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Critics / Sean Burns / Movies
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SEAN BURNS

Agrees with the Tomatometer 73% of the time.

Biography: Since 1999 Sean Burns has been Philadelphia Weekly's lead film critic, and also currently writes for The Improper Bostonian. His work has previously appeared in The Boston Metro, Matinee Magazine, The Nashville Scene, Time Out New York and The House Next Door. Burns was a recurring guest on the late David Brudnoy's WBZ 1030 AM Radio Show, and in 2002 received an award for Excellence in Criticism from the Society of Professional Journalists. His writing has been called "jocular but serious, more like a 1940s daily reporter pounding out columns on a manual typewriter than a typical 21st century navel-gazing film critic." Burns has also been told that he "smokes too much and drives like an old lady." He and his cat live in Stoneham, MA.

Publications: Philadelphia Weekly

Total Reviews: 712

MOVIE REVIEWS ONLY

  • All
  • Movies
  • Interviews
  • Fresh
  • Rotten
  • Unquoted
Rating T-Meter Title | Year Add Date (default)

Rotten

Rotten
50%

Antichrist (2009)

" Provocative, sloppy and intellectually retarded -- the entire picture feels like it's sprung forth from Von Trier's Id without a second thought as to the consequences."

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
21%

Amelia (2009)

" Eventually I just wanted her to crash the damn plane so I could go home already."

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
73%

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

" What stays with you is the sadness. There's an almost unbearable undertow of melancholy in director Spike Jonze's awkward, arty adaptation of Maurice Sendak's 1963 picture book."

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
94%

An Education (2009)

" Tenderly looks back upon statutory rape as a rite of passage, and it's a testament to fine performances that the film only feels icky in retrospect."

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
87%

A Serious Man (2009)

" Grappling with massive cosmic mysteries on a deceptively mundane stage, it's a film about the silence of God, seething with profound existential panic... viewed through the hilariously cracked prism of everyday suburban minutiae."

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
72%

The Boys Are Back (2009)

" Even a corrosive influence like yours truly finds something a bit hinky about the motto 'Just Say Yes.' At least when applied to raising children."

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
57%

The Invention of Lying (2009)

" All the dazzling, limitless comedic potential here, and we're stuck waiting for the hot younger girl to wise up and learn to love the homely guy who wrote the movie?"

Posted Oct 27, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
75%

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

" Of course Moore's angry. I don't know anybody who isn't. But what about the movie?"

Posted Sep 29, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
89%

Zombieland (2009)

" It has a lot more in common with Little Miss Sunshine than just Abigail Breslin."

Posted Sep 29, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
67%

Paris (2009)

" Were it possible for The City of Light to see Nashville or Manhattan, it would probably want to sue for defamation."

Posted Sep 29, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
87%

Amreeka (2009)

" As much as I enjoyed spending time with these characters, it's hard not to bristle at the overall After-School Special vibe."

Posted Sep 29, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
77%

The Informant! (2009)

" The sublime Damon has a ridiculous moustache, a bad toupee and carries himself with the supreme confidence of a man who has no idea he's acting like an imbecile."

Posted Sep 15, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
86%

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009)

" Hustling like a blockbuster action flick, it's a crash course in domestic terrorism as rock n' roll adrenaline rush."

Posted Sep 8, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
85%

World's Greatest Dad (2009)

" Brilliantly cynical in dealing with grief as a fashion statement... exposing the vanity of mourning in public and our often absurd sanctification of the dead."

Posted Sep 3, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
21%

Halloween II (2009)

" Zombie's rowdy redneck phantasmagorias and weird swoons of empathy can't disguise that there's nowhere left for the story to go."

Posted Sep 3, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
63%

Husbands (1970)

" Cassavetes' most dangerous and unfiltered expression of masculine anxiety -- a raw, deliberately off-putting masterpiece."

Posted Aug 25, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
75%

Cold Souls (2009)

" A dreary-looking, glacially paced collection of missed opportunities."

Posted Aug 25, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
88%

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

" As is often the case with Tarantino's post-1990's output, great scenes are adrift in an undisciplined sea of ugly-spirited, juvenile self-indulgence."

Posted Aug 18, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
90%

District 9 (2009)

" After you've watched a doomed alien race become obsessed with cat food and Nigerian prostitutes, gunfights don't seem all that impressive anymore."

Posted Aug 18, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
36%

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

" A slightly more pleasurable experience than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But then again, so is a prolapsed colon."

Posted Aug 11, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
75%

Julie & Julia (2009)

" Streep nimbly apes that famous warbly voice and bemused laugh, clomping around the set like a delightful giantess."

Posted Aug 6, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
68%

Funny People (2009)

" Bitterly clear-eyed about the consequences of Apatowian perpetual adolescence, it's a dark movie that comes from somewhere deeply personal."

Posted Aug 6, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
84%

Soul Power (2009)

" A footnote to a masterpiece."

