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Arizona Daily Star

Arizona Daily Star is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Bob Campbell, Phil Villarreal.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
The Return of the Living Dead (1985) Bob Campbell Cannibal zombies are amusing up to a point, but after the first hundred or so their charm wears thin.
Posted Aug 13, 2025  Edit critic review
Return to Oz (1985) Bob Campbell "Return to Oz" is a strange and somber fable, fascinating for its refusal to be what anyone might expect.
Posted Jun 17, 2025  Edit critic review
Return to Oz (1985) Phil Villarreal Comparisons to the universally lauded "The Wizard of Oz" are inevitable, but the scruffy sequel holds steady in many categories. That "Return to Oz" isn't a musical like its forebear makes it considerably darker and more relatable.
Posted Jun 17, 2025  Edit critic review
Blue Velvet (1986) Bob Campbell Its skittish humor is a survival device to head off utter desolation. Blue Velvet is also fiercely moral, and that explains its stunning force. Only a moralist can be shocked, and shock, on such a seismic scale.
Posted Jan 22, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Protector (2005) Phil Villarreal The Protector is all spectacle and invention. Jaa is Fred Astaire strutting atop throngs of clueless enemies with grace and vigor. The film falls short not because they story is weak, but because the story is there at all.
Posted Sep 13, 2023  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Planet 51 (2009) Phil Villarreal Doesn't belong anywhere near the best animated picture race, but you can do a lot worse when looking for a family flick to pass the time.
Posted Nov 21, 2009  Edit critic review
4/4
Jennifer's Body (2009) Phil Villarreal This movie thrives on its intended level of Scream-style horror comedy, blazes through its running time and had me laughing throughout.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
4/4
Inglourious Basterds (2009) Phil Villarreal By far the best World War II film I've ever seen.
Posted Aug 22, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Ponyo (2008) Phil Villarreal His twisted version of Finding Nemo meets Splash, the movie won't go down as one of his best, but it's still better than 90 percent of animation out there.
Posted Aug 15, 2009  Edit critic review
4/4
(500) Days of Summer (2009) Phil Villarreal It's a movie that makes me wish I were still a film critic so I could beg tens of thousands of readers to see it rather just the few who will read this post.
Posted Aug 02, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
Angels & Demons (2009) Phil Villarreal Heavier on demons than angels.
Posted May 14, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Up (2009) Phil Villarreal A Pixar pinnacle. That may seem like outlandish praise, given the animation studio's sterling tax record. But when was the last time you walked out of a Pixar movie simply giddy, as if you were high on computer-animated pixels?
Posted May 13, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Rudo y Cursi (2008) Phil Villarreal The actors' chemistry lifts what might have been an average sports melodrama to something near special.
Posted May 10, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Gigantic (2008) Phil Villarreal Happy would be sad if you didn't want to see her story. And you wouldn't like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl when she's angry.
Posted May 09, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Star Trek (2009) Phil Villarreal For the first time in 15 years, Star Trek actually matters.
Posted May 06, 2009  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Fanboys (2009) Phil Villarreal What if the movie sucks?
Posted Apr 29, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Phil Villarreal Whoever pirated X-Men Origins: Wolverine got a punishment that fit the crime.
Posted Apr 29, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Informers (2009) Phil Villarreal An aimless mess. But at least the mess is sexy and exciting.
Posted Apr 24, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Sin nombre (2009) Phil Villarreal Imagine City of God without the zippy camerawork or Slumdog Millionaire without the millionaire and you get the feel of Sin Nombre.
Posted Apr 23, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
The Soloist (2009) Phil Villarreal A duet, with two master performers collaborating in absorbing harmony.
Posted Apr 22, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
12 (2007) Phil Villarreal Mikhalkov is probably a little too successful at re-creating the feeling of being trapped at a seemingly never-ending meeting.
Posted Apr 15, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
17 Again (2009) Phil Villarreal Turns out there's more to Zac Efron than the grinning, vacant marionette from the High School Musical series.
Posted Apr 15, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Black Balloon (2008) Phil Villarreal The outlines are broad and obvious, and Thomas such a bore, that The Black Balloon loses air.
Posted Apr 08, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Observe and Report (2009) Phil Villarreal If you would have told me that Kevin James and Seth Rogen would basically make the same movie and both would have come out the same, I wouldn't have believed you.
