Words similar to stilted

Example sentences for: stilted

How can you use “stilted” in a sentence? Here are some example sentences to help you improve your vocabulary:

As always, critics applaud Sayles' heartfelt liberalism and choice of offbeat subjects, which make him the "most restlessly independent independent filmmaker" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly ). But most critics say he "doesn't have a filmmaker's instinct" (Amy Taubin, the Village Voice ). Except in Lone Star , they say, Sayles' dialogue is stilted and his cinematography drab.
.. [but] by no means outrageous,” a third as “verbose or stilted,” and a fourth as “containing wording and punctuation that is clumsy, ambiguous, and redundant.”
As a tragically repressed and alcoholic small-town cop, Nolte conveys a "fierce, anguished intensity" (Janet Maslin, the New York Times ). Critics say Schrader's style is a perfect match for Russell Banks' novel, and that the director "has hit, in this exquisitely shaped, paced, painted, and edited production, a new, deep level of artistry" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly ). Only complaint: The voice-over narration by Willem Dafoe (as Nolte's brother) is a bit stilted and portentous.
There's a big dollop of xenophobia here--old mummy pictures are full of stilted English actors pretending to be icily vengeful Egyptians--but there's also a less chauvinistic implication: a rebuke to our Western-imperialist sense of entitlement.
The humorless, stilted quality of Miller's writing makes Salesman feel like a dental extraction.