ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Jake Gyllenhaal

Reviews 

GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , ,

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is an odd title but it serves to differentiate this R-rated, contemporary war actioner from previous horror and/or religious films bearing the same name. It’s also a thematic departure for the British writer/director best known for his glibly gritty, gangster shoot-‘em-ups. Prologue text explains how the U.S. military recruited 50,000 translators/interpreters to assist soldiers on the ground during the 20-year Afghan occupation; in return, the U.S. promised Special Immigrant Visas for them and their families.

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Reviews 

AMBULANCE – Review by Rachel West

Rachel West , , , ,

Ambulance is a Michael Bay boilerplate thrill ride throwback to the 1990s that desperately hopes its audience will hang on for the wildly absurd ride. Based on a 2005 Danish film of the same name, Bay’s latest entry into to his explosive filmography is a near two-hour chase scene overstuffed with some quippy one-liners that feel resurrected from the director’s mid-90s action blockbusters The Rock and Bad Boys. Viewers needn’t worry if they forgot about those movies because Chris Fedak’s script will literally remind you they exist with characters referencing and quoting from each of them.

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Reviews 

THE GUILTY – Review by Martha K Baker

Martha K. Baker , , , , , ,

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the producers of this remake of the Danish entry as Best Foreign Film of 2018. He gives his character, Joe Baylor, a wide range of hysteria, fright, concern, and frustration. He plays up Nic Pizzolatto’s screenplay, which is more sensational than the original, which felt creepier for being subtler. Still, “The Guilty” is unpredictable, heart-stopping, and, most of all, imaginative.

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Festivals Reviews 

THE GUILTY (TIFF 2021) – Review by Pam Grady

Pam Grady , , , , , , , ,

Twenty years after his breakthrough film, Training Day, Antoine Fuqua returns to the environs of the Los Angeles Police Department to deliver a very different, more subdued drama. A remake of a 2018 Danish thriller of the same name and shot under COVID protocols, it is a film where interest never flags but one that is hampered by its shaky night-in-the-life-of scenario, delivering a too shallow portrayal of the life of a troubled man.

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Festivals Reviews 

THE GUILTY (TIFF2021)- Review by Leslie Combemale

Leslie Combemale , , , , , , , ,

“Broken people save broken people.” That’s how Christina Vidal as Sgt Denise Wade explains Jake Gyllenhaal’s character Joe Baylor in Antoine Fuqua’s incredibly tense new film The Guilty. If the movie proves one thing, it’s that nothing is simple, and nothing is what it seems. Here, Fuqua teams up with Gyllenhaal in a pandemic-era story that unfolds in real time, bringing the audience on a gripping 90 minute wild ride, while the cameras stay almost exclusively in one room.

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Reviews 

SPIRIT UNTAMED – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , , , , , ,

I endorse the supportive friendship among the three girls, the interracial group of characters, and the condemnation of animal abuse, a positive lesson for all viewers. However, this level of anthropomorphizing animals should have been abandoned long ago.

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Reviews 

SPIRIT UNTAMED – Review by Leslie Combemale

Leslie Combemale , , , , , , , , , ,

What a pleasure to see such committed, genuine friendships shown between young girls, especially as it relates to the love of horses. Lucky, Pru, and Abigail are the tween version of ‘ride or die’, as they repeatedly risk everything for each other. They are also shown to be brave in terms of their commitment to save the horses, and fearless in how they find ways to problem solve on their journey, doing it together as a team.

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Reviews 

WILDLIFE – Review by Brandy McDonnell

Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments , , , , ,

A first-time screenwriter, Dano, known for his performances in “There Will Be Blood,” “Love & Mercy” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” adapted “Wildlife” alongside his actress/screenwriter partner Zoe Kazan (“The Big Sick,” “Ruby Sparks”) from Richard Ford’s 1990 novel about thoughtful teenager Joe Brinson, who watches his parents’ marriage unravel shortly after the family’s move in 1960 to small-town Montana.

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