Posted Apr 08, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
The Great Buck Howard (2008) Phil Villarreal Malkovich expertly starts the relationship between his character and the audience on several wrong feet before winning us over.
Posted Apr 01, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Adventureland (2009) Phil Villarreal The thunder that follows the Superbad lightning.
Posted Apr 01, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Two Lovers (2008) Phil Villarreal If this is it for Joaquin Phoenix's film career, at least he's going out the right way.
Posted Mar 25, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) Phil Villarreal I liked it more than anything Pixar has made the last five years.
Posted Mar 25, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
I Love You, Man (2009) Phil Villarreal I sort of like you, man..
Posted Mar 18, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Beisbol: The Latin Game (2007) Phil Villarreal A spirited, enchanting baseball doc.
Posted Mar 16, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
Miss March (2009) Phil Villarreal They've got enough solid material for a half-hour sitcom, including two great, oh-so-politically incorrect lines worthy of integrating into the annals of pop culture, but that does not a feature film make.
Posted Mar 13, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
The Class (2008) Phil Villarreal The hard-hitting film makes most other school-based films resemble child's play, as careers and futures of both the teacher and student hang in the balance, in the uncaring hands of an indifferent system.
Posted Mar 12, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Wendy and Lucy (2008) Phil Villarreal Here's one movie that will make you want to go home and hug your dog.
Posted Mar 05, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Watchmen (2009) Phil Villarreal Tends to play like the SportsCenter version of the big game. It's got all the highlights but little of the tension and atmosphere that give those moments impact.
Posted Mar 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Che: Part One (2008) Phil Villarreal It's a fight with your bladder and attention span worth waging.
Posted Feb 25, 2009  Edit critic review
4/4
Were the World Mine (2008) Phil Villarreal All teen comedies would be this divine were the world Gustafson's.
Posted Feb 13, 2009  Edit critic review
1/4
The Pink Panther 2 (2009) Phil Villarreal I laughed once, at an unexpected gag, involving a ricocheting bullet, that was a nice play on an old gunfighting cliche. The rest of the film was a slow-bleeding gut shot.
Posted Feb 06, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Waltz With Bashir (2008) Phil Villarreal It's pretty much 90 minutes of pain. But also there's no budging from your seat.
Posted Feb 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3/4
Coraline (2009) Phil Villarreal The 3-D in Coraline is so low-key that I forgot it was there for much of the film. But maybe that's less a knock on the visuals than it is a compliment to the movie's ability to pull me into its zany world.
Posted Feb 04, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
Azur & Asmar (2006) Phil Villarreal The film is full of out-there artistic decisions that don't quite pay off, it makes you feel like you're taking medicine without a spoonful of sugar.
Posted Jan 28, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Midnight Meat Train (2008) Phil Villarreal Goes full speed on ultra-gory rails before slamming to an abrupt stop.
Posted Jan 28, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/4
New in Town (2009) Phil Villarreal It's a given dis one is more fer da ladies than da fellas, and some of da dialogue is pretnear hard da swallow.
Posted Jan 28, 2009  Edit critic review
4/4
The Wrestler (2008) Phil Villarreal It was almost worth the malaise of watching Mickey Rourke squander years of potential just so he could make his grand comeback.
Posted Jan 22, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Yonkers Joe (2008) Phil Villarreal The typecast actor breaks out of his comfort zone.
Posted Jan 21, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) Phil Villarreal Producer Adam Sandler must have though so little of the film that he didn't even see it fit for a Rob Schneider cameo.
Posted Jan 16, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
JCVD (2008) Phil Villarreal You could hit up the DVD value bin and stage yourself a Lionheart and Kickboxer marathon to see the man the way he'd want to be remembered. Or at least the way I'd like to remember him.
Posted Jan 15, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Defiance (2008) Phil Villarreal Zwick thrives on these sorts of historical action flicks, and he pumps the adrenal glands throughout.
Posted Jan 15, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Revolutionary Road (2008) Phil Villarreal This cracked social mirror the director holds up to society is no pretty sight. Although it's impossible to turn away.
Posted Jan 14, 2009  Edit critic review
4/4
Gran Torino (2008) Phil Villarreal Just like Walt's Gran Torino, Eastwood's engine is still purring as well as it did in '72.
Posted Jan 08, 2009  Edit critic review
2/4
Bride Wars (2009) Phil Villarreal As romantic as the dollar dance and as funny as the quips from a hokey wedding DJ.
Posted Jan 07, 2009  Edit critic review
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