>
Robert Denerstein
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
I Saw the TV Glow (2024) |
All I can say is that the movie increasingly struck me as a dreary jumble of ideas and impressions to which I said, "no thanks." - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted May 16, 2024
|
|
|
|
Back to Black (2024) |
I can’t say “no no no," probably because I’m too much of a sucker for courageously immersive performances, and Abela gives one. But Taylor-Johnson creates a movie that often feels so scattershot and confrontational you may want to push it away. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted May 16, 2024
|
|
|
|
Evil Does Not Exist (2023) |
All of this may sound prosaic, but winds of mystery blow through the film as Hamaguchi skillfully and subtly... - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted May 13, 2024
|
|
|
|
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) |
The eerie beauty of its landscapes, some dotted with the lonely remnants of human construction, add to the movie's power. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted May 13, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Idea of You (2024) |
A pre-summer bauble with a sturdy rom-com structure, Idea of You understands that it needs to be a bit more than eye candy -- or maybe that's just Hathaway at work. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted May 03, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Fall Guy (2024) |
For all its stunts, flash, and glamor, The Fall Guy feels undernourished, a blaring helping of commotion sans much of anything resembling sustenance. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted May 03, 2024
|
|
|
|
Challengers (2024) |
Despite a willing and watchable cast and Guadagnino's directorial star turn, Challengers seldom deepens the immediacy it works so hard to create. Put another way, there's less here than meets the eye. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2024
|
|
|
|
We Grown Now (2023) |
When Baig refuses to let boyhood be smothered by the harsh surroundings of public housing, We Grown Now is at its best. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2024
|
|
|
|
Abigail (2024) |
Abigail can't be called awful, but I found it a little too eager to lick its own bloody lips. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 20, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Beast (2023) |
In a way, The Beast is an acute analysis of cinematic possibility and the ongoing battle to retain some measure of humanity -- for Gabrielle, maybe for all of us. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
Sasquatch Sunset (2024) |
I found the movie repetitive as it struggled to be more than a one-joke affair that built toward a conclusion that features a punchline some will find meaningful. I found it wan. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
Civil War (2024) |
Civil War has undeniable attention-riveting power. Maybe it's asking for more than is possible from a movie that lives in a world of disordered immediacy, but I wish I hadn't found Civil War more harrowing than heartbreaking. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
Damaged (2024) |
An international flavor doesn't enhance a grisly tale, and the actors are limited by a screenplay that places them in too many improbable scenarios to keep the movie from misfiring. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
Arcadian (2024) |
A movie whose narrative insufficiencies limit its chances for success. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
The First Omen (2024) |
I wish I could have taken The First Omen as seriously as it takes itself, but, for me, the movie seemed to carry on a heavy flirtation with horror hooey that even its rich atmospherics couldn't always mask. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 05, 2024
|
|
|
|
Monkey Man (2024) |
The movie's unevenness occasionally creates a sense of jagged freshness but the frantic action comes with a price...we're left wishing we had something more substantial to take from the movie's violent onrush. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 05, 2024
|
|
|
|
Wicked Little Letters (2023) |
By the end, a promising story has given way to blatant attempts at crowd-pleasing and the hopes I had for Wicked Little Letters had dimmed, faded ink on another set of high expectations. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 05, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Greatest Hits (2024) |
For a movie about unbearable grief and loss, The Greatest Hits turns out to be a surprisingly forgettable affair. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Apr 03, 2024
|
|
|
|
Shayda (2023) |
Nasari, who reportedly based some of the movie on her own life, may not break new ground, but with Ebrahimi's help, she makes Shayda's story feel alarmingly fresh. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 29, 2024
|
|
|
|
Cabrini (2024) |
Cabrini, a biopic about Frances Xavier Cabrini, occupies a middle ground, locating itself somewhere between inspirational fare and hardscrabble realism while trying to liberate itself from parochial constrictions. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 22, 2024
|
|
|
|
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) |
Judging by this edition, there seems little need for another Ghostbusters. Passing proton packs from generation to generation has its limits. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 22, 2024
|
|
|
|
Sleeping Dogs (2024) |
A surprise twist of an ending fails to shock (you probably will see it coming) and Sleeping Dogs winds up squandering Crowe's efforts. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 22, 2024
|
|
|
|
They Shot the Piano Player (2023) |
Consider They Shot the Piano Player an imperfect but worthy introduction to a musical chapter with which many will be unfamiliar. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 19, 2024
|
|
|
|
Love Lies Bleeding (2024) |
Love Lies Bleeding may encourage you to expand your thoughts about female bodies, but it's firmly rooted in Glass's desire to blast her way into an overcrowded genre -- and do it with boldness and audacity. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 19, 2024
|
|
|
|
Arthur the King (2024) |
