Popular reviews

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  Review by Ashton ★★½ 8

  Imagine opening your movie by having your main character describe himself masturbating to a young woman who he describes as "having a virginal quality that contrasted her ice cold outer shell", and then expecting the audience to buy this teenager as a genius savant who goes on to write the novel of a generation and gets nominated for a PULITZER PRIZE?

  The main character speaks a line of dialogue that is perhaps the most apt descriptor of this manipulative and megalomanic (albeit handsomely shot and acted) film.

  “It's just one long intoxicating masturbation session with no climax.”

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  Review by ivana 👒 ★★★½ 3

  so, if you’re planning on watching this:

  1. DON’T WATCH THE TRAILER. go in completely blind
  2. be prepared cause it’s a heavier watch than it seems (A24 needs to come up with less soul crushing stuff)
  3. it’s gonna get a lot of hate, probably will be called bad/predictable/mediocre at best by so many (didn’t expect to adore it myself) but i loved it. lerman put some serious effort i didn’t think he really had in him, and i liked the non linearity. maybe it’s really just me being overly impressed but still please give this a chance

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  Review by Steve Lovecraft ★ 2

  "I love horror movies. I love Bob Dylan."
  "Are you sure you're a girl?"

  This is definitely the passion project of a young man who was bullied in high school and needed to compensate with an elaborate two hour wish-fulfillment scenario, who's completely unaware of how cringe and obvious it is that he's doing it. It doesn't help that the main female character is a manic pixie dream girl because a woman is defined by her ability to be a muse for a misunderstood genius who happens to be the world's most talented writer. His work is so influential that it has profoundly changed society, the phenomena surrounding it torture him, crushing him with the weight of his own talent.…

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  Review by Allison M. 🌱 @ Tribeca 2022 ★★★½ 1

  When you get older, your body goes downhill, but you get this incredible gift of perspective. Director Shawn Christensen doesn't seem that old, but he does have enough perspective to compare the characters during different time periods of their lives. There's some great editing. I hate when the editing is all over the place for no reason, but the technique actually builds curiosity and is effective when we reach the payoffs.

  Great actors: even though Michelle Monaghan's character is brutally mean and Margaret Qualley is hardly in it, their presence is still very much worthwhile. Elle Fanning is in it plenty and welcomingly so. Other good performances from Kyle Chandler, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and the lead, Logan Lerman.

  Vegan alerts:
  -Sidney and Melody are eating ice cream that tastes like "tape" so they throw it away.
  -The police send a dog to animal control.

  This is the 158th film I've seen using Movie Pass.

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  Review by Andre de Nervaux ★★★½ 2

  Elle fanning and A24
  Literally my favourite mix.

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  Review by Dominic Griffin ½ 2

  If you have the opportunity to see this movie, you must do anything else instead. I wish I had time to personally contact every person on Letterboxd who gave this a good star rating so I can ask them if they're okay.

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  Review by Ava ☭ ★★★★½ 4

  Imagine wanting to fuck Elle Fanning, now that's a small, delicate baby!

  Blake Jenner is a national treasure and must be protected at all costs.

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  Review by ˗ˏˋ Liam ˊˎ˗ ★★★½

  it feels like a 2012 movie to me

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  Review by Marianna Neal ★½ 6

  I guess I have a new least favorite A24 movie?
  I know some people like this one, but for me it was ridiculous and pretentious from beginning to end.

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  Review by tyler ★ 4

  cinematic equivalent to styrofoam rubbing against styrofoam

  don't know why this is so bland and misogynistic. lerman is sleepwalking and elle is trying her hardest, but they gave her such a weak character its baffling. some of the worst story, editing and structure i've seen this year

  in case you dont believe how sexist and stupid this is, the movie starts with logan lerman detailing his daily masturbation to elle fanning from the sixth grade to current times in an essay in front of his high school class and teacher who apprehends him, then cuts to lerman talking to a male teacher about how much he hates the teacher, despite her perfectly rational dismay. the teacher tells him that the woman is a good teacher and a published author, to which lerman replies "of what, romance novels?"

  skip

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  Review by Johannes Klintman ★½ 6

  Seriously, what the heck was the meaning of this? I watched it knowing nothing else than that it was an A24 film starring Elle Fanning. Sounded fine to me, but boy was I disappointed.

  This is among the most childish films I have ever seen. Not in the sense that kids would enjoy it. It is viewing the quality of the film - the plot, the performances, the dialogue, the editing - where I find the word infantile being the most adequate term to describe it.

  The film is showing us three periods of time in the life of Sydney Hall, a teen that has written a successful novel and now is considered as ”one of the brightest writers of…

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  Review by Fred 🇵🇷 ★★

  A24
  2020 First Time Watches Ranked

  "Life isn't very interesting unless you're a bit psychotic."

  There's a reason why you can't just throw every food you like together and get a satisfying meal out of it. Many filmmakers have tried and learned just how well such alchemy is mercilessly unattainable in the visual storytelling medium. The Vanishing of Sidney Hall is the such lesson for Shawn Christensen. A case of unchecked hipster wannabe fever run amok, Hall seems to be a movie that knows what critics expect from an independent showstopper and it tries to cram all of those ingredients into one awkward feature. Listen, I love some of the actors here. Logan Lerman will no doubt continue to go…