Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Critics list

Philip Kemp

Philip Kemp's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).
Publications:

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Sing Sing (2023) 97% EDIT “It’s a heartening celebration of the way that human creativity, if put to intelligent and enlightened use, can transform even the most seemingly hopeless lives.” – Sight & Sound Dec 19, 2025 Full Review Firebrand (2023) 58% EDIT “Alicia Vikander, who’s been becoming ever more skilled an actor since her first leading role in Testament of Youth (2013), gives her finest performance yet, and Jude Law’s Henry is a sheer tour de force. ” – Sight & Sound Dec 18, 2025 Full Review The Hunger (1983) 60% 4/5 EDIT “This, you can sense, is a film to be admired for its sheer classy visual panache… but not taken too seriously.” – Total Film Sep 25, 2025 Full Review Babe (1995) 98% EDIT “...anyone with a low cuteness threshold might feel inclined to give Babe the widest possible berth. This would be a mistake, since the film is funny, engaging and almost entirely uncloying. ” – Sight & Sound Jul 31, 2025 Full Review Quiz Show (1994) 97% EDIT “Redford's direction is fluent and self-effacing, and he draws fine performances from his cast, not least a neat cameo from Martin Scorsese as the show's sponsor, purring with delight at his own impish cynicism.” – Sight & Sound Feb 13, 2024 Full Review Renfield (2023) 58% EDIT “Renfield is played for laughs – though with no shortage of blood and violence.” – Sight & Sound Jun 8, 2023 Full Review Native (2016) 50% 4/5 EDIT “An eye-catching, ideas-driven debut that turns its limited budget to its advantage, with shrewd lead performances.” – Total Film Jun 5, 2023 Full Review Down by Law (1986) 88% EDIT “Down by Law seems on occasion to be soliciting our approval.” – Sight & Sound Mar 27, 2020 Full Review Strictly Ballroom (1992) 88% EDIT “...touching and disarmingly lyrical...” – Sight & Sound Feb 6, 2020 Full Review Everybody Wins (1990) 13% EDIT “As any gambler knows, the trouble with everybody winning is that you end up with a pretty unsatisfactory pay-out.” – Sight & Sound Jan 16, 2020 Full Review The Good Liar (2019) 64% 5 EDIT “Unfortunately, Jeffrey Hatcher's script ties itself into ever more intricate knots and skids around several yawning plot holes.” – Sight & Sound Nov 14, 2019 Full Review American Woman (2018) 89% EDIT “American Woman doesn't tie everything up neatly, but that's one of its strengths. And in its empathy and patience, it offers Miller the part this too often sidelined actor has long deserved; she seizes it superbly.” – Sight & Sound Oct 14, 2019 Full Review The Favourite (2018) 93% EDIT “The Favourite gratifyingly proves that Lanthimos can put his mordantly idiosyncratic stamp on even the staidest of genres.” – Sight & Sound Jan 1, 2019 Full Review Under the Bridges (1946) EDIT “Neither the humour nor the pathos is overdone, and the details of the bargees' domestic life are filled in with affectionate care.” – Sight & Sound Jul 10, 2018 Full Review Goodbye First Love (2011) 83% EDIT “Effectively extends the range of one of France's most notable young directors - besides reminding those of us who once suffered the pangs of teenage love that we're very well out of it.” – Sight & Sound Jul 6, 2018 Full Review Redoubtable (2017) 54% EDIT “there's a playful irreverence about the narrative treatment that keeps it watchable, and Garrel, often seen as a narcissistic actor, paradoxically gives perhaps his most likeable performance yet as a largely dislikeable character.” – Sight & Sound May 11, 2018 Full Review Lean on Pete (2017) 90% EDIT “For all its sometimes over-episodic structure, Haigh has crafted a quietly affecting coming-of-age journey tale sustained by a central performance that never feels forced or contrived.” – Sight & Sound May 9, 2018 Full Review La Grande Bouffe (1973) 60% 4/5 EDIT “First released in 1973, the best-known movie from Italian director Marco Ferreri is an extravagantly bad-taste satire.” – Total Film May 3, 2018 Full Review Beast (2017) 92% EDIT “Beast maintains, at least until a comparative let-down of an ending, a compelling degree of sexual and psychological tension, for which its two lead performances - Buckley's in particular - can claim much of the credit.” – Sight & Sound Apr 26, 2018 Full Review Sightseers (2012) 86% EDIT “Not only is Sightseers a relishable achievement for its devisers, Lowe and Oram, but it enhances Wheatley's reputation as currently the most refreshingly offbeat and unpredictable director of British crime movies.” – Sight & Sound Apr 9, 2018 Full Review A Field in England (2013) 86% EDIT “Laurie Rose, Wheatley's regular DP, brings to the film the same charged feel for landscape he so potently demonstrated in Sightseers.” – Sight & Sound Apr 4, 2018 Full Review Unsane (2018) 80% EDIT “Unsane ingeniously maps out fresh territory in a well-trodden field.” – Sight & Sound Mar 22, 2018 Full Review 2/5 EDIT “Overall, it might've worked better in a one-hour TV slot.” – Total Film Feb 6, 2018 Full Review Darkest Hour (2017) 84% 4/5 EDIT “An Oscar-aimed turn from Gary Oldman anchors this WW2 portrait of Churchill at his most beleaguered. Just mind the gap...” – Total Film Jan 9, 2018 Full Review Hostiles (2017) 71% 6 EDIT “If there's one major oversight in this film, for all its epic scope, it's that despite its sincerely felt subject matter, everything is seen throughout from the viewpoint of the white folks.” – Sight & Sound Jan 4, 2018 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More