Joe Pollack
Joe Pollack's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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9 to 5 (1980) |
Nine to Five always remains funny and never becomes preachy, a real mark of talent and success. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Mar 03, 2023
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Reservoir Dogs (1992) |
The story is as phony as the names the robbers take - Mr. White, Mr. Blue, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink and Mr. Brown - and it's also a hymn to violence, blood and sadism that reaches repulsive levels. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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The Deer Hunter (1978) |
The Deer Hunter is a searing motion picture experience, a powerful assault on nerves, a shattering body-blow to memories, a true creator of nightmares, a sudden, savage injection of pain and awareness into the lethargy of contentedness. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 30, 2022
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Annie Hall (1977) |
The presence of the marvelously talented Diane Keaton, in the title role, helps make Annie Hall so successful. She is such a perfect contrast to Allen, the ideal Galatea to his Pygmalion. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 25, 2022
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Creepshow (1982) |
Maybe it's the comic book feel of the whole film, but it was almost like the haunts of my youth having a class reunion, and it was fun. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 09, 2022
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Mean Streets (1973) |
There is much to admire about Mean Streets, a film that admirably reflects the adjective in its title and that shows a fine talent in director Martin Scorsese. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 08, 2022
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The Sting (1973) |
The combination of Paul Newman and Robert Redford adds real magic to the magical world of the motion picture, and these two fine actors never have been better than in The Sting, a brilliant ornament in the holiday film season. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 08, 2022
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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) |
In a season filled with splashy special effects and sloppy comedy, it is a pleasure to welcome Kramer vs. Kramer, a film whose basic honesty glows like the flecks of gold in a piece of high grade ore. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 05, 2022
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The Last Emperor (1987) |
With Vittorio Storaro, his longtime cinematographer, production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti and editor Gabriella Cristiani deserving of major credit, Bertolucci has created a spectacular tapestry that fills both eye and ear. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 01, 2022
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Glory (1989) |
This is a sad and gallant chapter, and a first-rate movie. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Driving Miss Daisy (1989) |
The slow growth to friendship is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a movie. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Gandhi (1982) |
A very major motion picture, one that will both entertain and educate in the finest tradition of cinematic art and that pays tribute to a man most deserving. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jul 19, 2022
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Chariots of Fire (1981) |
Sports films are usually unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons... Chariots of Fire is a welcome exception, and a splendid, exciting motion picture. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jul 13, 2022
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Ordinary People (1980) |
It will hit home in many ways, and it may hurt. It will probably bring tears. And afterward, it will cause thought and reflection, and the realization that one has been exposed to a superior motion picture. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jul 12, 2022
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Thief (1981) |
Unfortunately, the story is a rather thin one, not helped at all in the Caan-Weld scenes... Still, the caper sequences are enough to hold interest, and so is Caan's performance. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jul 07, 2022
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From the Life of the Marionettes (1980) |
It's a strong film, as Bergman films are, but it is not as good as some of his earlier works, mainly because of the rather repetitious feel of the story. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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The Devil and Max Devlin (1981) |
Given the arrant simplicity of the story and its transparent obviousness from start to finish, all interest wanes rapidly, and though Cosby tries hard to create something out of nothing, he falls short just the way the film does. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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The Competition (1980) |
Writer-director Joel Oliansky has merely collected a group of cliché characters, inserted some Cold War nonsense and a silly love story and hired a group of pianists to dub in the competitive concertos. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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Tess (1979) |
It's a superior motion picture, filmed with love and care. Every scene is beautifully set up, every shot carefully composed and lighted, every minor part perfectly cast. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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The Day of the Jackal (1973) |
Director Fred Zinnemann has provided a splendid film of thrilling, tense entertainment in The Day of the Jackal. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jun 09, 2022
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Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) |
John Coquillon's photography of the West of 1881 is very good, but Rudy Wurlitzer's screenplay is so sparse as to be almost non-existent. A few casual grunts are about as deep as the dialogue goes. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Jun 09, 2022
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Predator (1987) |
There are some really obnoxious things about Predator, the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, but the bottom line is that it is a fast-paced, skillfully structured, exciting, extremely violent and bloody piece of totally mindless entertainment. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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The Believers (1987) |
The result is a partly effective horror film, based on Nicholas Conde's book "The Religion," that could have been a lot better. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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The Witches of Eastwick (1987) |
For almost an hour... The Witches of Eastwick is a funny, black-humored, offbeat comedy. And then it gets silly. And then Jack Nicholson gives us "The Shining, Part II," and everything degenerates into a grotesque, unfunny, tedious mess. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) |
As recent variations of an age-old movie genre go, it is fairly good, but somehow you hope for more from Steve Martin and John Candy. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 20, 2022
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Three Men and a Baby (1987) |
