Robert W. Butler
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Boys on the Side (1995) |
The film alternately is furiously funny and ickily sappy. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Mar 14, 2023
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Triangle of Sadness (2022) |
Malevolent pleasures [are] exhibited... - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Mar 09, 2023
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One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977) |
Here is a motion picture that speaks wisely, eloquently and with real spirit to the essence of womanhood and, by extension, to what it means to be human. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Mar 08, 2023
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Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992) |
Maybe there's too much talent pulling at the material, because the result is bland, boring and unsatisfying. All too often, in fact, Little Nemo seems to be a third-rate counterfeit of a Disney film. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Mar 07, 2023
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9 to 5 (1980) |
Despite the disappointing second half, Nine to Five offers some good performances. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Thelma & Louise (1991) |
Uneven as it is, Thelma & Louise is modestly successful because of its two fine stars and because it takes a different look at an old genre. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Feb 28, 2023
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2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Animation (2023) |
This year’s batch of Oscar-nominated shorts may make you chuckle now and then, but for the most part they’ll leave you gasping in admiration at their intellectual/emotional breadth. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Feb 17, 2023
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Godzilla (1998) |
Whenever this sleek, streamlined Godzilla is whipping through the canyons of Manhattan at 60 mph, the movie is a hoot. When homo sapiens rule, it's a snore. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Feb 14, 2023
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Living (2022) |
The resulting movie is a quiet triumph and an unexpected paradox: a feel-good film about dying. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Feb 10, 2023
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EO (2022) |
Eo’s neutrality will strike many as its own form of indifference. Happily the film is a technical tour de force, with sumptuous photography by Michal Dymek and a powerful orchestral score from Pawel Mykietyn. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Feb 03, 2023
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Wild Things (1998) |
The characters aren't particularly interesting, except for their kinky sexual proclivities. And while the switcher plot revelations are mildly satisfying, what happens in between is fairly unremarkable. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Feb 02, 2023
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The Son (2022) |
he performances are strong. The subject matter is important. The execution is, well, fine. But The Son is the most unpleasant, upsetting two hours I’ve spent watching a movie in months. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Jan 26, 2023
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The Big Lebowski (1998) |
The Big Lebowski is shallow and empty and horrendously profane -- and about as much fun as you can have legally. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Jan 24, 2023
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Women Talking (2022) |
All this masterfully builds into a quietly devastating emotional crescendo, sending us off with a rare mingling of sadness and hope. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Jan 20, 2023
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Eve's Bayou (1997) |
Lemmons reaches for more than she can deliver. Still, give us high ambitions over lowball moviemaking any day. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Jan 09, 2023
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The Whale (2022) |
Yes, Brendan Fraser is terrific in The Whale. So terrific that his stellar performance accentuates the picture’s overall shortcomings. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Jan 07, 2023
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A Man Called Otto (2022) |
For the most part …Otto works quite well, allowing us to bask in Hanks’ reassuring presence while introducing us to a fresh face who could very well become an audience favorite. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Jan 07, 2023
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Wildcat (2022) |
In the end Wildcat isn’t just a wildlife documentary; it’s a study of the human condition and of a young soul pushed to the very edge. There’s great pleasure here, and great pain. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Jan 05, 2023
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White Noise (2022) |
The consensus has long been that Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise defies movie adaptation. Now we have writer/director Noah Baumbach’s take on the 1985 book and…well, the consensus was right. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Jan 05, 2023
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Down in the Delta (1998) |
This is a big-hearted film about finding one's roots, crammed with old-fashioned pleasures, solid acting and sentiment that never cloys. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Jan 05, 2023
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Emancipation (2022) |
This inspired-by-fact yarn is especially noteworthy for its borderline brilliant visual sense. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Babylon (2022) |
Despite some really fine performances the film remains emotionally neutral. We may be diverted by these characters, but we’re not moved by them; their downfalls seem less tragic than a case of just desserts. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Good Night Oppy (2022) |
Is it possible to love a chunk of metal and plastic? Good Night Oppy certainly makes the case. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Dec 22, 2022
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Groundhog Day (1993) |
This is without doubt the wittiest Bill Murray film ever, filled with verbal, physical and even thematic gags that satisfy on several levels simultaneously. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Dec 21, 2022
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Empire of Light (2022) |
Here’s a conundrum: Olivia Colman gives a world-class performance in a film that isn’t up to her standards. Well, you take what you can get. And getting Colman at full throttle is nothing to dismiss. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) |
Avatar: The Way of Water is -- no surprise here -- a world-class display of high-end cinema technology. Not to mention a down-to-the-molecular-level example of imaginative world-building from writer/director James Cameron. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Pleasure (2021) |
