Sean Means Movie Reviews & Previews

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Sean Means

Agrees with the Tomatometer 77% of the time.

Publications:: Film.com , Salt Lake Tribune

Total Reviews:: 2054
Total QuickRatings:: 4

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 2054

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
3.5/4	99%	Mud (2013)	" The Southern-fried drama "Mud" is an electrifying example of what happens when you merge a crackerjack yarn with a very specific setting, and then pour on the heat with riveting performances." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
0/4	46%	Pain & Gain (2013)	" Sometimes you only know it's a comedy because familiar comic actors - [Tony] Shalhoub, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong and Rebel Wilson - pop up amid the mayhem." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
3.5/4	50%	The Great Gatsby (2013)	" Luhrmann's greatest trick in "The Great Gatsby" is using the romantic plot - will Daisy choose Jay or Tom - as camouflage to get across Fitzgerald's withering and timely portrait of a society dancing to the edge of disaster. " — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
3/4	78%	Iron Man 3 (2013)	" The way Black surrenders the movie's edginess to the generic onslaught of flashy visuals is a mild disappointment." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
2/4	63%	Epic (2013)	" The story's predictability -- and resemblance to 1992's "FernGully: The Last Rainforest" -- makes for a pretty, dull ride." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
2/4	73%	Fast & Furious 6 (2013)	" Lin throws more vehicles into the mix - including a tank and a flaming cargo plane - but tosses plausibility and coherent editing out the window." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
1/4	21%	The Hangover Part III (2013)	" It's not [funny] -- unless you adopt the philosophy of the movie's most psychopathic character, Mr. Chow, that "it's funny" when "bad things happen and people get hurt."" — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 23, 2013
3.5/4	87%	Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)	" Abrams stays true to the main virtues of the series: The camaraderie of the Enterprise crew, the bond of friendship among Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy, and the way the old series created science-fiction allegories to explore current dilemmas." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted May 15, 2013
3.5/4	92%	The Gatekeepers (2013)	" Moreh employs a direct interviewing style, reminiscent of Errol Morris' work, to get the men to talk about their days leading Shin Bet." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 28, 2013
3/4	82%	Like Someone in Love (2013)	" Kiarostami lets the moments between Akiko and Takashi unfold naturally, as these characters from different worlds find common bonds." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 28, 2013
2/4	45%	On the Road (2012)	" Even Stewart, exuding more passion than in all five Twilight movies, registers more fully than the preening leads." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 28, 2013
3/4	9%	The Host (2013)	" Meyer's romantic sense, cribbed from the back pages of a junior-high girl's Trapper Keeper, is given a bit of depth by the strong cast - particularly Ronan." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 28, 2013
2/4	28%	G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)	" Stupid is the nature of this Hasbro-produced action franchise - but would it be too much to ask for something that was dumb fun?" — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 28, 2013
3/4	71%	Greedy Lying Bastards (2013)	" An entertaining expose of the industry-paid deniers and how they continue to muddle the climate-change "debate."" — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
3/4	93%	Lore (2013)	" Rosendahl's performance is raw and compelling, as Lore fights for her siblings' survival and grows up in a hurry." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
2.5/4	67%	Stoker (2013)	" Park amps up every moment with a sweaty, ghoulish atmosphere, and he plants the Hitchcock references like an Easter egg hunt. " — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
3.5/4	43%	Admission (2013)	" [Weitz] wrings out solid humor from Portia's comic struggles to balance her professionalism with her newly unearthed maternal instincts." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
1.5/4	47%	Olympus Has Fallen (2013)	" If Glenn Beck directed a live-action remake of Team America: World Police, you might approach the level of ridiculous violence and brainless flag-waving in Olympus Has Fallen." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
2/4	69%	The Croods (2013)	" The simplistic plot (the migration and father-daughter plotlines are identical to Ice Age: Continental Drift) is so obviously structured that even a Neanderthal can see it coming." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
2/4	66%	Spring Breakers (2013)	" Such a perfect object of its cultural moment - an age of sexualized youth and stylized violence - that it's a shame it's not a better movie." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 22, 2013
	37%	The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)	" Director Don Scardino gets good mileage from a supporting cast that includes Alan Arkin and Olivia Wilde. But the one trick he can't pull off is making sense of Carell's character." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 15, 2013
	41%	The Call (2013)	" Even with a faltering finale, The Call is a worthy nail-biter that will engage you in the moment." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 15, 2013
	59%	Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)	" Between Kunis' miscasting and Raimi's heavy hand, Oz the Great and Powerful is ultimately robbed of its emotional power and its chance at cinematic greatness." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 7, 2013
2.5/4	37%	Dead Man Down (2013)	" Rapace is eminently watchable, though, bringing the same fire she had in her Dragon Tattoo trilogy." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Mar 7, 2013
