Catherine Bray Movie Reviews & Previews

Critics » Catherine Bray

Catherine Bray

Agrees with the Tomatometer 77% of the time.

Publications:: Film4 , Times [UK]

Total Reviews:: 208

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Showing 51 - 100 of 208

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
5/5	98%	The Artist (2011)	" Goofily gorgeous, heartfelt and endlessly rewatchable, this is the true meaning of escapism - a doorway to another world, a world created to entertain eyes, heart and brain." — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
3/5	77%	War Horse (2011)	" If it doesn't quite manage to tap the well of emotion that this type of film aims to access, it's because of problems inherent to the basic pitch, rather than the execution." — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
2/5	44%	J. Edgar (2011)	" A failure, but an interesting failure when you step back and contemplate the project as a whole. Not really anybody's idea of a good time at the cinema that, though, is it?" — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
4.5/5	80%	Young Adult (2011)	" It's so rare that women get to play fully rounded, three dimensional, flawed human beings, that's it's almost kind of unsettling to realise that's what's going on here." — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
3/5	80%	Haywire (2012)	" If you want to see a female action star in the making convincingly kicking the crap out of a succession of photogenic boys, this is the ticket to buy." — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
1/5	13%	W.E. (2012)	" Enough already with the famous-equals-feminist school of female icons - it's not enough to simply dress well." — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
4/5	90%	Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)	" Neither the thriller the trailer suggests, not the feminine, visual poem the poster suggests, this is a film about loss of self that is absolutely clear about its own identity" — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
4.5/5	85%	21 Jump Street (2012)	" A good-natured must-see for fans of broad, silly comedies with a little something under the surface too. Bright, breezy and brilliant." — Film4 Posted Mar 22, 2012
2/5	38%	Cars 2 (2011)	" Cars 2 won't win any new converts, but will sell an awful lot of car toys." — Film4 Posted Jul 22, 2011
4/5	96%	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011)	" It may not contain many of the series' most comic, surprising or quotable moments, but it does succeed in bidding adieu in fine fashion to some of this century's most popular fictional characters." — Film4 Posted Jul 12, 2011
2.5/5	84%	The Tree of Life (2011)	" Possibly it reinforces our awareness that finding any sort of path through life is a pretty overwhelming business, but this is not a terribly radical conclusion." — Film4 Posted Jul 5, 2011
3/5	55%	The Conspirator (2011)	" Inoffensively didactic and probably of niche appeal in the UK, this is like watching a convincing re-enactment video in history class that's unexpectedly performed by a famous cast of genuine quality." — Film4 Posted Jun 29, 2011
1.5/5	36%	Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)	" A very long mess that's embarrassingly devoid of gut level thrills." — Film4 Posted Jun 27, 2011
2/5	35%	Larry Crowne (2011)	" I suspect it's supposed to be a heart-warming drama. It left my heart lukewarm, and there's precious little drama." — Film4 Posted Jun 27, 2011
4/5	90%	Bridesmaids (2011)	" A confident, self-assured comedy with nothing to prove. Fresh, occasionally foul-mouthed, and funny." — Film4 Posted Jun 21, 2011
2/5	61%	The Beaver (2011)	" Somewhat tedious once the initial novelty of seeing Mel Gibson talk using a beaver puppet has worn off." — Film4 Posted Jun 16, 2011
