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Critics at Large

Critics at Large is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): CJ Sheu.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
Betty Tells Her Story (1972) CJ Sheu The second half observes Betty as she tells her story again, and this is where things turn magical.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Sierra (undefined) CJ Sheu A surreal silent animated short about a boy who suffers because of his father’s race car obsession, it evokes the idyll of childhood for an only son, only to shatter it when the boy is stuffed into a car tire, replacing its spokes.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Copycat (2015) CJ Sheu [T]he film makes a convincing case. At just 8 minutes, it’s an aesthetic achievement, too. ... The film literalizes the video essay.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
The Windshield Wiper (2021) CJ Sheu The additive combined effect has a deeply felt power, partly drawn from the use of colors that are rarely found in much contemporary cinema.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Play It Safe (2021) CJ Sheu You want to other this Black man? Fine, he’ll show you what it *really* means to be inhuman.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
The Unseen River (2020) CJ Sheu I don’t really understand how it does what it does. ... In any case, the writer-director is one to watch.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Heaven Reaches Down to Earth (2020) CJ Sheu [This] is one of the densest cinematic texts I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. I could easily give a two-hour lecture on this ten-minute film.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Adieu Bohème (2017) CJ Sheu [W]hen the thing it says will happen actually happens, it’s romantic and nostalgic, just wonderful.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Berlin Troika (2014) CJ Sheu The proceedings are a farce of language, physical acting, and a surprising canniness on the part of the two negotiators. Somehow, they come to an agreement, but not by saying things.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Footnotes to a House of Love (2007) CJ Sheu [A] wonderfully oblique and fragmented yet fulfilling evocation of the feeling of a lived-in space, without at any point giving us a clear picture of anything.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Mind the Steps! (1989) CJ Sheu Turns out the film is a metaphor for the logic of totalitarian control.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Scenes with Beans (1976) CJ Sheu It’s frankly amazing just how much pathos can be generated by arranging beans of different colors (and sometimes in various tiny hats) in meaningful combinations that suggest situations and narratives.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Volleyball (Foot Film) (1967) CJ Sheu For anyone who’s been entranced by running water or a yule log, the attraction of such a film will be familiar. Less expected may be the annoyance of the ball’s being not exactly spherical and so never going exactly where you expect.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Waves '98 (2015) CJ Sheu The ideal formalism creates evokes the utopian mature of this fantastical place. Of course, it all collapses in the end, but more remains than you might expect. Does any of it make sense? Not a whit. It’s brilliant.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
White Turnips Make It Hard to Sleep (2011) CJ Sheu The filmmaking confidence is grounded in a singular vision: to depict how hard it can be to formally end a moribund phase of one’s life – the difficulty of necessary change.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
The Arrival (1999) CJ Sheu The distortions are a direct cinematic expression of the flux of sensation, a stream of not consciousness but affect.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
From the Reports of Security Guards & Patrol Services Part 1 (1985) CJ Sheu This short gave me more vertigo than Free Solo (2018) did.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (1970) CJ Sheu The observer always ends up participating in the phenomenon observed, and Baldwin uses this, in more ways than one, to prove his point that the sheer fact and terms of the Black struggle are inconceivable to the white man.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
All Too Well: The Short Film (2021) CJ Sheu [D]espite its name, All Too Well (Ten Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault): The Short Film (2021) belongs squarely in the genre of the music video. But the level of craftsmanship and resources on display is on par with that of short films.
Posted Mar 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy (2025) CJ Sheu Despite my enjoyment, I must concede that making the dozens of viewers in my position the target audience can hardly be called a sound adaptation strategy.
Posted Aug 07, 2025  Edit critic review
Whisper of the Heart (1995) CJ Sheu Whisper achieves what we hope the best children’s fantasy does.
Posted Jun 10, 2025  Edit critic review
An Impossibly Small Object (2018) CJ Sheu The entire [third] act is shot in the same magical realist style that makes the first act such a success, and the ending, though answering exactly zero questions, re-balances the tone, giving the film a sense of closure.
Posted Jan 01, 2025  Edit critic review
Au Revoir Taipei (2010) CJ Sheu It’s my favorite Taiwan film. [...] it’s one of the few contemporary films to nail a natural-sounding Taiwanese Mandarin.
Posted Sep 19, 2022  Edit critic review
Gerry (2002) CJ Sheu What makes Gerry worth watching is in how it perfectly captures what it’s like to get lost in the wilderness.
Posted Aug 19, 2022  Edit critic review
1 Dimension (2013) CJ Sheu [N]ot only have you never seen anything like it, you’ve probably never heard this exact story either, though the archetypes will be familiar. Or at least <i>seem</i> familiar.
