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The Herald (Ireland)

Tomatometer-approved publication.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
What Richard Did (2012) George Byrne In lesser hands, What Richard Did could have been a judgmental mess. Instead, it's a measured human drama set in a Dublin rarely seen on screen.
Posted Apr 30, 2020  Edit critic review
3/5
Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans (2015) Pat Stacey The race sequences, shot with car-mounted cameras, are dazzling, but otherwise it's a bore. Mind you, the documentary's suggestion that McQueen stuck to safe fare like The Getaway and The Towering Inferno thereafter is wrong.
Posted Mar 19, 2020  Edit critic review
1/5
I Am Patrick: The Patron Saint of Ireland (2020) Pat Stacey I Am Patrick, written and directed by Jarrod Anderson, is just crushingly dull and lifeless. The aerial drone shots of the Irish landscape look great, but aerial drone shots of anywhere look great.
Posted Mar 17, 2020  Edit critic review
1/5
The Turning (2020) Chris Wasser Such an odd, odd film.
Posted Jan 27, 2020  Edit critic review
5/5
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) Chris Wasser If you've read the novel, it's a glorious adaptation. If you haven't, it's still the first perfect comedy of 2020.
Posted Jan 27, 2020  Edit critic review
4/5
Just Mercy (2019) Chris Wasser Eventually, Just Mercy finds its rhythm, utilising the talent of its leading men and women and the incredible details of the true story from which it takes its cue, to deliver something that is both moving and engaging.
Posted Jan 20, 2020  Edit critic review
5/5
Uncut Gems (2019) Chris Wasser A fabulous, uncompromising piece of cinema.
Posted Jan 14, 2020  Edit critic review
5/5
1917 (2019) Chris Wasser An astonishing achievement in filmmaking, this isn't just another week at the pictures - this is, indeed, one of the greatest war films ever made.
Posted Jan 14, 2020  Edit critic review
4/5
Jojo Rabbit (2019) Chris Wasser A strange yet wonderful little film.
Posted Jan 07, 2020  Edit critic review
4/5
Little Women (2019) Chris Wasser A sweet, charming and affectionate film that delights and devastates in equal measure.
Posted Dec 27, 2019  Edit critic review
1/5
Cats (2019) Chris Wasser Every now and then a film comes along that requires a level of strength, courage and, indeed, patience, the likes of which I am simply unequipped for.
Posted Dec 23, 2019  Edit critic review
A Christmas Carol (2018) Darragh McManus A Christmas Carol looks gorgeous but is too stilted, too mannered, too self-aware and, ultimately, too slow. Bah, humbug.
Posted Dec 23, 2019  Edit critic review
2/5
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Chris Wasser The ending makes no sense. It is, I'm sorry to say, an outrageously dull watch, a monumental disappointment, and a flimsy finale to the Skywalker Saga.
Posted Dec 20, 2019  Edit critic review
(undefined) Pat Stacey Kevin Brannigan's fabulous, funny documentary In League with Gaddafi told a strange story of mad dogs and Irishmen going out in the Libyan midday sun.
Posted Dec 19, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
Elizabeth is Missing (2019) Pat Stacey What really matters here is [Glenda] Jackson. She's sensational, conveying the dreadful sadness, anger, confusion and fear of a woman who sees her memory, her very self, slipping uncontrollably from her grasp and sliding into the darkness.
Posted Dec 11, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
Honey Boy (2019) Chris Wasser It helps that there is both heart and lightness in their story, and though it may well have its flaws, Honey Boy remains one of the year's warmest, cinematic oddities.
Posted Dec 09, 2019  Edit critic review
2/5
The Last Right (2019) Chris Wasser [I]t's so frustrating to see The Last Right aim so spectacularly low in its execution, resulting in a film that is annoyingly broad and surprisingly lazy.
Posted Dec 09, 2019  Edit critic review
1/5
Charlie's Angels (2019) Chris Wasser It's an incompetent mess, basically, and I can't quite believe it exists.
Posted Dec 01, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Last Christmas (2019) Chris Wasser It's a fascinating mishap of a display, but one that held my attention in ways that better films haven't this year. In a word? Grand.
Posted Nov 18, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
The Night Before (2015) Chris Wasser This is the kind of movie where no amount of alcohol or class A narcotics can break our protagonists down. They just keep on rockin' hard - sometimes, with Miley Cyrus. It's kinda hilarious.
Posted Nov 05, 2019  Edit critic review
2/5
The Addams Family (2019) Chris Wasser It's just a witless selection of sight gags, creaky one-liners, rickety morals and dated pop culture references, thrown together with minimum regard for the source material. Get it out of my sight, please.
Posted Oct 28, 2019  Edit critic review
5/5
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) Chris Wasser Brilliantly written, scored, acted, photographed and edited, TLBINSF also signals the arrival of a gifted and vibrant young director, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.
Posted Oct 28, 2019  Edit critic review
1/5
Dark Lies the Island (2019) Chris Wasser Cheap, incoherent and sorely lacking in structure and sense, Ian Fitzgibbon and Kevin Barry's film is exactly the kind of oddball dramedy that this country used to be famous for. But we've moved on. We know better now. Down with this sort of thing.
Posted Oct 20, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) Pat Stacey While it's great to be back in the company of Aaron Paul, I'm not so sure you'd be missing out on a lot if you skipped El Camino. Viewers who know Breaking Bad inside out can probably figure out Jesse's ultimate geographical destination.
Posted Oct 15, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
A Bump Along The Way (2019) Chris Wasser A Bump Along the Way transcends its ordinary, soap-opera set-up to deliver something that is both beautiful and heartbreaking.
