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Brandon Judell (Medium)

Brandon Judell (Medium) is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Brandon Judell.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
6/10
Mazel Tov (2025) Brandon Judell This mildly comic, sometimes over-the-top, intermittently dramatic exploration of a dysfunctional family delightfully argues when relationships are deteriorating, Jewish traditions can be the glue that mends.
Posted Jan 25, 2026  Edit critic review
9/10
Marty Supreme (2025) Brandon Judell Superbly chronicles the overzealous ping-ponging exploits of a self-absorbed, Philip-Rothian Jew with an unbridled Type A persona.
Posted Jan 25, 2026  Edit critic review
9/10
Sirāt (2025) Brandon Judell The explosive final half hour of Sirāt's motto: no matter how little life has blessed us with, we can still wind up with less.
Posted Jan 25, 2026  Edit critic review
9/10
The Plague (2025) Brandon Judell The Plague does for pre-teens what Jaws did for sharks and what The Shining accomplished for recovering alcoholic authors with writer's block. You'll want to keep them at more than an arm's length.
Posted Jan 05, 2026  Edit critic review
The Carpenter's Son (2025) Brandon Judell If you are a devout Christian, you might scream, "Blasphemous!" or be totally intrigued by this at-times bloody fantasy of Jesus's formative years. If you are a bit cynical, you might just chuckle a bit or look at the carryings-on with disdain.
Posted Nov 16, 2025  Edit critic review
Two Times João Liberada (2025) Brandon Judell A brave experimental work that has two trans women separated by centuries combating the patriarchy, fighting for control of how they are to be portrayed. If there are going to be limits set on the way they express themselves, they will set them.
Posted Apr 27, 2025  Edit critic review
8/10
Stranger by the Lake (2013) Brandon Judell The film changed my life. I immediately stopped dating LGBTQI+ serial killers after viewing it.
Posted Apr 12, 2025  Edit critic review
Misericordia (2024) Brandon Judell Voltaire once avowed: “God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.” In a Guiraudie offering, God’s creatures might not be doubling over with merriment, but you do sense that several are ready to spout a smile.
Posted Apr 12, 2025  Edit critic review
Disney's Snow White (2025) Brandon Judell All I felt was the untainted childhood joy I felt when I saw my very 1st film, The Lady and the Tramp. You won’t mind your kids streaming it ad nauseam. With charming leads, huggable sidekicks, a scary forest, and sweet hedgehogs, who could ask for more?
Posted Mar 24, 2025  Edit critic review
The Monkey (2025) Brandon Judell It has as much in common with the prize-winning short story collected in Skeleton Crew as a can of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli has in common with gourmet dining. Imagine if director John Waters were straight and a bit less funny, and you have The Monkey.
Posted Feb 23, 2025  Edit critic review
9/10
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire (2024) Brandon Judell Moving on to the more disquieting, this devastating, necessary documentary concerns being a witness to history and then disseminating the horrors that the world means to forget or maybe worse . . . distort and make light of.
Posted Feb 07, 2025  Edit critic review
8/10
Hester Street (1975) Brandon Judell Has you asking, “What chance do centuries-old traditions have in the New World?” Discovering the winner is the delight of this beautifully textured recreation of a time when being an immigrant had its challenges, not like now. Oh, forgot about Guantanamo.
Posted Feb 06, 2025  Edit critic review
ADA - My Mother the Architect (2024) Brandon Judell What survives longer than a memory? Buildings, of course. Just ask Ada Karmi-Melamede, the subject of her daughter’s unflinching documentary, Ada: My Mother the Architect. As a voiceover notes: “She is the Madonna of Israeli architecture."
Posted Feb 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Neither Day nor Night (2024) Brandon Judell With fine thesping throughout, especially from Peled, a bubbe’s dream with sorrowful eyes & pinchable cheeks, Neither Day Nor Night, described by an Australian fest as a “crime-thriller,” is a pleasing tale of overcoming adversity in an unsuitable manner.
Posted Feb 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Midas Man (2024) Brandon Judell A wry biopic of the man who discovered the Beatles, transforming them from a scraggly quartet into the most consequential band. Here's a never-less-than-engaging look at not totally surviving the sixties, a perfect Brit counterpart to A Complete Unknown.
Posted Feb 06, 2025  Edit critic review
The Binding (2024) Brandon Judell The screenplay, by the capable life partners Kantor and Keren, delves into sex addiction, damning dads, animated camel accidents, nipple play, closet cases, and even a newish method of conversion therapy that hopefully won’t gain in popularity.
Posted Jan 02, 2025  Edit critic review
Solvent (2024) Brandon Judell This deliriously witty, yet highly discomforting film is a wry look at modern society's derangement. What follows defies categorization. There’s horror, comedy, underground absurdity, & romance, but these genres are called upon to do more than entertain.
