...familiar yet workable subject matter that is, for the most part, employed to underwhelming and uninvolving effect...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 6, 2024

Gena must carry the pic on her back.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 31, 2024

Gena Rowlands gives a fierce, Oscar-nominated turn as a gun moll out to protect a kid from her mob buddies in this dramatic thriller written and directed by her hubby, John Cassavetes.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 30, 2023

It's full of odd, jarring moments where everything seems slightly offkey. But it's still a powerful, exhilarating piece of work which whirls through its changes from humour to violence so skilfully that it seems to be all over much too soon.

Full Review | Jun 16, 2022

The unexpected pleasure of John Cassavetes' crowd-pleasing, charmingly acted, 100% hokum Gloria is the confidence it shows in flourishing old-fashioned Hollywood tropes.

Full Review | Nov 9, 2021

Cassavetes was always at his best when he was making raw and uncompromising indies (e.g. Faces, Shadows), and he was invariably always less interesting when he tried to guess what general audiences wanted to see (like here).

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 2, 2020

Other films can mimic its style and story, but what they can't replicate is the chemistry between its leads..

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | May 4, 2020

What's important is that we do have the brilliantly written, brilliantly acted character of Gloria.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2019

The ability to confer a rare tension to images that at first hand seem ordinary is the main proof of John Cassavetes' talent. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 13, 2019

Cassavetes may have thought Gloria was nothing more than commercial trash, but what he did instead was take trash and turn it into art.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 3, 2019

The plot is a paranoid endgame in which the ubiquitous Mafia, in the know about everything before it happens, is the instrument of terminal destiny and running from death is as absurd as waiting for it.

Full Review | Apr 20, 2015

It's an obvious setup and most directors would have made sentimental hash out of it, but Cassavetes keeps it strong and smooth, and Rowlands was nominated for an Oscar for her trouble.

Full Review | May 9, 2014

Gena Rowlands is excellent as the tired woman who decides to take her chances for the boy. The kid is a right blend of understanding and childish tantrums.

Full Review | May 27, 2008

John Cassavetes clearly set out to make a commercial film, but, intransigent personality that he was, he turned in a slice of pure avant-garde.

Full Review | May 27, 2008

It's clear from the opening montage that we're in the hands of a master.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 17, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 17, 2005

Any Cassavetes is worthwhile viewing

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 19, 2004

More than any other recent film I can think of, Gloria is a movie that depends on the mood you're in when you see it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 30, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 15, 2003