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The Nightly (AU)

The Nightly (AU) is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Wenlei Ma.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
4/5
The Secret Agent (2025) Wenlei Ma As a thriller, The Secret Agent is exciting and entertaining, an evocative piece of art that’s wholly lived in, plunging you into a messy and tense environment of political repression and fear.
Posted Jan 27, 2026  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Hamnet (2025) Wenlei Ma At the risk of seeming woo-woo, Hamnet does hold you in a metaphorical embrace, one which gives you permission to feel connected to emotions the rest of the world tells you to push down.
Posted Jan 27, 2026  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Marty Supreme (2025) Wenlei Ma Josh Safdie’s film commands your attention, and in casting Chalamet, one of the most talented actors of his generation who turns in an undeniably gung-ho performance, Marty Supreme earns it.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
Christy (2025) Wenlei Ma Christy is a film you want to admire rather than one you like.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
5/5
Sentimental Value (2025) Wenlei Ma This is a film that sets out to make you feel things, but does it with seeming effortlessness, so you never feel like big moments are being signposted.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Wenlei Ma It’s not offensive. It’s not the worst thing you’ll see all year. What it is, is boring. Mind-numbingly boring. Dozed off in the chair boring. Thinking about your supermarket shopping list boring.
Posted Dec 16, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) Wenlei Ma Twisty murder mystery that tickles not just your brain but your funny bone.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Zootopia 2 (2025) Wenlei Ma Zootopia 2 is not only a family film that caters to all ages, but its jokes are so clever, it will make you feel as if the filmmakers wrote it just for you
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Wicked: For Good (2025) Wenlei Ma Wicked For Good lacks the dynamism and energy of its predecessor. Without the razzle-dazzle seduction and distraction double-punch of the first part’s many, big, all-in numbers, it falls flat much of the time.
Posted Nov 19, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Die My Love (2025) Wenlei Ma Die My Love is a challenging experience that pokes and prods, makes you unsettled, gives you few answers and lets you languish in the discomfort.
Posted Nov 05, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Bugonia (2025) Wenlei Ma Bugonia belongs to Jesse Plemons. The desperation, the righteousness and just the sweatiness makes Teddy both magnetic and repulsive.
Posted Nov 05, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Mastermind (2025) Wenlei Ma It unfolds quite leisurely, a hallmark of Kelly Reichardt whose pacing is always deliberate and contemplative, challenging viewers to sit in a moment.
Posted Oct 25, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025) Wenlei Ma Jeremy Allen White's performance is the best thing about the film which is otherwise a middle-of-the-road biopic with good intentions that ultimately fails to match the legacy of an incredible album and artist.
Posted Oct 23, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Frankenstein (2025) Wenlei Ma It is, in a nutshell, a lot. Too long. Too obvious. Too much.
Posted Oct 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Roofman (2025) Wenlei Ma It’s Derek Cianfrance’s ability to explore the multiplicities in a person, all the good, the bad and the spaces in between, that makes his films such wonderful and complex little gems.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
TRON: Ares (2025) Wenlei Ma Tron: Ares is a visual and audio assault so overwhelming to the senses that this is one movie which might actually be better seen on a medium screen, rather than the biggest one you can find. Your eardrums and retinas will thank you for it later.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (2025) Wenlei Ma Your pulse will quicken, your knuckles will whiten, and you will consider the prospect of nuclear annihilation as more likely than before the viewing.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Lost Bus (2025) Wenlei Ma In Paul Greengrass’s hands, The Lost Bus is high-octane action underscored by the intimacy of the human stories that are caught in the whirlwind of these greater disasters.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
HIM (2025) Wenlei Ma Him falls apart in the second half as it becomes overwhelmed by everything it wants to say about football as a religion - and subtext very quickly becomes text.
Posted Oct 17, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
The Smashing Machine (2025) Wenlei Ma The Smashing Machine, for something that promised an unforgettable story about a legend, is too ordinary to make a real impression.
Posted Oct 01, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025) Wenlei Ma The worst part is that at only 82 minutes, you’ll still find yourself restless and wondering when is it going to wrap up. There wasn’t even enough funny material to sustain that length with the final act basically just a concert film.
Posted Oct 01, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
One Battle After Another (2025) Wenlei Ma It’s not just that it is superbly crafted on every level, it is also properly entertaining. It has a momentum that propels everything forward always, and never wavers in capturing and holding your attention.
Posted Sep 23, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) Wenlei Ma The film is laden with schmaltz without offering anything that hasn’t already been pinned to thousands of Pinterest boards. Live, laugh, love!
Posted Sep 21, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Lesbian Space Princess (2025) Wenlei Ma Lesbian Space Princess is a winning, lovable film that genuinely tickles and hugs while also giving you plenty of reasons to laugh and rave about how wonderful it is that this little pocket rocket of a film was made here at home.