Posted Dec 02, 2024  Edit critic review
9/10
Small Things Like These (2024) Brandon Judell With his seductive angularity, his throbbing intensity, and with those singular orbs of his, Murphy believably transforms a man who might have remained a helpless onlooker at the world’s indifference to those in need into a Warrior of Hope.
Posted Nov 10, 2024  Edit critic review
9/10
Bulletproof: A Lesbian's Guide to Surviving the Plot (2024) Brandon Judell With seemingly hundreds of clips dating from the 1950s onward, Latimer maps boob-tube and celluloid lesbian invisibility, stereotyping, and murder, all the way to the recent decades’ life-affirming depictions.
Posted Oct 10, 2024  Edit critic review
Ganymede (2024) Brandon Judell This heartfelt exploration of a young wrestler from an EXTREMELY religious household seeking his first same-sex kiss is in the end a hoot and a half. Coming to that realization, though, might take you through 2 or 3 Twizzlers and a handful of popcorn.
Posted Aug 31, 2024  Edit critic review
8/10
Daddio (2023) Brandon Judell Clark, as inhabited by Mr. Penn, is reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart at his gruffiest: macho with an initially unsavory but eventually addictive charm. There is a lamb hidden within this foul-mouthed lone wolf.
Posted Aug 05, 2024  Edit critic review
My Imaginary Life for Someone (2024) Brandon Judell A rather droll satire of “The Real Housewives of . . .” phenomenon, which I thought was already a satire. . . Just for fun, invite pals over for a screening, but don’t let on it’s all staged. Best line: “I’m so happy I can smell like Princess Diana.”
Posted Jun 27, 2024  Edit critic review
Home Invasion (2023) Brandon Judell Taken all at once, this absorbing conglomeration of snapshots of modern life, with more than a few treks to the historical past, might just have you locking yourself in your closet for a few weeks.
Posted Jun 26, 2024  Edit critic review
8/10
Hippo (2023) Brandon Judell Shot in a mouth-wateringly stark black-and-white by William Tracy Babcock and fetchingly narrated by the Eric Roberts, Hippo is hilariously funny in a sort of Yorgos-Lanthimos-meets Ed-Wood way.
Posted Jun 24, 2024  Edit critic review
8/10
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023) Brandon Judell Consider that if Woody Allen had been born a woman and had showcased nudity in his works, plus sported a strong "female gaze," we might not need Ms. Arnow to direct films, but since Woody wasn't, doesn't, and hasn't, Ms. Arnow fills a huge vacancy.
Posted May 17, 2024  Edit critic review
Red Island (2023) Brandon Judell Campillo employs a French child’s gaze to observe his parents’ petty jealousies; the community’s racist reactions to an interracial coupling; and the anger of the Madagascans: “For twelve years, we have been independent but under France’s thumb.”
Posted Apr 12, 2024  Edit critic review
Just the Two of Us (2023) Brandon Judell By the end of the Two of Us, I was checking myself for black-and-blue marks.
Posted Apr 12, 2024  Edit critic review
The Book of Solutions (2023) Brandon Judell Physical, reverberant goofiness conquers the moment with low-comedy stylings. (Surprise cameos: Sting, and if my notes are correct, I saw George Clooney up there. too.)
Posted Apr 12, 2024  Edit critic review
Auction (2024) Brandon Judell Engrossing, timely, and with a lead whose motto is “being hated is good for the job,” it doesn’t exactly argue there’s more to life than just cash flow, but it insists there're moral ways of winning that just might take more effort on everyone’s part.
Posted Apr 04, 2024  Edit critic review
8/10
The Animal Kingdom (2023) Brandon Judell Beautifully shot while perfectly cast and helmed, Animal Kingdom is an exuberant example of humane cinema at its best.
Posted Apr 01, 2024  Edit critic review
Norwegian Dream (2023) Brandon Judell Mr. Milkjowski, who can be quite charismatic at times, is also a fine actor. You’ll be significantly concerned for his Robert’s happiness throughout. . . Norwegian Dream will an incentive for many more to be honest about their LGBTQI lifestyle.
Posted Mar 06, 2024  Edit critic review
Disco Boy (2023) Brandon Judell Don’t expect the Village People to show in this arresting debut. In fact, leave all expectations at the popcorn stand. He’s striving to expose the guarded interiority of his characters, & with Louvart’s aid & some trippy editing, he achieves that goal.
Posted Feb 10, 2024  Edit critic review
Mothers of Today (1939) Brandon Judell Once heartbreaking, now far less so, "Mothers" is still a hoot of an entertainment, capturing much of the "mishigas" many immigrants continue to face today after cruising past Lady Liberty.
Posted Jan 23, 2024  Edit critic review
8/10
Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) Brandon Judell Now thanks to Ron Frank’s disarmingly lovable documentary Remembering Gene Wilder, the actor who departed in 2016 appears so alive on the big screen, it’s as if he never left us.
