David Sims

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The Atlantic, The A.V. Club
For 351 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

David Sims' Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Ad Astra
Lowest review score: 10 Dolittle
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 233 out of 351
  2. Mixed: 78 out of 351
  3. Negative: 40 out of 351
351 movie reviews
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    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 David Sims
    Knock at the Cabin
    Knock at the Cabin avoids this problem partly through its deft casting, with Bautista serving as the most pivotal player. So much of the movie revolves around Leonard’s surreal monologues; the actor keeps a firm grasp on Leonard’s belief in his every word.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 David Sims
    Skinamarink
    In reality, Skinamarink is just a 100-minute symphony of the vibes being very, very off, a crescendo of creeping dread that eventually overwhelms the viewer.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 David Sims
    M3GAN
    Yes, Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN is pulled from January’s bucket of mostly low-budget pablum, but it’s cheeky and knowing enough to stand out from the slop.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 65 David Sims
    White Noise
    Baumbach does his best to infuse his film with mundane dread, but for the viewer, existential horror can be easily confused with a lack of energy.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 David Sims
    Babylon
    Babylon is the kind of grandiose folly that at least gives the viewer a big old mess to chew on.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Avatar: The Way of Water
    The final battles in The Way of Water are rousing, but they’re also feats of geography, astonishing in how they manage to keep the audience focused on a huge ensemble of characters who are jumping between various locations.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 55 David Sims
    Bones and All
    Even with the gore and the gorgeous visuals that typically accompany a Guadagnino project, Bones and All too often feels frustratingly tame.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 David Sims
    The Menu
    The Menu is unique, because it casts Slowik as both hero and villain. He’s not wrong to simmer with hatred for his elitist customers, but he’s also seething at the fact that he has, in fact, become one of them, propped up by the very system they created.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 95 David Sims
    The Fabelmans
    Spielberg’s storytelling has plenty of humor and verve, but it has a devastating sense of self-awareness as well. In focusing on a boy who puts a camera between himself and the world, Spielberg essays both the power in that perspective, and the limitations.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 David Sims
    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
    Although the sequel’s running time is more sprawling and its narrative goals more diffuse than its predecessor’s, it shares the same strengths. Wakanda Forever is fueled by intricate world-building, stunningly designed sets and costumes, and an interest in the geopolitical implications of superheroism that’s far more nuanced than most Marvel movies allow.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 David Sims
    Barbarian
    Barbarian serves up all the requisite thrills with panache, but it also provokes deeper, longer-lasting reflections. That balance is why the film has continued spreading so organically months after its release, and why it’ll keep tempting viewers down to the basement for years to come.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 35 David Sims
    Black Adam
    Johnson once excelled at playing anti-heroes you could root for and boo cheerfully all in one breath, but now he’s just another silent grump who’s never allowed to lose a fight.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 100 David Sims
    TÁR
    Every visual composition is meticulously arranged, and every surreal twist of imagery feels nuanced and earned. But most important, the world around Tár seems real and tangible, so when it slips into chaos, the viewer becomes as overwhelmed as the protagonist.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 David Sims
    Bros
    So many rom-coms rely on tiresome plot twists to keep their characters apart before getting them together, but all of the ups and downs in Bros’ romance feel emotionally necessary.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 35 David Sims
    Don't Worry Darling
    Wilde’s film aims to be a feminist parable about how this idealized vision of the past is actually a curdled vision of coupledom. Abstractly, that’s a robust concept; in execution, the movie’s absurdity overpowers its message.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    The Woman King
    The Woman King is a barn burner if you’re just looking for an invigorating night at the movies. But Prince-Bythewood’s real triumph is in grounding that sterling entertainment in a challenging dramatic text.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 15 David Sims
    Pinocchio
    Zemeckis certainly remains good at running a production that uses expensive-looking CGI. The actual narrative behind those visuals, however, seems to have vanished.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 20 David Sims
    The Gray Man
    The Gray Man is a completely anonymous viewing experience, a series of set pieces and pithy jokes that’s devoid of personality.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 25 David Sims
    Persuasion
    Persuasion at times seems embarrassed by its source material, or at least overeager to spruce it up for audiences that might not be able to handle a gentler pace. The result is harried and forgettable—the complete opposite of Austen’s quietest, noblest heroine.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 David Sims
    Nope
    Peele is not just making an inventive sci-fi thriller. Nope is tinged with the acidic satire that suffused his last two movies, as Peele examines why the easiest way to process horror these days is to turn it into breathtaking entertainment.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 45 David Sims
    Thor: Love and Thunder
    Love and Thunder offers the usual lightning-streaked action and tossed-off gags, but this time, there’s not enough heft behind the flashiness.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 David Sims
    Elvis
    Luhrmann’s approach works for one reason: Elvis should be a mess. Presley’s adult life was chaotic, and it unfolded almost entirely in public, from his spectacular successes to his ignominious decline. Watching it play out on film ought to feel a little disorienting.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 65 David Sims
    Spiderhead
    What makes the first half of Spiderhead so compelling is that it’s injected with the unexpected; a shame, then, that the inventiveness drips out as the film’s running time winds down.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 David Sims
    Lightyear
    While all of the film’s visual excitement is handled with Pixar’s usual polish, the intrigue is only surface-level.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 20 David Sims
    Jurassic World Dominion
    Making dinosaurs finally feel dull was a rather revealing storytelling choice for Trevorrow—viewers aren’t bored of seeing them on-screen, but he sure seems to be.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 95 David Sims
    RRR
    The thrill of RRR is not the density of its storytelling, though—it’s the exuberance of it.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 85 David Sims
    We're All Going to the World's Fair
    By framing her characters’ inventiveness with boldly bizarre imagery, Schoenbrun is getting at what makes internet horror such a unique mode of cinema. The viewer is unsettled not just by the content, but by their ambiguous relationship to who’s sharing it.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 David Sims
    Men
    Men would likely drown in its own weirdness were it not for its dynamic leads.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 David Sims
    Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
    Other films have skewered an industry that’s intent on bludgeoning audiences with their own fading memories, but only Chip ’n Dale actually gives those memories a new life.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 65 David Sims
    Pleasure
    I think Thyberg could have found even more to mine in a fully nonfiction movie; the biggest drawback of Pleasure is that it follows a fabricated protagonist who’s remote and one-dimensional. Bella is so defined by her stock story that it’s hard to grasp what’s motivating her beyond a desire for success, and the film gets bogged down in this staid narrative.
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