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Beverly Hills Courier

Beverly Hills Courier is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Neely Swanson.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
H Is for Hawk (2025) Neely Swanson Claire Foy is an exceptional Helen. She lets you see all the enthusiastic promise that her character held and breaks your heart as you see her obsession take over every aspect of her life.
Posted Jan 30, 2026  Edit critic review
A Private Life (2025) Neely Swanson Although primarily a character study of the psychiatrist, in lesser hands, Steiner’s personal rehabilitation would not ring true, but Foster, the consummate actor, makes it believable.
Posted Jan 24, 2026  Edit critic review
No Other Choice (2025) Neely Swanson It is a payoff that makes the bloated 2½ hour run time worthwhile. The problem is that in each setup, it takes too long to get to the payoff, making the film drag. My enthusiasm would have been greater if “No Other Choice” had been 90 minutes long.
Posted Jan 01, 2026  Edit critic review
The Choral (2025) Neely Swanson “The Choral” is a good movie and worth a view. Its themes are effective and universal. I was just hoping it would be better and more resonant.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
Come Closer (2024) Neely Swanson We see the end result but not enough of the development leading up to it. Eden has cut a swath of personal destruction that leaves little room for one single incident to sell the transition to empathy.
Posted Dec 22, 2025  Edit critic review
The Running Man (2025) Neely Swanson Wright has constructed a movie of scenes, all of which seem to stand alone but never completely mesh into a cohesive unit.
Posted Nov 24, 2025  Edit critic review
Nuremberg (2025) Neely Swanson Long, at 145 minutes, “Nuremberg” could have used some trimming and better editing. I wish it had been a more interesting film, but it does have a compelling performance by Russell Crowe that is reason enough to see it.
Posted Nov 10, 2025  Edit critic review
It Was Just an Accident (2025) Neely Swanson A genre-defying movie, “It Was Just an Accident” hops between slapstick comedy and chilling thriller, oftentimes blending the two. These sudden shifts between the absurd and the dramatic are both the film’s strength and weakness.
Posted Oct 24, 2025  Edit critic review
Among Neighbors (2024) Neely Swanson Potash’s determination and fortitude to follow these stories plays out in so many satisfying ways. His ability to gradually tease out what Pelagia has kept hidden inside her for more than 70 years is breathtaking.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
Blue Moon (2025) Neely Swanson There are multiple reasons this film doesn’t work. First and foremost, it is all talk and no action, primarily because the talk isn’t very interesting.
Posted Oct 03, 2025  Edit critic review
The History of Sound (2025) Neely Swanson “The History of Sound” is not a “Brokeback Mountain” of country music. It is an ode to love in all its permutations. It is love found, love lost and love that endures, tied up in the notes and melodies of songs discovered where least expected.
Posted Sep 26, 2025  Edit critic review
Riefenstahl (2024) Neely Swanson Diving into previously unavailable material makes this an important, must-see film, deconstructing the mask she so carefully fabricated after the war.
Posted Sep 24, 2025  Edit critic review
The Roses (2025) Neely Swanson The Roses is a very good movie, but what makes it exceptional are the two leads: Benedict Cumberbatch as Theo and Olivia Coleman as Ivy.
Posted Sep 10, 2025  Edit critic review
Relay (2024) Neely Swanson This is an exceptional thriller whose surface plot disguises its depth of focus. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Posted Aug 19, 2025  Edit critic review
The Naked Gun (2025) Neely Swanson The Naked Gun won’t be a classic; there’s probably only room for one of them on the classics shelf. But it’s funny and diverting and definitely worth your time whether you’re 8 or 80.
Posted Aug 02, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman (2025) Neely Swanson Call me old fashioned, but I like a story with a beginning, middle and end, with characters I can root for and those I can boo. Filling the screen with robots and hideously unappetizing hybrid lizard monsters doesn’t work for me.
Posted Jul 21, 2025  Edit critic review
Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) Neely Swanson The premise may be ridiculous, but the movie works. It needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible with an audience to get the full fear factor. You’ll jump, you’ll scream, you’ll hold your breath, but most of all, you’ll be entertained.
