Robert Denerstein
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 |
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| 90% | Monrovia, Indiana (2018) |
I wouldn't call Monrovia one of Wiseman's best efforts, but it exemplifies an approach in which he captures various places and institutions as if he were recording for future generations.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Nov 15, 2018
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| 91% | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) |
Not all of the episodes are successful and, sorry to say, stretches of the movie are duller than you might expect from the Coens. But this is a Coen brothers film and, as such, demands some attention...‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Nov 15, 2018
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| 90% | The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018) |
There are many reasons you might want to see Bogdanovich's fond look at a great star of the silent cinema whose career peaked in the 1920s but continued pretty much until his death in 1966.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2018
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| 98% | Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) |
I'm not sure that there's any great moral to be drawn from all this, but Can You Ever Forgive Me? entertains right up until an end that suggests that Israel's reformation retained trace elements of defiance. Refreshing.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Nov 2, 2018
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| 81% | The Other Side of the Wind (2018) |
Rather than a hidden masterpiece, The Other Side of the Wind opens a window into Welles' mordantly disaffected consciousness. The movie seems to exist entirely in its own world.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Nov 2, 2018
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| 38% | Viper Club (2018) |
Viper Club doesn't build enough high-voltage tension around political questions connected to a journalist's disappearance, but Sarandon gives the movie plenty of ground-level humanity.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Nov 1, 2018
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| 69% | Beautiful Boy (2018) |
Chalamet's performance and the painful relevance of the movie's subject carry it a long way, but Beautiful Boy falls short of the dramatic powerhouse that surely must have been intended.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 26, 2018
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| 76% | Mid90s (2018) |
There's something touching at the heart of Hill's directorial debut, the loneliness of a 13-year-old boy with a bully for a brother and a desire to be accepted by his peers.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 25, 2018
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| 68% | The Happy Prince (2018) |
Both behind and in front of the camera, Everett acquits himself well, paying powerful tribute to a man ravaged by a society that should have been applauding him.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 25, 2018
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| 96% | The Hate U Give (2018) |
The Hate U Give maintains a terrific sense of what's at stake in every moment, even as it tries to corral every topical issue it can find. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2018
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| 33% | Big Kill (2018) |
A badly over-stated score by Kays Al-Atrakchi tries to evoke memories of Westerns gone by but reaches for more than this mediocre horse opera can deliver.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2018
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| 87% | What They Had (2018) |
The movie never feels less than fully lived-in by a cast that couldn't be any better.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2018
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| 81% | Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) |
I'd say [it's] basic civics dished out in a form that many will find entertaining and provocative; whether Moore's audience will do anything beyond seeing 11/9 and nodding their agreement remains to be seen. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 18, 2018
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| 61% | The Oath (2018) |
Timely, yes. Successful, no. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 18, 2018
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| 88% | First Man (2018) |
First Man struck me as a far more ambitious and worthier work than either Whiplash or La La Land, two of Chazelle's previous movies.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 12, 2018
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| 90% | The Old Man & the Gun (2018) |
Despite some nice scenes between Spacek and Redford, The Old Man & the Gun feels like a slightly creaky version of a movie we've seen before.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 12, 2018
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| 90% | Hal (2018) |
If you loved any of the following movies (Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Coming Home and Being There), you need to see Hal, a documentary about Ashby's life as a pot-smoking, adventurous perfectionist.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 11, 2018
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| 79% | 22 July (2018) |
I confess to wondering exactly why this horrific story needed to be rehashed on screen. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 10, 2018
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| 90% | A Star Is Born (2018) |
It's all a bit overamped, an entertainment that's a little too in love with itself to bring down the curtain -- even as its two-hour and 15-minute length begins to wear. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 5, 2018
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| 95% | Private Life (2018) |
You don't have to have had any experience with the difficulties of getting pregnant to enjoy a comedy that is saved from charges of urbane preciousnesses by Giamatti and Hahn.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 4, 2018
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| 87% | Colette (2018) |
Colette presents its subject with honesty but never throws down the gauntlet of challenge that would have pushed audiences out of their comfort zones, something Colette deserved.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Oct 2, 2018
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| 85% | The Sisters Brothers (2018) |
I'll tell you that Audiard allows his movie to settle like a pot that has been taken off the fire and has begun to lose its boiling fury.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 27, 2018
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| 97% | I Am Not a Witch (2018) |
Not without humor, I Am Not a Witch ultimately rests on Shula's story, which builds toward a mournful and mysterious finale.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 27, 2018
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| 99% | Free Solo (2018) |
I'm not sure that free soloing shouldn't be recognized as a form of insanity, but Free Solo holds your attention -- for every gut-wrenching minute of Honnold's history-making effort.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 27, 2018
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| 98% | Science Fair (2018) |
