Steven Snyder
Tomatometer-approved critic
I am the lead film critic and arts writer for Greater Milwaukee Today Newspapers, as well as the film critic for Zertinet Movies, KUOM Radio Minneapolis and columnist for The Rake Magazine and Cinestar Magazine. I have served as a judge for numerous film festivals, and have guest lectured on film at the University of Minnesota.
It is impossible to rank the best movies of all the time. The following are my cumulative top 10 of all time: 2001: A Space Odyssey The Godfather The Godfather part II Casablanca Citizen Kane Chinatown Gone With The Wind Star Wars Taxi Driver Psycho
Minneapolis, MN / Milwaukee, WI / Boston, MA
http://www.freemanol.com
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Expendables 2 (2012) |
[A] saggy, rickety and occasionally winded geriatric action thriller ... - TIME Magazine
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| Posted Aug 16, 2012
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Magic Mike (2012) |
Though Tatum's moves will put butts in the seats, it's his blues that brings a surprisingly dramatic twist to all that sweaty flesh. - TIME Magazine
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| Posted Jun 28, 2012
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Battleship (2012) |
More fun than a board game blockbuster has any right to be - TIME Magazine
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| Posted May 17, 2012
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The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) |
Unlike most Ghibli escapes that liberate us from reality, Arrietty brings the same magic to the mundane, elevating the ordinary confines of daily life into sumptuous surprises - TIME Magazine
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| Posted Feb 16, 2012
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Where Soldiers Come From (2011) |
Director Heather Courtney's emotional and engrossing portrait of America's bravest. - TIME Magazine
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| Posted Nov 10, 2011
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The Adjustment Bureau (2011) |
Compare the adaptation to the original and you see a complicated saga of personal sacrifice streamlined into a rosy tribute to love supreme. Feels good, but also feels empty - Techland
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| Posted Mar 03, 2011
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Let Me In (2010) |
Stripping away the mysticism and sexuality of vampire lore, Let Me In has taken everything tantalizing about fanged thrillers and converted it instead into an element of agony - Techland
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| Posted Oct 01, 2010
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The Social Network (2010) |
The story of a groundswell,of an unlikely collaboration between a product and its customers that upended not just the value propositions of Harvard, but of the pre-web economy - Techland
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| Posted Oct 01, 2010
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Inception (2010) |
I expected a lot,but still walked out hypnotized. Here's a movie that's 3 steps ahead of you, on 4 different levels, at 5 blinding speeds. Best of 2010 thus far. (No Spoilers) - Techland
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| Posted Jul 06, 2010
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Toy Story 3 (2010) |
In TS3, we come full circle to the biggest question of all: What does it mean not to feel outdated, or misunderstood, but truly useless? It's Waiting For Godot at Lego scale. - Techland
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| Posted Jun 18, 2010
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The A-Team (2010) |
Brisk, brash, whiplash-inducing. And cracking jokes all along the way.The more this quartet mugs for the camera, the more fun this whole macho-fantasia experiment becomes. - Techland
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| Posted Jun 11, 2010
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The Karate Kid (2010) |
It's Smith who sells Dre's realization - the same revelation all children have one day, that they are not the center of the universe but only a young star learning to orbit - Techland
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| Posted Jun 11, 2010
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Kick-Ass (2010) |
You can tell from scene 1 this was made by someone with vision and conviction, willing to risk offending some so he could wow others. This is no film-by-focus-group. Thank God - Techland
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| Posted Apr 15, 2010
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Clash of the Titans (2010) |
The battles look great with computer renderings, but outside the Kraken sequence they don't inspire an ounce of awe. The gods have never looked more real, or mattered less - Techland
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| Posted Apr 02, 2010
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Repo Men (2010) |
Repo Men asks us to consider: What happens when the corporations claim ownership over our very bodies - Techland
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| Posted Mar 18, 2010
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Alice in Wonderland (2010) |
Such a delightfully giddy, silly, delirious movie. Tim Burton isn't being "Tim Burton" but is just having fun again, scrambling up the expected pieces - Techland
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| Posted Mar 05, 2010
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The Crazies (2010) |
This is complete and utter anarchy with every person out for himself, as the idealistic American dream gives way in real-time to the darker impulse of self-preservation. - Techland
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| Posted Feb 24, 2010
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The Wolfman (2010) |
You know a horror film's in trouble when the morning-after scene is more satisfying than the 'night before.' - Techland
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| Posted Feb 10, 2010
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Frozen (2010) |
I love the straightforward gall of Frozen. Here's a horror film that's confident enough to abandon superficial scares in favor of a far more insidious, intellectual concept - Techland
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| Posted Feb 04, 2010
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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) |
A comedy with horsepower to spare. - TIME Magazine
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| Posted Jul 31, 2008
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Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) |
