

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Frank J. Avella is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and film journalist. His plays include FROCI and VATICAN FALLS, screenplays include LURED and CONSENT. Short film: FIG JAM. He is a staff writer for The Contending and a contributor for Edge Media Network. Frank is a member of the New York Film Critics Online and the East Coast Rep for GALECA - The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. He's a proud queer Italian-American.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
On the Sea (2025) B EDIT “Ward delivers an exceptional, layered turn as Jack, whose repression had driven him deep inside himself, but who slowly awakens to a world he never imagined possible. Jack’s arc is quite moving and wholly believable...” – The Contending Mar 11, 2026 Full Review The Visitor (1979) 79% D EDIT “This mega mess seems to want to be The Exorcist, The Omen, The Bad Seed and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But it achieves something closer to Exorcist II: The Heretic. ” – The Contending Mar 9, 2026 Full Review Catch Me if You Can (2002) 96% A- EDIT “Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can remains one of his most amiable, enjoyable yet insightful comedies, with a star-studded cast and a wonderful central performance by Leonardo DiCaprio” – The Contending Mar 9, 2026 Full Review Minority Report (2002) 89% B+ EDIT “At its core, Minority Report boasts an excellent and underrated turn by Cruise as John Anderton, a man who works for a specialized police department that attempts to capture criminals before they actually commit crimes.” – The Contending Mar 9, 2026 Full Review Excalibur (1981) 72% A- EDIT “This is Boorman’s masterwork...There is lots of armor combat (a bit too much), magical sequences and some steamy sex between Lancelot and Guenevere. Boorman takes a lot of liberties with his adaptation, and most of it pays off. ” – The Contending Mar 9, 2026 Full Review The Stranger (2025) 89% C+ EDIT “In the end, it’s Voison’s alluring charisma that makes the elusive journey of The Stranger worth taking. ” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review The Little Sister (2025) 88% B- EDIT “Hafsia Herzi’s sensitive, careful, queer coming-of-age film, chronicles her journey towards self-discovery...Herzi and Melliti show us young woman who on the cusp of figuring out who she is, despite the cultural and religious stigma attached to it.” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review Love Me Tender (2025) 85% B EDIT “Vicky Krieps delivers another extraordinary performance in Anna Cazenave Cambet’s shattering drama, Love Me Tender, about a mother’s fight to see her 8-year-old son. ” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review Nino (2025) 100% B EDIT “And it’s the nuanced performance by the beguiling Théodore Pellerin as the titular character that keeps the audience invested and engaged... Here gets to go deep into realizations about his character’s mortality that is wholly relatable. ” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review Two Pianos (2025) B EDIT “Desplechin is able to weave his melodramatic plot in a way that skirts too much soap opera in large part thanks to his wonderful cast...Civil has matinee idol looks but also happens to be an incredibly incisive and nuanced actor. ” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review The Great Arch (2025) 86% B+ EDIT “Demoustier paints a very intricate and honest cinematic portrait of what most artists are already painfully aware of, how forced compromises, endless struggles and agonizing betrayals often follow once an admired and approved project is initiated.” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review Enzo (2025) 88% B+ EDIT “Enzo is an engrossing and unique coming-of-age film and a nice addition to the queer canon. ” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review Case 137 (2025) 93% A EDIT “Case 137 isn’t a showy, studio film where there’s a clear hero, bad guys and a happy ending. It’s a gritty docu-realistic work that engrosses, angers and stings. It deserves to be seen. ” – The Contending Mar 2, 2026 Full Review 3:10 to Yuma (1957) 94% B+ EDIT “Director Delmer Daves helmed the Bogart-Bacall noir Dark Passage and here he creates a western noir that is a lot more psychologically dense than it initially appears to be.” – The Contending Feb 25, 2026 Full Review A Woman Under the Influence (1974) 88% B+ EDIT “Rowland’s brave performance has such emotional depth it sometimes threatens to go off the rails, but the actress always knows just when to dial it back a bit. It’s a true beguiling turn. ” – The Contending Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Network (1976) 91% A+ EDIT “If there’s one role that epitomizes all that Chayefsky found simultaneously seductive and horrific about the medium of television it was that of Diana, magnificently brought to scathing life by Dunaway. It’s her best screen work...” – The Contending Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) 80% C- EDIT “The final Clouseau film to star Peter Sellers, Revenge of the Pink Panther, is disappointing with repeated gags that fall flat, a too-convoluted plot and some truly troubling Asian and Italian stereotypes (even contextualizing).” – The Contending Feb 9, 2026 Full Review The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) 73% B+ EDIT “...the, arguable, best of the franchise,...It’s a lot of truly silly fun as we watch Clouseau evade death and destroy a lot of property, all leading to an insane denouement.” – The Contending Feb 9, 2026 Full Review A Shot in the Dark (1964) 94% B EDIT “The second film in the Pink Panther series was far superior to the first, riddled with hilarious moments with now uber-bumbling Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and the height of his hijinks.” – The Contending Feb 9, 2026 Full Review The Pink Panther (1963) 89% B- EDIT “The enchanting Cardinale delivers the films richest performance. She is both hilarious and poignant in a scene where she gets intoxicated for the first time ” – The Contending Feb 9, 2026 Full Review Lady (2026) 95% B+ EDIT “Nwosu is an exciting filmmaker, imbuing her story with past trauma but also showing the female characters, especially Lady, as survivors who refuse to be defined by the intergenerational misogyny and damage inherent in the culture.” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review Run Amok (2026) 67% B+ EDIT “Mager is rather daring in her exploration of the desire for catharsis, and just how different that search is for each individual.” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review One in a Million (2026) 100% B+ EDIT “But the true heart and soul of this film is Nisreen, Isra’a’s mother...My only complaint about One in a Million is that it wasn’t titled Two in a Million and the focus wasn’t shared between Isra’a and film’s true heroine, her mother, Nisreen. ” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review Union County (2026) 97% B EDIT “(Director) Meeks also has the added boon of the incredibly underrated actor Will Poulter anchoring the film with a thoughtful, moving, understated turn that ripples with complexities.” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review The Friend's House Is Here (2026) 100% A- EDIT “it’s especially bracing to see a film that honors the importance of artistic freedom by blurring the lines between life and art. Ataei and Keshavarz have created a cinematic performance art mosaic with their debut feature...” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review
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