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Michele Kenner
Michele Kenner's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Five Days Without Nora (2008) |
Yes, you read that right: Jewish suicide comedy. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted May 12, 2011
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Certified Copy (2010) |
Prompts many questions about the true nature of art and love, not all of them answered. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 21, 2011
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The Grace Card (2010) |
A series of hard-to-swallow coincidences wrap up the story too neatly. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 24, 2011
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Today's Special (2009) |
The movie is comfortably familiar and plays to the palate of those who don't want too much spice in their foodie comedies. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 09, 2010
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Soul Power (2008) |
Watching Soul Power is like flipping through Polaroids of that era. The color is a little washed out and everyone looks amazingly young. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 17, 2009
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In the Loop (2009) |
In the Loop is nonstop, go-go-go verbal action that makes Wag the Dog seem like a mind-numbing cricket match. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 10, 2009
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Throw Down Your Heart (2008) |
It's a journey long on affecting songs and musical passages, and short on scholarship -- and that works just fine for Fleck's intentions. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 13, 2009
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Last Chance Harvey (2008) |
Writer-director Joel Hopkins should thank his lucky stars that Hoffman and Thompson are on board. Some of the story and dialogue are hokey, but the actors overcome those obstacles. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 15, 2009
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The Duchess (2008) |
It's a beautiful period piece that will send you to a bookstore for a better account of the dirt and vice at its core. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Oct 10, 2008
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Elegy (2008) |
This is Kingsley's show from start to finish, as he wraps himself in Kepesh's mantle of singularity. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 18, 2008
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Outsourced (2006) |
Sending jobs overseas, a hot-button issue for some Americans, gets gentle, good-natured treatment in Outsourced. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 05, 2008
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The Favor (2006) |
Nothing extraordinary happens, and [director] Aradjis relies on Wood and Donowho to carry the slight thread of a film. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted May 16, 2008
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The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006) |
... a sharply drawn coming-of-age comedy-drama... - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted May 15, 2008
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Praying With Lior (2007) |
A messy brew, sometimes manipulative, with no real conclusions, as Lior, though highly functional, cannot explain his deep sense of religion and those around him are too supportive to question. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted May 01, 2008
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The First Saturday in May (2007) |
The filmmakers emphasize the disparate personalities of the trainers, who can taste victory with every stride of the beautiful animals with whom they work, groom and feed. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 25, 2008
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Bonneville (2006) |
The characters, situations and resolutions all are predictable and fit like a warm, stretched-out sweater with holes in the elbows. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 25, 2008
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Daughters of Wisdom (2007) |
Some individual moments hit home, but the cumulative effect doesn't add up to anything more than a peek at Tibetan culture. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 11, 2008
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I for India (2005) |
It's a tale that many immigrant families around the world could tell, but probably without as much documentation. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 04, 2008
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The Memory Thief (2007) |
The Memory Thief, the first narrative feature by Gil Kofman, grants intimate entrance into a needy person's life -- a life bent around the facts of the darkest hours of the 20th century. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 28, 2008
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The Bank Job (2008) |
It's a routine treatment of a heist too outrageous to be believed, even if it is based on a true story. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 07, 2008
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Be Kind Rewind (2008) |
Loopy, goofy and endearing. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 22, 2008
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I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) |
A subtle, slow-moving presentation of hope and responsibility that will test your patience if you are not a fan of elliptical, dreamlike narratives like those in Tsai's films. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 29, 2007
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For the Bible Tells Me So (2007) |
The movie's serious, wide-ranging look at a divisive subject is not guaranteed to settle disputes, only to prompt discussion. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 29, 2007
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Reservation Road (2007) |
The bulk of the movie rings false. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted Nov 01, 2007
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This Is England (2006) |
This Is England grabs you by the scruff of the neck and yanks you into the Thatcher 1980s with brute force. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 27, 2007
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2 Days in Paris (2007) |