Posted Jul 07, 2025  Edit critic review
The Life of Chuck (2024) Neely Swanson Tom Hiddleston as Chuck is reason enough to see any film. All elegance and empathetic warmth, his very presence answers the question, “Who is Chuck?” His eyes sparkle, his gait is meaningful, there are no superfluous gestures.
Posted Jun 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (2024) Neely Swanson Pierre Mazoyer’s lush cinematography makes me want to ride a bike through the side streets of Paris, wander through the gardens of England and scour the shelves at Shakespeare & Company.
Posted May 23, 2025  Edit critic review
A Nice Indian Boy (2024) Neely Swanson It is Garg’s glittering expressive face and efforts at acceptance that are a key to everyone else’s performance and narrative. Garg steals everything but the furniture.
Posted Mar 28, 2025  Edit critic review
The Penguin Lessons (2024) Neely Swanson The true star of this tale, the one who’s in the title of the film, is the penguin. Never pass up an opportunity to interact with penguins, and this one is no different.
Posted Mar 25, 2025  Edit critic review
I'm Still Here (2024) Neely Swanson This is a must-see movie if only from the standpoint that we should never forget what happened and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again, there or anywhere.
Posted Jan 18, 2025  Edit critic review
Better Man (2024) Neely Swanson I’m in love with this movie -- the singing, the dancing, the drama, the hilarity. The story is as old as Greek mythology and only goes to prove that if you tell a story well, it doesn’t matter if it’s been told before.
Posted Jan 11, 2025  Edit critic review
A Complete Unknown (2024) Neely Swanson Chalamet’s portrayal is the work of a master who completely and believably transformed himself into another. Certainly that is what acting is all about but rarely, very, very rarely, does anyone succeed at the level Chalamet has.
Posted Jan 04, 2025  Edit critic review
The Room Next Door (2024) Neely Swanson The Room Next Door is all expositional and therein lies the problem. Rule one: tell it in a book; show it in a movie. Worse, however, is how bad and stilted the dialogue is.
Posted Dec 28, 2024  Edit critic review
The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) Neely Swanson There is no Count of Monte Cristo without the breathtaking performance of Pierre Niney... He is a veritable marvel of depth, character and believability.
Posted Dec 23, 2024  Edit critic review
September 5 (2024) Neely Swanson It had never occurred to any of them that the terrorists might be watching themselves and the reactions of others on the television in the athletes’ room. And this is where September 5 excels, in the moral and ethical gray area.
Posted Dec 13, 2024  Edit critic review
Nightbitch (2024) Neely Swanson Complex in subject matter, complicated in action and brilliant in execution, this searingly conflicted portrait of motherhood will not be for everyone, but it definitely was for me.
Posted Dec 06, 2024  Edit critic review
Out of My Mind (2024) Neely Swanson Although the storytelling is a bit pat at times, this is, after all, a Disney+ movie aiming for that “After School Special” crowd, it succeeds more than it stumbles. This is thanks to a delightful star, Phoebe-Rae Taylor.
Posted Nov 30, 2024  Edit critic review
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) Neely Swanson One of the very best and most significant films of this or any other year. Its 168 minutes flies by as you are gripped by the action of this psychological thriller.
Posted Nov 24, 2024  Edit critic review
Blitz (2024) Neely Swanson McQueen, both as writer and director, gives us a thrilling mother-son love story couched within the horrors of war, perfectly illustrating the concept that joy can be found even within the most profound tragedies.
Posted Nov 12, 2024  Edit critic review
A Real Pain (2024) Neely Swanson On the positive side, Culkin and Eisenberg are playing characters they know so well. On the negative side, Culkin and Eisenberg are playing characters they know so well and have done repeatedly, right down to the identifiable speech cadences.
Posted Nov 01, 2024  Edit critic review
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (2024) Neely Swanson He’s found a way for universal appeal in the message, not just the music.