Posted Jul 14, 2022  Edit critic review
Death of a Shadow (2012) CJ Sheu Death of a Shadow (2012) is a paragon of economical world building. [...] [T]the actors play it straight and are earnest enough to keep the clichés more or less at bay.
Posted Jul 14, 2022  Edit critic review
Town Bloody Hall (1980) CJ Sheu At first I wanted to say that the presentation perfectly matched the subject, but in truth I don't know if what we have is form following content or content following form.
Posted Oct 26, 2021  Edit critic review
Dune (2021) CJ Sheu [The film] has many shortcomings. But it ... gets the most important thing right: the mood ... of prophesied destiny. And it's hard to imagine a more fitting adaptation.
Posted Oct 13, 2021  Edit critic review
Cosmopolis (2012) CJ Sheu Rarely have I encountered a film with such single-minded focus: everything here, from production design to camera angles to score, [serves] the dialogue. As it should be.
Posted Oct 06, 2021  Edit critic review
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) CJ Sheu The magic of "Beyond" is that it makes it feel like life can offer a preplanned narrative.
Posted Oct 05, 2021  Edit critic review
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011) CJ Sheu If it weren't for Twilight's first-movie advantage, [this film] would take the top spot, because its plot is also entirely to do with Bella and Edward's romance[.]
Posted Sep 10, 2021  Edit critic review
Twilight (2008) CJ Sheu The first film grounds everything, and does a fine job of world-building; even the climactic fight scene is fully integrated into the emotional core[.]
Posted Sep 10, 2021  Edit critic review
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) CJ Sheu After the lightning strike of Bella and Edward, it's nice to see a more gradual and human romance blossom, even if we know that it's doomed from the start.
Posted Sep 10, 2021  Edit critic review
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) CJ Sheu [E]ssentially a detour of a plot, and my interest waned along with the film's decreased focus on the character relationships.
Posted Sep 10, 2021  Edit critic review
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) CJ Sheu Finally we come to the nadir of the saga. Filmed back to back with the first part, [this film] is built around the ... boring premise ... of gathering forces[.]
Posted Sep 10, 2021  Edit critic review
Stowaway (2021) CJ Sheu These heady considerations are grounded in the film's fluent visual language [...] It's gratifying to see a film that makes a habit of conveying key information wordlessly.
Posted Jul 24, 2021  Edit critic review
The Park (2016) CJ Sheu Things get surreal. [...] The film as a whole is so engrossing[.]
Posted Apr 15, 2021  Edit critic review
Antigone (2019) CJ Sheu Now, thanks to Québécois writer-director-cinematographer [and co-editor] Sophie Deraspe ... , we finally have the film that [Jean] Anouilh deserves.
Posted Dec 01, 2020  Edit critic review
Mulan (2020) CJ Sheu It may look like a film and quack like a film, but something's just not right with the new Mulan[.]
Posted Oct 03, 2020  Edit critic review
The Disaster Artist (2017) CJ Sheu [T]he decision to film Disaster as a comedy relegates the characters' moral objections to fodder for the funnies.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
Kate Plays Christine (2016) CJ Sheu The [lure] of a gory spectacle is what keeps us slogging through this two-hour circular meditation, ... to showcase Greene's ability to manipulate viewers into self-disgust[.]
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
The Florida Project (2017) CJ Sheu But it's the elevation of the source material into such a delicate yet layered narrative that evinces true artistry.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
American Animals (2018) CJ Sheu The film entices us to empathize with the leads so that it can hit us on the head with our own empathy. But that's the thing about empathy: It literally doesn't judge.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet (2012) CJ Sheu Resnais displays an immaculate instinct for when to use which actors, ... and [how to use sound] to elicit the emotions that on stage would emerge from variations in volume.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
Cloud Atlas (2012) CJ Sheu Cloud Atlas is a glorious reward for readers who've slogged through a brilliant but flawed novel, and the soundtrack is the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
Dancing Ninja (2010) CJ Sheu It points up the utter ridiculousness of comic-book superhero conventions while wearing its love of comic-book superhero conventions on its sleeve.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
La La Land (2016) CJ Sheu The meta qualities of La La Land, which have led many to call it a love letter to classic musical films, owe a great deal to this [atmospheric framing] device.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
West of Her (2016) CJ Sheu The film does have a few missteps ..., but what works far, far outstrips what doesn't, and by the end you'll be sad that it's over.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
Beautiful Things (2017) CJ Sheu Beautiful Things opens the door to l'art pour l'art in the machine age.
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
Paterson (2016) CJ Sheu What makes Paterson such a wonderfully coherent and satisfying film ... is its cinematic conceit: we are seeing the world as it is perceived by ... the protagonist[.]
Posted Jun 30, 2020  Edit critic review
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