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The Improper Bostonian

The Improper Bostonian is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Betsy Sherman, Cassidy Olsen, Paul Sherman, Sean Burns.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
2/4
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Paul Sherman Peter Jackson has once again given us an expansive spoof of bombastic, medieval fantasy adventures: the furrowed brows, the swords and sorcery, the creatures, the hair extensions. Oh, that's right, it’s not supposed to be silly.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
3/4
Casper (1995) Betsy Sherman A wicked good time for all ages.
Posted Oct 03, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
Requiem for a Dream (2000) Paul Sherman ...even beyond the perhaps outdated points this movie makes, Requiem fails in its more basic story elements.
Posted Aug 21, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
Waterworld (1995) Betsy Sherman Not horrible, not wonderful...
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Apollo 13 (1995) Betsy Sherman The nuts and bolts and jargon involved in the safe return of the Apollo 13 astronauts from their ill-fated to the moon are fascinating, but the character development hits a brick wall.
Posted Jun 25, 2025  Edit critic review
1/4
Mission: Impossible II (2000) Paul Sherman As ridiculous and unconvincing as the first, though slightly more streamlined in story, this bombastic Bond wannabe has some of Woo's trademark touches, but they're no match for Cruise's narcissism.
Posted May 08, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) Paul Sherman Ewan McGregor is just right, as always, as humble Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Posted Apr 17, 2025  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Paul Sherman ...while Star Wars made you feel the affection among the characters that were thrown together, you only feel this movie's phantom heart, something for which no amount of special effects or outer space action can compensate.
Posted Apr 16, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
American Psycho (2000) Paul Sherman It's bold and often effective, but the humor only propels the movie so far.
Posted Apr 04, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Wings of the Dove (1997) Betsy Sherman This adaptation of one of Henry James’s most psychologically rich novels works on its own lighter terms -- although those terms arguably rip away the very forces that motivate the James characters.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997) Betsy Sherman This intense and darkly rollicking documentary portrait of a troubled artist is in the heartwarming tradition of Crumb.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
1.5/4
John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1997) Betsy Sherman Happily this time people will discover our hometown boy Matt Damon, who gives a superb lead performance in an unfortunately mediocre property.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) Betsy Sherman This thriller set in Savannah, Georgia, has enough juicy intrigue to recommend it. But it's got some fault-line flaws that director Clint Eastwood ignores to weave his local-color tapestry.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Kiss or Kill (1997) Betsy Sherman Diverting, but hardly a classic.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Alien Resurrection (1997) Betsy Sherman It has refreshingly sick and twisted humor, bold retro-futurist art direction, adequate gore and a talented cast. Yet its splashes of entertainment don't join up into a coherent narrative; it's sadly sloppy on the story front.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Mission: Impossible (1996) Betsy Sherman What should have been a finely honed spy thriller is on Cruise-control in more ways than one. Or maybe the impossible mission is expecting a coherent movie from director Brian “Setpieces ’R’ Us” De Palma anymore.
Posted Jul 15, 2024  Edit critic review
1.5/4
A Modern Affair (1995) Betsy Sherman This twist on the romantic comedy genre by Vem Oakley suffers from an agonizingly slow pace and an unnecessarily annoying heroine.
Posted Jul 15, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
Twister (1996) Betsy Sherman Yes, the script is cobbled together from a lot of old Howard Hawks movies, but Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, as the estranged soulmates who rekindle their spark in the eye of the storm, are strong leads, and the supporting cast was well-assembled.
Posted Jul 15, 2024  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Braveheart (1995) Betsy Sherman As he did with The Man Without a Face, Gibson takes his directorial chores so seriously that he squeezes the life out of the piece.
Posted Nov 18, 2022  Edit critic review
Gladiator (2000) Paul Sherman The way the movie repeatedly drives home the motivations for Phoenix's paternally scorned neurosis and Crowe's proud victim becomes repetitious; you think they could have brought some more shading to the characters in 160 minutes.