Most of this movie teeters on the edge of dumbness. But because of the fetching baby and Selleck, who is pretty fetching himself and not a bad comic actor, audiences will probably forgive it a lot. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 20, 2022
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Hope and Glory (1987) |
Boorman has created a film that will strike a responsive chord through all ages. It's warm, and fresh, with a different -- and totally effective -- point of view. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 20, 2022
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Mississippi Masala (1991) |
Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala is a piquant dish all its own, a love story with a twist, a look at displaced people, a charming, poignant blend of comedy and drama. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 13, 2022
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Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) |
There's a slick, plastic feeling to most Hollywood biographies, especially when the subject is still living, and while there are a lot of entertainment values to Coal Miner's Daughter, the plastic feeling remains. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2022
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To Forget Venice (1979) |
Brusati's writing and direction are smooth and stylish, and the film moves flawlessly, with never a jarring moment to disturb the sensitive story of four basically nice people at a changing point in their lives. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Being There (1979) |
Under the direction of Hal Ashby, in his first film since Coming Home, Sellers gives an impressively disciplined performance, always taut and under control. The difficulty with the film, however, is that the screenplay is basically a one-joke story. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Excalibur (1981) |
The film slows a bit too much, but most of the time, the glorious figures of those legendary days are, as they should be, larger than life. Excalibur is a fascinating film, rich in detail and highly enjoyable. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Dec 29, 2021
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Nighthawks (1981) |
A film that is exciting and fast paced, with both Stallone and Williams handling the action roles in first-rate style. Davenport, as always, comes across well, and then there's Hauer, who gives the film a slightly different and winning dimension. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Dec 29, 2021
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A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) |
The problem is that with all that material to draw from, Allen should have come up with something brighter, funnier and less draggy. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 11, 2021
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Young Doctors in Love (1982) |
The slam-bang school of comedy remains alive and pretty well in Young Doctors in Love, a mixture of good sight gags, pretty good one-liners and an inane plot. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 11, 2021
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Pixote (1981) |
It's a fictional tale, obviously based on truth i and it's one of the strongest, but most depressing films of recent years. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 11, 2021
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The Secret of NIMH (1982) |
The animation is excellent, but I wonder about the overall tone of the film. It ends happily, but along the way there is so much reference to illness, tragedy, grief, pain and other depressing subjects that it bothered me. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 11, 2021
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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) |
The best thing about the film is that neither director Daniel Haller nor his actors take themselves seriously, and the result is one of the more pleasant ways to spend some time. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 08, 2021
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Hair (1979) |
It's a movie musical, and it is very much like the original show: when it is good, it is very, very good; when it is bad, it is horrid. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 08, 2021
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The Bell Jar (1979) |
The problems with the film are total, from the screenplay to the directing to the acting. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 08, 2021
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Poltergeist II (1986) |
The sequel is, ho-hum, more of the same, with lots more special effects. And when the writers were stuck for an idea, they just dug through their movie-molded memories. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) |
Sequels usually are not as good as the original motion picture, but they're not usually as bad as Exorcist II: The Heretic, which is, in a word, atrocious. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Oct 27, 2021
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Paris, Texas (1984) |
It's a striking, gripping film for most of its length, with Wenders and cinematographer Robby Muller showing a great love of and fascination for the land -- almost as if their European upbringings had made them slightly envious of the wide-open spaces. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Oct 07, 2021
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Teachers (1984) |
When "Teachers" works, and it works quite often, it's due to a superior collection of actors, all of whom bring a large amount of energy and talent to the proceedings. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Oct 03, 2021
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From the Hip (1987) |
The courtroom shenanigans have absolutely no basis in reality, and while they're occasionally entertaining, they're mostly as overdone and tasteless as the action in Clark's other films. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Sep 25, 2021
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The Day of the Locust (1975) |
As a movie, "The Day of the Locust" is a highly impressive work. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Sep 12, 2021
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The One and Only (1978) |
"The One and Only" is a sparkling, irreverent, delightful comedy, filled with flashy repartee, brilliant put-downs and some consummate silliness. At the same time, it is a pleasing little love story that is sentimental without being treacly. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 31, 2021
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Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1975) |
Supposedly a comic spoof, it lacks humor. It also lacks grace, class, style and intelligence, a group of attributes more common in their absence than their presence in many Hollywood productions, but not generally absent to such a great degree. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 29, 2021
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Go Fish (1994) |
Go Fish is a sensitive, appealing little movie. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 25, 2021
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On Golden Pond (1981) |
It tugs the heart as few films of recent years have done, and I defy anyone to see it without at least a few tears. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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| Posted Aug 18, 2021
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