Posted Jul 28, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
86%

500 Days of Summer (2009)

" The movie keeps leaning toward some awful truths, only to sheepishly retreat into the safe comedy of fakey shopworn devices."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
31%

The Answer Man (2009)

" For all intents and purposes an uncredited remake of As Good As It Gets, which was kind of a crap flick to begin with..."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
83%

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

" All setup and no payoff, it serves mainly as logistical scaffolding to reposition the characters and strum up some backstory, stalling for time before the final chapter."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
67%

Bruno (2009)

" I don't think Cohen's targets are even being particularly homophobic, they'd just prefer if this crazed, half-naked circus freak would just put his penis away and stop invading their personal space"

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
89%

Séraphine (2008)

" Here's one that feels like homework."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
68%

Tetro (2009)

" A dazzling mess... it throbs with an excess of emotion and idealistic, cuckoo daring."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
66%

Public Enemies (2009)

" A wonky art-house curio disguised as a summer blockbuster... it's also one hell of a Western."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
89%

Moon (2009)

" There's a marvelous sense of isolation in the picture's cold, aloof setting and classical, still frames."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
20%

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

" You asked for this, America."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Fresh

Rotten
47%

Whatever Works (2009)

" David's human sandpaper delivery gives a full, deep voice to Allen's reckless misanthropy."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Fresh

Rotten
54%

Cheri (2009)

" What a drag it is getting old."

Posted Jul 25, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
51%

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

" Foolishly attempts to update the 1974 classic by cranking the volume and inflating the Noo Yawk attitude to a cartoonish level of macho posturing."

Posted Jun 9, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
51%

Easy Virtue (2009)

" Presumably the first Noël Coward adaptation feature a Billy Ocean song."

Posted Jun 3, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
92%

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

" Not a movie likely to be enjoyed by cat lovers..."

Posted Jun 3, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
73%

Rudo and Cursi (2009)

" The air of jaunty vivaciousness is promising, but nothing sticks."

Posted May 27, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
63%

The Brothers Bloom (2009)

" Unfortunately, writer-director Rian Johnson is suffering from a fatal case of 'the cutes.'"

Posted May 19, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
36%

Angels & Demons (2009)

" Ron Howard's funniest film since Splash!"

Posted May 12, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
39%

The Limits of Control (2009)

" Jim Jarmusch is a national treasure, and The Limits of Control is his first stinker."

Posted May 12, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
91%

Every Little Step (2009)

" Treats a series of complicated artistic decisions like the season finale of Dancing With the Stars."

Posted May 12, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
95%

Star Trek (2009)

" More than any Trek project in decades, this one conjures the camaraderie, the easy humor and most important the swagger we associate with headstrong Jim Kirk and his logical, pointy-eared pal."

Posted May 5, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
85%

Tyson (2009)

" It's like a Spalding Gray monologue performed by a maniac."

Posted May 5, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
55%

The Soloist (2009)

" A well-acted, finely crafted movie that has everything going for it... except a reason to exist."

Posted Apr 29, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
62%

Crank High Voltage (2009)

" Bigger, dumber and even sicker than the rotgut original... I had a blast, but don't say you weren't warned."

Posted Apr 21, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
93%

Sugar (2009)

" Of course, calling a movie 'too humane' isn't really all that much of a complaint..."

Posted Apr 21, 2009

Fresh

Fresh
95%

Amarcord (1974)

" Watching the movie feels like flipping through a cartoon sketchbook of Fellini's vivid remembrances and formative experiences."

Posted Apr 14, 2009

Rotten

Rotten
50%

Observe and Report (2009)

" Uneven at best... But say what you will about Hill's sicko, squirmy humor, at least it's distinctive."

Posted Apr 7, 2009

Rotten

Fresh
75%

Tokyo! (2009)

" Anthology films are like communism or the rhythm method --things that work much better in theory than actual practice."

Posted Apr 7, 2009
 
 
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Best Reviewed

Fresh Sample

Fresh

Where the Wild Things AreOffsite

Fresh

A Serious ManOffsite

Fresh

ZombielandOffsite

Fresh

The Informant!Offsite

Fresh

The Baader Meinhof ComplexOffsite

Fresh

World's Greatest DadOffsite

Fresh

HusbandsOffsite

Fresh

District 9Offsite

Fresh

Julie & JuliaOffsite

Fresh

Funny PeopleOffsite

More…

Best Reviewed

Rotten Sample

Rotten

AntichristOffsite

Rotten

AmeliaOffsite

Rotten

An EducationOffsite

Rotten

The Boys Are BackOffsite

Rotten

The Invention of LyingOffsite

Rotten

Capitalism: A Love StoryOffsite

Rotten

ParisOffsite

Rotten

AmreekaOffsite

Rotten

Halloween IIOffsite

Rotten

Cold SoulsOffsite

More…

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