3/5	58%	Kaboom (2011)	" The soundtrack's the perfect mixtape, the visuals the perfect day-glo trashpop video - just don't expect too much in the way of boring old depth and meaning." — Film4 Posted Jun 10, 2011
3/5	81%	Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)	" The odd amusing line doesn't stop this being pretty bland stuff, but it should keep younger viewers occupied." — Film4 Posted Jun 8, 2011
4/5	73%	Heartbeats (2011)	" Every frame is a joy to look at, and the three leads very appealing." — Film4 Posted May 26, 2011
3/5	33%	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)	" There's nothing 'Stranger' about the tides of commercial appeal on which this entry in the franchise floats. Still, it looks nice." — Film4 Posted May 16, 2011
3/5	82%	The Way (2011)	" Thoughtful, well-intentioned and with the odd moment of true emotional resonance, but also overlong and with sometimes rather pat revelations." — Film4 Posted May 10, 2011
2.5/5	16%	Priest (2011)	" Not terrible." — Film4 Posted May 5, 2011
2.5/5	66%	Insidious (2011)	" Like the ghouls and ghosties confronted by its characters, Insidious overstays its welcome." — Film4 Posted Apr 27, 2011
2.5/5	78%	Fast Five (2011)	" Starts well with dippily exciting action and daft dialogue, but outstays its welcome as it devolves into a deeply daft Ocean's Eleven riff." — Film4 Posted Apr 21, 2011
4/5	100%	TT3D Closer To The Edge (2011)	" A thrilling, funny and moving human drama for pretty much everyone, not just biking enthusiasts." — Film4 Posted Apr 21, 2011
3/5	58%	Scream 4 (2011)	" Welcome to the one of the best fourth parts of a horror franchise ever made." — Film4 Posted Apr 18, 2011
3/5	86%	Meek's Cutoff (2011)	" Not an easy journey for the characters or their audience, Reichardt's film demands respect for its sheer bloody-minded determination to leave its own questions frustratingly up for debate." — Film4 Posted Apr 14, 2011
3/5	90%	Winnie the Pooh (2011)	" Even if you have your reservations about the Disneyfication of Winnie The Pooh, you should consider giving this charming film a whirl." — Film4 Posted Apr 14, 2011
2/5	26%	Your Highness (2011)	" There are funny lewd, crude comedies, and there are lame lewd, crude comedies. Regrettably, this is the second type." — Film4 Posted Apr 13, 2011
3/5	72%	Rio (2011)	" Bright, breezy, entertaining and essentially forgettable, Rio is pretty much everything you would hope for in a children's film, no more, no less." — Film4 Posted Apr 8, 2011
3.5/5	85%	Essential Killing (2012)	" An arresting snow-bound oddity concerning a character you can't care for and yet feel compelled to watch." — Film4 Posted Apr 4, 2011
3.5/5	91%	Source Code (2011)	" Gripping for the duration, and pacier than you might expect from a film where the same eight minutes play out repeatedly..." — Film4 Posted Apr 1, 2011
1.5/5	26%	Hop (2011)	" This Easter, celebrate with a slice of rabbit pie at home while avoiding this film." — Film4 Posted Mar 31, 2011
1/5	23%	Sucker Punch (2011)	" Proves that while masturbating over your cast may not make you blind, it can impair directorial vision." — Film4 Posted Mar 30, 2011
4/5	73%	Route Irish ()	" A film that's actually about something real? Incredible, but true." — Film4 Posted Mar 18, 2011
3/5	37%	The Resident (2012)	" Isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff, but if you're looking for Friday night thrills, The Resident should do the job." — Film4 Posted Mar 14, 2011
2/5	73%	The Adjustment Bureau (2011)	" It's a little like if Men In Black was recast with an army of John Majors, and about as sexy as that sounds." — Film4 Posted Mar 2, 2011
2.5/5	49%	No Strings Attached (2011)	" Quantum string theory, it ain't. But it's passable enough if you just fancy gawping at some glossy leads for a bit." — Film4 Posted Feb 25, 2011
4/5	97%	Animal Kingdom (2010)	" Excellent Aussie crime drama thoroughly deserving of its across-the-board rave reviews. We repeat: go and see it." — Film4 Posted Feb 24, 2011