All in all, Delpy has a good time mocking national identities and gender issues, but she doesn't make a case for Marion and Jack to stay together. If she doesn't care about them as a couple, why should we? - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 14, 2007
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Vitus (2006) |
If you suspend your disbelief, you will be rewarded with fine performances and a feel-good message that isn't cloying or sentimental. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 02, 2007
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Mafioso (1962) |
A gentle Italian comedy from 1962 that takes a sobering, chilling turn that would make Michael Corleone proud. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 12, 2007
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Paprika (2006) |
The standard stuff of B-movies comes to life under Kon's playful imagination. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 21, 2007
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Into Great Silence (2005) |
[Director] Grning creates a trance-like rhythm of visual and aural patterns, ranging from the repetition of duties and behaviors to biblical quotations. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 21, 2007
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Days of Glory (2006) |
Stands apart for its passion and patriotism in the face of hostility. The spirit of liberté, égalité and fraternité runs high for everyone, even those who have never set foot in France. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 23, 2007
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The Italian (2005) |
This is a difficult, disturbing story, with harsh, desperate conditions delicately balanced by one boy's undeniable sense of hope. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 16, 2007
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Road (2005) |
Writer-director Leslie McCleave offers no explanation beyond juxtaposing sour lake beds and radioactive vats with the tension between the former lovers. The environment, with upstate New York standing in for Ontario, rarely looks this distasteful. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 16, 2007
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Sweet Land (2005) |
Sweet Land is a lovely, lovely small story about discrimination, assimilation and acceptance in the plains. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 19, 2007
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The Painted Veil (2006) |
Many story elements are predictable, and they rely on superior acting to make up for other shortcomings. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 05, 2007
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Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) |
Yellow Dog is engaging, if familiar, viewing. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 08, 2006
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Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006) |
Nelson gives plenty of time to the intelligent, articulate members who provide riveting details about those days nearly 30 years ago and their reflections now, but he doesn't provide historical context for the events. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted Nov 24, 2006
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Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) |
For those who don't know Arbus' work, there's little to glean from this portrait. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 24, 2006
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Conversations With Other Women (2005) |
You spend more time watching the technique than the interplay between Carter and Eckhart. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 16, 2006
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The Moustache (2005) |
A mind-bending treat adapted by director Emmanuel Carrère from his novel. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 10, 2006
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Mutual Appreciation (2005) |
The attraction here is the naturalistic, dead-on dialogue delivered by articulate, interesting characters who live realistically lower-class lives in underfurnished apartments financed by dead-end jobs. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 03, 2006
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Keeping Mum (2006) |
One of those frothy films photographed in the quaint English countryside that yearns to be a word-of-mouth hit, but is too thin and predictable when it should be rich in nuance and off-kilter. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 03, 2006
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Changing Times (2004) |
A spare but rich film from French master technician Andr (C) T (C)chin (C). - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Oct 12, 2006
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Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005) |
It's a story of emotional and physical distance, one expertly rendered by Chinese director Zhang Yimou. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Oct 05, 2006
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The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) |
Mr. Lazarescu's ordeal will stick with you. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 29, 2006
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Edmond (2005) |
Even William H. Macy's raw, spare performance cannot save Edmond from distastefulness almost beyond imagination. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2006
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Three Times (2005) |
Carefully crafted and bereft of dialogue, Three Times sets the bar high with its opening salvo but can't sustain the momentum. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted Sep 01, 2006
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Russian Dolls (2005) |
With its crackling dialogue and attractive, fully rounded characters, Russian Dolls puts American movies on similar subjects to shame. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Read More
| Posted Aug 18, 2006
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The King (2005) |
Both Hurt and Bernal drift through their performances, leaving the audience as unfulfilled as an empty collection plate. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 28, 2006
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Twelve and Holding (2005) |
From the parents to the children, the cast is uniformly excellent. Weizenbaum and Renner deserve special mention for handling a potentially unsettling relationship with care. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 07, 2006
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