Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein's reviews (from any publication) always count toward the Tomatometer
because this critic is a Tomatometer-approved critic.
| Publications: | Denver Rocky Mountain News, Movie Habit, Denerstein Unleashed |
| Critics' Group: | Broadcast Film Critics Association |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 84% | Polina (Polina, danser sa vie) (2017) |
Polina isn't the deepest drama but the dancing elevates a story that sometimes feels predictable. Credit Shevtsova with creating a character who's trying to use her training and develop her own style.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 15, 2017
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| 35% | American Assassin (2017) |
Muddled by a scattered screenplay and hampered by Dylan O'Brien's notably unremarkable performance as Rapp, American Assassin does a fair share of globe hopping but manages to go nowhere.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 15, 2017
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| 68% | mother! (2017) |
With Mother!, Aronofsky huffs, puffs and damn well tries to blow the house down. But this time out, I found myself wondering whether there was anything more to the movie than the ominous howl of all that huffing and puffing.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 15, 2017
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| 99% | Whose Streets? (2017) |
Disturbing, if a bit repetitive and digressive, Whose Streets? reflects the mood and concerns of a much-abused population... ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 14, 2017
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| 80% | The Oath (2016) |
A serious tone and stabs at nuance can't disguise what at core begins to feel too much a prisoner of a familiar genre.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2017
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| 78% | The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) |
Seedy and alluring. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2017
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| 76% | The Limehouse Golem (2017) |
Well acted and richly atmospheric, The Limehouse Golem doesn't quite terrify, even though its talented cast and abundantly colorful artifice sustain interest.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2017
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| 30% | I Do... Until I Don't (2017) |
... I Do ... Until I Don't turns out to be wan and predictable. I wouldn't give up on Bell, though.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2017
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| 91% | After Love (L'économie du couple) (2017) |
Slow moving, the movie wades through a sea of hostilities while we wait for a major blow-up or a thaw in the ice that allows these two to reveal something about what made them a couple in the first place.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2017
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| 84% | Patti Cake$ (2017) |
Audiences pretty much will know where Patti Cake$ is headed, but its familiar path is paved with a Jersey spirit that's reinforced by the introduction of a Bruce Springsteen song during the end credits.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2017
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| 100% | Truman (2017) |
[Cesc Gay opts] for an approach that allows the actors ... to create a relationship that is at once comfortable and challenging.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 95% | Graduation (Bacalaureat) (2017) |
Every scene reveals new wrinkles of character and, equally important, of the society in which these characters function. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 17% | The Circle (2017) |
There's nothing wrong with a movie that wants to play with issues and ideas. What such movies need, though, are deeper characters than those who populate The Circle.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 84% | The Death of Louis XIV (La mort de Louis XIV) (2017) |
Whatever the movie's challenges for viewers, I'm grateful that Serra made it.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 83% | Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (2017) |
The film's best achievement may be the way it reminds us that restaurants have become entertainments unto themselves.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 94% | Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (2017) |
Citizen Jane stands as a tribute to Jacobs and an encouragement to those who believe that lively, enriching serendipity -- which may look like chaos -- never should be planned out of existence.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 89% | Norman (Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer) (2017) |
I wouldn't have thought Gere could play a wannabe macher (Yiddish for someone who gets things done), but he's on target. For him, Norman was a risk worth taking.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 82% | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) |
Gunn provides enough explosions to satisfy action-hungry audiences, and after a third-act dip, the movie picks up for an ending that tempers the obligatory mayhem with a bit of emotion.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 92% | In Search of Israeli Cuisine (2017) |
I suppose the best way to sum up this lively documentary is to say that it introduces viewers to a side of Israel that gets little play in headlines from the Middle East.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 89% | Hounds of Love (2017) |
I guess I wish that Young, who clearly has skills, had tried his hand at something more thematically rewarding than a teen-ager's torment at the hands of a murderous pervert and his cowed partner.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 28% | King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017) |
I suppose Ritchie deserves some credit for trying not to genuflect at the feet of a well-worn legend, but he drags the story of Arthur into the dirt and never allows it to shake off the mud.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 36% | Snatched (2017) |
Fairness compels me to tell you that a preview audience reacted more favorably to the movie than I did, but for me, the movie's few random chuckles were matched by a significantly larger number of scowls.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 82% | Like Crazy (La pazza gioia) (2017) |
Virzi doesn't seem to solve the movie's problem; i.e., defining a line between mad and sane behavior. Instead, he opts for a tale of sisterhood marked by intermittent charm and an always refreshing dash of Cuckoo's Nest rebellion.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 91% | A Quiet Passion (2017) |
