Robert Denerstein
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications:
Denver Rocky Mountain News,
Movie Habit,
Denerstein Unleashed
Critics' Group:
Broadcast Film Critics Association
Movie Reviews Only
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55% | The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021) |
Normally, I wouldn't say that a movie is worth seeing because of one dynamic performance. But The United States vs. Billie Holiday, provides an exception. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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89% | The Vigil (2021) |
Eerie yes, but The Vigil also can feel dull and self-conscious in its attempts to both benefit from and avoid standard horror tropes. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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99% | Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois) (2020) |
Like its actors, the movie has a distinctly powerful presence you won't soon forget. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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35% | Crisis (2021) |
I wouldn't call Crisis a bad movie, but it does feel like a scattered and only intermittently powerful attempt to make a comprehensive statement about the culture that spawned an opioid epidemic. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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98% | Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry (2021) |
The movie winds up at the Grammys where Billie puts an exclamation point on her meteoric rise. At more than two hours in length, the movie feels long and a bit exhausting, but fans probably won't care. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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80% | I Care a Lot (2021) |
Blakeson's written a tasty scam movie, infusing it with the kind of sizzle that sets it apart from more perfunctory efforts and he locks Pike and Dinklage in an exhilarating cage match... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 19, 2021
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54% | Silk Road (2021) |
I can't say that familiarity bred much by way of contempt, maybe because the movie hits enough genre marks to prove modestly engaging. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 19, 2021
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94% | Test Pattern (2021) |
For all that Ford sets in motion and despite the subtle ways she allows the characters to evolve, Test Pattern never seems a fully realized exploration of a difficult subject. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 19, 2021
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79% | Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) |
...two cluelessly funny characters who may not be worth an entire movie... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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96% | Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) |
Judas and the Black Messiah stands as a memorable, powerful movie that leaves you wondering how Hampton might have evolved had he not been killed. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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73% | The World to Come (2020) |
An atmosphere of hardship and deprivation serves as a backdrop that heightens the longing both women experience. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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82% | Landfall (2020) |
Land never seems to gather the kind of thematic momentum that would have justified Edee's battle with unforgiving nature. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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98% | Minari (2020) |
Don't expect a Rocky-style aspirational pep talk. Fair to say, then, that Minari eschews nostalgia and, though set in the 1980s, feels very much alive in the present. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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72% | The Mauritanian (2021) |
Not surprisingly, the movie's most vivid performance is given by Tahar Rahim, as Slahi, a man who doesn't immediately tell his lawyers about his confession for fear that he'll be tortured again. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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91% | Little Fish (2021) |
Although the movie can be a bit bland, I doubt whether many viewers will be disappointed that Little Fish plays more like romance than speculative sci-fi... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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66% | Falling (2020) |
To add shading, Mortensen includes scenes -- moments, really -- in which Willis shows genuine affection for his son...providing much-needed nuance about the complexity of a bullying relationship. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 5, 2021
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40% | The Right One (2021) |
The plot strains to tell us why Godfrey can't simply be himself. All of this amounts to little, aside from providing each actor with an opportunity to showcase something... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 5, 2021
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28% | Bliss (2021) |
Mike Cahill's movie never makes much sense and winds up as a ragged, lunging attempt to engage questions about the nature of reality and meaning that have been better addressed in other movies. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 5, 2021
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97% | Two of Us (Deux) (2021) |
Two of Us is a touching reminder of the toxic complexities that result when secrets are kept. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 5, 2021
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58% | Malcolm & Marie (2020) |
By the time the movie ended, I felt as I'd been watching a skillful simulation of an art movie rather than the real thing. Put another way, Malcolm & Marie requires too much effort for too little reward. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 2, 2021
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47% | The Little Things (2021) |
The Little Things fulfills many of the requirements of a gritty genre piece, moving its characters through a world from which no one escapes uncorrupted, sort of a B-movie with an A-list cast and noir shading. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Feb 2, 2021
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79% | The Night (2021) |
Ahari proves himself a master of dread and threat and Night follows a Farsi-speaking couple into a night in which their defenses begin to unravel. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 28, 2021
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88% | Supernova (2021) |
Supernova isn't a tear-jerker. The chemistry between the actors and the filmmakers results in a movie that's admirably respectful of the intimacy and burden a couple faces when confronting the inevitable. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 28, 2021
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67% | Penguin Bloom (2021) |
If you're looking for emotional complexity, Penguin Bloom is not for you. Even Watts can't turn Penguin Bloom into anything more than a familiar tale made more disarming by the presence of a magpie. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 28, 2021
