Steve Persall
Tomatometer-approved critic
http://www.sptimes.com
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) |
The Caped Crusader makes his second leap from television to the silver screen in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, an unusual animated film that gives us Gotham City's savior the way he was meant to be. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted May 23, 2023
|
|
|
|
Heavenly Creatures (1994) |
Crime doesn't pay in Heavenly Creatures, but it's rationalized in expert, provocative fashion. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted May 16, 2023
|
|
|
|
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) |
What really matters is action, and Spielberg can still shove the pedal to the metal. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 12, 2023
|
|
|
|
Boys on the Side (1995) |
Goldberg, Barrymore and Parker make every moment count, to create a warm coalition of female independence... We're lucky to go along for the ride. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 14, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) |
Schmaltz is delivered with such sincerity by The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants that only the most jaded viewer wouldn't be moved. Usually that's me. Yet, there's something irresistible about Ken Kwapis' film. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 14, 2023
|
|
|
|
Godzilla (1998) |
The new Godzilla is sleek and technically accomplished, but the movie proves just how dull efficiency can be. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 15, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Big Lebowski (1998) |
The most original and blithely astonishing comedy to blaze across the screen since Raising Arizona. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 24, 2023
|
|
|
|
Eve's Bayou (1997) |
One of Lemmons' smartest moves as a screenwriter is the avoidance of easy dramatic twists to propel the story. Eve's Bayou is foremost an unfolding multicharacter study, even if a character has only has a handful of screen minutes. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 10, 2023
|
|
|
|
Down in the Delta (1998) |
Down in the Delta isn't a great movie, but it constantly touches your heart and involves you with its characters. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 04, 2023
|
|
|
|
Groundhog Day (1993) |
Groundhog Day is the best vehicle for his brand of silly psychosis since Murray tangled with that pesky gopher in Caddyshack. It's a novel, fanciful comedy premise that sails over any shortcomings because it lets Murray be Murray. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 21, 2022
|
|
|
|
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) |
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the truly monumental cinematic accomplishments of all time. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 19, 2022
|
|
|
|
Braveheart (1995) |
No director should make a three-hour film with three suitable climaxes and make viewers wish that any of them were the end. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 17, 2022
|
|
|
|
Addams Family Values (1993) |
This time, Sonnenfeld doesn't bury the jokes in exposition about characters we already know... What was missing before was an interesting storyline, which screenwriter Paul Rudnick concocts with diabolical humor. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 22, 2022
|
|
|
|
Titanic (1997) |
Now, let me tell you what's really impressive about Cameron's film. In the midst of all of the hydraulic set spasms, dauntless stuntwork and computerized mirages, Titanic cultivates one of the best mainstream love stories Hollywood has produced in years. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 17, 2022
|
|
|
|
I Like It Like That (1994) |
Martin, as screenwriter and director, maintains an extraordinary sense of control over this unique material for a first-time director. I Like It Like That is constantly surprising, for the plot twists it avoids as much as for its originality. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 02, 2022
|
|
|
|
Beloved (1998) |
The movie will be as haunting or irritating as your tolerance for bleak, serpentine storytelling will allow. It's a masterfully scripted conundrum. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 02, 2022
|
|
|
|
Wyatt Earp (1994) |
The best part of Wyatt Earp is Quaid's death-rattle drawl as the tubercular gunslinger. The rest of the movie just creaks. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 22, 2021
|
|
|
|
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) |
How many times have you left a theater hoping that a sequel is being planned? This critic did. Devil in a Blue Dress is a taut, ingenuous bit of Hollywood fantasy that deserves a follow-up. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 27, 2021
|
|
|
|
Real Women Have Curves (2002) |
Cardoso's movie is an equally admirable peek at Latino culture that will likely be remembered as Ferrera's debut and not much else. Judging from her performance here, that will be enough. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 10, 2021
|
|
|
|
El Mariachi (1992) |
A flawed revelation of a talented new filmmaker. Let's pray that he doesn't get corrupted by that big-money deal with Columbia. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2021
|
|
|
|
My Family/Mi Familia (1995) |
My Family (Mi Familia) simply is one of the best films of 1995 to date: as universal as the subject itself, yet as personal as the title suggests, and as deeply involving as any movie has the right to be. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 26, 2021
|
|
|
|
Go Fish (1994) |
The brash cinematic skill director Rose Troche brings to Go Fish... resembles Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It in terms of its grainy black-and-white look, erratic pace and frank feminine sexuality. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 25, 2021
|
|
|
|
2 Days in the Valley (1996) |
2 Days in the Valley is a neatly folded piece of cinematic quirk. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 07, 2021
|
|
|
|