Posted Nov 01, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Transit (2018) Cassidy Olsen An on-the-road tale of stolen identity that's imbued with suffocating urgency and paranoia, Transit uses many of the conventions of noir to weave a Kafkaesque narrative about how memory functions in the face of trauma and political oppression.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
3/4
High Life (2018) Cassidy Olsen Combining aspects of horror, sci-fi and prison drama, the film is a challenging puzzle that even the most devout Denis fans may struggle to piece together, but that doesn't negate its thrilling, terrifying viewing experience.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
4/4
Diane (2018) Cassidy Olsen The clear-cut narrative of the film's first half blooms into something much more oblique, at times even surreal, diving into its lead's psyche and exploring the boundaries between who we are, who we were and who we will become.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Teen Spirit (2018) Cassidy Olsen Minghella is more interested in revealing a carefully cultivated aesthetic than actually saying something with his debut.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Captain Marvel (2019) Cassidy Olsen This nonlinear narrative adds interest beyond your typical origin story, but it's quickly overwhelmed by the same shtick that's in all these movies-uncompelling action sequences, recycled villains and flat direction.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Aftermath (2019) Cassidy Olsen The Aftermath is far from a great film, so deeply mired in genre conventions that playing a period piece drinking game while watching would have you in an ambulance within the first half-hour. But it's much too fun to get angry about.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
3/4
Us (2019) Cassidy Olsen Us introduces so many ideas that it can be difficult to focus. But it's fascinating to watch those ideas emerge, contort and dance around on screen, even if they don't always come together to form a cohesive story.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
2/4
Climax (2018) Cassidy Olsen The result is an interesting visual experiment, but a tedious and ultimately hollow one-scenes from other Euro horrors like Possession and Suspiria aren't so much referenced as flat-out recreated, as if Climax doesn't have anything new to add.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
2/4
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) Cassidy Olsen The film's logic is often unclear, and its insistence on some rather regressive jokes about marriage, sex and body type is disappointing and pedestrian, especially when compared to the comedy of the competing Lego Movie franchise.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
3/4
Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Cassidy Olsen Against all odds, Alita actually works. While previous live-action manga adaptations like Death Note and Ghost in the Shell came out bloated and disingenuous, Alita: Battle Angel is fun, fiery and focused enough to know what it's about.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
3/4
High Flying Bird (2019) Cassidy Olsen High Flying Bird is much colder, at times even clinical, and it's more interested in the long-term work of resistance than heist plots and celebrations.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
1/4
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) Cassidy Olsen While the pulpy, by-the-numbers horror of the film's second half has the potential to be something awfully fun, Velvet Buzzsaw's overwritten and unfocused script sucks the joy out of even the most ridiculous of deaths.
Posted Mar 08, 2021  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) Cassidy Olsen The Second Part is still a testament to the creativity that has blessed big-budget animation and children's programming in recent years-but everything can't be awesome forever.
Posted Feb 28, 2021  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Glass (2019) Cassidy Olsen What was likely meant to be a meditation on the genre from Shyamalan comes off more like a lecture, one that will disappoint most superhero fans and skeptics alike.
Posted Feb 28, 2021  Edit critic review
1/4
Serenity (2019) Cassidy Olsen Serenity's fleeting moments of fun absurdity and over-the-top performances aren't enough to make up for the odd, uncomfortable flatness that defines the rest of the film.
Posted Feb 28, 2021  Edit critic review
2/4
Five Feet Apart (2019) Cassidy Olsen This young-adult tear-jerker is bogged down by cliche and a lack of vision, buoyed only by a fresh performance from lead actress Haley Lu Richardson and an honest conversation about the loneliness of disease.
Posted Feb 28, 2021  Edit critic review
3.5/4
The Beach Bum (2019) Cassidy Olsen Korine has grown up and mellowed out, shifting his attention inward to make perhaps the only introspective and genuinely kind film of his entire career-all the while preserving his idiosyncratic directing style and penchant for the bizarre.
Posted Feb 28, 2021  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Gloria Bell (2018) Cassidy Olsen Almost by extension of Moore's lived-in performance, Lelio's Gloria Bell is just as subtle and rewarding as the original, granting American audiences a new look into his brand of filmmaking through a simple story brimming with the comedy of life.
Posted Feb 28, 2021  Edit critic review
The Monuments Men (2014) Sean Burns Clooney's lugubrious direction mimics the worst of those star-studded early-1960s epics, with lots of long dissolves and chunky inertia.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Labor Day (2013) Sean Burns So histrionically abysmal that it makes you realize how lazy and complacent most other movies are in their banal mediocrity. The atrociousness is thrilling. As I left the theater, I felt alive again.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
The Invisible Woman (2013) Sean Burns Far more attentive to visual storytelling than most actors who step behind the camera, Fiennes conveys shifting dynamics through his characters' positions within the frame.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
August: Osage County (2013) Sean Burns Every ill-considered editing choice here bears the sticky fingerprints of statuette-grubbing producer Harvey Weinstein, attempting to tame this rough material for mass consumption by Oscar voters.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) Sean Burns My favorite movie in years.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Nebraska (2013) Sean Burns Everything about Nebraska feels secondhand. It's a gimmicky sitcom script gussied up with 'artful' affectations borrowed from the New Hollywood heyday of the early '70s.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
12 Years a Slave (2013) Sean Burns We've seen movies about the horrors of slavery before. This one is about the mechanics.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Captain Phillips (2013) Sean Burns This film sticks in your gut.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Enough Said (2013) Sean Burns It's a wonderful movie-funny, sad and wise about the crazy ways we torment ourselves in this thing called love.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Rush (2013) Sean Burns Thuddingly obvious and proud of it, Rush is a slick, breakneck entertainment.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Drinking Buddies (2013) Sean Burns This is a giant nothing. I can't think of a recent picture where I've seen less effort to enlighten or entertain.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
Blue Jasmine (2013) Sean Burns Andrew Dice Clay holding his own against Cate Blanchett? Now I've seen it all.
Posted May 12, 2015  Edit critic review
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