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Marya E. Gates

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Marya E. Gates is a freelance film and culture writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley, and also has an overpriced and underused MFA in Film Production. Before pivoting to writing full time, she worked in social media marketing for Warner Archive Collection, Rotten Tomatoes, Turner Classic Movies, FilmStruck, and Netflix.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (2025) 100% EDIT “This isn’t a perfect doc by a long stretch (the ending is particularly creaky), but it definitely captures something important about the era. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 17, 2026 Full Review Roommates (2026) EDIT “ There’s a lot of rich kid stuff in this movie, which I also found hard to relate to, although I do think clashing with your college roommate is a pretty universal experience (if you didn’t good for you!!)” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 17, 2026 Full Review Mile End Kicks (2025) 86% EDIT “If you enjoy films where a young person makes a lot of cringey mistakes, you will likely enjoy this one. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 17, 2026 Full Review Blue Heron (2025) 100% EDIT “A meditation on family, time, trauma, and memory, this film is simply the best narrative feature of the year so far by a wide margin.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 17, 2026 Full Review You, Me & Tuscany (2026) 66% EDIT “While You Were Sleeping but make it Tuscany. . .Coiro’s film is fun and breezy, and filled with delightfully kooky, if slightly stereotypical, Italian characters.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 10, 2026 Full Review Bunnylovr (2025) 63% EDIT “I'm bit mixed on writer-director-star Katarina Zhu’s directorial debut. . .but I do appreciate what it was trying to do, even if I think the execution is lacking.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 10, 2026 Full Review 1000 Women in Horror (2025) 100% EDIT “Once you finish the film you will definitely get hyped for the (female) future of the genre, but also add lots of films to your watchlist.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 10, 2026 Full Review My Sweet Land (2024) 100% EDIT “Hairabedian crafts an elegy for her land, for her people, and for a way of life that has been needlessly destroyed by the dogs of war. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 10, 2026 Full Review Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence (2025) EDIT “Hers is a story not only of the pioneering female spirit, but also one of the power immigration and the importance of archives in every form. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Apr 10, 2026 Full Review Late Shift (2025) 96% EDIT “ Volpe’s film deftly examines one of the many cracks in the modern healthcare system: the overworked and underpaid frontline care workers who are just trying to keep it together while keeping their patients alive.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 27, 2026 Full Review Esta Isla (2025) EDIT “While the film follows certain genre tropes, it also cleverly subverts them as a way to critique the damage done to the island and its people under the thumb of American imperialism. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 27, 2026 Full Review She Dances (2025) 89% 3/4 EDIT “It’s an intricate web of relationships, and the film’s script is at its sharpest when it traces the reverberations of death and their many aftershocks.” – RogerEbert.com Mar 27, 2026 Full Review The Serpent's Skin (2025) 92% EDIT “Another evocative and stylish trans twist on genre from Mackay.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 27, 2026 Full Review Forbidden Fruits (2026) 73% EDIT “A delicious piece of post-girl boss feminism satire. . .this one is for the Dark Betty fans. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 27, 2026 Full Review Alpha (2025) 58% EDIT “ As someone who was sick as a teenager and nearly died, the film tapped into some specific emotions that I’ve hidden pretty deep and am always shocked when they resurface.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 27, 2026 Full Review Tow (2025) 77% EDIT “At times feels a bit rote, but it’s heart is in the right place, and it’s the rare film to really examine the entire economic and social system that continues to keep people down.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 22, 2026 Full Review Dead Lover (2025) 86% EDIT “Part low-budget DIY theatre, part "Frankenstein," part Kenneth Anger, and yet wholly its own creation. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 22, 2026 Full Review Slanted (2025) 68% EDIT “While Wang’s satire is sharp, especially the visual skewering of rancid American culture via advertisements, business names, and even a white supremacy karaoke video, the film’s the characterizations are weak.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 14, 2026 Full Review THE BRIDE! (2026) 58% EDIT “I’m sure it will be a clarion call for a certain kind of straight white woman. For me, though, the results are muddled, whether by studio interference or Gyllenhaal’s own lack of scope within her own feminism.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 6, 2026 Full Review EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2025) 97% EDIT “A wonderful peek into the process behind and work that went into these live shows. I’m all shook up. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 3, 2026 Full Review Yellow Letters (2026) 82% EDIT “Pointedly about the rise of fascism in Germany, but could be about the rise of fascism everywhere at the moment and the pressure artists face to choose working/paying their bills over their ethics” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 3, 2026 Full Review The Blood Countess (2026) 82% EDIT “The result is a wonderful film that has comedy, maximalism, fashion, style, eroticism, queerness, and a climax at Prater to boot! Needless to say, Ottinger still has IT, and we should once again all feel blessed.” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 3, 2026 Full Review Mouse (2026) 100% EDIT “These filmmakers are on another level when it comes to making grounded, emotionally complex dramas about grief. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 3, 2026 Full Review Say Amen, Somebody (1982) 92% EDIT “The cinematography, partially shot by the great Ed Lachman, is sone of the most gorgeous I have ever seen in a documentary. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 3, 2026 Full Review All to Play For (2023) 86% EDIT “You might think you know where this film is headed, but it absolutely had an ending that I was no expecting at all. ” – Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Mar 3, 2026 Full Review
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