Robert Denerstein

Robert Denerstein
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications: Denver Rocky Mountain News, Movie Habit, Denerstein Unleashed
Critics' Group: Broadcast Film Critics Association

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
83% Puzzle (2018) Director Marc Turtletaub respects the performances, which are all first rate and Puzzle tallies a distinct -- if minor -- victory. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 24, 2019
98% Toy Story 4 (2019) Toy Story 4 balances real issues, fun and undisguised sentiment. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 21, 2019
62% The Fall of the American Empire (La chute de l'empire américain) (2019) Audiences (myself included) have an insatiable appetite for caper movies, but while trying to justify itself as a social critique, The Fall of the American Empire too often fizzles. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 21, 2019
89% Walking on Water (2019) Director Andrey Paounov's documentary falls short...we don't get much by way of explanation about how all this was done, how materials were selected -- and in some cases -- even what materials were used. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 21, 2019
89% Non-Fiction (2019) There's an undeniable sense of life in Non-Fiction along with fine performances in a story that begins when the editor of a publishing house (Guillaume Canet) rejects the work of one of his authors (Vincent Macaigne). - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 20, 2019
52% The Dead Don't Die (2019) The Dead May Not Die, but this movie sometimes feels as if it's in need of life support. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2019
100% Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank (2019) The film captures Frank's artistry and also makes clear the pain of a life devoted to seeing clearly. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2019
93% The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a sweet and mournful story of loss. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2019
31% Shaft (2019) This one is less of its time than it is a spawn of dozens of other movies. A box checker. How much you enjoy it depends on how many of those boxes you're able to check. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2019
76% Halston (2019) Halston remains something of a mystery, a galvanizing figure who never fully emerges. But if you're a sucker for a rise-and-fall story or you're interested in fashion, Halston won't disappoint. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 13, 2019
82% American Woman (2019) Nicely rendered moments of reconciliation have an impact, but overall American Woman suffers from an overload of woe. Moreover, its title suggests ambitions that never are quite fulfilled. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 13, 2019
79% Late Night (2019) Laughs are a matter of taste, I suppose. For me, Late Night provided intermittent amusement until it reaches its predictably affirming conclusion. So, another movie in which promise exceeds fulfillment? For me, yes. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 13, 2019
75% Pasolini (2019) Dafoe not only wears Pasolini's clothes but internalizes his spirit. He even holds our attention when Ferrara shows Pasolini sitting at his typewriter, pounding away at a screenplay. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 6, 2019
23% Dark Phoenix (2019) Dark Phoenix doesn't exactly qualify as the fondest of farewells. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 6, 2019
89% Rocketman (2019) Fletcher refreshes genre cliches with storytelling strategies that turn Rocketman into an infectiously energetic look at the life of a rock star. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 31, 2019
77% Photograph (2019) There's nothing extraordinary about the Indian movie Photograph and that's what makes the movie interesting. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 30, 2019
73% The Perfection (2019) The Perfection seems more interested in filling screens with wince-inducing moments than in establishing a plausible environment in which the pressures of ferocious competition and dictatorial instruction really could be explored. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 30, 2019
40% Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) These fights, splayed across ravished urban landscapes, aren't especially distinguished, but they're really all this Michael Dougherty-directed movie has to offer. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 30, 2019
71% All Is True (2019) It's McKellen who gives the movie its moment of pure transcendence. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 24, 2019
97% Booksmart (2019) I don't want to oversell Booksmart, but it's a cut above the usual teen junk and Feldstein and Dever give winning performances before the movie concludes with a ringing endorsement of friendship and delivers its message. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 24, 2019
57% Aladdin (2019) Ritchie's rendition of a Disney cash cow may not be the kind of magic carpet ride that transports you to entertainment's most magical realms... - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 24, 2019
92% Long Day's Journey Into Night (Di qiu zui hou de ye wan) (2019) Watching Long Day's Journey sometimes feels as if you're wandering through someone else's dream, floating through a world composed of memories and sensations that aren't your own... - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 23, 2019
55% My Son (Mon garçon) (2019) Carion creates suspense but discards various important characters without explanation and leaves us with a bunch of questions about what we've just witnessed. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 23, 2019
