Martha K. Baker
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
The Quiet Girl (2022) |
As in Keegan's novels, every word, every crystalline scene counts in The Quiet Girl. Each must be heard and seen with precision. When that cookie is set on the table in an insert shot, it is not just a cookie. It is a stealth symbol. It is everything. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Mar 15, 2023
|
|
|
|
You People (2023) |
You People doesn't work because it works too hard. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
|
|
|
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022) |
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical thrives on color, song and dance, impressive acting, and cunning camera work. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jan 06, 2023
|
|
|
|
A Man Called Otto (2022) |
If you saw the Swedish version, the American version repeats the sadness swirling with the hopeful. It's a story about loneliness versus community, neighbors, and the village it takes. And it's sweet and dear. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jan 05, 2023
|
|
|
|
Pelosi in the House (2022) |
Alexandra Pelosi's homage includes warming humor, but, most of all, it includes Nancy Pelosi's knowing voice and electric self. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 21, 2022
|
|
|
|
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) |
The rest is pretty darn funny -- and weird. What else did you expect? - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Nov 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Till (2022) |
Till is a powerful movie. Its strength rises not just from the story of racism it tells, for the background story has been told often, and not just from its unique perspective, but also from its stunning presentation in film form. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Oct 27, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2022) |
In addition to canny flashbacks and one flashside, Canosa juxtaposes the bookstore's cluttered, claustrophobic setting with Cape Cod's luxurious ocean views, shot by Alex Vendler. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Oct 13, 2022
|
|
|
|
What We Leave Behind (2022) |
Filmmaker Iliana Sosa created a poignant portrait of one old man in What We Leave Behind. The old man is Sosa's grandfather. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Oct 06, 2022
|
|
|
|
Nothing Compares (2022) |
What Nothing Compares proves is Sinéad O'Connor's courage and integrity. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Oct 06, 2022
|
|
|
|
Clerks III (2022) |
The film plows into the psyche of grief, but there's still plenty of goofiness in word and deed. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Sep 24, 2022
|
|
|
|
Confess, Fletch (2022) |
St. Louis' Jon Hamm pulls off the role, making like Groucho. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Sep 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
Kaepernick & America (2022) |
[Walker and Hockrow] show the political culture of the times, from Donald Trump's rise in 2016 to Robert E. Lee's statue's fall. Walker brings all his good sense to this film, having produced the brilliant Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2022
|
|
|
|
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022) |
[Writer/director Adamma Ebo] keeps her thumb on the scale of satire, pressing from comedy to darkness beyond anything that Christopher Guest managed in his mockumentaries. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2022
|
|
|
|
Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) |
It is a maxim of good writing to show rather tell. That rule applies especially to telling stories. But what about a movie based on the art of story-telling? ... Breaking this rule causes Three Thousand Years of Longing to be sadly mediocre. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2022
|
|
|
|
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) |
It is, at best, unforgettable. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Aug 04, 2022
|
|
|
|
Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down (2022) |
Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down poignantly says as much about the struggle to stem gun violence as it reveals the struggle to live again. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jul 14, 2022
|
|
|
|
Alone Together (2022) |
Alone Together joins a lengthy roster of films that fail to live up to promise. It's also one of those films that calls for interrogation: Where does it go wrong? Who is to blame? How much time does it deserve in the viewing before the leaving? - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jul 14, 2022
|
|
|
|
Endangered (2022) |
The documentary demands attention but is very hard to watch because journalists -- their notebooks in hand or their cameras draped like panniers -- are hassled and intimidated and threatened. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jul 14, 2022
|
|
|
|
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) |
Good Luck to You, Leo Grand is that rare film that marries goodness and mercy with womanly wit. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jul 14, 2022
|
|
|
|
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) |
Downton Abbey may not be great art, but it is soapy enough to clean up. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
Eiffel (2021) |
Eiffel has its moments, but it also has its duplicity. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Janes (2022) |
The revealing documentary, The Janes proves -- if there were any doubt -- that sisterhood is powerful. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Phantom of the Open (2021) |
The Phantom of the Open in lesser hands would have been a wisp of tissue paper, but with Rylance and Hawkins et al., the film utterly delights as it tells of a sweetly silly moment in sports. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Wobblies (1979) |
The Wobblies vigorously rehearses the fight for workers' rights. The fight continues, and here is its history. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
