Robert Wilonsky
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
The Rat Pack (1998) |
It's a film about style that has none, a film about tough guys that has no punch, a cocktail without the booze. - Dallas Observer
Read More
| Posted Apr 29, 2020
|
|
|
|
Event Horizon (1997) |
In space, apparently, no one can hear you direct. - Dallas Observer
Read More
| Posted Dec 15, 2018
|
|
|
|
Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
A little too rambling at two and a half hours, but otherwise just the right shade of light and bright for a movie about superheroes fighting superheroes. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted May 05, 2016
|
|
|
|
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) |
In the words of The Joker in a far better Batman movie: "Why so serious?" - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted Mar 23, 2016
|
|
|
|
The Big Short (2015) |
The Big Short sticks in the throat. You laugh at it only because you can't believe it was this awful -- that people were (and are) this awful. It's the horror movie soundtracked with nervous, incredulous giggles wrung from the rot of the soul. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted Dec 23, 2015
|
|
|
|
Carter High (2015) |
It's a narrative ready-made for the big screen -- the flipside to the feel-good story that was Friday Night Lights, in which the Carter Cowboys played a major role as the big-city villains who wrested away Odessa Permian's rightful title. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted Oct 29, 2015
|
|
|
|
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015) |
This is comfort-food cinema. Gorge on the endless buffet. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted Jul 30, 2015
|
|
|
|
Ant-Man (2015) |
Marvel hasn't made a movie this fun - this bright, this charming, this joyful -- since the first Iron Man, in which Robert Downey Jr.'s entitled smirk was its most lethal weapon. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted Jul 16, 2015
|
|
|
|
Crash (2004) |
What makes Crash so gripping -- so terrifying in spots, so moving in others, and even a little funny at times -- is how nothing happens as we think it will. - New Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 23, 2015
|
|
|
|
The Exorcist (1973) |
[Friedkin] knew he wasn't making art; he was concocting gross-out pop -- a movie so "scary" it borders on being silly. - New Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 15, 2014
|
|
|
|
From Justin to Kelly (2003) |
From Justin to Kelly is a musical so pedestrian it trips over its feet every time someone breaks into song or dance. - New Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 09, 2014
|
|
|
|
Edge of Tomorrow (2014) |
The tag line alone - "Live. Die. Repeat." - guarantees $30 million at least on opening day. It will deserve every penny. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted Jun 05, 2014
|
|
|
|
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) |
The down-for-anything cast, along with a handful of welcome cameos, can't prop up its weakest link: Seth MacFarlane. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted May 29, 2014
|
|
|
|
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1999) |
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is precisely what a documentary ought to be: engaging and revelatory, turning forgotten footnotes and discarded minutiae into the stuff of riveting drama and poignant laughs. - New Times
Read More
| Posted May 07, 2014
|
|
|
|
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) |
When Garfield conceals Peter's confused-angry- betrayed scowl beneath that shiny red mask, Spider-Man 2 summons the giddy derring-do of the best Iron Man offerings. It's a good movie that could have been great. - Dallas Morning News
Read More
| Posted May 01, 2014
|
|
|
|
We Bought a Zoo (2011) |
Crowe is back to what he's good at: small stories populated by everyday people. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Dec 20, 2011
|
|
|
|
Moneyball (2011) |
It really happened, it's really corny, and it's really great. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Sep 20, 2011
|
|
|
|
Paul (2011) |
That's not to dismiss Paul's simple pleasures -- if nothing else, its fondness for sex and drugs and four-letter words rescues its references from the soft hands of wee ones into which they've fallen of late. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Mar 15, 2011
|
|
|
|
Megamind (2010) |
I found my son's Kryptonite: boring superhero rip-offs voiced by check-cashing actors. At least Steve Carell used an accent. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Nov 02, 2010
|
|
|
|
Red (2010) |
Classiest. Comic. Book. Movie. Ever. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Oct 12, 2010
|
|
|
|
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) |
Wright immerses his heroes in pop culture's detritus and diversions, but doesn't drown them in it. You don't have to be dazzled or tickled by the movie, or get every joke, to be touched by it, too. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Aug 10, 2010
|
|
|
|
Middle Men (2009) |
Even without much character development, the compelling story holds, mostly due to Wilson. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Aug 03, 2010
|
|
|
|
Elf (2003) |
Elf may be no more than a pleasant, amusing trifle, a grin that fades well before Thanksgiving, but it also will endure in the way that all decent Hollywood-made Christmas fairy tales last, if they're rendered with good cheer and goodwill. - New Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 06, 2010
|
|
|
|
Despicable Me (2010) |
The result is pleasant and diverting, if ultimately forgettable, and it's one of the rare instances in the recent history of 3-D's resurrection as The Savior of Cinema in which the technology doesn't dim the screen or distract the focus. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jul 06, 2010
|
|
|
|