I might not have otherwise sought this one out, but I wasn’t sorry I saw it, either. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 19, 2024
|
|
|
|
Drive-Away Dolls (2024) |
Like it-or-not assertions of sexuality aren’t enough to keep much of the rest of the movie from feeling stale. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 01, 2024
|
|
|
|
Perfect Days (2023) |
It's enough for a movie that resists the usual dramatic touchstones, opting instead for singularity, an undiluted look at a man thoroughly committed to the choices he’s made. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 01, 2024
|
|
|
|
Dune: Part Two (2024) |
The world of Dune remains intriguingly complex, full of characters whose roles shift and evolve. Credit Villeneuve with filling the screen with enough exotic flavor and bold action to keep Dune vividly alive through two helpings. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 01, 2024
|
|
|
|
Problemista (2023) |
The net result: Problemista left me wishing Torres better luck next time. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Mar 01, 2024
|
|
|
|
Monolith (2023) |
Monolith ultimately works better as a character study of a desperate woman than as a fully realized sci-fi thriller, but credit Vesely with getting further than you might expect from a minimalist approach. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 21, 2024
|
|
|
|
God & Country (2024) |
Does Partland's God & Country preach to the secular choir? Not entirely. Some of the best voices in this volatile documentary are raised by people of faith... - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 21, 2024
|
|
|
|
How to Have Sex (2023) |
Whatever Manning Walker had in mind, her movie struck me as too much of an ordeal. Mania has its place in movies but it also tends to breed exhaustion. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
Bob Marley: One Love (2024) |
For now, Marley's music will have to stand as his most enduring legacy. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
Madame Web (2024) |
Lame dialogue, a pervasive lack of wit, and an inability to overcome Marvel fatigue keep this one from going anywhere... - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 15, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Taste of Things (2023) |
Like the meals we see, The Taste of Things has been assembled with taste, balance, and artistry. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 09, 2024
|
|
|
|
Tótem (2023) |
Totem has a lively present-tense feel, an immersion in the precarious moments before a multitude of feelings can be sorted. It's also one of the few movies that deals honestly with how people cope (or don't) with mortality. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 09, 2024
|
|
|
|
Out of Darkness (2022) |
Cumming has more in mind than gore and jolts, but it's not easy to escape the horror trap he's set for himself. I give him credit for trying... - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 09, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Promised Land (2023) |
The movie's third act feels a bit too compressed, and The Promised Land occasionally flirts with melodrama, but it tells an involving story that embodies the spirit of the bleak, unforgiving landscape on which it unfolds. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 02, 2024
|
|
|
|
Suncoast (2024) |
This keen sense of loss elevates the movie even when Chinn rounds off the sharp edges a better movie might have had. She makes the heartbreaking finality of what mother and daughter must face feel achingly real. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 02, 2024
|
|
|
|
Argylle (2024) |
Play isn't enough to save the day -- or a movie that doesn't seem to have much else on its mind. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Feb 02, 2024
|
|
|
|
Grease (1978) |
I can't say Grease is an inspired example of a great movie musical. It attempts to capture the zest and innocence pf 50's music but winds up sounding more showy than real. - Denver Rocky Mountain News
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2024
|
|
|
|
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023) |
Pham achieves something rare: We almost feel each moment attaching to the next. On and on and on again, as the movie seeps into consciousness. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Teachers' Lounge (2023) |
Teachers' Lounge isn't trying to be inspirational; it's an unflinching look at how a school can serve as a microcosmic example of a society in which, to borrow from the title of another movie, few do the right thing... - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
Origin (2023) |
Origin stands as a work of telling detail and admirable intent: to provoke, illuminate, and encourage us to see and feel the world through Wilkerson's eyes -- and DuVernay's, as well. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
Wanted Man (2024) |
Not even occasional bursts of violence can save the movie from feeling played out. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
Apolonia, Apolonia (2022) |
Apolonia Apolonia stands as an imperfect documentary about an artist's struggle. But its imperfections and narrative leaps sometimes seem well-matched to a life in which both director and her subject are trying to find their footing. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
Freud's Last Session (2023) |
In all, Freud’s Last Session struck me as a missed opportunity for intense conversation sans any distractions. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Crime Is Mine (2023) |
Production designer Jean Rabasse, cinematographer Manuel Dacosse, and costume designer Pascaline Chavanne give this pleasure of a movie a rich retro look. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2024
|
|
|
|
The Beekeeper (2024) |
The Beekeeper may lack the aplomb of a John Wick movie, but it's a well-stuffed filler for fans who like their movie violence served with over-the-top relish. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 16, 2024
|
|
|
|
All of Us Strangers (2023) |
What’s unquestionably real, though, is Adam’s pain, grief, and need for solace. In the end, Haig, whom I judge to be a director of generous spirit, doesn't deny him his comfort. - Denerstein Unleashed
Read More
| Posted Jan 11, 2024
|