Posted Sep 21, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Naked Gun (2025) Wenlei Ma The Naked Gun is an unadulterated good time, absolutely brimming with sight gags, one-liners and goofy humour. Only the most joyless would oppose its existence.
Posted Aug 12, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Friend (2024) Wenlei Ma The Friend is a stirring and thoughtful film that taps into that exquisite connection between humans and every very good dog.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Friendship (2024) Wenlei Ma Friendship approaches male friendship in an off-beat and cringe but very funny way.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) Wenlei Ma Fantastic Four: First Steps has proper emotional stakes and the actors to convincingly pull them off.
Posted Jul 24, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Superman (2025) Wenlei Ma If James Gunn’s Superman is today’s pop culture representation of American optimism and good, it’s something you want to believe in, no matter how naïve that might be.
Posted Jul 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) Wenlei Ma Every death in Jurassic World Rebirth is kind of comical, and it really highlights that this is a franchise that struggles with stakes.
Posted Jul 02, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Heads of State (2025) Wenlei Ma Heads of State is so goddamn fun.
Posted Jul 02, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
F1 The Movie (2025) Wenlei Ma F1 is super entertaining and mostly a bloody good time, it comes with a lot of buts, caveats and howevers.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
28 Years Later (2025) Wenlei Ma There are far more quiet and contemplative moments than you’d expect, and relative newcomer Alfie Williams effectively carries the weight.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Elio (2025) Wenlei Ma Elio is perfectly amiable movie that will delight. Even a second-tier Pixar is better than most things in the known universe.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Echo Valley (2025) Wenlei Ma An overwrought, frustrating and flat melodrama that you’ll struggle to complete.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Materialists (2025) Wenlei Ma A seductive, zippy, and, dare we say it, more accessible love story that, beneath the surface, has some profound insights about romance.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Karate Kid: Legends (2025) Wenlei Ma Karate Kid: Legends sits at this intersection of something that effectively taps into the nostalgia of the franchise, evokes the warm-and-fuzzies, serves up an enjoyable experience, even if you know that it’s not a great movie.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Phoenician Scheme (2025) Wenlei Ma The Phoenician Scheme is very agreeable and charming.
Posted Jun 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Mountainhead (2025) Wenlei Ma It’s so anxiety-inducing that it feels like some Ken Loach-ian social realism rather than a Jesse Armstrong satire.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Fountain of Youth (2025) Wenlei Ma From the shallow characterisations and the jumpy plotting to the flat CGI, Fountain of Youth is no bounty worth seeking.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Lilo & Stitch (2025) Wenlei Ma But for the most part, this remake is a charming film. Was it necessary? No, but how many movies are. However, you can’t be offended it exists, and it has plenty of emotional moments and raucous shenanigans.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) Wenlei Ma Tom Cruise may be an adrenaline junkie chasing a high or maybe that it’s unnecessary, ego-driven showmanship, but it’s also why the franchise is so thrilling, and that after eight instalments, it still has the capacity to make you clench.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Wedding Banquet (2025) Wenlei Ma This version of The Wedding Banquet is not as essential as Ang Lee’s film, but it’s a cute movie with some lovely moments that feels exactly of this time.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Another Simple Favor (2025) Wenlei Ma It’s a movie made for the Instagram set. But it could be worse, at least it’s not made for TikTokers.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Thunderbolts* (2025) Wenlei Ma Thunderbolts is a taut thriller sprinkled with wry humour and packs grounded emotional resonance. The latter is a surprise for a film that’s sold as a romp, which it still is, but it is as focused on its characters as it is on explosions
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Accountant 2 (2025) Wenlei Ma The rest of the movie may still be as messy, but when Affleck and Bernthal are on screen together, you almost forget that none of it makes that much sense.
Posted May 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Sinners (2025) Wenlei Ma Do all the narrative and thematic threads come together? No. Sinners almost works better in parts than as a whole. But it’s always enthralling, as if you too is trapped in a spell, as if you’ve struck a bargain with the devil.
Posted Apr 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Drop (2025) Wenlei Ma Drop is certainly cheesy and outlandish at times, you’ll even roll your eyes once or twice. But like the most thrilling of those 90s thrillers, you’ll never be bored.
Posted Apr 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
G20 (2025) Wenlei Ma Viola Davis is the dealmaker. Sure, she brings an extra dimension of emotional truth and groundedness to the character, but it’s not just that. It’s also what Sutton symbolises.
Posted Apr 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Death of a Unicorn (2025) Wenlei Ma Death of a Unicorn operates on a level of “it’s fine”, without landing any knock-out blows.
Posted Apr 22, 2025  Edit critic review
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