The Last Airbender (2010) |
This is one muddled attempt at franchise-making: confusing, drab, sluggish. (Ugly, too, if you're forced to see it in 3-D.) - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jul 01, 2010
|
|
|
|
Get Him to the Greek (2010) |
It's crude, loud, dumb fun. And, on top of that, it contains the greatest cameo ever by a winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jun 01, 2010
|
|
|
|
Furry Vengeance (2010) |
The animals here don't talk; that's the movie's one saving grace. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2010
|
|
|
|
The Joneses (2009) |
For a while, at least, a pitch-black (and, therefore, pitch-perfect) tale of our times. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Apr 14, 2010
|
|
|
|
She's Out of My League (2010) |
[T.J.] Miller's the find. He's out of this movie's league. - L.A. Weekly
Read More
| Posted Mar 11, 2010
|
|
|
|
Brooklyn's Finest (2009) |
Filled with every cop-movie convention since the invention of gunpowder and curse words, Brooklyn's Finest is three movies in one, all of which you've seen before. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Mar 02, 2010
|
|
|
|
Youth in Revolt (2009) |
Nash and director Miguel Arteta try too hard; they want their movie branded a cult favorite before anyone's even seen it. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jan 05, 2010
|
|
|
|
Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) |
It's a thoroughly delightful throwaway -- the kind of movie for which cable TV was made. - L.A. Weekly
Read More
| Posted Dec 17, 2009
|
|
|
|
Everybody's Fine (2009) |
It's all so much raging bull. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Dec 02, 2009
|
|
|
|
2012 (2009) |
The two-hour-and-40-minute 2012 is overstuffed with special-effects, but the Curtis clan's mad dash out of town is the closest the movie gets to actually being fun. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Nov 10, 2009
|
|
|
|
Pirate Radio (2009) |
The sex is polite, and there's not a whiff of dope. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Nov 10, 2009
|
|
|
|
Law Abiding Citizen (2009) |
Saw with a conscience is not what the world needs. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Oct 14, 2009
|
|
|
|
Whip It (2009) |
Highlights: Andrew Wilson as the roller girls' coach (ah, so there's the Wilson brother who can act) and the roller-derby vets (played especially well by Juliette Lewis and Kristen Wiig). - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Sep 29, 2009
|
|
|
|
The Informant! (2009) |
The filmmakers have painted a 1990s story with a 1970s palette, and the tone clashes with the setting, like plaid on paisley. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Sep 15, 2009
|
|
|
|
It Might Get Loud (2008) |
Marketed as a guitar summit between The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White, Davis Guggenheim's affectionate, intermittently insightful behind-the-music doc is more electric triptych than meeting of the minds. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Aug 11, 2009
|
|
|
|
Paper Heart (2009) |
Cera begins ingratiating himself into Yi's quest, but that part of the story is doomed from jump: It's entertaining for a moment, but hardly as enlightening or endearing as the from-the-heart moments surrounding it. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Aug 04, 2009
|
|
|
|
Julie & Julia (2009) |
If Ephron is to be criticized for treating Powell like a soggy sitcom creation, she (along with Streep) should be celebrated for rendering Child flesh and blood -- all passion and pleasure, even during moments of self-doubt. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Aug 04, 2009
|
|
|
|
In the Loop (2009) |
This deliriously foul-mouthed political satire is set sometime between 2002 and the day after tomorrow; hard to say, given that the country with which U.S. and U.K. pols want to go to war is unnamed save for its location in, you know, the Middle East. - L.A. Weekly
Read More
| Posted Jul 23, 2009
|
|
|
|
(500) Days of Summer (2009) |
What is unexpected is the sincerity beneath the modest conceit that, yup, love hurts. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jul 15, 2009
|
|
|
|
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) |
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a bewildering, noisy, sloppy, cynical piece of work, a movie that sneers at the audience for 147 minutes and expects us to lap it up as entertainment -- and be grateful. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jun 24, 2009
|
|
|
|
The Proposal (2009) |
You know every tinny beat and false note by heart, from the implausible setup to the sprint-to-the-airport finish. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Jun 16, 2009
|
|
|
|
Up (2009) |
Rest assured, it gets funny. And it's thrilling, too, as the third act takes place almost entirely in the sky. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted May 27, 2009
|
|
|
|
The Brothers Bloom (2008) |
Johnson has infused The Brothers Bloom with so much heart and beauty that one can and should easily overlook its discomfiting moments. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted May 13, 2009
|
|
|
|
Star Trek (2009) |
It's enough to move even a Star Wars fan to tears. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted May 05, 2009
|
|
|
|
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) |
Most of the action is a mere replay of a single sequence: Wolverine and Sabretooth galloping toward one another, two immortal bros locked in eternal combat. Certainly feels like it. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Apr 30, 2009
|
|
|
|
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) |
The grandeur of the effects -- the honest-to-God spectacle of the thing -- elevates Monsters vs. Aliens to something approaching art. It's not a masterpiece, but it's most certainly a milestone. - Village Voice
Read More
| Posted Mar 24, 2009
|