I'd be surprised if Science Fair didn't show up on this year's Oscar's documentary shortlist.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 27, 2018
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| 61% | Bel Canto (2018) |
All I could think was that it takes more daring than was available here to save this movie from looking like a cross-cultural summer camp.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 20, 2018
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| 97% | Blaze (2018) |
For the length of Hawke's film, [Blaze Foley's] the center of a sauntering look at the life of a man who other musicians respected, who left the world a few songs and a ton of stories -- many of them quite entertaining.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 20, 2018
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| 58% | White Boy Rick (2018) |
There's something to be said for movies that insist on shining realistic light on society's margins.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 19, 2018
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| 85% | A Simple Favor (2018) |
Simple Favor never extinguishes its sparkle. It's a good-natured helping of venom.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 19, 2018
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| 92% | Mandy (2018) |
Imagery saturated in red (everything in this world seems blood-soaked) abets the stroboscopic forward motion Costmatos creates as does Cage's performance.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 18, 2018
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| 84% | The Wife (2018) |
The Wife never quite feels revelatory. But Pryce and Close add undeniable polish to this peek into literary lives -- both fulfilled and wasted.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2018
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| 79% | Love, Cecil (2018) |
Juicy gossip aside, Vreeland's documentary introduces us to the work of a man who wrote, took pictures, designed and drew -- and did all of these with skill and a well-honed aesthetic.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2018
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| 10% | Peppermint (2018) |
Peppermint, an ice cream flavor for which Riley's daughter fleetingly expresses fondness, may add flavor to desserts and chewing gum; it doesn't do much for this movie.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2018
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| 55% | The Bookshop (2018) |
Coixet enfolds the story in a series of betrayals and power moves, all presented without undue melodrama. It may be slightly pejorative to call The Bookshop a little movie, but the label fits.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2018
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| 30% | Kin (2018) |
Kin goes wrong almost from the start. Trying to treat a 14-year-old's visit to a strip club as a fun adventure (at least for a while) and then allowing the same kid to blast away at various foes shatters any sense of propriety the movie might have had. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2018
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| 65% | The Little Stranger (2018) |
Roughly three-quarters of the way through The Little Stranger, it's difficult not to begin hoping that a narrative kick in the pants will provide something resembling satisfaction.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2018
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| 59% | Operation Finale (2018) |
It would take another film to bring us face-to-face with such confounding moral horror, one that didn't so often feel like a diligent re-enactment of real events.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 29, 2018
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| 52% | Papillon (2018) |
An inescapable aroma of redundancy limits this credible but exhausting edition.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 27, 2018
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| 81% | Alpha (2018) |
Hughes works to create a convincing natural environment, creating a feeling for a time when darkness really was dark and the sky brimmed with twinkling stars.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 17, 2018
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| No Score Yet | Puzzle (2018) |
Director Marc Turtletaub respects the performances, which are all first rate and Puzzle tallies a distinct -- if minor -- victory.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 17, 2018
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| 89% | Skate Kitchen (2018) |
Director Crystal Moselle... gives her movie lots of authenticity.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 17, 2018
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| 92% | Crazy Rich Asians (2018) |
Think of it as a trip to a cinematic spa in the company of some of the world's best dressed and most attractive people.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 15, 2018
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| 95% | BlacKkKlansman (2018) |
Lee again puts the pedal to the metal in trying to acknowledge an ugly part of American life that shouldn't be swept under any red, white and blue rug -- then or now. ‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 9, 2018
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| 91% | We the Animals (2018) |
The movie is at its best while observing the way three brothers behave in a world where adult supervision is sporadic.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 9, 2018
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| 89% | Far From the Tree (2018) |
You can't help but empathize with the people you'll meet in Far From the Tree, but Dretzin, whose multi-subject approach sometimes feels sketchy, doesn't devote much time to the financial burdens these families face.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Aug 9, 2018
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| 77% | The King (2018) |
The difference: Much of The King proves interesting and some [of] it, even salient. That's because The King is as much about the kingdom as it is about Elvis's pop-cultural royalty.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Jul 20, 2018
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| 100% | Leave No Trace (2018) |
Leave No Trace is a rarity, a movie that runs its finger over a deep vein of pain without offering palliatives or bromides. That feels unblinkered and right.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Jul 13, 2018
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| 93% | Sorry to Bother You (2018) |
Sorry to Bother You stands as a comedy that strikes enough targets to make it a welcome attempt to say something about where we actually are - instead of trying to transport us... to places we'd rather be.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Jul 13, 2018
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| 46% | Skyscraper (2018) |
Despite such super-human displays, Johnson isn't quite strong enough to hold the movie together, but if you're willing to check all of your critical faculties at the door, Skyscraper might qualify as one of the summer's guiltier pleasures.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Jul 13, 2018
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| 52% | Boundaries (2018) |
Predictable and never totally convincing, Boundaries nonetheless features a fine performance by Plummer, who pours on the roguish charm.‐ Denerstein Unleashed
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2018
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