95% See You Yesterday (2019) Nicely assembled and fleet at 86 minutes in length, See You Yesterday avoids the pre-packaged feel of a high-concept product that has been rolled off a studio assembly line. It's a home-grown kick. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2019
66% The White Crow (2019) Structurally choppy and unevenly acted, The White Crow seldom gets beyond adequate. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2019
95% Shadow (2019) The Shadow lies somewhere between the grandeur of Shakespeare and the melodrama of Douglas Sirk, but the movie emerges as a visually towering work. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2019
61% Trial by Fire (2019) Heavy-handed didacticism makes parts of Trial By Fire feel rigged, costing the story some of its power. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2019
90% John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) Directed by Chad Stahelski, Chapter 3 skillfully spreads two hours and 10 minutes of choreographed violence across the screen... - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2019
54% Charlie Says (2019) Charlie Says doesn't offer enough by way of insight to answer the question that inevitably seems to arise with movies about heinous crimes: exactly why am I watching? - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 10, 2019
82% Dogman (2019) Garrone's narrative builds toward an explosive ending that leaves Marcello alone and abandoned against the decaying landscape of the town where he has tried so hard to fit in. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 10, 2019
67% Wine Country (2019) More amusing than uproarious, Wine Country's cast sells this slender movie... - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 10, 2019
15% The Hustle (2019) Even if The Hustle fails to enter the pantheon of great comedy, it proves reasonably entertaining. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 10, 2019
31% Red Joan (2019) In sum, fine cast; tepid result. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 3, 2019
94% Ask Dr. Ruth (2019) Amusing and lively, Westheimer fills Ryan's Ask Dr. Ruth with the charm, candor, and personality that made her a natural for radio, television and offbeat celebrity. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 3, 2019
81% Long Shot (2019) Rather than challenging the form, the movie can't resist capitulating to it. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 3, 2019
56% Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) All I'll say is that Efron seldom has been better and that fascination with a 1970s story that once gripped the nation hasn't entirely faded. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 3, 2019
31% The Intruder (2019) The Intruder squanders any promise with a hopeless descent into horror cliches. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted May 3, 2019
69% Stockholm (2019) The supporting cast acquits itself well, but Stockholm belongs to Hawke, who creates a portrait of a self-dramatizing felon with a limited capacity for planning and a tendency to panic. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 26, 2019
96% Little Woods (2019) Little Woods stands as a serious attempt to explore lives that seldom find their way to the screen, and Thompson's performance keeps the wheels turning. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 26, 2019
94% Avengers: Endgame (2019) Avengers: Endgame goes to great lengths to deliver what its fanbase expects: big battles with cosmic stakes, a bit of self-deprecation and a plethora of superheroes that are happily and reverentially showcased. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 25, 2019
72% Teen Spirit (2019) Teen Spirit gives Fanning a well-deserved showcase and that she takes full advantage of it. She creates a character who -- as her coach advises her -- sings from the heart. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 23, 2019
50% Stuck (2019) A mixed bag of a musical that has its moments, thanks mostly to a game cast. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 18, 2019
44% The Chaperone (2019) The Chaperone escorts us through a period piece that's often too lukewarm to simmer, much less to boil. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 18, 2019
82% High Life (2019) High Life just might be a movie that wants to say something profound but leaves us wondering exactly what that might be. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 12, 2019
82% The Brink (2019) I couldn't help wondering why a filmmaker would want to provide Bannon with something he really seems to prize: More attention. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2019
66% Storm Boy (2019) Storm Boy sinks under the weight of its obviousness. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2019
85% Ramen Shop (Ramen teh) (2019) Watching the painstaking commitment of ramen chefs to their craft makes for its own reward, although you'd probably get at least as much out of an Anthony Bourdain episode. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2019
53% The Best of Enemies (2019) Robin Bissell, who has spent most of his career producing movies, makes his directorial debut. He smartly relies on his actors to carry the day. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 5, 2019
91% Shazam! (2019) Shazam! launches a superhero franchise that has a quality that shouldn't be dismissed: It doesn't seem to matter much and, in the high-stakes world of other superheroes, that's a definite virtue. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 5, 2019
98% Ash Is Purest White (2019) Not all of this works equally well, but Jia aims big: telling an old-fashioned story of betrayal and loyalty while showing how social change works to undermine any sense of communal cohesion. - Denerstein Unleashed EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 4, 2019