The special effects sequences, silly jokes, tantalizing outfits and overbearing soundtrack seem painfully forced and fake. Or maybe a better word is shallow. This film, for whatever it achieves, is painfully shallow. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Apr 16, 2008
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) |
The bigger the scope gets, the less we really care. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Mar 26, 2008
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Rocky Balboa (2006) |
There's nothing particularly memorable here -- no profound triumphs or lasting rallying cries. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jan 10, 2008
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The Condemned (2007) |
What a base, and baseless, film this is. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Sep 22, 2007
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Sunshine (2007) |
It may, at the very end, be a failure, but it's a glorious failure. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Sep 22, 2007
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Knocked Up (2007) |
It's hard to deny the fact that, all this considered, it's a work of art, even with that title. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Sep 15, 2007
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The Simpsons Movie (2007) |
Is it as good as the television show? Yes. Does it have some of the sharp writing from the series' earlier years that has gone missing from the show as of late? Yes. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Aug 01, 2007
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I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) |
This comedy isn't just juvenile, it's borderline brainless - the sort of bland, unfunny and, at times, slightly offensive drivel that one might expect from a grade schooler. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2007
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Sunshine (1999) |
- Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2007
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Joshua (2007) |
A trippy film that falls somewhere between tired genre picture, hilarious satire and ingenious game of cat-and-mouse. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jul 14, 2007
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) |
For almost the entirety of Order of the Phoenix, we see much the same thing we did in Goblet of Fire. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jul 14, 2007
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Evan Almighty (2007) |
It's a trifle of a thing; the kind of thing you'd see on a broadcast network on a Saturday afternoon, at least before you grew bored and changed the channel. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jul 14, 2007
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Lucky You (2007) |
Gambling and love rarely mix. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 30, 2007
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28 Weeks Later (2007) |
Against all odds, Weeks proves to be a jarring and effective follow-up to its equally-shocking predecessor. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 30, 2007
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Red Road (2006) |
It's a jarring sensation, for a thriller not to be about the chase, or the mysterious force of evil lurking in the shadows, but about an intangible gulf dividing two people occupying the same room. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) |
The makers of the franchise better find something more interesting for their four heroes to do -- and quick. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Ratatouille (2007) |
This is a summer animated film aimed at your 15-year-old youngster, not your toddler. [While] younger fans will enjoy the sight of these furry heroes in a man's world, they will easily lose track of the intricate story, smart dialogue and complex themes. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Angel-A (2005) |
What's at once refreshing and disorienting about the way Luc Besson -- one of the most interesting international visionaries at work today -- handles the story is his attempt to de-romanticize one of the most idealistic and sublime formulas around. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Into Great Silence (2005) |
By the final third of the documentary, we evolve to a state of envy - envious at their resolute commitment and their utter faith - and even the most cynical atheist might find himself convinced that if anyone will find God, it is these men. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Sicko (2007) |
Provocative, funny, and all around exceptional. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Peaceful Warrior (2006) |
- Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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A Mighty Heart (2007) |
While the movie does indeed work as a thriller, it's more the tale of a state of mind that is fierce and vigorous until it shatters into a million pieces. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2007
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Shrek the Third (2007) |
What's lacking is that intangible sense of fun, of inventiveness, of ingenuity, that made the first Shrek something you ran to your friends, grabbed them by the arms and told them they simply HAD to see. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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The TV Set (2006) |
Is it a travesty? A farce? Utterly preposterous? Exactly. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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Ocean's Thirteen (2007) |
Even the most cynical person must concede that it's kind of fun watching beautiful people act cool. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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Paris, je t'aime (2006) |
There's something romantic about the big city, because with so many people in such a small space, something unexpected and joyful is bound to cross your path one day. And this is the precise mentality that makes [this movie] such a breath of fresh air. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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Casablanca (1942) |
It is one of the most timeless of all movies in terms of topic, emotion, acting and motivation. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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Spider-Man 3 (2007) |
A successful bit of thoughtful escapism that balances the sensory thrills of the number one with the more serious thoughts of number two. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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Fay Grim (2006) |
Nothing short of a comic feast. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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Bug (2006) |
A disaster on every level. - Zertinet Movies
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| Posted Jun 13, 2007
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