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Webster-Kirkwood Times

Webster-Kirkwood Times is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Lynn Venhaus.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
B
Dead Man's Wire (2025) Lynn Venhaus What it lacks in character development is notable, but screenwriter Austin Kolodney draws from themes that resonate – the American Dream, our perceptions of fair and just, and how media shapes those viewpoints.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
B-
Fackham Hall (2025) Lynn Venhaus Prestige and privilege are gleefully skewered in funny farcical fashion, and while the plot isn’t nearly as engaging as the actors, "Fackham Hall" is a good time escape – especially those in need of a break from serious long-winded dramas.
Posted Dec 12, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Rental Family (2025) Lynn Venhaus Hikari gently directs the film, showing tenderness and thoughtful interactions. One drawback is that we don’t know as much about Phillip as we’d like to, but Fraser delivers sensitivity and understanding when others don’t feel seen.
Posted Dec 04, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Eternity (2025) Lynn Venhaus With its endearing cast and sentimental outlook, "Eternity" is an amiable romantic comedy that’s a cozy experience because of its relatability.
Posted Nov 26, 2025  Edit critic review
C-
Christy (2025) Lynn Venhaus The film’s muddled messages, particularly on women’s and LGBTQ+ issues, eventually crystallized in Christy’s hard-earned freedom towards the end, but by then, it was too little, too late.
Posted Nov 07, 2025  Edit critic review
D
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) Lynn Venhaus ...the stylistic choices make this tough to invest in, even though there are a few sparks of relatability. It’s overlong, and the concept becomes more contrived as its bumpy narrative unfolds. t devolves into chaotic, shrill storytelling,,,
Posted Oct 30, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (2025) Lynn Venhaus While the movie unfolds its “tough day at the office” theme, showing how the seriousness of the situation affects these highly trained individuals, the underlying emotional tone of what’s at stake comes through.
Posted Oct 23, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Soul on Fire (2025) Lynn Venhaus “Soul on Fire” is a testament to the power of community and how faith, hope and love can be transformative forces in anyone’s life. This thoughtful, well-meaning effort has a message that is always welcome...
Posted Oct 09, 2025  Edit critic review
B-
The Smashing Machine (2025) Lynn Venhaus Showing more emotional layers than ever, Johnson meets the challenges impressively. It’s a subtly powerful performance that can’t fail to move people, no matter what their level of comfort is for the subject matter.
Posted Oct 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B
Eleanor the Great (2025) Lynn Venhaus Now, the tonal shifts don’t turn this complex story into a feel-good endeavor. Nevertheless, the beauty of Squibb’s believable and emotionally rich performance is not so much in looking back but moving forward.
Posted Sep 25, 2025  Edit critic review
D
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) Lynn Venhaus They aren’t exactly chatty in their conversations as they travel the highways and byways, and they have no luggage – but lots o’ baggage in another way, apparently. They mostly hint at this but they do have a few awkward scenes resurrected from their past
Posted Sep 19, 2025  Edit critic review
A-
Highest 2 Lowest (2025) Lynn Venhaus With a top-shelf cast and his kinetic energy, Lee is a maestro, conducting this police procedural to reflect on society’s class structures and what Americans consider their career dreams as only he can.
Posted Sep 03, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
She Rides Shotgun (2025) Lynn Venhaus In Egerton's hands, Nate’s growing relationship with his skeptical and confused daughter is exceptionally nuanced, and Ana Sophia Heger’s emotionally intense performance is a standout among juvenile actors.
Posted Aug 08, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
The Life of Chuck (2024) Lynn Venhaus By turns fascinating and frustrating, “The Life of Chuck” is a storytelling mess that wants its hopeful, life-affirming message to be the takeaway but fails to consistently grab hold in a significant way.
Posted Jun 13, 2025  Edit critic review
D
The Phoenician Scheme (2025) Lynn Venhaus A nonsensical laundry list of gimmicky plot threads and a cadre of uninteresting characters passes for idiosyncratic storytelling but ultimately is merely incoherent filmmaking.
Posted Jun 05, 2025  Edit critic review
C
Fountain of Youth (2025) Lynn Venhaus Ritchie is accomplished helming these rakish adventures, but this is no “The Gentlemen” or “Sherlock Holmes.” Saddled with a less-than-satisfactory script, he boxes the wrap-up into a secret-chamber corner
Posted May 31, 2025  Edit critic review
C
Fight or Flight (2024) Lynn Venhaus As a 97-minute slick action comedy, “Fight or Flight” doesn’t take itself too seriously and aims to please with its likeable characters embroiled in chaos – equal parts silliness and danger.
Posted May 08, 2025  Edit critic review
C
The Surfer (2024) Lynn Venhaus Focusing solely on the disturbing dramatic elements, instead of getting out of its own way, I wanted Finnegan to explore more of the ‘us vs. them’ storyline it started with, tap into what Cage’s character stands to lose and why it matters.
