Phil Villarreal Movie Reviews & Previews

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Phil Villarreal

Agrees with the Tomatometer 72% of the time.

Biography:: Phil Villarreal blogs about movies at becauseitoldyouso.com. His book Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel is due out Sept. 1.
Favorites:: Waking Life, Swingers, Clerks, Reservoir Dogs, Rocky, True Romance
Publications:: Arizona Daily Star , COEDMagazine.com , OK! Magazine
Critics' Group:: Online Film Critics Society, Phoenix Film Critics Society

Total Reviews:: 1861
Total QuickRatings:: 88

Location:: Tucson

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 51 - 100 of 1861

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
2/4	13%	Red Dawn (2012)	" Chris Hemsworth continues his quest to try to become this generation's Patrick Swayze with this bizarre and unnecessary remake of the 1984 slice of Cold War paranoia." — OK! Magazine Posted Mar 5, 2013
1.5/4	4%	Playing for Keeps (2012)	" Gerard Butler once again submits his man card to a brutal ritual sacrifice in pandering, mediocre romantic comedie. " — OK! Magazine Posted Mar 5, 2013
3/4	95%	A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)	" The first seven movies of the dreamy 1980s slasher series squeeze on to five discs, looking far better in HD than they did when you first saw them, peeking through a crack in your parents' bedroom door as they watched it on VHS." — OK! Magazine Posted Mar 5, 2013
23/4	19%	Lay the Favorite (2012)	" Part invigorating gambling flick, part dull romantic comedy, the movie has trouble establishing a tone, but usually manages to entertain." — OK! Magazine Posted Mar 5, 2013
1.5/4	27%	21 And Over (2013)	" The so-called comedy 21 & Over is offensive. Not because it's racist, sexist, homophobic and cruel, but because it's racist, sexist, homophobic and cruel in a dull, monotonous way. " — OK! Magazine Posted Mar 1, 2013
1/4	90%	Holy Motors (2012)	" Beware of this one. It's one of those strange-for-the-sake-of-quirk slices of experimental nonsense that snooty critics fall all over themselves praising." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 26, 2013
3.5/4	86%	The Master (2012)	" Phoenix and Hoffman both put on clinics, and Anderson's story, though meandering, never stalls." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 26, 2013
1/4	58%	Snitch (2013)	" The incredibly moronic premise has no heft or momentum. Not a moment is believable and the whole thing just hurts. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 22, 2013
3.5/4	55%	Top Gun (1986)	" The unashamedly goofy 1986 dogfighting classic flips on the afterburners to make yet another pass on Blu-ray, this time soaring into the third dimension. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
4/4	33%	Terminator Salvation (2009)	" The previous Terminator Blu-ray looked pretty good, and it takes an eye trained better than mine to notice any relevant upgrade in this remastered cut of the 1984 sci-fi stalwart. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
3.5/4	63%	Sinister (2012)	" Director Scott Derrickson's film never fails to impress." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
4/4	100%	On the Waterfront (1954)	" Criterion deliver a long-overdue tribute to Elia Kazan's astounding 1954 drama, which boasts one of moviedom's game-changing performances." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
1.5/4	26%	Fun Size (2012)	" Victoria Justice makes a rickety transition from Nickelodeon star to movie lead in this droll, Halloween-themed comedy." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
3/4	——	Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (Unrated) ()	" Impressive effects and an intriguing roundup of surely doomed characters lend color and heft to the production." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
2/4	5%	Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012)	" The determined, if questionably talented, cast and crew of Ayn Rand devotees continue to hack their way through the lionized author's obtuse prose" — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
3.5/4	96%	Argo (2012)	" Ben Affleck continues to thrust himself into the top echelon of directors." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
2/4	64%	Anna Karenina (2012)	" The meandering Russian tale of forbidden aristocratic love - Knightley's character spurns her stiff, high-ranking husband, played by Jude Law for military man Aaron Taylor-Johnson - fails to ignite. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 18, 2013
1/4	15%	A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)	" Willis is squint-eyed and angry throughout the movie, and not just because he's as old as he is, yet still feels the financial need to keep making these movies." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 15, 2013
2/4	92%	Skyfall (2012)	" I lump this head-scratchingly beloved Bond flick along with The Dark Knight Rises as the most inexplicably overrated movies of 2012." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 10, 2013
1/4	6%	Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)	" This wretched sequel embarrasses the franchise by dispensing with the tenuous hold on logic by the previous movie and increasingly nonsensical game series." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 10, 2013
3/4	94%	The Sessions (2012)	" Sure, it may be Cinemax-style soft-core porn lightly disguised as inspirational drama, but there's plenty of film-snob value here" — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 10, 2013
