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Butler's Cinema Scene

Butler's Cinema Scene is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Robert W. Butler.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
C+
Marty Supreme (2025) Robert W. Butler Chalamet gives a breathless performance -- which is a problem because the film never slows down enough to let us catch our breath. It’s just one instance of bad behavior piled on another.
Posted Jan 12, 2026  Edit critic review
B
Dead Man's Wire (2025) Robert W. Butler The key to Skarsgard’s performance is his ability to make us identify with Tony (haven’t all of us felt ripped off at some time by a big impersonal institution?) even as we squirm at the dangerous situation he’s created.
Posted Jan 12, 2026  Edit critic review
B
Bugonia (2025) Robert W. Butler A new film by Yorgos Lanthimos comes with a promise. It’ll be fascinating. Terrifically well acted. And very weird. “Bugonia” more than lives up to that standard.
Posted Jan 06, 2026  Edit critic review
C
Eden (2024) Robert W. Butler “Eden” looks good (the cinematographer is Mathias Herndl) and there are some moments of involving physical action, but far from making a big statement the film seems satisfied with silliness.
Posted Jan 06, 2026  Edit critic review
B-
Roofman (2025) Robert W. Butler “Roofman” features a whole bunch of heavy hitters in its supporting cast -- LaKeith Stanfield, Emory Cohen, Juno Temple, Uzo Aruba and Ben Mendelsohn -- but Tatum and Dunst are front and center giving the yarn its emotional oomph.
Posted Jan 06, 2026  Edit critic review
B+
Blue Moon (2025) Robert W. Butler Ethan Hawke has always been watchable, but in recent years his work has taken on near-legendary weight. “Blue Moon” cements his rep as one of our best actors.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Song Sung Blue (2025) Robert W. Butler Laughter, song and tears. It’s a satisfying package.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
The Secret Agent (2025) Robert W. Butler There’s enough going on in “The Secret Agent” to warrant multiples viewings, but even a cursory glimpse will cement Moura’s place as one of the great actors of his generation.
Posted Dec 20, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Ballad of a Small Player (2025) Robert W. Butler Toss in Tilda Swinton as a comically stuffy investigator hot on his trail and Fala Chen as the casino hostess who provides a love interest, and you’ve got a good-looking if not terribly deep outing.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
Nobody 2 (2025) Robert W. Butler It’s pretty much the same thing all over again… minus the sense of discovery that made the first film so enjoyable.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
Sorry, Baby (2025) Robert W. Butler Every once in a while you encounter a film so achingly on target that you instinctively realize that it had to be torn from someone’s personal experience. So it is with “Sorry, Baby."
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
C
Eternity (2025) Robert W. Butler Part of the problem is that “Eternity” is nearly 30 minutes too long; after a while it starts to feel like an eternity watching it.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
B
After the Hunt (2025) Robert W. Butler After the Hunt manages to be gripping even while withholding key pieces of information. This has not a little to do with Roberts’ performance, which gos from haughty to wretched wreck.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Nouvelle Vague (2025) Robert W. Butler Nouvelle Vague oozes youthful exuberance and intellectual precocity. It’s both lighthearted romp and a serious appreciation of an important moment in cinema history. In other words, it’s a lot of fun.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
B
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) Robert W. Butler I’m in awe of Byrne’s work here. It’s Oscar-level and then some. But the film itself is tough going.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Sentimental Value (2025) Robert W. Butler The performances are strong all around, but especially in the case of Skarsgård and Reinsve, whose scenes together are a form of emotional jousting. It’s like a master class in subtle acting.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
It Was Just an Accident (2025) Robert W. Butler Beyond the compelling plotting and characters, It Was Just an Accident is a quiet condemnation of the [Iranian] regime. I found myself wondering how a film this critical of the government ever got made.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
C
Jay Kelly (2025) Robert W. Butler Noah Baumbach’s latest film is a character study… sort of… of a man who apparently has no character.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Hamnet (2025) Robert W. Butler “Hamnet” only comes fully to life in the last 20 minutes, but it does so with devastating intensity.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
The Life of Chuck (2024) Robert W. Butler The film has been so deftly directed and acted (even from the unseen Nick Offerman, whose narration provides just the right taste of detached observation) that more than a few viewers will find themselves in tears.
Posted Dec 03, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
Train Dreams (2025) Robert W. Butler If Terrence Malick and Kelly Reichart had a baby it would be “Train Dreams,” a visually ravishing examination of one human life.
Posted Dec 03, 2025  Edit critic review
B-
Hedda (2025) Robert W. Butler If you can get past the anachronistic elements, “Hedda” offers some terrific acting. If.
Posted Dec 03, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
Eddington (2025) Robert W. Butler “Eddington” is a mess, but at least it’s an ambitious mess.
Posted Dec 03, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Weapons (2025) Robert W. Butler Even if the big explanation is a fairy-tale head-slapper, most of "Weapons" is extremely watchable and quite involving.
Posted Nov 15, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Frankenstein (2025) Robert W. Butler Here del Toro goes for an emotional and spiritual catharsis. That might seem a stretch for what is essentially a horror movie, but damned if he doesn't pull it off.
Posted Nov 15, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025) Robert W. Butler Fathers and sons. Failed love. Lifelong friendship. These are universal stepping stones in human life, and “Deliver Me From Nowhere” finds both the beauty and the dread.
