Rick Chatenever
Rick Chatenever's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977) |
It is to director Varda's credit that the portrayals ring so true, and touch so deeply. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 08, 2023
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9 to 5 (1980) |
Nine to Five is so caught up in its own fantasies that it keeps failing to create believable fantasies for all the rest of us. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 03, 2023
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Thelma & Louise (1991) |
Overshadowed by the two stars' luminous performances, the movie craft is superb. Director Scott doesn't merely tell a story, but immortalizes a locale in the process. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 02, 2023
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A Dry White Season (1989) |
It does justice to its "message" by being an excellent movie. Being devastating is one thing; being relevant is something else. A Dry White Season uses its creative and fictional devices to achieve a degree of truth rare on any sort of screen. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 04, 2023
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Platoon (1986) |
As opposed to the TV newscasts, Platoon provides peripheral vision, giving continuity to events which had previously been fragmented in our minds, and making us finally comprehend things which defy rationality. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 23, 2022
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The Land Before Time (1988) |
It is so strikingly realized on-screen, few viewers will mind that it is drawn better than it is written. "A picture's worth 1,000 words" and all that. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 18, 2022
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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) |
The love to be found in Kramer vs. Kramer isn't of the Hollywood variety. It's the real kind. Or at least it looks like the real kind, thanks to dynamite performances by the film's three stars. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 05, 2022
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Rain Man (1988) |
Sweet, funny, fragile Raymond is a celluloid creation -- but he attains the timeless permanence of Hoffman's most memorable screen creations. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 03, 2022
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The Last Emperor (1987) |
Bernardo Bertolucci's amazing biography of Pu Yi rewrites the book on cinematic epics. Nearly three hours long, the film fills the screen with exotic imagery on the grandest scale yet balances it with the most subtle of intimacies. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 01, 2022
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Leonard Part 6 (1987) |
Bill has reached the point where he doesn't need to be funny anymore -- but it would sure help the movie. Anything would help the movie. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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Terms of Endearment (1983) |
The characters are memorable and Terms of Endearment is full of a hundred little "real life" moments, each realized with distinctive wit and glimmering insight. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Thief (1981) |
Thief is a searing film that combines truly memorable excitement in its robbery scenes with a compelling probe of the psyche of its unique protagonist. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 07, 2022
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Tess (1979) |
A splendid, sprawling panorama of rural country scenes, couching brief moments of passion and agonizing moral injustices amid all the breathtaking cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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The Witches of Eastwick (1987) |
For the occasional miscue or excess, there's also Nicholson, whose performance by itself puts the film into the must-see category. Devilish or not, what he does is as wickedly delightful as anything the screen has produced this year. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 22, 2022
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Three Men and a Baby (1987) |
What do two pretty-boy TV stars and a Police Academy graduate know about being fathers? Absolutely nothing. But they learn, delightfully, in this frothy Leonard Nimoy-directed comedy which actually improves on the recent French film which inspired it. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 20, 2022
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Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) |
Like one of Loretta's songs, the film has "hit" written all over it, beginning with Sissy Spacek's performance in the title role. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 06, 2022
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Mishima (1985) |
Mishima is a compelling mood piece which seeks an ingenious balance between the author's inner and outer worlds, but never quite comes to rest in either one. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 04, 2022
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Excalibur (1981) |
The film dazzles and scintillates on-screen, marrying the magic spells of Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur with the equally spellbinding cinematography of Alex Thomson to retell these beloved tales from the Dark Ages in a manner most modern. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 29, 2021
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The Secret of NIMH (1982) |
The result is a G-rated tour-de-force of dazzling imagery, although the tykes in the audience may not quite grasp the nuances of the story based on Robert C. O'Brien's novel. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 09, 2021
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Hair (1979) |
With its cast of young, unknown stars-to-be, and its bright, unusual choreography by Twyla Tharp, the film violates most of what we know about musicals on screen, packing an emotional wallop that uncannily penetrates the essence of the era it depicts. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 08, 2021
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El Super (1979) |
Directed by Leon Ichaso and Orlando Jimenez-Leal, El Super is not a story-telling movie nearly so much as an evocation of a particular, peculiar -- and unique -- sense of time, place and culture. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 11, 2021
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La Bamba (1987) |
Writer-director Luis Valdez has deftly and movingly turned Valens' life into a meaningful cultural document. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 10, 2021
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El Norte (1983) |
Part wondrous myth, part tragic reality, El Norte provides the husband-and-wife team of director Gregory Nava and producer Anna Thomas with the raw material for some exceptional filmmaking. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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Testament (1983) |
Alexander does an excellent acting job as the mother who finds new sources of strength and hope as the world crumbles around her. And award-winning TV director Lynne Littman makes a promising debut on the big screen. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted May 10, 2021