2/4	85%	The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)	" The lauded teen coming-of-age drama lost me in the third act, which takes an unneccessary twist that muddies up what was previously a moving and relatable tale." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 10, 2013
4/4	87%	Bully (2012)	" The raw and devastating footage serves as a sorely needed wake-up call to tear the lid off one of society's closeted cancers. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 10, 2013
2.5/4	31%	A Star is Born (1976)	" The slow-burn melodramatic love story takes a while to get where it's going, but Streisand's star power is in full effect and Kristofferson is deliciously bitter enough to keep things watchable." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2013
2.5/4	75%	Peter Pan (1953)	" Much like Dumbo, the film still suffers from a slew of embarrassingly racist moments in the midsection. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2013
1.5/4	39%	Here Comes the Boom (2012)	" It's a wonder that the insultingly awful story is somehow watchable." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2013
4/4	78%	Flight (2012)	" Denzel Washington tosses another remarkable performance onto the pile, playing an alcoholic pilot who improbably navigates his rickety aircraft to safety amid a terrible storm. " — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2013
3/4	70%	Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)	" Jones seens a bit too old for Samberg, and the role, but the chemistry they conjure is convincing." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2013
2/4	12%	Alex Cross (2012)	" Director Rob Cohen does what he can to liven up the humorless take on a Lethal Weapon-like concept." — OK! Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2013
3/4	47%	Bullet to the Head (2013)	" He's taken out restraining orders against gray hairs, wrinkles and flab. His muscles are probably the great-grandchildren of his 1970s muscles, who have all decided to stick around." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 31, 2013
4/4	——	The Dark Knight Returns: Part Two (2013)	" The second volume is even more fascinating and fast-paced than the first, released in September. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 26, 2013
3.5/4	43%	Hotel Transylvania (2012)	" I was disappointed that this one didn't snag a best animated film Oscar nomination, because it was my second favorite movie in the category last year, after Wreck it Ralph. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 26, 2013
4/4	100%	That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)	" Luis Bunuel's final film is also one of his finest efforts." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 19, 2013
2/4	56%	For a Good Time, Call... (2012)	" Taking the same concept as Two Broke Girls and taking it on all sorts of joyfully dirty tangents, the movie rarely fails to deliver the good time promised in the title. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 19, 2013
3/4	85%	End of Watch (2012)	" The performances and chemistry of the lead and believable, improvised dialogue keep the drama grounded." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 19, 2013
3.5/4	93%	Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)	" Allen's talent for witty screenwriting and note-perfect observational touch are in full force, and his stunning cast never fails to mesmerize." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 14, 2013
3/4	92%	Farewell, My Queen (2012)	" Diane Kruger shows the youthful monarch quickly evolve from a sheltered, near-oblivious untouchable to a marked woman whose life and institution are crumbling at her feet." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 13, 2013
2.5/4	43%	To Rome with Love (2012)	" The jokes are hit and miss, but overall the movie is a marginally enjoyable romp." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 13, 2013
2/4	21%	Taken 2 (2012)	" The proceedings don't flow with the raw urgency of the first film, taking on the forced tone of a Die Hard sequel. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 13, 2013
3.5/4	32%	Gangster Squad (2013)	" Count me among those who bail. Gangster Squad may be a poor movie, but it's a top-a-the-heap gangsta pitcha." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 10, 2013
3.5/4	87%	Frankenweenie (2012)	" The heedlessly macabre tone treats its audience with respect without slavishly condescending to kiddos for easy chuckles, and the visual style is elegant and haunting." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 7, 2013
1.5/4	48%	Hit & Run (2012)	" A pointless and humor-free affair." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 6, 2013
3/4	63%	Game Change (2013)	" Moore captures Palin's magnetic appeal, as well as her eager overconfidence and cut-throat backroom demeanor. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 6, 2013
3/4	78%	Dredd (2012)	" The action is crisp and entrancing, while the dialogue is as good as you could hope for in something like this, stopping short of embarrassing the actors." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 6, 2013
4/4	81%	The Impossible (2012)	" It's nearly impossible to do better than buying a ticket to The Impossible." — OK! Magazine Posted Jan 2, 2013
4/4	93%	Looper (2012)	" Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to prove to be one of the best actors at selecting scripts." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2012