Operation Mincemeat (2021) |
So much of the movie's script is exposition... that it feels drowned, too. In addition, illicit romance, jealousy, and competition are pebbled in so that the film's focus pulls from the operation itself. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 02, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Valet (2022) |
The Valet is predictable, delightful, and political, sweet and silly in just the right proportions. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Jun 02, 2022
|
|
|
|
How They Got Over (2021) |
Everything has a history even if it's been hidden or discounted. The history of the music movement known as Rock and Roll harks back to gospel quartets, back to the Hummingbirds and the Fairfield Four and the Davis Sisters. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
|
|
Marvelous and the Black Hole (2020) |
Marvelous and the Black Hole does not carve new pathways, but it satisfies the heart in an hour and 20 minutes. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (2020) |
This moving documentary about a family's resilience points to cinema's ability to provide focus and escape from horrors. A shield of love protects these good people, who see art where others see hell. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Bad Guys (2022) |
The Bad Guys is way too long and loud, including the music, and holds little novelty, but it does offer lessons in distinguishing trust from distrust. It also offers humor along with its messages about friendship and kindness. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2022
|
|
|
|
Mothering Sunday (2021) |
[Director Eva Husson] blessed Graham Swift's brilliant and brief 2016 novel, Mothering Sunday, with her style, thus making the film as transcendent as the novel. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Apr 15, 2022
|
|
|
|
Death on the Nile (2022) |
In Christie's mysteries, the cast is huge. But also with Branagh's earlier Christie, this cast is reduced to mannequins. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Apr 07, 2022
|
|
|
|
100 Years of Men in Love: The Accidental Collection (2022) |
For an hour, this beautiful documentary celebrates a history of the love that dared not speak its name, and it does so with eloquence and charm, attitude and gratitude. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Mar 31, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Outfit (2022) |
Few movies qualify as perfect, but The Outfit comes as close to pure perfection as Ivory soap. Everything -- from casting to writing to lighting to plotting -- defines this film as worthy. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Mar 31, 2022
|
|
|
|
Measure of Revenge (2022) |
Measure of Revenge almost demands a second viewing to catch all the lines and allusions. It helps to have done your homework. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Mar 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Oscar Peterson: Black + White (2020) |
Imperfect, but vivid. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Mar 05, 2022
|
|
|
|
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (2021) |
If you know squat about punk music, if you've never heard of Poly Styrene, this biography holds little appeal beyond idle curiosity. If, however, the singer spoke loudly to your life as her fan, the film satisfies idol curiosity. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Feb 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Swan Song (2021) |
Swan Song captures attention by that focused concentration but mostly through Mahershala Ali's very presence on the screen in both roles. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Feb 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Soumaya (2020) |
Soraya Hachoumi electrifies Soumaya the minute she appears on screen. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Feb 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Kimi (2022) |
Kimi serves well as an escapist film -- just nervy and sexy enough to fascinate and exciting enough to engage but not so scary as to prevent sleep. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Feb 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990) |
Despite some amateurish acting and editing, Thousand Pieces of Gold demands attention because of the very peculiar nature of this story of Lalu Nathoy (Rosalind Chao). - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Read More
| Posted Feb 16, 2022
|
|
|
|
Flee (2021) |
The result reveals multifoliate fear through filmic beauty that affects the viewer inside and out. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Feb 12, 2022
|
|
|
|
Parallel Mothers (2021) |
It is not a simple thing, this film, nor are its subjects, but it is a beautiful thing and astounding. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 30, 2021
|
|
|
|
Sing 2 (2021) |
It does not matter that "Sing 2" extends the plot of "Sing" from 2016. Little matters, really, and that also appeals in this all-singing, all-dancing, all-joking homage to musical theater. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 22, 2021
|
|
|
|
Encanto (2021) |
Directed by Jared Bush and Bryan Howard, Encanto sends all the right messages and does so with color and song. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 13, 2021
|
|
|
|
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) |
[Offers] frenetic pacing, fabulous color, and vivid imagination. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 13, 2021
|
|
|
|
Mayor Pete (2021) |
Mayor Pete may not always excite as a film but it does always record a year in the life of a man who wants to be President. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 13, 2021
|
|
|
|
Don't Look Up (2021) |
The cast is appreciably enhanced by the work of award-winning actor Mark Rylance. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 11, 2021
|
|
|
|
Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) |
Tick, Tick...BOOM succeeds, not necessarily because of Larson's music but definitely because of the hopeless energy of the endeavor. - KDHX (St. Louis)
Read More
| Posted Dec 03, 2021
|