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The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) |
Spheeris' treatment goes out of its way to present a broad look at the subject that avoids easy generalizations in either direction. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted May 08, 2021
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Out of Africa (1985) |
Pollack deserves a good part of the praise for this superb project. From seeing the potential in Dinesen's story in the first place, to bringing it to the screen in such a rich, balanced and engaging way, he deserves thanks along with the accolades. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 13, 2021
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The Blues Brothers (1980) |
The Blues Brothers is full of ridiculousness, hilarity and terrific musical moments. The antics of the "Brothers" should make for an instant cult following. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 18, 2020
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The Witches (1990) |
"The Witches" is more fun for parents than kids and not all that much fun for anyone. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 11, 2020
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Reversal of Fortune (1990) |
Despite Silver's great energy, what's missing from the picture are the kind of insights necessary to explain any of the film's characters, including himself, in human terms. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 17, 2020
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Heaven Can Wait (1978) |
A pleasant little puff piece that is sure to be just loved by most of those who see it. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 16, 2020
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Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) |
The film's slow pacing... detracts from and defuses what is in other respects, one of the more interesting screen imaginations at work today. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 14, 2020
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Yanks (1979) |
Yanks has a richness to it in both its technical and its human elements. Many of the episodes shine with emotional clarity and understanding, and they all reflect the sheen of Schlesinger's craft. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 17, 2020
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Windy City (1984) |
Windy City's heart's in the right place -- it just doesn't quite have the soul to get past all the artificial contrivances of the plot. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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Secrets (1982) |
It's not large enough to fill a movie screen in any way, shape or form... but it is kind of sweet. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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Bolero (1984) |
Some movies that didn't start out to be comedies wind up in the so-bad-that-they're-great category. Not this one. It's just so bad that it's awful. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 31, 2020
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Summer Rental (1985) |
Between the script, which is awful, and the direction, which is lackluster, Candy and the others in front of the cameras don't have much of a chance. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 26, 2020
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My Science Project (1985) |
The characters are flat, the plot is full of holes and everytime anything looks like it might get exciting, Betuel throws in something totally unbelievable to spoil it. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 26, 2020
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Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983) |
Enormous Changes seems less an effort to tell a story or series of stories than it is to make a point or series of points but something seems to have gotten lost on the way to the movie screen. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 26, 2020
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Places in the Heart (1984) |
Places of the Heart, too, seems an idealized vision of a film that might have been, but just didn't quite survive the journey from Robert Benton's heart to the audience's. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 23, 2020
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The Deer Hunter (1978) |
[The Deer Hunter] is the most ambitious attempt to grapple with the subject that has yet been released. Its vision -- an effort to weave the inferno of Vietnam into the homespun texture of American life -- is effectively realized and savagely gripping. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 05, 2020
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The Fog (1980) |
The Fog has so many things right about it in the early going that when it comes apart, the whole thing seems that much worse. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 30, 2020
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Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) |
The performances, by turns, smolder, ignite and explode in this haunting, highly original drama. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 11, 2019
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The Jigsaw Man (1984) |
Unfortunately, even with the venerable Sir Laurence Olivier and the usually durable Michael Caine heading the credits, this espionage escapade gives very few insights into the whole international spy game. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 11, 2019
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My Dinner With Andre (1981) |
My Dinner With Andre elevates the simple activity of conversation to a fine -- and lively -- art. It is a film rich in ideas and brimming with very honest humanity. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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Cannery Row (1982) |
Cannery Row falls a long way short of being a great movie -- but it does just fine as a pretty good one. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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Circle of Deceit (1981) |
It is a rough film to sit through, but sitting through it is definitely a worthwhile and illuminating experience. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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Victor/Victoria (1982) |
Victor Victoria is offbeat for sure -- but it is also infectiously effervescent, a well-crafted film revealing a light heart and a light touch. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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Shoot the Moon (1982) |
It is a fine movie, full of craft and humanity -- but one which exacts a heavy emotional price from those seeking its illumination. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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Christiane F (1981) |
Brunkhorst is quite believable in the leading role, but in helping the film achieve a high level of veracity, it also gains a degree of sensationalism that doesn't sit well. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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Ragtime (1981) |
A most enjoyable and sometimes splendid movie, which blends its artistic and social concerns with assurance, ingenuity and an unfaltering sense of rhythm. - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 20, 2019
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