3/4	64%	Cosmopolis (2012)	" Director David Cronenberg keeps the claustrophobic story flowing at a rapid pace, and Pattinson shows genuine acting chops, carrying what amounts to something of a one-man show." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2012
2.5/4	51%	Promised Land (2013)	" This is one of those impassioned message movies that makes its point early on, then beats you over the head with it, haphazardly acknowledging the shades of grey without admitting they have any validity." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2012
1.5/4	88%	Django Unchained (2012)	" Django may be unchained, but his movie could have used some tighter shackles." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 27, 2012
3/4	22%	The Words (2012)	" Bradley Cooper may be getting the most attention of his career for his laudable turn in Silver Linings Playbook, but his performance in this film is an overlooked gem about a writer struggling with his own morals. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 24, 2012
2.5/4	69%	Les Misérables (2012)	" While there's some value in making a slavish adaptation of a near-universally beloved stage musical, sticking to all the trappings of the play is a sure path to making the film feel like a translation rather than a similarly inspired production. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 22, 2012
4/4	65%	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)	" Like the sad, bug-eyed Gollum, moviegoers may not have realized how much they missed movies like this onscreen in the past several years. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 22, 2012
3.5/4	52%	This is 40 (2012)	" Judd Apatow plunges the stage of life for all its ample misery, just the way he did adolescence in Freaks and Geeks and quarterlife angst in Undeclared and Knocked Up." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 19, 2012
3.5/4	38%	The Guilt Trip (2012)	" The mental and emotional torture Rogen endures translates to comic bliss. His sacrifice is filmdom's gain." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 19, 2012
4/4	93%	Zero Dark Thirty (2013)	" I felt sick, angry, exhausted and thrilled at different points. And once it was over, I was left a little empty, staggered by the artistry and sad that it was over." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3/4	31%	Total Recall (2012)	" Like Farrell, we're left guessing as to whether what's going on is fantasy or reality. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
2/4	51%	Trouble with the Curve (2012)	" Clint Eastwood's baseball drama sinks with as much of a head-scratching thud as his speech to the empty chair at the Republican National Convention. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
1.5/4	30%	Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)	" The dopey video game adaptation series continues to chug along, providing consistently invigorating action that covers up a threadbare plot and nonsensical dialogue." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3/4	58%	Red Hook Summer (2012)	" Lee uses the blank slate to flex his muscles as a storyteller, resulting ina gritty and charming drama that reflects his earlier work." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3/4	76%	Premium Rush (2012)	" This comedy-leavened action flick somehow manages to make the spandex-clad world of NYC bike couriers seem as intense as a Bond movie. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3/4	81%	Pitch Perfect (2012)	" Taking the edge off is a boistrous teammate played by Rebel Wilson, who shows a Melissa McCarthy-like ability to steal scenes. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3.5/4	69%	Liberal Arts (2012)	" Radnor's script also gives him and his co-star magnificent chances to work up intensity and bridled passion. " — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3.5/4	77%	Killer Joe (2012)	" A wily script, smoldering suspense and slick dialogue keep the drama lively." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3/4	53%	Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)	" By far my favorite of the three-film series." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
3/4	87%	Arbitrage (2012)	" Riveting from the first scene to the last, the movie works excellently as a showcase for Gere's talents." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 17, 2012
2/4	37%	Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)	" Much like Madagascar, this animated talking animal series with a star-studded voice cast seems to be just coasting along, all too willing to recycle past plotlines and jokes, hoping families aren't offended enough to stop showing up." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 11, 2012
3/4	69%	Ted (2012)	" The movie is ludicrously funny much of the time, while occasionally too bizarre and nonsensical for its own good" — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 11, 2012
3/4	56%	The Bourne Legacy (2012)	" If you can get past the distinct feeling that this is the Bourne B-team at work - Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass are nowhere to be found - you'll probably be able to enjoy this frenetic spy thriller for the guilty-pleasure romp that it is." — OK! Magazine Posted Dec 11, 2012
2/4	13%	Red Dawn (2012)	" The movie works as a silly parade of ridiculous but fascinating action sequences, but flops as political fiction or coherent melodrama. " — OK! Magazine Posted Nov 19, 2012
3/4	48%	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)	" Finally, there is something we can all agree on: Twilight is awesome. Trust me, I'm shrieking on the inside. " — OK! Magazine Posted Nov 16, 2012
