St. Louis Movie Reviews - St. Louis Movies Guide

Movie Reviews

Mann on the Run: The life and crimes of John Dillinger in the fast and furious Public Enemies

They're all about where people come from. Nobody seems to wonder where somebody's going." So says the Depression-era bank-robber-cum-folk-hero... More>>

By Scott Foundas

Published: July 01, 2009

Dying in Vain: My Sister's Keeper is honest about illness, false about everything else

Eleven-year-old Anna Fitzgerald's parents didn't just plan for her — they customized her in utero, with the specific end of providing spare... More>>

By Nick Pinkerton

Published: June 24, 2009

Victim of Circumstance: Once more down the aisle with The Proposal

Fifteen minutes after seeing The Proposal, I'd forgotten I'd seen The Proposal. Well, that's not entirely true: By then, it had simply merged in... More>>

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: June 17, 2009

Beautiful Losers: Rudo y Cursi is not the kind of sports movie where everyone wins

Not quite The Further Adventures of Cain & Abel, the second coming of Beavis & Butt-Head, King Kong vs. Godzilla Redux or Peyton Meets Eli, but... More>>

By J. Hoberman

Published: June 17, 2009

Have screenplay, will travel: Dave Eggers makes his film-writing debut with Away We Go

Midway through A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers' solipsistic, terminally-apologetic-for-being-solipsistic... More>>

By Scott Foundas

Published: June 10, 2009

Sucker Punch: With a blunt and searching Iron Mike, Tyson delivers a surprisingly powerful blow

The face of Mike Tyson stares out from the screen like a sentry — intent, sober, watchful. The camera sits close, the framing is tight, and... More>>

By Scott Foundas

Published: June 03, 2009

Grounded: Up soars in entirely unexpected ways

First of all, Up is not a movie about a cranky old coot who, with the help of a roly-poly Boy Scout, finds his inner child during a series of... More>>

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: May 27, 2009

Save Yourself! From McG's Terminator, that is. What a drag.

Both warning and advertisement, the Terminator films are technophobic teases, selling tickets by promising this decade's model of killing... More>>

By Nick Pinkerton

Published: May 20, 2009

Summertime St. Louis: Summer of Salvation. The Terminator is back. Plus, 39 other movies we can't wait to see this season.

The cinema is not a slice of life but a piece of cake," Alfred Hitchcock once said, and if that's true — and who are we to dispute the... More>>

By Chuck Wilson

Published: May 20, 2009

Holy Crap: But not entirely un-fun: Angels & Demons has a need for speed

At the tail end of The Da Vinci Code, having traipsed around scenic Paris and London for more than two hours to find out whether the Holy Grail... More>>

By Ella Taylor

Published: May 13, 2009

Warp Factor Ten: J.J. Abrams' Star Trek: proof that a franchise can live long and prosper

It's difficult for this long-time Trekkie to review J.J. Abrams' relaunching of the USS Enterprise. It's difficult to dispassionately dole out... More>>

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: May 06, 2009

The Haunting in Rhode Island: Matthew McConaughey is scary bad in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Two weeks after jowly Matthew Perry transformed into pretty Zac Efron to relive his adolescence in 17 Again, Warner Bros. releases Ghosts of... More>>

By Melissa Anderson

Published: April 29, 2009

Behind the Metal: Revealed: Everything you wanted to know — or didn't — about Canuck headbangers Anvil

And now for the story of Lips and the dildo. Back in the late '70s, before Guitar Hero III or Rock of Love 2 or even VH1, a jolly Canadian... More>>

By Camille Dodero

Published: April 22, 2009

Dead Bodies, Buried Ledes: Political thriller State of Play is adrenaline for a dying industry: Ours

Kevin Macdonald's Washington thriller is a bellows designed to puff up the most beaten-down reporter's chest. Compressed from the highly regarded... More>>

By J. Hoberman

Published: April 15, 2009

Scenes from a Mall: Seth Rogen's rent-a-cop rides the bipolar express in Observe and Report

Observe and Report writer-director Jody Hill makes mean-spirited tragedies that studios market as inane comedies because otherwise no one would... More>>

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: April 08, 2009

Great America: The summer of our '80s youth in Adventureland

Set a mere two decades ago, Greg Mottola's Adventureland seems as if it could be taking place on a distant planet, less for the leg warmers and... More>>

By Scott Foundas

Published: April 01, 2009

RegularFellas: The Average Giuseppes of organized crime in Gomorrah

Martin Scorsese may be presenting Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah, but this corrosive, slapdash, grimly exciting exposé of organized crime in... More>>

By J. Hoberman

Published: March 25, 2009

The Bourne Comedian: Tony Gilroy's (heretofore unseen) expert light touch in Duplicity

Whether it's the amnesiac super spy of the Bourne franchise or the weary law-firm fixer of Michael Clayton, Tony Gilroy specializes in characters... More>>

By Scott Foundas

Published: March 18, 2009

That's So Craven: Rape revenge. Yawn.

"That was the most offensive display of sexualized violence I have ever seen," one wilting fellow in need of a camphor hankie was overheard... More>>

By Nick Pinkerton

Published: March 11, 2009

Short Cuts: The Class

The Class Compare and contrast Laurent Cantet's terrific The Class with Mr. Holland's Opus and Dangerous Minds. Note the structural similarities:... More>>

By Ella Taylor

Published: March 11, 2009

Dr. Manhattan, Meet Dr. Hollywood: Whew! Tinseltown's go-to graphic novel guy didn't ruin Watchmen. But he doesn't get it either.

The most eagerly anticipated (as well as the most beleaguered) movie of the year (if not the century), Watchmen is neither desecratory disaster... More>>

By J. Hoberman

Published: March 04, 2009

Shiksa vs. Jew: But nobody wins in James Gray's ridiculous Two Lovers

If Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a lovelorn bachelor in James Gray's Two Lovers, were twelve years old, the movie might make a touching, if not... More>>

By Ella Taylor

Published: February 25, 2009

Dogs of War: Waltz with Bashir is both documentary and animated feature — and a remarkable bubbling up of repressed violence

Ari Folman's broodingly original Waltz with Bashir is a documentary that seems only possible, not to mention bearable, as an animated... More>>

By J. Hoberman

Published: February 18, 2009

Buyer Beware: Bush and Confessions agree: Go shopping! (Wait, don't.)

The Confessions of a Shopaholic we need right now would be a handheld doc featuring former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain sobbing into the camera... More>>

By Melissa Anderson

Published: February 11, 2009

Coraline in Wonderland: Things are not as they seem in Henry Selick's stunning stop-motion fairy tale

If Alice in Wonderland were retold by the Mad Hatter, it might look something like Henry Selick's 3-D, stop-motion Coraline, in which the bored,... More>>

By Scott Foundas

Published: February 04, 2009