Posted May 01, 2025  Edit critic review
B
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024) Lynn Venhaus Writer-director Peter Browngardt has enlisted 10 other writers to craft this blender-version of sci-fi kitsch, taking the pod paranoia of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” with bits from such disaster movies... and then typical looney cartoon explosions.
Posted Mar 15, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
Novocaine (2025) Lynn Venhaus A clever caper, “Novocaine” intrigues with alluring young talent but prefers to keep piling on the bone-crunching bloody gore. That, unfortunately, pummels moviegoers with repetitive sadistic images of gruesome bodily harm, deadening our interest...
Posted Mar 15, 2025  Edit critic review
B
My Dead Friend Zoe (2024) Lynn Venhaus Hausmann-Stokes may be a first-time director, but he knows his subject matter well, and cares deeply. You can feel the earnestness in which he tells this specific story with its broader message and plea to help care more for veterans’ PTSD plights.
Posted Mar 07, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
The Monkey (2025) Lynn Venhaus (Perkins) has an obvious appreciation for the B-movie grindhouse homages because he stages these outrageous, outlandish, very bloody death scenes with gleeful zest.
Posted Feb 20, 2025  Edit critic review
D
Nightbitch (2024) Lynn Venhaus Overall, the film’s repetitiveness – how many ways can one show repressed rage – weakens the intention because the points aren’t hard-hitting. Of course, this topic is worth focusing on, but the clumsy way it’s handled is just too weird to be effective.
Posted Dec 05, 2024  Edit critic review
B
Heretic (2024) Lynn Venhaus As Reed, Grant’s well-established charm as a leading man in such rom-coms as ... gives way to deadly intentions, and he uses his smarty-pants loquaciousness and impertinence to his advantage here, coming across as devilishly deranged.
Posted Nov 08, 2024  Edit critic review
B+
Anora (2024) Lynn Venhaus With his sharp observational eye, Baker mines familiar territory in his perpetual spotlight on lower-class folks, and his appeal has always been his raw and real approach, but his style is slicker here.
Posted Nov 01, 2024  Edit critic review
B
Woman of the Hour (2023) Lynn Venhaus Giving it another angle besides being an icky and horrifying murder mystery, Ian McDonald’s script, and Kendrick’s savvy choices, laudably focus on the bigger picture – that women were often undervalued and objectified.
Posted Oct 25, 2024  Edit critic review
C+
The Silent Hour (2024) Lynn Venhaus Reliable action hero Joel Kinnaman manages to evoke sympathy as Frank Shaw, a detective committed to enforcing the law when fellow officers are lured by greed to the dark side...Frank excels as the feisty deaf-since-birth witness .
Posted Oct 17, 2024  Edit critic review
C+
Lee (2023) Lynn Venhaus For bringing to life a subject that is so daring and adventurous, as well as a person ahead of her time, the screenplay by Marion Hume, John Collee, and Liz Hannah needed much more polish and direction.
Posted Oct 05, 2024  Edit critic review
B+
Wolfs (2024) Lynn Venhaus The joys of watching two of our most charismatic superstars work together again on screen are reason enough to see “Wolfs.” Add comedy and action to a twisty crime thriller, and the result is a breezy, entertaining caper
Posted Sep 27, 2024  Edit critic review
A-
His Three Daughters (2023) Lynn Venhaus Thoughtfully told and beautifully acted, “His Three Daughters” mirrors many families’ experiences as an elderly parent endures their last days...powerful in its authenticity and storytelling about what home means. You can go home again, and it matters.
Posted Sep 19, 2024  Edit critic review
B
You Gotta Believe (2024) Lynn Venhaus All the ingredients for an emotional sports underdog story are in “You Gotta Believe,” a modest family film that’s as earnest as it is heart-tugging.
Posted Aug 29, 2024  Edit critic review
A
Thelma (2024) Lynn Venhaus Comic actor Margolin taps into an age group that deserves a positive story. Helming his first feature film, he shows strong gifts as a storyteller. Although some of the plot may stretch credibility, the sincerity in which this is made goes a long way.
Posted Jun 28, 2024  Edit critic review
C
The Bikeriders (2023) Lynn Venhaus It’s her (Kathy's) point of view, and her colorful storytelling is rich in detail with its Chicago-flavored accent and understanding of the female attraction to bad boys. She’s an R-rated Rizzo to Butler’s Kenicky
Posted Jun 21, 2024  Edit critic review
C+
Hit Man (2023) Lynn Venhaus Linklater, long a favorite since his 1993 “Dazed and Confused” calling card, directs in a breezy style, focusing on the flirty fun of the Powell-Arjona dynamic. He opts for a darkly comedic Coen Brothers’ vibe to underline the steamy romance.
