Barbara VanDenburgh Movie Reviews & Previews

Critics » Barbara VanDenburgh

Barbara VanDenburgh

Agrees with the Tomatometer 80% of the time.

Publications:: Arizona Republic

Total Reviews:: 42

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 42 of 42

Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
3.5/5	88%	What Maisie Knew (2013)	" A raw, uncomfortable examination of a family torn apart by two parents who love their daughter only half as much as they love themselves." — Arizona Republic Posted May 23, 2013
4/5	78%	Pieta (2013)	" For all its cringe-inducing horror, "Pieta" is visually restrained, striking visceral blows with psychological precision while making little use of gore." — Arizona Republic Posted May 16, 2013
3/5	40%	Midnight's Children (2013)	" Faithfully adapted from Salman Rushdie's award-winning 1981 novel, the movie feels both too packed and too slight, overflowing with vivid details but lacking the structure to support their weight." — Arizona Republic Posted May 9, 2013
2.5/5	55%	The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013)	" It most disappoints as a thriller, the flashbacks and voiceovers and romantic entanglements so dominating the proceedings you forget that someone is bound and gagged in real time." — Arizona Republic Posted May 9, 2013
2.5/5	46%	Pain & Gain (2013)	" You can't thread a needle this fine with a script filtered through Bay's puerile id." — Arizona Republic Posted Apr 25, 2013
2/5	45%	Leonie (2013)	" It hits all the expected beats of a thoroughly vanilla biopic as an aging Leonie reflects on her unconventional life via plodding voiceover while doddering through a forest collecting berries." — Arizona Republic Posted Apr 18, 2013
3/5	——	Nicky's Family (2013)	" The story is good enough to tell itself, and the filmmakers should have let it." — Arizona Republic Posted Mar 28, 2013
2/5	47%	Olympus Has Fallen (2013)	" "Olympus" has a strictly director-for-hire vibe; anyone with access to a Roland Emmerich movie or two (namely "Independence Day") and a mad-libbed action script could have churned out something similar." — Arizona Republic Posted Mar 21, 2013
3/5	71%	Greedy Lying Bastards (2013)	" In Rosebraugh's uncompromising hands, it plays out like a strident screed for those already burning with righteous indignation." — Arizona Republic Posted Mar 7, 2013
4/5	87%	Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2013)	" Herzog's longing for the ideological purity in which these lives are lived, free of paperwork and bureaucracy, taxes and technology, drives the film, which lacks an overall story arc." — Arizona Republic Posted Feb 28, 2013
3/5	58%	Snitch (2013)	" For all its lunkheadedness, "Snitch" is a shockingly deeper, less action-oriented affair than one would expect ..." — Arizona Republic Posted Feb 21, 2013
2/5	13%	Safe Haven (2013)	" "Safe Haven" plays out less like a love story than it does a two-hour audition tape Julianne Hough commissioned to land a lucrative lip-gloss-modeling contract." — Arizona Republic Posted Feb 13, 2013
2/5	20%	Identity Thief (2013)	" The film's few chuckles can be chalked up to the sheer comedic charisma of McCarthy and Bateman." — Arizona Republic Posted Feb 7, 2013
4/5	80%	Warm Bodies (2013)	" No, it's not the best zombie film, but it may well be the cutest." — Arizona Republic Posted Jan 31, 2013
3/5	47%	Bullet to the Head (2013)	" An unapologetic rock 'em, sock 'em rumble of exploding squibs and bourbon bottles, the film could just as easily have been titled "Guns, Boobs and Booze."" — Arizona Republic Posted Jan 31, 2013
4/5	95%	Sister (2012)	" "Sister" avoids sentimental indulgence. There's no room for wallowing in this spare, almost ascetic exercise ..." — Arizona Republic Posted Dec 6, 2012
3/5	46%	The Comedy (2012)	" The joke, I guess, is that there's nothing funny about "The Comedy."" — Arizona Republic Posted Nov 29, 2012
3.5/5	84%	Detropia (2012)	" A fascinating portrait of a 21st-century post-industrial hellscape." — Arizona Republic Posted Nov 1, 2012
1.5/5	33%	Little Red Wagon (2012)	" Even the cheesiest inspirational flicks have to be populated with characters who have something at stake. Conflict is the heart of good storytelling, and "Little Red Wagon" is conflict-free to the point of catatonia." — Arizona Republic Posted Nov 1, 2012
2.5/5	39%	Here Comes the Boom (2012)	" The film would have the same audience that came to see James get elbowed in the face also get weepy over disadvantaged schoolchildren." — Arizona Republic Posted Oct 11, 2012