V.I. Warshawski (1991) |
Kanew, who injected some imagination into the campus comedy routine with Revenge of the Nerds, can't manage the same with the gumshoe genre. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jun 24, 2021
|
|
|
|
Schindler's List (1993) |
A towering cinematic accomplishment from director Steven Spielberg that left all other 1993 films in its wake. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2021
|
|
|
|
The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) |
Greenwald makes the most of her chance to reveal a side of the Old West that is typically ignored. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 18, 2021
|
|
|
|
Clueless (1995) |
Funny stuff, and Heckerling milks it for all it's worth, which, sadly, doesn't amount to a 97-minute movie. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 16, 2021
|
|
|
|
Menace II Society (1993) |
Rather than being a positive step toward a solution, this one-sided, inflammatory film and its after-effects on impressionable youth may be yet another menace for American society to suffer. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 07, 2021
|
|
|
|
Holy Matrimony (1994) |
Holy Matrimony would be a better film had Nimoy and his writers not allowed a Hollywood-style crisis to intrude on Havana and Zeke's relationship. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 13, 2021
|
|
|
|
Ruby in Paradise (1993) |
Ashley Judd has all the makings of a big movie star. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 04, 2021
|
|
|
|
The Joy Luck Club (1993) |
Not since Terms of Endearment has the brittle bond between mothers and daughters been presented in such effective and entertaining fashion. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 17, 2020
|
|
|
|
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) |
Bassett and Murphy might make a fine romantic comedy team if they'll leave the oversized bicuspids at home. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 19, 2020
|
|
|
|
The Witches (1990) |
The Witches is a delectably creepy movie guaranteed to keep night lights burning bright. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 11, 2020
|
|
|
|
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) |
I haven't experienced such a silent audience for an alleged comedy since last year's horrid Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 11, 2020
|
|
|
|
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995) |
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home makes sitting through the first film worthwhile. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 03, 2020
|
|
|
|
Angus (1995) |
For all its good intentions, Angus soon becomes tiring, with dingy photography, pedestrian pacing and a central character too lumpish and withdrawn to connect with an audience. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 15, 2020
|
|
|
|
The Bachelor (1999) |
O'Donnell's square jaw and clear complexion get plenty of screen time, but not for a second is he believable as a guy with a playboy past. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 13, 2020
|
|
|
|
Begin Again (2013) |
Begin Again begins like a lot of movies about musicians, but because it comes from John Carney, it isn't ordinary for long. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 02, 2020
|
|
|
|
Absolute Power (1997) |
Absolute Power is one of those evil-in-high-places thrillers that hums along nicely while the crimes are being committed, and sputters while they're being solved. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jun 25, 2020
|
|
|
|
Rosewood (1997) |
The fact that Rosewood takes time to understand its demons is an uncommon touch for any film that addresses such an inflammatory topic. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Jun 05, 2020
|
|
|
|
Seven Days in Utopia (2011) |
Seven Days in Utopia possesses a spiritual sincerity that's impossible to shrug off as mere zealotry. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted May 01, 2020
|
|
|
|
Waiting ... (2005) |
We can handle anything a prankster like McKittrick can dish out, if he doesn't treat us like the customer in Waiting who sends an undercooked steak back to the kitchen. He thinks comedy is all bodily fluids and cruel gutter talk... - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 28, 2020
|
|
|
|
Clockers (1995) |
Strong performances, edgy dialogue and Lee's success in luring an audience into his own tempo and urgent perspective make Clockers tough stuff, indeed. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 09, 2020
|
|
|
|
The Story of Us (1999) |
If Harry and Sally met and things weren't working out, the result would be The Story of Us, a romantic comedy unable to maintain either half of that description. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 07, 2020
|
|
|
|
Hard Target (1993) |
With its expert use of dissolves and pans, Hard Target is an arty shot of adrenaline to this overworked genre. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 30, 2020
|
|
|
|
A Dangerous Woman (1993) |
An overstuffed potboiler that strains for an upbeat ending after 95 minutes of angst. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 30, 2020
|
|
|
|
Beirut (2018) |
Hamm makes for a compelling guide, Bogart-weary and mind racing, assessing each situation with a readable face for the camera. Beirut won't make him a bigger movie star, but more interesting actors are tough to find. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 12, 2018
|
|
|
|
A Quiet Place (2018) |
A Quiet Place isn't revolutionary, relying on enough abrupt shocks and grisly effects to satisfy chronic horror fans. But it works better as a mutation of the genre, placing aural dread ahead of visceral gore. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 04, 2018
|
|
|
|
A Fantastic Woman (2017) |
Daniela Vega is haunting in the title role. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 02, 2018
|
|
|
|
Wait for Your Laugh (2017) |
A portrait of an indefatigable entertainer emerges, restless when she wasn't working and fearless when she was. - Tampa Bay Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 02, 2018
|