1.5/5	5%	Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011)	" As magical as ever." — Film4 Posted Feb 22, 2011
2.5/5	32%	I Am Number Four (2011)	" Genre fans are advised to steer clear." — Film4 Posted Feb 22, 2011
2.5/5	20%	The Rite (2011)	" The Rite covers similar thematic ground to that trodden recently by the more effective and fun The Last Exorcism." — Film4 Posted Feb 22, 2011
3/5	45%	Drive Angry (2011)	" The juicy, toxic and unhealthy cinema equivalent of the biggest, tastiest and least nutritional burger you've ever wolfed down in a moment of heedless gluttony." — Film4 Posted Feb 22, 2011
1.5/5	19%	Just Go with It (2011)	" The ideal date movie if your tactic is to yawn your inamorata into bed - even the most unremarkable sex would be more diverting." — Film4 Posted Feb 14, 2011
4.5/5	96%	True Grit (2010)	" Solid, classy entertainment with something for practically everyone, from casual film fans to Coen brothers obsessives." — Film4 Posted Feb 14, 2011
2/5	53%	Brighton Rock (2011)	" A push-me-pull-you film straining in all sorts of different directions and getting nowhere." — Film4 Posted Feb 7, 2011
3/5	90%	The Fighter (2010)	" Predictable, but solid enough." — Film4 Posted Feb 7, 2011
1/5	4%	A Little Bit Of Heaven (2012)	" A Little Bit Of Heaven makes you ask some really big questions. The biggest is why anyone involved in this film thought any of it was a good idea." — Film4 Posted Feb 2, 2011
2/5	80%	Barney's Version (2011)	" Do yourself and the normally appealing Giamatti a favour and watch Sideways again instead." — Film4 Posted Jan 31, 2011
2/5	32%	How Do You Know (2010)	" Seemingly well-intentioned and inoffensive - but there are so many other films that do this sort of thing faster, better and with more jokes, including a couple from writer-director James L Brook's own back catalogue." — Film4 Posted Jan 31, 2011
3.5/5	87%	Black Swan (2010)	" Don't get mad, get sexy! If this doesn't get the kids interested in ballet, nothing will." — Film4 Posted Jan 21, 2011
2/5	34%	I Spit On Your Grave (2010)	" Doesn't appear to set out to eroticise rape, but equally doesn't care if eroticising rape is a by-product of its aim to provoke an emotive reaction - any reaction - in viewers" — Film4 Posted Jan 21, 2011
3/5	44%	The Green Hornet (2011)	" Equal parts amusing and tedious - but not in any sense the disaster some have called it." — Film4 Posted Jan 18, 2011
3/5	68%	Conviction (2010)	" Commendable without being especially electrifying, Conviction is held together by committed performances, despite a relative lack of flair in other departments." — Film4 Posted Jan 18, 2011
4/5	88%	Blue Valentine (2010)	" A rarely cheery but carefully crafted look at flawed and all-too human behaviour, worth seeing for Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling's sincere, intelligent performances." — Film4 Posted Jan 18, 2011
2.5/5	52%	The Next Three Days (2010)	" Occasionally tense middlebrow thriller that lacks both the set pieces needed to really ramp up the tension and the subtlety to make you care much about the characters." — Film4 Posted Jan 6, 2011
4/5	36%	Burlesque (2010)	" Yes, it bears absolutely no resemblance to the historical art of burlesque, but that's like complaining Jurassic Park didn't have enough palaeontology in it." — Film4 Posted Jan 5, 2011
2/5	48%	Love and Other Drugs (2010)	" A mess, but one of those messes where it's at least fun to debate the different ways in which it got it so wrong and could have been great." — Film4 Posted Jan 5, 2011
2/5	10%	Little Fockers (2010)	" With some dreadfully unfunny scenes sprinkled with occasional comic highlights mainly involving Owen Wilson, this is barely passable stuff." — Film4 Posted Dec 23, 2010