3.5/4	92%	Silver Linings Playbook (2012)	" To that lost and found actor list you can also add Good Script Choosing Robert De Niro, who had been kidnapped by aliens 20 years ago and swapped out for Awful Script Choosing Robert De Niro. " — OK! Magazine Posted Nov 15, 2012
3/4	87%	Arbitrage (2012)	" If there were a movie about Mitt Romney, no one other than Richard Gere could play him. " — OK! Magazine Posted Nov 8, 2012
3.5/4	94%	The Sessions (2012)	" Their film is more than a skin flick, despite it definitely being that. Just as Cheryl is more than a prostitute, while definitely still that." — OK! Magazine Posted Nov 8, 2012
2/4	92%	Skyfall (2012)	" Skyfall is an awesome James Bond movie until it gets tired of all that, goes a little crazy and turns into a not-so-awesome Home Alone movie. " — OK! Magazine Posted Nov 7, 2012
3/4	86%	Wreck-it Ralph (2012)	" Like most any game, Wreck-it Ralph is most fun when it's messing around without a particular goal." — OK! Magazine Posted Oct 31, 2012
1/4	26%	Fun Size (2012)	" Put it this way, the movie's funniest character is the only one who doesn't talk." — OK! Magazine Posted Oct 26, 2012
3.5/4	96%	Argo (2012)	" Affleck is good enough in the role to chase away rumors that he was only cast because he was sleeping with the director. " — OK! Magazine Posted Oct 12, 2012
3/4	81%	Pitch Perfect (2012)	" There are so many reasons to hate Pitch Perfect, and yet it's impossibly tough to do so." — OK! Magazine Posted Oct 5, 2012
4/4	93%	Looper (2012)	" Loopers really need to unionize." — OK! Magazine Posted Sep 26, 2012
3/4	43%	Hotel Transylvania (2012)	" Plus, the movie openly mocks Twilight, which scores it enough points to get me to drop my torch and pitchfork." — OK! Magazine Posted Sep 26, 2012
2/4	85%	The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)	" The greatest perk of being a real Wallflower is that at least you don't get stuck watching a movie about one." — OK! Magazine Posted Sep 19, 2012
3/4	67%	Lawless (2012)	" The movie pretty much a win, especially for LaBeouf, since there are no CGI sentient robots swiping all the best lines and no sacred franchises or Walgreens destroyed." — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 29, 2012
3.5/4	64%	Cosmopolis (2012)	" I can't convince myself that Cosmopolis is anything other than unscripted documentary about the life of Robert Pattinson, shot by security cameras. " — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 24, 2012
2.5/4	60%	My Sucky Teen Romance (2012)	" The movie didn't quite do it for me, but I'd like to see what Hagins could do with a better cast and budget." — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 22, 2012
3/4	58%	Sparkle (2012)	" There may or may not be an actual movie hidden among all the showstopping musical numbers in Sparkle. Not that there needs to be." — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 15, 2012
3/4	20%	Goats (2012)	" Pretty, confused and thrilling to analyze and revisit, Goats is just like adolescence." — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 9, 2012
3.5/4	74%	Hope Springs (2012)	" It's frighteningly easy to look at the characters and see your grandparents. Or your parents. Or yourself. " — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 6, 2012
3/4	31%	Total Recall (2012)	" This may be Wiseman's best movie yet, yet it's only the second-best Total Recall." — OK! Magazine Posted Aug 2, 2012
1.5/4	16%	The Watch (2012)	" Wait a few months, and if you still feel driven to try your luck with the movie, look for the DVD, which is sure to snag some prime shelf space at Costco." — OK! Magazine Posted Jul 27, 2012
1.5/4	87%	The Dark Knight Rises (2012)	" It's this series' version of The Matrix Revolutions, The Godfather Part III or Caddyshack 2." — OK! Magazine Posted Jul 20, 2012
3/4	78%	Brave (2012)	" Faint praise is all that this movie is worth, but that's much more than you could say about Cars 2." — OK! Magazine Posted Jul 5, 2012
3/4	73%	The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)	" How perfect is it that the Spider-Man director's last name is Webb? It's like having a Superman movie directed by a guy named Cape or a Ghost Rider movie made by someone named Crap." — OK! Magazine Posted Jul 2, 2012
3.5/4	69%	Ted (2012)	" MacFarlane shows he's going to be just as popular a filmmaker as he is at TV animation. Lord help us all." — OK! Magazine Posted Jun 29, 2012
1.5/4	55%	Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)	" Turns out the coming obliteration of creation not only distorts the judgment of romantic leads, but also filmmakers. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jun 22, 2012
4/4	21%	That's My Boy (2012)	" That's My Boy turns out not only to be the title of the movie, but something Sandler's poor, suffering fans can say to each other as they acknowledge that their hero is back. " — OK! Magazine Posted Jun 14, 2012
3/4	74%	Prometheus (2012)	" The movie works despite its collection of characters that you sort of want to die." — OK! Magazine Posted Jun 8, 2012
3/4	70%	Men in Black III (2012)	" You stop questioning the sight of hairballs launching scorpion boomerangs or shopkeepers dropping their trousers to reveal they're Teddy Ruxpin's pal, Grubby." — OK! Magazine Posted May 24, 2012
3/4	——	Six Bullets from Now ()	" Oh, Van Damme, you've still got it." — OK! Magazine Posted May 17, 2012
2.5/4	58%	The Dictator (2012)	" Take away Cohen's ability to trap idiots into making fools of themselves is like stripping Superman of his ability to soar. " — OK! Magazine Posted May 16, 2012

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