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Sean Axmaker

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Sean Axmaker writes the weekly newspaper column Stream On Demand and the companion website Stream On Demand at Home, is a contributing writer for Turner Classic Movies Online and Noir City, and the editor of Parallax View. He was a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for nine years and a longtime home video columnist for IMDb and MSN Movies, and his work has appeared in Indiewire, Today.com, The Stranger, Seattle Weekly, Senses of Cinema, Asian Cult Cinema, Filmfax, Psychotronic Video, and "The Scarecrow Video Guide."

Favorites:

My favorite director: Howard Hawks My director obsession: Orson Welles My favorite films: choose from Touch of Evil (Orson Wells, 1958), Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders, 1976), Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958), and any number of Howard Hawks films Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and the vastly under-appreciated Hatari! (1962) Favorite performer: Burt Lancaster and his million dollar smile.

Critics' Group:
Location:

Seattle, WA

Official Website:

http://www.streamondemandathome.com

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Night Moves (1975) 78% EDIT “[Gene] Hackman has gift for putting a cool, affable exterior on tormented characters and Harry is one of his most emotionally bottled up.” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Days of Being Wild (1991) 91% EDIT “Set in the 1960s and shot on practically deserted locations, there isn’t much "story" to the impressionistic film, but the languorous atmosphere of longing, disconnection, and emotional isolation is hypnotic.” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review The Dead (1987) 94% EDIT “... one of [Huston's] most exquisite works, a perfect cinematic short story attuned to the rituals and touchy relationships of family and friends gathering in early twentieth century Dublin to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Fallen Angels (1995) 96% EDIT “... an idiosyncratic urban crime film viewed through a kaleidoscope.” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Boxcar Bertha (1972) 54% EDIT “If the rebellious spirit and social message behind the sex and violence is more [Roger] Corman than Scorsese, the film references and often inventive direction is pure Scorsese.” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review CQ (2001) 67% EDIT “Think of it as an American 8 1/2 with echoes of Day For Night and stirred through with French New Wave, Italian cool, and British mod. If the film is slight, the details are right ...” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Elmer Gantry (1960) 94% EDIT “[Burt] Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigor and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the vigor of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer.” – Stream on Demand Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 98% EDIT “In "Dr. Strangelove," it seems all too plausible that it’s not politics but arrogance, machismo and an extreme act of sexual overcompensation that brings about the end of the world as we know it.” – Stream on Demand Jan 17, 2026 Full Review The Illusionist (2006) 74% EDIT “[Paul Giamatti]'s twinkling eyes and theatrical smiles offering everything from cagey mistrust to professional appreciation (often at the same time) gives him the flamboyance the film’s magic act never quite manages.” – Stream on Demand Jan 17, 2026 Full Review Elf (2003) 85% EDIT “Director Jon Favreau may not have comic grace, but his direction is both sweet and funny. He never lets Ferrell play the victim... while Ferrell (in his first leading role) peppers every scene with manic outbursts and joyous exclamations.” – Stream on Demand Jan 17, 2026 Full Review The Lodger (1944) EDIT “This is film noir by way of Gothic thriller, a shadowy suspense thriller in the Victorian era of gaslight and horse drawn carriages on cobblestone streets, and director John Brahm gives the film a lively energy.” – Stream on Demand Jan 17, 2026 Full Review Shin Godzilla (2016) 87% EDIT “... gives the human side of the drama both an urgency and a dramatic charge.” – Stream on Demand Jan 4, 2026 Full Review Nouvelle Vague (2025) 91% EDIT “Richard Linklater‘s playful, poignant love letter to cinema, reimagines the making of Jean-Luc Godard‘s revolutionary French New Wave classic Breathless and, along the way, celebrates the creative spirit of young artists everywhere ...” – Stream on Demand Nov 16, 2025 Full Review Materialists (2025) 77% EDIT “The first half is a sharp, smart movie that deconstructs love in the modern world. The second half leans into the romantic side.” – Stream on Demand Nov 8, 2025 Full Review Frankenstein (2025) 85% EDIT “Think of del Toro’s 'Frankenstein' as a Gothic fairy tale staged like grand opera. The set pieces are big and bold, as are the performances, the décor detailed and textured, the fashion rich and ravishing.” – Stream on Demand Nov 8, 2025 Full Review The Grapes of Death (1978) EDIT “Called the first French gore film, Rollin brings a graceful dreaminess to his violence and a purely emotional illogic to the impulsive actions of prey and predator alike.” – Stream on Demand Oct 31, 2025 Full Review Fascination (1979) EDIT “The startling, unreal image of high society manners in the midst of gore and death pitches Jean Rollin‘s 'Fascination' into a turn-of-the-century culture come unhinged.” – Stream on Demand Oct 31, 2025 Full Review Lips of Blood (1975) EDIT “It’s a tale of blood and sex and haunting desire full of nudity and death and told in an austere, surreal style born of forced budgetary austerity. ” – Stream on Demand Oct 31, 2025 Full Review Weapons (2025) 93% EDIT “Part mystery, part horror movie, part parents’ worst nightmare, it’s a modern Pied Piper tale with no piper in sight ...” – Stream on Demand Oct 31, 2025 Full Review The Howling (1981) 76% EDIT “It offers an interesting take with inventive effects (thanks to Rob Bottin), impressive moments of horror, an undercurrent of dark humor, and an earthy, feral sensibility.” – Stream on Demand Oct 25, 2025 Full Review Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) 63% EDIT “It’s more dark fantasy than horror, a nightmarish adventure filtered through the memory of a man remembering his childhood in mythic terms. You can see the roots of Stephen King in this tale ....” – Stream on Demand Oct 25, 2025 Full Review Alias Nick Beal (1949) EDIT “Call it a film noir morality play.... a tale of temptation and corruption with a supernatural dimension. [Director John] Farrow gives the film a visual world to match.” – Stream on Demand Oct 11, 2025 Full Review The Ninth Gate (1999) 44% EDIT “... full of rumbling menace and deliciously unsettling imagery, but Polanski’s languorous direction and purposefully vague story leaves a film that’s eerie without every becoming thrilling.” – Stream on Demand Oct 11, 2025 Full Review Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) 83% EDIT “It’s sweet and silly, with all the innocence and whimsy of the original films, and nary a cynical or sarcastic note in the entire journey.” – Stream on Demand Oct 11, 2025 Full Review 28 Weeks Later (2007) 73% EDIT “[Director] Fresnadillo drives the scenes of zombie mayhem with a jumpy camera and a fractured editing style that adds a sense of panic to the chaos, as if seen through the terror-stricken perspective of an adrenaline-laced bystander.” – Stream on Demand Oct 11, 2025 Full Review
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