I can't say that I wasn't a trifle bored at times, but Davies seeks to enlighten us about the incongruities of the period: The quest for transcendence set against the starched rigors of parlor life, for example.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 83% | The Lovers (2017) |
The actors, especially Winger, keep The Lovers watchable, but ultimately can't give it memorable life.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 44% | Everything, Everything (2017) |
Based on a well-received novel by Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything may satisfy its teen audience, but it translates to the screen as YA fluff with major plot holes. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 80% | Chuck (2017) |
So, a reserved endorsement for Chuck. Like its main character, the movie stumbles and lumbers, but manages to survive.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 70% | Alien: Covenant (2017) |
It's difficult not to see Alien: Covenant as a slightly depleted helping of a once stunning pop-cultural landmark, something like a well-made TV series that continues to entertain even after it has lost much of its juice.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 18% | Baywatch (2017) |
Forget the movie's amped-up ocean rescues: Someone was needed to rescue a screenplay that should have been beached.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 86% | The Wedding Plan (2017) |
Yes, [it] sounds like high-concept nonsense, but the movie transcends such confining boundaries, probably because of Burshtein's good-humored affection for the characters who populate her story.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 74% | Wakefield (2017) |
The experiment proves only partially successful, perhaps because it's difficult not to be a little too aware of the pitfalls such a solipsistic story faces and the strategies Swicord uses to overcome them.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 29% | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) |
If you've managed to set sale without these Pirates until now, Ronning and Sandberg provide little reason to change your behavior.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 92% | Obit (2017) |
If you're an avid newspaper reader, you won't want to miss this informative and entertaining documentary.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2017
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| 92% | Wonder Woman (2017) |
Gadot claims star status, handling the title-character with charm, sincerity, finesse and a look that exudes beauty and good health. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 89% | David Lynch: The Art Life (2017) |
Everything the directors show is set against Lynch's homespun affect, which -- despite his constant cigarette smoking -- has a small-town quality that seems instantly at odds with the images that spring from his mind.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 84% | Afterimage (Powidoki) (2017) |
Afterimage becomes a fitting capstone to a remarkable career that spanned from the 1950s into the 21st Century.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 48% | Churchill (2017) |
As it stands, director Jonathan Teplitzky has made a minor entry into the cinematic literature of the war. It's a bit like having only one chapter of what should have been a multi-volume endeavor.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 63% | Dean (2017) |
Mildly amusing and nicely acted by the supporting players, Dean nonetheless doesn't feel like a big-screen breakthrough for Martin, who doesn't dig deeply enough into the movie's most interesting element: undigested grief.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 84% | Megan Leavey (2017) |
Megan Leavey may not be the deepest movie you'll see this year, but it definitely shows that animals can play a major role in making people more human.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 92% | I, Daniel Blake (2017) |
Not many filmmakers are as skilled as Loach in putting such struggles at the center of their movies.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 89% | It Comes At Night (2017) |
If there's real horror here, it has less to do with jolts and gore than with the realization that under extreme conditions, mistrust can become an essential, if double-edged, survival tool. That's a truly scary idea.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 16% | The Mummy (2017) |
Let the dead continue to slumber. Please.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 62% | Slack Bay (Ma loute) (2017) |
One of the charms, if that's the right word, of Dumont's movie is that the characters never seem to mesh. They are, in their way, a collection of lunatics, particularly the wealthy family.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 78% | The Exception (The Kaiser's Last Kiss) (2017) |
A brilliant Christopher Plummer plays the Kaiser as a character reminiscent of a Tolstoy creation, an intelligent but mildly deluded ruler who never has accepted his fall from power. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2017
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| 22% | The Book of Henry (2017) |
Working from a screenplay by Gregg Hurwitz, Trevorrow fails to wring much emotion out of the story's soap-operatic elements.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 28, 2017
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| 46% | Rough Night (2017) |
Yes, this one tries everything, including a joke about necrophilia. Like the corpse, the joke dies. The movie isn't far behind.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 28, 2017
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| 77% | The Hero (2017) |
[Elliot's] a pleasure to watch, but a little more movie would have been welcome, too.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 28, 2017
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| 15% | Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) |
Bay doesn't whip up many edge-of-the-seat moments. Maybe that's because it's difficult to generate real suspense when the series -- like this movie -- feels as if it never will end.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 28, 2017
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| 96% | The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (2017) |
B-Side may not rank with Morris' best films, but it stands as an introduction to Dorfman's approach and work. Think of it as a revealing miniature about a woman who made very large photographs. Posted by Robert Dene‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 28, 2017
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| 99% | City of Ghosts (2017) |
I'm not sure whether City of Ghosts deserves to be called a great film, but it definitely should be seen. At a minimum, we owe the people of Raqqa our pledge not to look away from their suffering.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 28, 2017
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