Critics » Eric Melin
Eric Melin

Eric Melin

Agrees with the Tomatometer 80% of the time.

Publications:
Kansas City Star , Lawrence.com , Scene-Stealers.com
Critics' Group:
Kansas City Film Critics Circle
Total Reviews:
789
Total QuickRatings:
83

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 789
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Rating T-Meter Title | Year Add Date
3/4 88% Rush (2013) " The racing scenes are dizzying. Quick-take point-of-view shots alternate from various spots inside the car and on the track, while engines roar away. The stakes for each race are clearly set out, and the result is thrilling." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Sep 27, 2013
2/4 80% Prisoners (2013) " Swims in the murky waters of moral complexity, content to skim the surface without engaging fully with the questions it raises...delivers a disappointingly convoluted mystery plot in an attempt to give the audience what it thinks it wants." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Sep 20, 2013
1.5/4 10% Killing Season (2013) " It wants to be a war-is-Hell 'coming home' story, but it ends up playing like a cheap action flick starring two men who are obviously too old to be running through the woods beating the living crap out of each other. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 30, 2013
3.5/4 81% Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013) " [The story is] told in the moments before and after most of the conflict ... and constructed with dream-like cinematography ... a really strong film." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 30, 2013
3/4 68% Elysium (2013) " The world-building is fantastic and detailed...When there is violence, it is gory and brief, used to shocking (and sometimes campy, whether intended or not) effect. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
4/4 97% The Act Of Killing (2013) " ... a fascinating exploration into the ways that guilt can manifest itself ... a mind-boggling two hours." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
3.5/4 90% Seconds (1966) " No other film I've seen quite captures the feeling of being trapped like Seconds does. Frankenheimer puts it all together with splintered editing that is as bold as it is disorienting. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
3/4 95% West of Memphis (2012) " A documentary that distills 19 years of a witch hunt, a grass roots movement, lost leads, confusion, countless appeals, and hope into one remarkable movie that is hellbent on setting the record straight. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
3/4 27% Ishtar (1987) " Besides droll supporting work from an excellent Charles Grodin, Ishtar also gets a lot of mileage out of its terrible and terribly funny songs." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
1/4 37% Aftershock (2013) " It feels like overeager tourists playing make believe on the old Earthquake attraction at Universal Studios. The parts that work better are intentionally played for laughs." — Kansas City Star
Posted Aug 9, 2013
2.5/4 67% Magic Magic (2013) " As a study in deliberate pacing and unsettling tone, Magic Magic is a success. Its best scenes are the ones that showcase how group dynamics can change individual behavior and make people act out. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
2.5/4 63% 2 Guns (2013) " It's the casting of 2 Guns, which sports as familiar a formula as can be, that keeps it breezy and fun for most of its 105-minute running time." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
4/4 83% The Ice Storm (1997) " Kline had to walk the thinnest tightrope of all, as his selfish and immature adulterer and bad father could have come across as virtually irredeemable. Instead, he anchors the most poignant moment of the film" — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
3/4 69% The Wolverine (2013) " After 2009′s bland X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it's refreshing to see Hugh Jackman inhabit the character in a movie that actually understands his inner conflict." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
3/4 94% Fruitvale Station (2013) " There are scenes that were certainly fabricated for the movie, but the emotional truth behind them feels real. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Aug 9, 2013
.5/4 16% The Last Exorcism Part II (2013) " a tedious, underwhelming cash grab if there ever was one - a cynical attempt to use the iconic bent-over-backwards image of a possessed girl and the name recognition of the first movie to swindle people out of their money. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3.5/4 69% Stoker (2013) " Classic film language has been fixed since the 20th century and modern film language can be so frenetic that it's refreshing to see a daring filmmaker creating tension and dread out of slow-paced, deliberate choices rather than quick-cut chaos. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
4/4 95% Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) (1957) " Bergman's often heralded masterpiece of European cinema is more than a formal delight. It's funny, touching, and very, very emotional." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3/4 67% World War Z (2013) " The ultimate strength of World War Z is its ability to consistently create ticking-clock situations for its characters after laying out very specific parameters." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3/4 85% The Way Way Back (2013) " Liam James is the introverted heart of the film, and is somewhat of a revelation. His perfect portrayal of a skittish boy who is forced to become assertive anchors the whole movie and makes it a coming-of-age story worth revisiting." — Kansas City Star
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3.5/4 97% A Hijacking (2013) " ... has an embedded feel without being a real-life report or documentary at all. It's a fictional film that hits both with blunt force and a surprising amount of complexity." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3/4 62% Evil Dead (2013) " Rarely do you find a modern reboot that has the power to satisfy fans of a revered franchise while simultaneously grabbing audiences unfamiliar with the original and kicking them in the teeth." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
2.5/4 71% An Affair of the Heart (2012) " Although it veers dangerously into whitewash territory several times, the movie wears its heart on its sleeve, which is appropriate for a film full of Springfield's poppy hard-rock music and the unbridled enthusiasm of his loyal fans." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3.5/4 96% Safety Last! (1923) " ... a briskly paced thrill comedy with memorable gag after memorable gag, and a surprising dark streak. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3/4 83% Rolling Thunder (1977) " The connection to an emotional truth is key to its success, because as the plot starts moving and the elements of the violent revenge flick start rearing their head, the movie feels grounded in Rane's reality." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 22, 2013
3/4 72% Pacific Rim (2013) " It has enough bombast and vigor for 100 summer movies, but it also has a firm grasp on what makes genre storytelling work, and it's del Toro's true love and respect for Kaiju that holds Pacific Rim up, even in its most predictable moments." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jul 12, 2013