Posted Oct 14, 2019  Edit critic review
5/5
Joker (2019) Chris Wasser It's a piece of art; a dark, devastating yet mesmerising offering, in which Phoenix - whose magnetic and eerily graceful Joker hobbles and dances his way from mentally unstable loser to despicable murderer - gives the performance of a lifetime.
Posted Oct 05, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Judy (2019) Chris Wasser Goold's film - though capably performed, and reasonably well assembled - isn't nearly as good, or as insightful, as it might have been, and you come away with more questions than you had going in.
Posted Oct 04, 2019  Edit critic review
Ad Astra (2019) Chris Wasser Ad Astra - an arty, textured space epic, with a brain, and a heart - has more in common with say, Interstellar, than it does with Armageddon.
Posted Sep 22, 2019  Edit critic review
The Farewell (2019) Chris Wasser Armed with a tender, naturalistic screenplay and a charming, committed ensemble, The Farewell is a wonderfully acted family drama, and a note-perfect one, at that. Lovely stuff, altogether.
Posted Sep 22, 2019  Edit critic review
1/5
The Kitchen (2019) Chris Wasser Great cast, awful film.
Posted Sep 22, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Extra Ordinary (2019) Chris Wasser The extraordinary thing about Extra Ordinary - and believe me, there are a lot of extraordinary things about this homegrown, supernatural comedy - is that it is just as bonkers on screen as it is on paper.
Posted Sep 16, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Untouchable (2019) Pat Stacey Untouchable is compelling but uneven and imperfect; a welcome first strike, but no more than that.
Posted Sep 03, 2019  Edit critic review
2/5
(undefined) Pat Stacey It's a short documentary, running just 40 minutes. Alas, it's also short on rigour and bite.
Posted Jul 25, 2019  Edit critic review
Deadwood: The Movie (2019) Pat Stacey Ironically, for a series in which so many the characters were motivated by selfishness, ambition, greed or unadulterated wickedness, this was a surprisingly warm, almost sentimental finale.
Posted Jun 07, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) Chris Wasser We should be thankful for Efron, whose unsettling performance as a man who seemed to genuinely believe his own lies, leaves a mark. It's an extraordinary turn in an ordinary film.
Posted May 03, 2019  Edit critic review
3/5
Shazam! (2019) Chris Wasser Shazam! gets a little greedy towards the end, and it could probably stand to lose at least 20 minutes from its noisy finale. But hey, it gets the job done. It might just kick-start a new franchise. It's a bit of a hoot. I didn't see that coming.
Posted Apr 05, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
Cold Pursuit (2019) Chris Wasser A witty, smart and imaginative display, Cold Pursuit digs a hell of a lot deeper than it needs to. The closer our man in the winter coat gets to the Viking, the more this story opens up into some weird and deliciously dark places.
Posted Feb 22, 2019  Edit critic review
4/5
Instant Family (2018) Chris Wasser It's a very well-acted display, and you know something else? It's far better than we had any right to expect. A feel-good movie for everyone? Oh, go on, then.
Posted Feb 15, 2019  Edit critic review
Destroyer (2018) Chris Wasser It all hangs on a career-best performance from a committed and frighteningly convincing Kidman. That woman is in the form of her life at the minute.
Posted Jan 25, 2019  Edit critic review
5/5
Springsteen on Broadway (2018) Pat Stacey Stripping the songs back to their basics - only a voice and an instrument - lets the lyrics breathe, bringing out their beauty and aching poignancy.
Posted Dec 17, 2018  Edit critic review
5/5
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Chris Wasser The whole thing is a zippy, frenetic and surprisingly meta commentary on the comic-book industry - but it also has a heart, a fabulous voice cast, and comes equipped with some of the sharpest punchlines of the year.
Posted Dec 13, 2018  Edit critic review
Sorry to Bother You (2018) Chris Wasser What we're left with is a bizarre, angry and surprisingly disorganised film that prioritises themes over storytelling. Pity.
Posted Dec 07, 2018  Edit critic review
3/5
Disobedience (2017) Chris Wasser Disobedience is a bit too fond of itself, and isn't nearly as smart as it thinks it is. It's hard work, basically. Weisz is strong here, as is Nivola. But Rachel McAdams is sorely miscast as Esti, and her British accent is all over the place.
Posted Nov 30, 2018  Edit critic review
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) Chris Wasser A brilliant Claire Foy is at the top of her game here, even if the rest of the film isn't.
Posted Nov 27, 2018  Edit critic review
2/5
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018) Chris Wasser Underwhelming, unimaginative and uninspired, this cold and careless adaptation is severely lacking in the zingers department.
Posted Nov 12, 2018  Edit critic review
4/5
Overlord (2018) Chris Wasser Yes, Overlord is outrageous, violent, gory, absurd, upsetting and all the rest of it. It probably shouldn't work quite as well as it does.
Posted Nov 12, 2018  Edit critic review
4/5
Katie (2018) Chris Wasser It's a beautiful documentary, basically, and Katie Taylor comes out of it looking very well, indeed. It's a bit of a knockout.
Posted Oct 29, 2018  Edit critic review
4/5
The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid (2017) Chris Wasser With The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid, Irish director Feargal Ward has crafted one of the most unique and, perhaps, indefinable pieces of cinema this year.
Posted Oct 22, 2018  Edit critic review
3/5
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) Chris Wasser Goosebumps 2 is like something you'd see on Nickelodeon around this time of year - glossy, spooky, well-acted, and just about entertaining enough for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Posted Oct 19, 2018  Edit critic review
5/5
A Star Is Born (2018) Chris Wasser Here we have a film that is as accomplished as they come; a muscular, note-perfect, old-fashioned, cinematic event that longs to be experienced on the big screen - preferably, one with a stellar sound system.
Posted Oct 05, 2018  Edit critic review
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