3.5/4	36%	Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology (2011)	" The end product is brain food beautifully disguised as eye candy." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Feb 4, 2013
3.5/4	100%	The Kings of Summer (2013)	" The MVP here is Chris Galletta's script, which is as knowing of teen emotions as it is acidly funny." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Jan 23, 2013
1/4	18%	Parental Guidance (2012)	" A wincingly unfunny family comedy that puts Crystal's overbearing shtick front and center." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 21, 2012
1.5/4	——	Ben Banks ()	" This is a message to Bryce Clark, the writer-director of the made-in-St. George comedy "Ben Banks": Your movie's awful, dude, but don't give up on filmmaking." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 8, 2012
3/4	94%	Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (2012)	" A lively portrait that's as colorful, dynamic and oh-so-fashionable as one of Vreeland's magazine spreads." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 8, 2012
2/4	43%	Waiting For Lightning (2012)	" Director Jacob Rosenberg interviews Way and many of his friends, relations and peers, but he never digs too deeply or draws out of them much more than the clichéd "this is what he was born to do" talking points." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 8, 2012
4/4	70%	The Loneliest Planet (2012)	" With Brontes' camera sometimes right up in their faces, the actors create an intense intimacy that's a thrill to experience. They also share a palpable sexual chemistry that fires up this drama." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 8, 2012
2/4	4%	Playing for Keeps (2012)	" Director Gabriele Muccino can't decide whether Robbie Fox's script should be played as sex farce or heart-tugging romance - and splitting the difference is a loser both ways." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 8, 2012
1.5/4	33%	Little Red Wagon (2012)	" The melodramatic storyline and moralizing tone are overbearing, and only O'Connor's performance rises above the level of a Hallmark Channel rerun." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 3, 2012
2.5/4	87%	Somewhere Between (2012)	" The film shows the girls as reassuringly normal, which is good for their psyches but not particularly exciting to movie audiences." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 3, 2012
3/4	75%	Killing Them Softly (2012)	" [Dominik's] major misstep is grafting this story to modern politics (specifically, the 2008 Wall Street bailout) with a heavy-handed analogy that equates the dumb hoodlums to greedy hedge-fund operators." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 3, 2012
3.5/4	64%	Anna Karenina (2012)	" It breathes new life into Tolstoy's characters and reignites the passion that generations of readers have felt for them." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 3, 2012
3.5/4	96%	Chasing Ice (2012)	" "Chasing Ice" is that movie that every environmentally conscious person has been waiting for, if only to show their right-wing relatives who parrot the standard oil-industry-funded line that "the science is still uncertain."" — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Dec 3, 2012
3/4	74%	Rise of the Guardians (2012)	" An engaging mash-up of holiday icons, sort of a "Justice League" of fairy tales." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 21, 2012
3/4	89%	A Royal Affair (2012)	" The film is a showcase for Mikkelsen..., who is captivating as Caroline's brooding lover and a political power player." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 21, 2012
3.5/4	88%	Life of Pi (2012)	" Lee captures both the harrowing realities of Pi's survival tale and the moments of wonder when Pi experiences the ocean's harsh beauty." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 21, 2012
2/4	13%	Red Dawn (2012)	" If one can swallow the plot holes and hackneyed characters, one still must deal with the confused staging and nausea-inducing handheld camerawork of first-time director Dan Bradley." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 21, 2012
2.5/4	92%	Silver Linings Playbook (2012)	" Lawrence's bold performance and her fearlessly sexual character are more than Russell knows how to harness." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 21, 2012
3.5/4	84%	Smashed (2012)	" "Smashed" does in 82 minutes what Robert Zemeckis' "Flight" took more than two hours to do - and does it better, without a spectacular computer-animated plane crash." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 21, 2012
2.5/4	79%	A Late Quartet (2012)	" The melodrama among the main characters is more soap opera than grand opera, even with a quartet of actors as fine as this." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 15, 2012
3/4	90%	Keep the Lights On (2012)	" Sachs captures Erik's yearning for Paul and Paul's addiction-induced indifference with equal force. " — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 15, 2012
4/4	94%	The Sessions (2012)	" The sex scenes are frank and explicit, but never cheap and exploitative. (Yes, they get naked. Grow up.) The nudity isn't airbrushed pin-up perfection, but raw and real - and all the more lovely and moving because of it." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 15, 2012
3.5/4	89%	Lincoln (2012)	" Day-Lewis' astonishing performance - employing a reedy, weathered Illinois voice of a pre-soundbite generation - finds the razor-sharp political mind behind the folksy talk. " — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 15, 2012
2.5/4	48%	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)	" [The end credits are] a chance for "Twilight" fans to say goodbye to their favorites, and a chance for everyone else to delight in the knowledge that this consistently underwhelming saga is at long last over." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 15, 2012
2.5/4	68%	Wuthering Heights (2012)	" The results are often obtuse and self-consciously arty. But the movie is also frequently engrossing, sucking the viewer into the emotional landscape of these star-crossed lovers." — Salt Lake Tribune Posted Nov 9, 2012

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