2.5/5	51%	Tron Legacy (2010)	" An embarrassing and unhappy compromise between the bland, lacklustre characterisation of The Phantom Menace and the achingly naff would-be cool of The Matrix sequels." — Film4 Posted Dec 7, 2010
3/5	86%	Unstoppable (2010)	" Dear me, but director Tony Scott is a wily fox." — Film4 Posted Nov 29, 2010
2/5	15%	Skyline (2010)	" Pure tosh. On absolutely no account pay money to see this film. Wait until it's given away free with a magazine and start at around the forty minute mark." — Film4 Posted Nov 15, 2010
2/5	90%	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2011)	" Mesmeric in the way that staring at a tank of tropical fish for a couple of hours is mesmeric. Still, just the ticket if you're high, recovering from major surgery or are a cat." — Film4 Posted Nov 15, 2010
3.5/5	93%	The Kids Are All Right (2010)	" A light, lovingly handled tale about the difficulties of staying in love." — Film4 Posted Nov 3, 2010
2/5	59%	Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)	" Another proud entry in the Loud Noises Are Scary sub-genre of horror that fails to engage on anything more than the silliest level. You're better off sticking with Britain's Most Haunted." — Film4 Posted Oct 27, 2010
2/5	28%	Charlie St. Cloud (2010)	" Let's all go play baseball in the park with some ghosts, rather than wasting our time watching this silly, silly film." — Film4 Posted Oct 13, 2010
2.5/5	55%	Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)	" A lumbering beast that's stately where it should be nimble. Best stick with the original film." — Film4 Posted Oct 13, 2010
5/5	96%	The Social Network (2010)	" A rare and vital film that nails the concerns of privileged post-adolescence in the first few years of the 21st century, and, more universally, draws out eternal themes of truth, subjectivity and envy with an effortless elegance." — Film4 Posted Oct 13, 2010
3.5/5	86%	Buried (2010)	" Compulsive entertainment with an intelligent script that knows exactly how to maximise its cat-and-mouse tensions, slyly inviting us to appreciate and anticipate the inventive contributions of the cat quite as much as the mouse." — Film4 Posted Sep 29, 2010
4.5/5	89%	World's Greatest Dad (2009)	" A startlingly excellent dark comedy about the power of positive posthumous PR. One of 2010's must-see movies." — Film4 Posted Sep 22, 2010
5/5	52%	I'm Still Here (2010)	" Joaquin Phoenix gives the performance of a lifetime. Funny, tragic, compulsive and utterly one of a kind, you must see this film." — Film4 Posted Sep 17, 2010
4/5	52%	Going the Distance (2010)	" If you're looking for a fun date movie with realistic characters you can genuinely root for, see this film. Best rom-com of the year? Quite likely." — Film4 Posted Sep 16, 2010
4/5	94%	Winter's Bone (2010)	" A sparse, engaging film perhaps easier to respect than love, but by any measure hugely compelling." — Film4 Posted Sep 16, 2010
2/5	78%	The Other Guys (2010)	" If you liked Anchorman, you'll probably find things to like about The Other Guys, but it's not a classic even for rabid Ferrell enthusiasts." — Film4 Posted Sep 16, 2010
2.5/5	51%	The Switch (2010)	" Another week, another Jennifer Aniston rom-com. This one's passable, but saddled with a problematic central plot device." — Film4 Posted Sep 9, 2010
3.5/5	69%	The Runaways (2010)	" Really, how can you not love Joan Jett weeing on a guitar then slipping over in her own piss? It's Frank Spencer meets Sid Vicious." — Film4 Posted Sep 9, 2010
3/5	69%	The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2010)	" The main pleasure in The Girl Who Played With Fire is in spending more time with the characters who made such a vivid impression in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." — Film4 Posted Sep 2, 2010
4/5	73%	The Last Exorcism (2010)	" Something that helps distinguish The Last Exorcism is the care with which it sets out its stall." — Film4 Posted Sep 2, 2010