Posted Oct 27, 2025  Edit critic review
C
The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) Robert W. Butler It’s all wrapped up with a posh gala on a Norwegian fiord that deteriorates into a sort of soggy Velveeta pizza. Didn’t believe a word of it.
Posted Oct 27, 2025  Edit critic review
B
John Candy: I Like Me (2025) Robert W. Butler All in all this is a warm tribute to a very good man.
Posted Oct 27, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (2025) Robert W. Butler Noah Oppenheimer’s screenplay — created with the assistance of former military types who know their stuff — exudes an aura of helplessness that not all our high-tech weaponry can dispel.
Posted Oct 27, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
One Battle After Another (2025) Robert W. Butler “One Battle After Another” is so diverting that it’s easy to overlook Anderson’s dead-serious ideas about radicalism and the difficulty of keeping one’s idealistic edge in this America of consumer excess and moral erosion. Laugh until you cry.
Posted Oct 18, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
The Lost Bus (2025) Robert W. Butler Seriously, folks. There were moments here so intense that even after a lifetime of moviegoing I found myself fighting the urge to freeze the action and take a break. It’s that effective.
Posted Oct 12, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Swiped (2025) Robert W. Butler “Swiped” is inspirational, sure. It’s also unsettlingly cautionary.
Posted Oct 04, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
Superman (2025) Robert W. Butler Well, it’s an improvement over the dour Zack Snyder-Henry Cavill adaptations, but James Gunn’s Superman mostly made me appreciate the insanely clever balancing act of the first Christopher Reeve Superman.
Posted Oct 04, 2025  Edit critic review
B
28 Years Later (2025) Robert W. Butler Let’s be honest … this is just another zombie movie. Well made and with a deep pedigree, perhaps, but it’s going to appeal mostly to the already converted.
Posted Sep 26, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Warfare (2025) Robert W. Butler It’s about as accurate a look at modern combat as we’re likely to see.
Posted Sep 19, 2025  Edit critic review
B
High Ground (2020) Robert W. Butler We’re not sure who to root for; nor does there seem to be any easy answer to the long-simmering hatreds on display. But I found myself unexpectedly moved by the film’s brutal yet inescapable conclusion.
Posted Sep 19, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Sunday Best (2023) Robert W. Butler The doc features several vintage TV interviews of Sullivan and testimony from dozens of entertainment figures, but the film’s greatest selling point is its jaw-dropping collection of great on-air performances.
Posted Sep 19, 2025  Edit critic review
B-
The Amateur (2025) Robert W. Butler For the Oscar-winning Malek, this film will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a toss-off in a career of some depth. But as toss-offs go, it’s enjoyable enough.
Posted Aug 29, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Black Bag (2025) Robert W. Butler About the highest praise I can give Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag” is that it is of John le Carre quality, a spy thriller less about violence than about the toll the business of espionage takes on the human soul.
Posted Aug 29, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Sisu (2022) Robert W. Butler Then there are the many virtues of “Sisu”: drop-dead gorgeous cinematography, spectacular fight coordination and especially the slow-burn performance of Tommila.
Posted Aug 29, 2025  Edit critic review
C
Death of a Unicorn (2025) Robert W. Butler Not even an A-list cast can do much with “Death of a Unicorn,” a hodgepodge of myth, father-daughter bonding, greedy rich folk and a big dose of gut-splattering violence.
Posted Aug 15, 2025  Edit critic review
B
The Penguin Lessons (2024) Robert W. Butler The film is subtle, unsettling and about as unsentimental as a movie with a two-foot-tall feathered costar could be.
Posted Aug 15, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Limbo (2023) Robert W. Butler Everyone has heard the old saw that it’s not the destination but rather the journey that matters. That’s certainly the case with “Limbo,” which I found weirdly compelling despite its lack of resolution.
Posted Aug 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025) Robert W. Butler The movie thrives on low-keyed, character-driven fish-out-of-water humor, but it’s also an affecting meditation on loss. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself gulping back a few tears.
Posted Aug 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
My Mom Jayne (2025) Robert W. Butler “My Mom Jayne” succeeds on just about every level.
Posted Jul 24, 2025  Edit critic review
B-
Cleaner (2025) Robert W. Butler Cleaner gets off to a slow and rather desultory start. I was almost ready to bail after five minutes. But then it kicks in and director Martin Campbell deftly juggles the growing suspense and carefully choreographed action.
Posted Jun 27, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Surviving Ohio State (2025) Robert W. Butler Eva Orner’s documentary, about the sexual abuse scandal that wracked a powerhouse Midwestern University, does an admirable job of telling a big story that most of us have received only in bits and pieces over the better part of three decades.
Posted Jun 27, 2025  Edit critic review
C
Garbo: Where Did You Go? (2024) Robert W. Butler Most folks don’t know anything about Greta Garbo, so they’ll learn a few things from this movie. But only at the risk of getting really irritated.
Posted May 22, 2025  Edit critic review
B-
Nonnas (2025) Robert W. Butler A pleasant blend of comedy and pathos, with writers Liz Macci and Jody Scaravella and director Stephen Chbosky never going overboard on either. At the very least you’ll leave the movie craving a big plate of lasagna.
Posted May 22, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
I'm Still Here (2024) Robert W. Butler Walter Salles’ film tells a hugely dramatic real-life story by concentrating not on the big moments but on the little ones. The results are quietly devastating.
Posted May 22, 2025  Edit critic review
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