Posted Oct 25, 2024  Edit critic review
Bad Genius (2024) Neely Swanson Even without much character development and a tendency to hammer home plot lines to the point of headaches, the film works. There is tension, risk, stakes and, again, that killer ending.
Posted Oct 12, 2024  Edit critic review
The Silent Hour (2024) Neely Swanson Yes, this has been done before but the stars of this film make it work. Joel Kinnaman as Shaw is not quite enough of a commanding presence, but he garners your sympathy. Deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank as Ava has enough presence to carry the two of them.
Posted Oct 12, 2024  Edit critic review
The Outrun (2024) Neely Swanson It seems such a contradiction in terms, given the subject matter, but this is a very uplifting film, as full of moments of joy and generosity as it is of tragedy barely averted. And why is that? Saoirse Ronan is the answer.
Posted Oct 07, 2024  Edit critic review
The Goldman Case (2023) Neely Swanson A must-see film where questions are asked and few are answered. It is a character-driven narrative of great depth and complexity.
Posted Sep 13, 2024  Edit critic review
The Instigators (2024) Neely Swanson The actors all looked like they were having a grand old time; I wish I had. It didn’t work. Pure and simple, none of this worked. Never has so little been made from so much.
Posted Aug 09, 2024  Edit critic review
Janet Planet (2023) Neely Swanson Ziegler is the engine of this film; Janet Planet is, or should be “Lacy Sun” because it is around Lacy that everything revolves. Ziegler, in her feature debut, shows amazing range and an ability to display emotion without histrionics.
Posted Jul 12, 2024  Edit critic review
June Zero (2022) Neely Swanson A thoughtful, multilayered movie about the myriad actions leading up to and ending with Albert Eichmann’s execution and the disposal of his body between May 31 and June 1, 1962. Just when you think it’s one thing, it becomes something else.
Posted Jul 05, 2024  Edit critic review
Kinds of Kindness (2024) Neely Swanson It is apparent that Lanthimos has given his actors great latitude to improvise and explore their characters. Good for the actors; not so good for us. I like a good plot; actually, I’ll settle for any plot.
Posted Jun 21, 2024  Edit critic review
Black Uniform (2024) Neely Swanson Darwell has done an excellent job of bringing these stories to life and allowing you, the viewer, to draw your own conclusions. This is engrossing and fulfilling cinema at its best.
Posted Jun 07, 2024  Edit critic review
Butterfly in the Sky (2022) Neely Swanson Directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb... have assembled a cast of creators, directors, producers, executives and participants that make you happy the show happened in the first place and sad that it ever ended.
Posted Jun 04, 2024  Edit critic review
Taking Venice (2024) Neely Swanson You don’t have to love art to love this movie, although I do love both; but as a thriller with a known ending it also works on an entirely different level.
Posted May 24, 2024  Edit critic review
Stay with Us (2022) Neely Swanson I found this incredibly moving and filled with questions I wish I had thought to ask long ago.
Posted May 11, 2024  Edit critic review
Nowhere Special (2020) Neely Swanson This is a lovely film that has more to say about love than it does about dying. This perfect film will stay with you.
Posted May 06, 2024  Edit critic review
We Grown Now (2023) Neely Swanson “We Grown Now” is a wonderful film, both a revelation and celebration of youth in an environment foreign to most of us.
Posted Apr 26, 2024  Edit critic review
Scoop (2024) Neely Swanson This should have been a thrilling backstage look at one of the biggest stories in a decade. It's not. Flattening out this tale was close to criminal because it's not just the story that was squandered but a cast of phenomenal actors.
Posted Apr 19, 2024  Edit critic review
Wicked Little Letters (2023) Neely Swanson See it for another fabulous performance by Olivia Coleman, an actor whose range cannot be quantified, and love it for everyone else in it, always keeping in mind that this really did happen.
Posted Apr 05, 2024  Edit critic review
Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) Neely Swanson This is Gene Wilder by Gene Wilder and what a warm and insightful story it is.
Posted Mar 22, 2024  Edit critic review
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