3/5	62%	Salt (2010)	" Daft, but entertaining enough while it lasts, and it's oddly fun to see that venerable villainess, the Cold War, showing the young upstarts how it's done." — Film4 Posted Aug 26, 2010
2/5	41%	The Expendables (2010)	" We can understand the need to have a support group for elderly action heroes who want to relive the glory years. But did they have to release it as a film? Unnecessary." — Film4 Posted Aug 26, 2010
5/5	95%	Mother (Madeo) (2010)	" A deceptively simple and humorous tale with wonderfully nasty flashes of violence that feel entirely real." — Film4 Posted Aug 26, 2010
4/5	100%	Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) (1920)	" Pre-dating even early genre landmarks Nosferatu (1922) and Metropolis (1926) by some distance, Robert Wiene's silent film is both influential and one of a kind. " — Film4 Posted Aug 26, 2010
4/5	85%	Black Dynamite (2009)	" Hilarious, and at just 85 minutes long, never outstays its welcome." — Film4 Posted Aug 12, 2010
4/5	84%	Down Terrace (2010)	" This proves you don't necessarily need money when you've got an honest, striking script." — Film4 Posted Aug 5, 2010
2.5/5	52%	Knight & Day (2010)	" Knight And Day is to cinema what Andre The Giant was to acting." — Film4 Posted Aug 5, 2010
1.5/5	14%	Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)	" Now here's a film there's absolutely no excuse for." — Film4 Posted Aug 5, 2010
3/5	46%	Step Up 3-D (2010)	" How can you not find a space in your heart for a 21st century villain saddled with the name Julien?" — Film4 Posted Aug 5, 2010
2.5/5	42%	The Rebound (2009)	" There is much about The Rebound that does not work, but you can't help giving it some credit for attempting to roam slightly outside the scope of most rom-coms, even if it can't entirely pull it off." — Film4 Posted Jul 22, 2010
	68%	Leaving (Partir) (2010)	" A drama that stands or falls by the strength of its lead. Fortunately, that lead is Kristin Scott Thomas, and she's superb." — Film4 Posted Jul 20, 2010
	61%	The Concert (Le concert) (2010)	" If you played classical music to your unborn child in the hopes of spawning a genius, this one's for you." — Film4 Posted Jul 20, 2010
	97%	Rapt (2011)	" A taut thriller with a nasty streak, you may not want to take these characters home for tea and cakes, but you'll want to find out what happens to them." — Film4 Posted Jul 20, 2010
5/5	86%	Inception (2010)	" Can a summer blockbuster with a multi-million dollar budget really be this smart, moving and intellectually thrilling? Pinch yourselves, we could still be dreaming." — Film4 Posted Jul 13, 2010
3/5	63%	Predators (2010)	" It's not as much sheer fun as Predator, but then again, what is?" — Film4 Posted Jul 7, 2010
3.5/5	49%	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)	" Better than the first two instalments, but not likely to endear itself to detractors, Eclipse is all about the trashy topless wolves, dreamy abstinent vampires and doomy teenaged longing, with Hard Candy director David Slade making the most of a marginall" — Film4 Posted Jul 2, 2010
1.5/5	71%	Tetro (2009)	" It would be kindest to ignore Tetro." — Film4 Posted Jun 25, 2010
3/5	56%	Trash Humpers (2010)	" There's no real narrative, just three folk in latex OAP masks snorting and cackling through a series of often noctural adventures with wheelchairs, hookers and undead-looking street poet types." — Film4 Posted Jun 24, 2010
2.5/5	32%	Wild Target (2010)	" Wild Target is a remake of a French farce, and it shows." — Film4 Posted Jun 24, 2010
4/5	87%	Please Give (2010)	" This is a small film, which, if you're open to it, will draw you into the lives of people you quickly forget are fictional." — Film4 Posted Jun 24, 2010
4/5	72%	Get Him to the Greek (2010)	" Unlike many of 2010's comedies so far, hilarity does indeed ensue." — Film4 Posted Jun 24, 2010

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