Steve Persall

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Tampa Bay Times
For 1,125 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 65% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 33% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Steve Persall's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Vertigo
Lowest review score: 0 The Last Airbender
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 708 out of 1125
  2. Mixed: 310 out of 1125
  3. Negative: 107 out of 1125
1125 movie reviews
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    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Steve Persall
    Sirens
    What Sirens does have is a refreshingly uninhibited attitude toward sex and the human body, tastefully embodied by supermodel Elle MacPherson and others. Sirens is consistently enjoyable, but one-sided political views, live-action pictorials and feathery jokes make it no better than a decent issue of Playboy - eye-catching and ultimately disposable. [29 March 1994, p.6B]
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 Steve Persall
    St. Vincent
    This is first and foremost Murray's show, and the shortcomings in Melfi's script and direction are strangely appreciated. They give this singular comedian, who doesn't do it often enough these days, the room to let his buffalo heart roam.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Steve Persall
    Everest
    Director Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns) essentially made a faux documentary with big stars and better lighting.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 67 Steve Persall
    The Hangover Part III
    The Hangover Part III is more like "Beverly Hills Cop," a generic crime flick improved by comical touches that shouldn't fit the proceedings.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Steve Persall
    Ready Player One
    It’s a theme park ride but not the rollercoaster Spielberg hopes. More like It’s a Small Virtual World, careening through gamer nirvana, jerking viewers to and fro among everything Gen X retro.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Steve Persall
    It Could Happen to You
    Buying a ticket to see It Could Happen to You is like purchasing a Lotto ticket with three matching numbers; you get back a little more than you paid for it, but the thrill is quickly replaced by nagging thoughts of what might have been.
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 64 Metascore
    • 42 Steve Persall
    Café Society
    Vittorio Storaro's cinematography is superb, casting gauzy glows and sensual silhouettes against impressively designed sets. Allen drops a few philo-cynical lines worthy of his reputation but not nearly enough.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 25 Steve Persall
    The Grey
    Carnahan didn't make a movie unfit for mankind but it certainly isn't worth mankind's money.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 83 Steve Persall
    Serial Mom
    Turner cuts a hilarious swath across the screen in a courageously over-the-top performance that perfectly fits Waters' twisted vision. [15 Apr 1994, p.6]
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Steve Persall
    Kids
    Kids isn't a cure, it's a symptom of mercenary moviemaking. Some will call it heroic, but that's just a smug synonym for exploitation. [25 Aug 1995, p.9]
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Steve Persall
    Babies
    It's the nicest Mother's Day gift available at the movies this weekend.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 83 Steve Persall
    Hard Target
    Woo's film has an exciting look and visceral feel that is unique in Western filmmaking. If nothing else, it should increase video rentals of Woo's foreign films and make a ton of money for those happy capitalists at Universal Pictures.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 83 Steve Persall
    My Cousin Rachel
    Roger Michell's revival of My Cousin Rachel is a graceful note amid summer's movie din, adapting Daphne du Maurier's black widow mystery with class bordering on defiance.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Steve Persall
    The Lincoln Lawyer
    The next step in Matthew McConaughey's inevitable march to network television is The Lincoln Lawyer, a pilot disguised as a feature-length movie, with an entire season's arc crammed into two hours.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Steve Persall
    Denial
    David Hare's screenplay based on Lipstadt's book is intrinsically stacked toward her eventual triumph, with each familiar step worth watching.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Steve Persall
    Pitch Perfect 2
    It's all more extravagant yet less charming then before.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 67 Steve Persall
    Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
    It's the only chance for small children to drag parents to the movies until November, so knock yourself out, kiddies.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Steve Persall
    Atomic Blonde
    Atomic Blonde is a rare case of a woman toplining an action flick, but it hardly feels revolutionary.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Steve Persall
    Anna Karenina
    It's an audacious mashup that Baz Luhrmann would approve, lending freshness to Tolstoy's too-often-told tale.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 83 Steve Persall
    Friends with Benefits
    It works because Timberlake and Kunis are totally in control of their damaged characters without winking at the audience, as if to say: "Aren't we cute, behaving so naughty?" Their sex is amusingly awkward, and their repressed longings more so. It's the kind of chemistry that comes along once in a generation.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 75 Steve Persall
    Maverick
    Maverick has everything going for it except a sense of cinematic adventure and a stopwatch. [20 May 1994, p.6]
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 63 Metascore
    • 83 Steve Persall
    The River Wild
    The River Wild is simply a terrific nail biter, with the same constant, misleadingly tranquil jeopardy that give whitewater rafters such a charge. [30 Sep 1994, p.6]
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Steve Persall
    The Jungle Book
    The Jungle Book is rich with stunning sights and impossibly lush features. [23 Dec 1994, p.16]
    • Tampa Bay Times
    • 63 Metascore
    • 83 Steve Persall
    Spring Breakers
    Tampa Bay wears fringe nihilism well, including wet-fever dreams of trigger-happy angels floating on cannabis clouds and dusted with cocaine like beignets waiting to be licked clean. Or drug gangstas sporting cornrows and gold-grill teeth, living large and thinking three-ways. Film as a fetish tool, that's what Spring Breakers is all about, y'all.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 100 Steve Persall
    Rio
    Bursting with color and rippling with samba rhythms, Rio makes you wonder why animated films haven't spent more time in Brazil.
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