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85% | Our Friend (2020) |
Cowperthwaite and her cast make you feel how inadequate we all are when it comes to facing a devastating loss -- and how improbably selfless people sometimes can be. Maybe that's enough to encourage us to overlook the movie's flaws. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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34% | No Man's Land (2021) |
[It] invites us to consider questions about forgiveness and accountability (fair enough) but a persistent haze of idealization undermines credibility and creates a feeling that most of what we're seeing has been pre-programmed... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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100% | Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself (2020) |
Home movies and animation are employed to varying effect but keep In & Of Itself from feeling stagebound as DelGaudio builds toward the film's emotional (really) finale. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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37% | Outside the Wire (2021) |
Despite a few unexpected twists, Outside the Wire comes across as a near-generic helping of action that tries to serve up something more than standard action... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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99% | MLK/FBI (2021) |
MLK/FBI stands as a movie that inspires us with King's commitment while appalling us with the lengths to which an American institution went not only to destroy him but to upend an entire movement. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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88% | The Dig (2021) |
Director Stone and screenwriter Moira Buffini serve up a period piece that neither is tense nor sorrowful enough to transcend the status of a dry - or at least "dryish" - footnote. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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98% | One Night in Miami (2020) |
It's lively, provocative, and engaging. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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92% | The White Tiger (2020) |
White Tiger brims with social and psychological asides. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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93% | Herself (2021) |
As is the case with many women like Sandra, it's difficult to draw a line marking the point where woe fades and a promising future blossoms. That understanding gives Herself its bite. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 8, 2021
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76% | Pieces of a Woman (2020) |
Pieces of a Woman stands as a collection of scenes -- some quite powerful -- that demand a lot from its cast without ever totally cohering for us. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 5, 2021
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94% | Hunter Hunter (2020) |
Hunter Hunter eventually turns into a helping of horror with an ending that sears itself into memory. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 5, 2021
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81% | I'm Your Woman (2020) |
I'm Your Woman offers surprising twists as its story unfolds around a character who seems to know less about what's going on than anyone in the movie -- other than the audience. That's not always a bad place to be. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 5, 2021
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93% | Sylvie's Love (2020) |
Bottom line: Ashe and his team have made a movie about passion, love and the binding stricture of convention that's ... well .... notable for making the style of yesterday feel fresh. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Jan 5, 2021
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96% | Dear Comrades! (2021) |
Konchalovsky gives fly-on-the-wall immediacy to the story... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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95% | Soul (2020) |
Not many will want to argue with the message and Pixar offers another deluge of creativity. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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59% | Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) |
At two-and-a-half-hours, Wonder Woman 1984 doesn't have a compelling enough story to keep the movie from wearing out. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 25, 2020
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98% | Farewell Amor (2020) |
By the time the movie concludes, we have a sense that we've lived with these characters. Happily, Msangi isn't out to vilify anyone. He knows these characters and he wants us to know them, as well. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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89% | Let Them All Talk (2020) |
Here, we watch three accomplished actors flirting with cliche but subverting it in favor of something Soderbergh has the good sense to appreciate: The imaginative exploration of character. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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94% | Nomadland (2021) |
Zhao presents it without flourish or hype. Like Fern, the film demands to be taken as it is. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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29% | Wild Mountain Thyme (2020) |
In Wild Mountain Thyme, what must have been intended as idiosyncratic and flavorful too often feels stereotypical. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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55% | The Prom (2020) |
The Prom has its moments, but on screen it often feels as if it has been factory produced to become a hit. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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22% | Last Call (2020) |
Although the movie runs for about an hour and 48 minutes, it can feel longer because it's like spending a day in a bar... till, hanging out with drinks -- even those who achieved legendary status -- seldom proves enlightening. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 1, 2020
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84% | Mosul (2020) |
Mosul commands attention because of its fresh perspective; the movie tells its story from the viewpoint of Iraqis whose lives have been shattered by war. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 1, 2020
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83% | Mank (2020) |
Mank proves a dense, gossipy pleasure. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Dec 1, 2020
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25% | Hillbilly Elegy (2020) |
The storytelling can be uneven, but to ignore Hillbilly Elegy would mean missing a chance to watch Close build a character from the hard, gravelly soil... - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Nov 20, 2020
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96% | Sound of Metal (2020) |
Raci's Joe doesn't view deafness as a disability but as a gateway to different forms of communication. Director Darius Marder creates a sound design that frequently mirrors Rubin's perspective. - Denerstein Unleashed
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| Posted Nov 20, 2020
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