Posted Jun 06, 2024  Edit critic review
C
Back to Black (2024) Lynn Venhaus A music biopic that crosses off the T’s: tough, tormented, tempestuous and turgid when recounting the troubled life of British singer Amy Winehouse, Back to Black fails to distinguish itself from the pack while distorting a well-documented crash and burn.
Posted May 16, 2024  Edit critic review
C-
Sasquatch Sunset (2024) Lynn Venhaus Without any discretion and with the mindset of prepubescent tweens, filmmakers delight in showing urination, defecation, arousal, and sex acts. And scratching private parts.
Posted Apr 18, 2024  Edit critic review
C
Drive-Away Dolls (2024) Lynn Venhaus What starts out wry and dry ultimately becomes nonsensical and noisy in the crime comedy caper, which is writer-director Ethan Coen’s latest try at the familiar style that he and his brother Joel turned into the unique Coen Brothers brand.
Posted Feb 22, 2024  Edit critic review
B+
The Taste of Things (2023) Lynn Venhaus The movie establishes both as artists in the kitchen, and because of that, the drama takes a back seat to the alluring spreads of gourmet dishes...to watch them marry flavors and textures, moving from preparation area to stove to plate is breathtaking,
Posted Feb 15, 2024  Edit critic review
A-
The Teachers' Lounge (2023) Lynn Venhaus A taut and timely tale that unfolds like a thriller, “The Teachers’ Lounge” is an interesting look at how fast things can get out of control in today’s education system, and in society in general.
Posted Feb 08, 2024  Edit critic review
B
Scrambled (2023) Lynn Venhaus For any woman who has felt her biological clock ticking, the amusing and surprisingly heartfelt contemporary comedy “Scrambled” will resonate.
Posted Feb 02, 2024  Edit critic review
B
Wonka (2023) Lynn Venhaus A charming origin story with a winsome Timothee Chalamet as a joyful chocolatier with grand ambitions, “Wonka” is a super-sized old-fashioned musical. It’s a sweet treat for families, but also anyone who is captivated by pure imagination.
Posted Dec 14, 2023  Edit critic review
B+
Rustin (2023) Lynn Venhaus But Domingo has never had the opportunity to anchor a film like he does here, and it’s a bravura performance, full of fire, heart, doubt and fear playing a man who believed in the best pf humanity and beat to a different drummer.
Posted Nov 12, 2023  Edit critic review
B
The Burial (2023) Lynn Venhaus While this familiar crowd-pleasing courtroom drama plays out in predictable – and sometimes, preposterous – ways, what is authentic is the chemistry between the seasoned Oscar-winning duo.
Posted Oct 19, 2023  Edit critic review
B
A Haunting in Venice (2023) Lynn Venhaus More of a psychological thriller-ghost story than a horror tale, “A Haunting in Venice” is a satisfying movie for grown-ups – with a few well-placed jump scares to keep the mystery on track.
Posted Sep 22, 2023  Edit critic review
B+
Dumb Money (2023) Lynn Venhaus The combination of winning personalities and a mind-blowing reality makes for a very entertaining film, if not exactly deep, and let’s be honest, brash in its language and soundtrack selections.
Posted Sep 22, 2023  Edit critic review
B
Retribution (2023) Lynn Venhaus “Retribution” is the kind of solid, economical crime drama we don’t see that often anymore in favor of bloated spectacles. It’s rather satisfying to see Neeson, a master at being brave and tough, save the day so efficiently.
Posted Aug 24, 2023  Edit critic review
B
Glitch: The Rise & Fall of HQ Trivia (2023) Lynn Venhaus (Rogowsky's) narrative is crucial here, for he fills in many blanks. As compelling as it is, though, it’s still not enough for the overall real story. Are we missing a Savage Question? ...The content is lacking, because Yusupov declined to participate,
Posted Aug 04, 2023  Edit critic review
B+
Afire (2023) Lynn Venhaus Turns out Petzold is the sly observer that Leon wishes he was, for the Berlin filmmaker schooled in realism misses nothing – every nuance, every glance advances the story.
Posted Aug 04, 2023  Edit critic review
C-
The Miracle Club (2023) Lynn Venhaus “The Miracle Club’ attempts to be a feel-good film, as the title suggests, but its erratic storytelling does not offer compelling reasons to like it and squanders the major talents involved by giving them such incomplete characters to portray.
Posted Jul 11, 2023  Edit critic review
B
Sound of Freedom (2023) Lynn Venhaus Director Alejandro Monteverde establishes well-drawn good vs. evil battlelines and keeps it simple with basic storytelling elements during the 2-hour, 10-minute runtime, framing it as a wider-scope procedural, like an extended “Magnum P.I.” or “FBI.”
Posted Jul 10, 2023  Edit critic review
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