2.5/4 69% Fast & Furious 6 (2013) " There is a lot of hollow talk about codes of honor and some really corny dialogue and delivery, but the light tone and breakneck pace make these things easy to forgive. Lin has become a top-flight action director." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
3.5/4 95% Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) (1964) " Besides being a stirring portrait of a youth culture in crisis, the film is very charming and accessible - especially for anyone that's experienced teen alienation...at once a snapshot in time and a timeless piece of cinema." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
2.5/4 84% This Is the End (2013) " Because its transplanted the egotistical and childish behavior normally reserved for Team Apatow's lovable manchild characters onto the actors themselves, it feels dangerous. For awhile, it feels like anything can happen, and its thrilling. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
3/4 95% Medium Cool (1969) " Despite the 1968 conflict(s) dating the film to a very specific time and place in American history, there's nothing that can't be applied to what's going on today, especially with the new relevance of video images on computers and handheld devices." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
1.5/4 41% The Last Ride (2012) " A romantic "what-if" version of the story, interesting only as a cultural artifact...dramatically inert" — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
1.5/4 56% Man of Steel (2013) " An oppressive movie filled with a blaring seriousness, inconsistent production design, mundane conflict, heavy exposition and a huge amount of super-destructive action that leads to nothing." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
2.5/4 50% Now You See Me (2013) " A slick piece of populist entertainment [with] an extra layer of fun guesswork built in because its characters are constantly explaining how magic tricks and misdirection work, essentially giving you the answers while daring you to figure it out ..." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted May 31, 2013
2/4 49% Pain & Gain (2013) " His slow-motion prowess and action-film chops add a surreal element, but Bay's camera leers at the world the same way his characters do. He wants to celebrate his "heroes" at the same time he's making fun of them, but his delivery gives him away. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted May 23, 2013
3/4 93% The Great Escape (1963) " Each group of characters get their own riveting planning sequences, all skillfully told. This is one "heist" film where knowing the details of how the escape is supposed to go down before it happens only strengthens the suspense further." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted May 23, 2013
3/4 87% Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) " Do we boldly go where no man has gone before? From a plot standpoint, the answer is a resounding no, but that doesn't mean that its is a boring retread of past storylines. It's an energetic, thrilling mash-up of past storylines." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted May 23, 2013
1/4 19% The Hangover Part III (2013) " Phillips knew enough not to remake the same situation a third time, but this strategy, revealed even more of his limitations. Without a fantastic high concept to hold everything together, he is truly lost. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted May 23, 2013
3/4 79% Iron Man 3 (2013) " In the midst of various plot threads with varying degrees of contemporary relevance, Black pulls off a crazy plot twist a little more than halfway through the film that's truly inspired and solidifies it as a comedy. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted May 8, 2013
3/4 71% Naked Lunch (1991) " A challenge if you're expecting a forward-moving plot but there's also more than enough pitch-black humor and straight-faced madness to lighten the mood, especially since Burroughs' strange lingo and vicious knack for language are intact." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 23, 2013
2/4 54% Oblivion (2013) " Plot holes and mismanagement of suspense aside, it fails because it establishes an interesting premise and then abandons its characters as soon as things get complicated in favor of a typical save the world-type action story. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 23, 2013
3/4 69% Stoker (2013) " Park subverts standard framing rules when characters are speaking to one another, employs sweeping camera movement from weird angles, and stops key scenes just at their climax, only to return to them later for a fuller picture." — Lawrence.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
4/5 62% Evil Dead (2013) " Alvarez adopts the film language of Raimi's films, adds more to the bag of tricks, and keeps the sardonic attitude without necessarily being slapstick." — Lawrence.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
3.5/5 44% On the Road (2012) " At just over two hours, its challenging to stay invested in the movie and its choppy, rambling storyline. As a filmic experience, however, it serves as an interesting companion piece to the similarly challenging 'The Master.'" — Lawrence.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
3/4 82% The Place Beyond The Pines (2013) " Roger Ebert once said, 'It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it,' and that applies 100 percent to this movie, a haunting film that makes something new out of the tradition of sprawling epic tragedies told in linear fashion." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
1/4 28% G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) " I was prepared for the expected amount of flag-waving nonsense in this film, but one sequence with a Cobra member posing as the President of the United States is so offensive, it seems like it was an outtake from Team America: World Police. " — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
3/4 100% Sansho the Bailiff (1954) " It illuminates the human condition and gives you plenty of time to think. It is the nature of nature to show no mercy, but mercy is inherent to the nature of human beings, even when it seems buried under loads of suffering." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
3/4 100% Narayama bushiko (Ballad of Narayama) (1958) " Modern audiences may find it difficult to adjust to its laconic pace, but it is a stirring tale, full of dignity and sorrow, and worth checking out for sure." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
.5/4 —— Dead In France (2013) " Neither funny nor thrilling, and it is frustratingly, singlemindedly bent on cheap thrills and faux-clever dialogue and situations that are so contrived and hackneyed that Troy Duffy probably threw them out while making Boondock Saints II." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
3/4 82% De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) (2012) " Rust and Bone is a tough, emotionally raw movie, but its not a difficult watch, and its a very skillfully rendered piece of neo-realism." — Scene-Stealers.com
Posted Apr 15, 2013
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