After a while the shock value wears off... The pall of nauseous discomfort that hovers over the whole enterprise, though, sticks. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Dec 02, 2022
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The Fabelmans (2022) |
Spielberg has rarely been more real-world sensitive than he is in the depiction of his parents…it’s a a quietly spectacular achievement. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Nov 25, 2022
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Causeway (2022) |
Watching “The Causeway” I was reminded of “Winter’s Bone” and why we all fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence in the first place. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Nov 25, 2022
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Braveheart (1995) |
The bone-crunching chaos of a medieval melee has rarely been so effectively captured... That's pretty much the story on this three-hour epic -- riveting when it comes to battles and the camaraderie of fighting men, a bit shaky the rest of the time. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Nov 18, 2022
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Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) |
The movie is, I believe, 30 minutes too long. Maybe a last-act letdown was inevitable, since Weird shoots out of the starting gate and gallops madly throughout its first hour. That’s a hard act to keep going. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Nov 10, 2022
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Dances With Wolves (1990) |
The cynic in everyone wants to dig in its heels and stubbornly resist. But on a purely emotional level, Costner’s directing debut is extremely satisfying. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Nov 07, 2022
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All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) |
Ultimately this All Quiet... presents the full horrors of war, but perhaps something is lost by downplaying our identification with the characters. Still, this one sticks with you. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Nov 03, 2022
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The Good Nurse (2022) |
Part thriller, part real-world police procedural, part human tragedy, The Good Nurse is open to all sorts of themes and somehow manages to keep them all in balance. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Nov 03, 2022
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
Audiences are going to love Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin -- right up to the point where they start to hate it. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 28, 2022
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Mama's Boy (2022) |
This is powerful, inspiring stuff. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 27, 2022
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The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022) |
[It's] is fueled equally by its far-fetched silliness and its growing sense of sadness -- if not outrage -- over the war’s toll. Toss in a couple of fine supporting performances... and you’ve got a film that will stand up under repeated viewings. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 20, 2022
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Inheritance (2020) |
Alas, in the third act Matthew Kennedy’s screenplay devolves into thriller-film cliches... and it cannot outrun the many improbabilities we’re asked to swallow to keep the yarn moving. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 20, 2022
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God's Creatures (2022) |
No doubt many will find the film’s understated approach too remote... On the plus side, the film works extremely well as a study of working class life, with its economic uncertainties and demeaning situations. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 06, 2022
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Nothing Compares (2022) |
One of the best indicators of the effectiveness of a music documentary is when after watching it you cannot wait to listen to the artist involved. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 06, 2022
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The Justice of Bunny King (2021) |
Davis’ performance here is jaw-droppingly nuanced. Beneath Bunny’s maternal drive we sense a woman who is simultaneously furious and frantic, who makes astonishingly bad decisions for the right reasons, who earns our respect and our pity. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 01, 2022
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The Good House (2021) |
The Good House features Sigourney Weaver in one of her more seductive performances. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 01, 2022
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Blonde (2022) |
It’s extremely well-made, and leading lady Ana de Armas’ turn as Marilyn Monroe goes terrifyingly deep (an Oscar seems likely). But while I found it interesting, I rarely found it compelling. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Oct 01, 2022
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Lou (2022) |
Marshall-Green can’t do much with his cut-and-paste psycho-soldier role. Faring better are Janney and Smollett, who become female action buddies. They’re fun to watch even as the movie falls apart around them. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Sep 30, 2022
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Travelin' Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall (2022) |
While the live show was light on surprises, the tightness of the band was hard to beat. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Sep 24, 2022
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Carnival of Souls (1962) |
Technically the film is a small marvel of creativity in the face of limited resources. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Sep 23, 2022
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Addams Family Values (1993) |
You've got to hand it to moviemakers who are willing to get so grisly... Unfortunately, that sort of gleeful malevolence doesn’t last long. It's soon replaced by the same hit-and-miss comedy that characterized the original Addams Family in 1991. - Kansas City Star
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| Posted Sep 22, 2022
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Pinocchio (2022) |
Not even Tom Hanks in front of the camera or Robert Zemeckis behind it can make this blatantly opportunistic effort resonate. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Sep 16, 2022
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I Came By (2022) |
I Came By does a nifty job of twisting our expectations. Bonneville’s quietly sinister killer is the stuff of nightmares. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Sep 16, 2022
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Breaking (2022) |
while everyone in the film is solid, Boyega’s performance is a tour de force as it shifts back and forth between depression, hope, anger, guilt…there are few emotional bases this young actor doesn’t tag here. - Butler's Cinema Scene
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| Posted Aug 26, 2022
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