Dennis Harvey
Variety
San Francisco, CA, United States
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Past articles by Dennis:
‘The Vault’ Review: Freddie Highmore Helps a Team Break Into an Unbreakable Bank
Retitled from the even more indistinct “Way Down” for U.S. release, Spanish heist “The Vault” stubbornly remains one of those movies you know you’ll be forgetting almost as soon as you finish watching it. There’s nothing really wrong with this glossy tale of a “mission impossible” raid on a heavily fortified Madrid bank to retrieve […] → Read More
‘Wojnarowicz’ Review: A Vivid Look at a Furious Artist-Activist of the Reagan Era
Chris McKim’s documentary weaves striking archival materials into a biographical tapestry commemorating an ’80s New York art-scene maverick. → Read More
'Witch Hunt' Review: The Entire U.S. Becomes a Modern-Day Salem
A teen’s family runs a safe house for persecuted witches in this supernatural tale stronger on political allegory than thrills or chills. → Read More
‘United States vs. Reality Winner’ Review: Doc Defends the Whistleblower Who Leaked Russian Election Interference
Sonia Kennebeck’s engrossing film charts the case of a low-level document leaker who provoked the full wrath of the Trump administration. → Read More
‘Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched’ Review: A Diverting Survey of Folk-Horror Cinema and TV
“Folk horror” is a term of relatively recent vintage — or at least popularity — that only grows more broad as “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched” spends three and a quarter hours trying to define it. Still, a slippery thesis doesn’t detract from the pleasures of this documentary from genre scholar and programmer Kier-La Janisse. […] → Read More
‘Broadcast Signal Intrusion’ Review: Down A Rabbit’s Hole of Paranoia, Hacking and Obfuscation
It’s tricky to pull off the kind of cryptic mystery labyrinth that “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” attempts, and Jacob Gentry’s film only works to a point — whatever point at which the viewer decides this thriller’s elusive menace is just too vague to generate sufficient urgency or suspense. As long as the promise outweighs the frustrating […] → Read More
‘The Tunnel’ Review: Norway’s Latest Disaster Movie Is a Horizontal ‘Towering Inferno’
Though it will forever be associated with one brief mid-1970s heyday, the disaster-movie genre has made a stealth comeback in recent years, being a natural fit for a cinematic era dominated by CGI-laden action fantasies. Of course Hollywood has kept its hand in, with efforts like “San Andreas” and “Pompeii.” But there have also been […] → Read More
‘Pixie’ Review: In Ireland, They’ve Seen Too Many Tarantino Movies, Too
Rural Irish gangsters and deadly priests face off in a derivative comedy thriller that’s all labored contrivance and ersatz wit. → Read More
‘Safer at Home’ Review: Sick of the Pandemic Yet? How About Zoom-Based Horror Movies?
Will Wernick’s film not only fails to use that format in clever or suspenseful ways, it blows the basics of maintaining plausibility. → Read More
‘Mafia Inc’ Review: Mob Mayhem Among the Maple Leaves
A strong if fictionalized screen version of a bestselling Canadian organized-crime exposé. → Read More
‘Fear of Rain’ Review: A Schizophrenic Teen Turns Sleuth
Castille Landon’s intriguing thriller finds a mentally unstable teen’s suspicions about a neighbor disbelieved by all. → Read More
‘Paradise Cove’ Review: A Young Couple Contend With an Unwanted Houseguest
A 'Hand That Rocks the Cradle'-style throwback, if the baby were a Malibu dream home and the homicidal nanny were a washed-up old squatter. → Read More
‘Grizzly II: Revenge’ Review: An Infamous Abandoned Film Gets Finished
Four decades in the making, horror sequel featuring stars-to-be George Clooney and Charlie Sheen remains an incomplete mess. → Read More
'The Bloodhound' Review: A Cryptic Crossing of the River Poe
Promoted as a modern spin on Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” sans any such onscreen accreditation, “The Bloodhound” does eke an atmosphere of suffocation and doom from one domestic interior — in this case, an impressive mid-century modernist manse whose stark clean lines seem to repel human warmth. Patrick Picard’s […] → Read More
‘Fatale’ Review: Hilary Swank Is Michael Ealy’s Fatal Attraction
One extramarital misstep proves deadly in Deon Taylor’s slick but formulaic thriller. → Read More
‘Archenemy’ Review: Small-Scale Superheroics With Looks but Little Depth
Joe Manganiello is a fallen superhero, a delusional tramp, or both in this diverting if underdeveloped genre spin. → Read More
'Half Brothers' Review: A Labored Bilingual Buddy Comedy
Mismatched Mexican and Yankee siblings clash in this contrived, sometimes maudlin road-trip comedy. → Read More
‘Wander’ Review: An Energized Aaron Eckhart Goes Down a Murky Conspiracy Wormhole
Director April Mullen and writer Tim Doiron’s latest collaboration is a paranoid thriller too twisty for its own good. → Read More
'Vanguard' Review: Jackie Chan Globe-Trots in Cluttered Action Toy Box
Director Stanley Tong and star Jackie Chan reunite to diminished returns in a colorful but silly action contraption. → Read More
‘The Princess Switch: Switched Again’ Review: It’s Vanessa Hudgens Times Three in Cozy Netflix Sequel
Holiday fluff comes gift-wrapped in a pleasant sequel to Netflix’s 2018 hit. → Read More