2.5/5	35%	Butter (2012)	" "Butter" is funny in spots, but it's so preoccupied with landing below-the-belt cultural jabs that it misses the opportunity for laying out biting social commentary." — Arizona Republic Posted Oct 4, 2012
2/5	32%	Won't Back Down (2012)	" It's rich territory for human drama; unfortunately, the film is more interested in slapping a charter-school Band-Aid on the gushing wound than exploring dramatic possibilities." — Arizona Republic Posted Sep 26, 2012
1/5	0%	Last Ounce of Courage (2012)	" Bookended by a pair of Ronald Reagan quotes, "Last Ounce of Courage" is pure preaching-to-the-choir poppycock." — Arizona Republic Posted Sep 13, 2012
3.5/5	56%	For a Good Time, Call... (2012)	" This hot-pink and leopard-print take on a familiar formula is so energetic and self-assured that it powers past its predictability." — Arizona Republic Posted Sep 6, 2012
3/5	22%	The Words (2012)	" A lush but fumbling literary melodrama outfitted with an attractive, generations-spanning cast and a puzzle box of three competing narratives." — Arizona Republic Posted Sep 5, 2012
1.5/5	0%	General Education (2012)	" Defiantly humorless, the comedy is little more than a grab-bag of familiar high school-film cliches populated with bland characters played by barely-there actors. It was clearly a labor of love for no one." — Arizona Republic Posted Aug 30, 2012
3.5/5	79%	Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2012)	" A quiet, narratively layered period drama with a focus squarely on character." — Arizona Republic Posted Aug 16, 2012
1/5	8%	The Babymakers (2012)	" Even those with the lowest enjoyment threshold for knuckle-dragging comedies will be hard-pressed to find joy in this impotent misfire from director Jay Chandrasekhar." — Arizona Republic Posted Aug 2, 2012
2.5/5	42%	Step Up 4: Miami Heat (2012)	" She's a rich daddy's girl! He's from the wrong side of the tracks! They bridge their socio-economic gap through the power of dance! Rinse, repeat." — Arizona Republic Posted Jul 26, 2012
3/5	56%	People Like Us (2012)	" Though it's just a Christmas tree away from being a holiday special, the stellar cast wrings just enough genuine emotion out of a stale premise to make it mostly sweet." — Arizona Republic Posted Jun 28, 2012
3.5/5	80%	Magic Mike (2012)	" Like any good strip tease, the film has a way of clouding your judgment. Though it may not have you throwing dollar bills at the screen, it is likely to leave a smile on your face." — Arizona Republic Posted Jun 27, 2012
2/5	35%	Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)	" The problem with movies based on a single joke is that a single joke is rarely funny enough to sustain the running time of a feature-length film. And with "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," the whole joke is in the title." — Arizona Republic Posted Jun 21, 2012
3/5	52%	Where Do We Go Now? (2012)	" It is, at times, a charming reprieve from the usually dour cinematic explorations of Middle Eastern conflicts." — Arizona Republic Posted Jun 14, 2012
3/5	27%	High School (2012)	" It's exactly what it appears to be: a funny-enough stoner comedy with a likable cast." — Arizona Republic Posted May 31, 2012
1.5/5	42%	Hide Away (A Year in Mooring) (2012)	" At only 83 minutes, the film is too slight to feel so padded. Water ripples. Ducks fly. Close-ups of ice-encrusted leaves do not a deep movie make." — Arizona Republic Posted May 24, 2012
2.5/5	48%	The Perfect Family (2012)	" It would be ripe territory for self-reflection if this sloppy debut from filmmaker Anne Renton weren't plagued with as much self-doubt and uncertainty as its lead Catholic." — Arizona Republic Posted May 17, 2012
2/5	26%	The Cup (2012)	" Even the most ardent lover of feel-good biopics would have a hard time backing this horse." — Arizona Republic Posted May 10, 2012
2/5	20%	The Lucky One (2012)	" In "The Lucky One," an occasionally shirtless Zac Efron lifts heavy things, plays the piano, reads "Moby Dick," bonds with a small child and fixes a tractor. Puppies lick his face." — Arizona Republic Posted Apr 19, 2012
2/5	53%	Think Like a Man (2012)	" You've seen "Think Like a Man" before. In fact, you've seen it dozens of times." — Arizona Republic Posted Apr 18, 2012
3.5/5	87%	Bully (2012)	" Heartbreaking as these stories are, "Bully" is too narrow in scope to be anything approaching definitive. Most notably absent from the film are the bullies themselves." — Arizona Republic Posted Apr 12, 2012
2/5	0%	A Thousand Words (2012)	" With "A Thousand Words," Murphy plunges headlong back into the swamp of insipid comedies he'd just crawled his way out of." — Arizona Republic Posted Mar 8, 2012

Showing 1 - 42 of 42

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