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Robert Denerstein
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
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Sugarcane (2024) |
The emotional scars of abuse and neglect continue in the present, and that makes Sugarcane an ongoing and essential story... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 18, 2024
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¡CASA BONITA MI AMOR! (2024) |
Parker and Stone indulged a heartfelt belief that some dreams don't deserve to die -- no matter how crazy they might seem or maybe because they are too crazy to abandon. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 18, 2024
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) |
With Keaton fully embracing Beetlejuice's slimy ways, Burton finds enough comic life among the dead to keep his movie from foundering. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 18, 2024
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Will & Harper (2024) |
Will & Harper serves as a testament to a shared history that both want to preserve, even in the face of radical change. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 18, 2024
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Speak No Evil (2024) |
The screenplay demands healthy suspensions of disbelief, and the ending probably will disappoint fans of the original. Otherwise, Speak No Evil builds enough suspense and anxiety to support McAvoy's performance as the screen's latest charismatic lunatic. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 17, 2024
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Merchant Ivory (2023) |
Whatever you think about the Merchant/Ivory movies -- some saw them as stodgy, conservative throwbacks -- the two were responsible for some of the most impeccably cast and best-acted movies of the 1980s and 1990s. That's quite an achievement. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 03, 2024
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Slingshot (2024) |
It pays homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but the characters are as pinched as the ship they occupy, the romance between John and Zoe remains lukewarm, and there's no HAL to serve as a worthy antagonist on a journey that too often seems routine. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Sep 03, 2024
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Blink Twice (2024) |
Kravitz’s increasingly nasty tropical shenanigans glide through a lively one hour and 42 minutes that suggest a career behind the camera may take Kravitz far beyond Blink Twice's island. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 23, 2024
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Between the Temples (2024) |
Well and good, and Kane’s presence proves refreshing. But I felt the same way about the movie as I felt about Ben. Like him, it needed to find some spark... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 23, 2024
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Alien: Romulus (2024) |
As for the big reveal during the movie's concluding battle, I chuckled. I don't think that was the response the movie was looking for. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 20, 2024
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The Instigators (2024) |
The movie does its best to load up on local Boston color, but the results are drab. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 14, 2024
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Sing Sing (2023) |
The movie's positive message emerges in ways that can be moving and uplifting... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 14, 2024
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It Ends With Us (2024) |
The same time, the movie's seductive slickness allows its seriousness to slide away too easily. So, I'll vacillate, as I think the movie does: It Ends with Us could have been better, but it also could have been a whole lot worse... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 14, 2024
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Peak Season (2023) |
The performances are engaging, and, the movie serves as a reminder of the kind of small enjoyments that too few movies deliver... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 06, 2024
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Kneecap (2024) |
For the most part, I saw it as a sharply irreverent portrait of young Irishmen fighting their war with words and hard-core attitudes rather than bullets. I suppose we should view that as a form of progress. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 06, 2024
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Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) |
A sense of immediacy keeps Made In England from becoming a lecture: It's an informed and passionate appreciation. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 06, 2024
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Trap (2024) |
All I'll say is, "Cue the eye rolls, please." - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Aug 06, 2024
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Skywalkers: A Love Story (2024) |
Skywalkers: A Love Story holds your interest in ways that more hyped up films can't. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) |
My bet. Hardcore fans will gorge on this heaping Marvel meal; others might prefer to seek their big-screen nourishment elsewhere. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 30, 2024
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Twisters (2024) |
All in all, Twisters is a reasonably effective attempt at creating a summer box office storm that delivers what it promises. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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June Zero (2022) |
Paltrow's movie unsettles, never shrinking from complexity as it details how a major trial impacted the lives of ordinary Israelis. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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Longlegs (2024) |
For me, Longlegs stumbled before it crossed the finish line. By leaving too little mystery for us to unravel, the movie outsmarts itself. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 16, 2024
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Fly Me to the Moon (2024) |
On second thought, if it means sitting through the mashup of romcom moves, intrigue, and satire that's being peddled in the new comedy Fly Me to the Moon, I'll happily remain on Earth. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 11, 2024
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MaXXXine (2024) |