Posted Jan 20, 2024  Edit critic review
Marry My Dead Body (2022) Brandon Judell What follows are fisticuffs, grumpy gangsters, grandmas insisting you come over for dinner, and a few shoot-outs that lead to quite a sweet, moving, satisfying finale proving that sometimes we all need a good dose of otherworldly romantic silliness.
Posted Sep 11, 2023  Edit critic review
Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) Brandon Judell Imagine the Hallmark Channel making soft-core porn and you pretty much have it: yearning, orgasmic faces, but no crotch shots. The acting varies in believability as does the script, but the leads are beautiful, especially when dancing among nude statuary.
Posted Sep 11, 2023  Edit critic review
Bottoms (2023) Brandon Judell Having beaten Everything Everywhere All At Once’s opening-week take and with a continued solid box-office, Bottoms won’t win any Oscars but the film just might prove to the powers that be that sapphic cinema is a money-making proposition.
Posted Sep 11, 2023  Edit critic review
8/10
Factory Boss (2014) Brandon Judell An unflinching view of capitalism gone awry. . . .Boss displays how little we know about our competitor for world power, and how alike we are in so many arenas. That’s not meant to be totally complementary.
Posted Aug 01, 2023  Edit critic review
Where Is the Lie? (2023) Brandon Judell I may be totally wrong about this one because I only lasted 20 minutes. Feeling guilty I tried another 7. So there's a chance that the next 58 minutes are scintillating, “But why,” I ask, “are so many trans folks depicted on screen as shallow twits?”
Posted Jul 27, 2023  Edit critic review
Egoist (2022) Brandon Judell What follows is both surprising and beautifully wrought. With a solid script and direction, plus first-rate thesping . . . and with a whole lot of Mother-Love incorporated and some tears, Egoist is one the top queer offerings out so far this year.
Posted Jul 26, 2023  Edit critic review
9/10
The Lesson (2023) Brandon Judell Intermittently sexy with a thrilling finale, consistently clever dialogue, and inviting visuals, 'The Lesson' is about mortals with “taught” minds while so many of this film’s on-screen contemporaries front and center the untaught.
Posted Jun 25, 2023  Edit critic review
Öte (2023) Brandon Judell An engaging travelogue of sorts with stunning views captured by cinematographer Junior Gung, and a joyful ending, Öte will have you booking tickets to Turkey overnight.
Posted Jun 24, 2023  Edit critic review
Like Turtles (2022) Brandon Judell This, the charming directorial debut of actress Monica Dugo, in which she also stars, tells of a happy housewife, who has her daily routine down pat. . . in a well-scripted, finely cast feature that spills over with simplistic yet satisfactory wisdom.
Posted Jun 09, 2023  Edit critic review
7/10
Delta (2022) Brandon Judell Quite timely is Michele Vannucci’s visual stunner Delta. Here cinematographer Matteo Vieille Rivara often amazes the eye with the natural beauty he captures, especially with several overhead compositions. Yes, dead-eyed fish afloating have their appeal.
Posted Jun 09, 2023  Edit critic review
8/10
Siccità (2022) Brandon Judell For those in the mood for a first-rate ecological/political/end-of-civilized-behavior satire in the vein of Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, search no further than Paolo Virzi’s Dry. Just imagine what what would happen if Italy had no rain for three years.
Posted Jun 09, 2023  Edit critic review
7/10
Chiara (2022) Brandon Judell Chiara with its Biblical folk dancing and breaking into song, isn’t exactly Jesus Christ Superstar, but it’s still a fun trip back to the 13th century. An impressed Lord rewards the young lass with miracles, including concocting olive oil out of thin air.
Posted Jun 09, 2023  Edit critic review
7/10
The Hummingbird (2022) Brandon Judell After our hero gets a death threat, he's met with sibling rivalry, a 4-decades’ long platonic relationship, suicides, high-stakes gambling, picturesque locales, sword lessons, plus hugs & kisses. Here's a riveting life to view, sort of a low-keyed Iliad.
Posted Jun 09, 2023  Edit critic review
8/10
The Lord of the Ants (2022) Brandon Judell A hard-hitting look at Fascism’s attacks on Queerdom. With a first-rate script that refuses to depict the poet as totally sympathetic, plus a solid cast & picturesque scenery, here’s an offering that in earlier decades would have been an art-house smash.
Posted Jun 09, 2023  Edit critic review
Jerk (2021) Brandon Judell One might declare Jerk a rare, perfect fusion of text & its visualization . . . of brutality & its burlesque . . .of the absurd intertwined with an undeniable element of damnable verisimilitude. Jerk will certainly not be greeted with unanimous adoration
Posted Feb 14, 2023  Edit critic review
America (2022) Brandon Judell Praised by all of the reviews out so far, America might teach you more about floral arrangements than Judaism, but with its superb cinematography (Omri Aloni), fine acting, and leisurely pace, you’ll have more than enough time to ponder the film’s title.
Posted Jan 18, 2023  Edit critic review
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