Is MaXXXine scary and creepy enough to haunt you once you leave the theater? I don't think so. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 05, 2024
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Kinds of Kindness (2024) |
Not Lanthimos’s best work, but the director kept me watching with the mixture of attention and curiosity his work always demands. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Daddio (2023) |
I don't want to oversell Daddio; at times, the story required the suspension of more disbelief than I was willing to surrender, but Johnson and Penn play a duet that makes it well worth tagging along for the ride. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Janet Planet (2023) |
Promising, yes, but the movie goes flat. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) |
I wouldn’t say the movie is a classic of its kind. But Sarnoski, with help from his creative sound design and effects teams, fills a fleet 99 minutes with the high-anxiety stress movies such as this are meant to deliver. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Green Border (2023) |
Undeniably harsh and sometimes difficult to watch, Green Border is a rarity, a movie that doesn't give up on humanity, even in the face of so much heartbreak and wreckage. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024) |
What some now see as a misbegotten labor of love may, in time, be viewed as a laudable achievement. After the first helping, Costner left me rooting for the latter. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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The Bikeriders (2023) |
An actor's feast; Bikeriders boasts riveting, immersive performances from Butler, Comer, and Thomas Hardy. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 24, 2024
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Ghostlight (2024) |
Modest but emotionally grounded... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 24, 2024
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Thelma (2024) |
Three cheers for the plucky, engaging Squibb and for the dignified and still charismatic Roundtree. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 24, 2024
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Tuesday (2023) |
Some viewers will laugh and shed tears. I can't say I did much of either. Still, I appreciated the creative audacity of a first-time director who tackles a question many would rather avoid... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 13, 2024
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Tiger Stripes (2023) |
The filmmaking sometimes shows ragged edges but Tiger Stripes sticks with you, and Eu and Zairizal create a portrait of an intensely independent young woman fighting to keep her physicality from being suppressed. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 13, 2024
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Treasure (2024) |
I wish I could give a ringing endorsement to Treasure...unfortunately, the movie's obvious sincerity is tempered by too many notes of sentimentality. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 13, 2024
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Inside Out 2 (2024) |
This second helping — delivered under the direction of Kelsey Mann — keeps faith with the spirit of the 2015 original while offering fresh perspectives, a welcome change for a sequel. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 13, 2024
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The Dead Don't Hurt (2023) |
Delivering some of her lines in French, Krieps gives the movie's best performance, but The Dead Don't Hurt seems to be aiming for more than it delivers. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 07, 2024
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Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) |
Smith and Lawrence generate enough comic chemistry to keep this Bad Boys from going totally bad but it’s difficult to watch Ride or Die without wondering what’s at stake beyond kick-starting the summer box office with an outsized helping of fan food. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 07, 2024
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The Watchers (2024) |
The Watchers has some atmospheric richness but the characters aren't intriguing and the movie's mixture of fairy-tale and horror tropes proves difficult to swallow. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 07, 2024
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Young Woman and the Sea (2024) |
Young Woman and the Sea blends old-fashioned style and inspirational ambition in ways that may connect with audiences or, at minimum, introduce them to a neglected bit of popular history. Maybe that's enough. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jun 03, 2024
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) |
Most of Furiosa takes place on arid terrain its characters call the Wasteland. For them, the name fits. For Miller, it's territory he still rules. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted May 24, 2024
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Hit Man (2023) |
Linklater plays with issues of identity, dangles red herrings, and piles on twists — not all of them credible. But Powell’s appealing string of poses and ploys keep Linklater’s Hit Man on an entertaining track. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted May 24, 2024
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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
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| Posted May 16, 2024
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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
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| Posted May 16, 2024
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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
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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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
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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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
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| Posted May 03, 2024
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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
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| Posted May 03, 2024
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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
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| Posted Apr 27, 2024
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