Leigh Paatsch Movie Reviews & Previews

Critics » Leigh Paatsch

Leigh Paatsch

Agrees with the Tomatometer 79% of the time.

Publications:: Courier Mail (Australia) , Daily Telegraph , Daily Telegraph (Australia) , Herald Sun (Australia) , New York Post

Total Reviews:: 389

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Showing 1 - 50 of 389

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
2/5	17%	Zambezia (2013)	" A nice morning out at the cinema for toddlers, but that's about it." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 15, 2013
4.5/5	76%	Kick-Ass (2010)	" With its electrifying action sequences, a killer storyline and a maverick comic sensibility, the brilliance of Kick Ass will hit those who want to see it like a thunderbolt." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 12, 2013
1.5/5	9%	The Host (2013)	" It is almost impossible to believe this high-concept, low-impact sludge is being pumped into cinemas by a filmmaker as once upon a time as talented as Andrew Niccol." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Mar 27, 2013
4/5	93%	Amour (2012)	" A multiple award winner at film festivals around the globe, and it is easy to see why. Highly recommended." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Feb 22, 2013
2.5/5	95%	West of Memphis (2012)	" The most intriguing and worthy aspect of this accomplished documentary is that it never lets anyone forget the biggest tragedy of the many threaded through this story - the helpless children who never deserved the brutal fate handed to them." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Feb 14, 2013
1.5/5	46%	The Sweeney (2013)	" The Sweeney is a modern mauling of an old TV show that went quite alright in its day. If only because it was so consistently cheap, nasty and entertaining. The new version? Just nasty." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Feb 14, 2013
3/5	81%	Pitch Perfect (2012)	" On purely escapist terms, however, the over-supply of so-so sounds is never enough to ruin anyone's enjoyment of a very likeable picture." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Dec 7, 2012
3/5	70%	Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)	" Celeste and Jesse Forever overcomes many potential limitations because its characters are so richly drawn." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Nov 29, 2012
4/5	92%	Skyfall (2012)	" This is one of the 50-year-old series' most exciting and commandingly compelling entries. Yes, James Bond is back to being James Bond." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Nov 22, 2012
3/5	86%	The Master (2012)	" The Master is a film that deserves to be celebrated and castigated in equal measure." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Nov 8, 2012
3/5	60%	Last Dance ()	" Blake has long been an under-utilised national treasure in our acting ranks, and she anchors Last Dance with great presence and assurance." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Nov 1, 2012
4/5	87%	Frankenweenie (2012)	" Burton is in lively, playful and sharp form here, deftly balancing blatant eeriness with a chipper cheeriness that excuses many a macabre event. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 25, 2012
2/5	43%	To Rome with Love (2012)	" The vacuous dialogue in Allen's screenplay is exceptionally clunky. What he envisages as cheeky comes off as creaky." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 18, 2012
3/5	91%	Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)	" It is one of those nicely-made efforts where every element sits perfectly in place, but the director is too tentative to shift them around too much. So they just sit there. The choice is yours: enjoy the stillness, or move on." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 18, 2012
3.5/5	75%	Killing Them Softly (2012)	" While the aggression on-screen undoubtedly gets in your face at the time of viewing, there is also a cynical honesty that plays on your mind for some time afterwards. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 12, 2012
3/5	67%	Lawless (2012)	" The film as a whole is no classic. Between sporadic bursts of very intense violence, there are often drifty, drowsy scenes that struggle to justify their relevance. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 12, 2012
2/5	21%	Taken 2 (2012)	" Best enjoyed by those with short memories and a longing for needless excess." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 4, 2012
1/5	40%	Mental (2013)	" The crux of Mental's irksome inability to entertain is that a majority of its comedy scenes resolutely fail in their goal to change perceptions of psychiatric illness. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Oct 4, 2012
3/5	45%	On the Road (2012)	" To get the most from the long and winding 140-minute journey ahead, some knowledge of the book (or at least its reputation) is compulsory." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 27, 2012
3.5/5	87%	Arbitrage (2012)	" A ripping tale of high finance and low ethics, Arbitrage keeps its stocks continually on the rise due to a genuinely brilliant lead performance from the much-maligned Gere." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 27, 2012
4/5	93%	Looper (2012)	" With just his third feature, Looper's writer-director Rian Johnson reveals himself to be the most exciting and unorthodox filmmaker to splash into the mainstream since Christopher Nolan." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 27, 2012
3.5/5	43%	Hotel Transylvania (2012)	" Bursting with great ideas, mild scares and plenty of laughs, Hotel Transylvania is A-class family entertainment." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 20, 2012
3.5/5	79%	Ruby Sparks (2012)	" The film owes much of its success to the intricate and intimate chemistry of leads Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 20, 2012
3.5/5	79%	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)	" For now, it is a downright delight to sit back and watch the likes of the loony lemur king Julien do anything and everything to entertain you." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 13, 2012
5/5	86%	Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)	" Filmed with an amateur cast and staged with astonishing imagination and emotion, this is undoubtedly one of the great movie happenings of the year. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 13, 2012
2/5	26%	Kath & Kimderella ()	" Watching them totter around the backblocks of Italy just doesn't bring on the titters. Without their home ground advantage, the team falls to bits." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 6, 2012
3.5/5	83%	Your Sister's Sister (2012)	" Right from the get-go, this indie American talkfest exudes a confidence, a composure and, dare I say it, a cool that extinguishes any cynicism in the room. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Sep 6, 2012
2.5/5	65%	The Expendables 2 (2012)	" The best that can be said of these spectacularly stoo-pid scenes is that you can't look away from them. But my, oh my, you can laugh at them. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Aug 30, 2012
4.5/5	94%	Moonrise Kingdom (2012)	" Most will happily accept, and be truly enraptured by what unfolds." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Aug 30, 2012
2/5	31%	Total Recall (2012)	" All that can be recommended here are a few fleeting glimpses of a fun and funky future for consumer technology. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Aug 23, 2012
3.5/5	74%	Hope Springs (2012)	" Hope Springs is not so much a film that will grown on you, as one that will grow around you." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Aug 23, 2012
2/5	56%	The Bourne Legacy (2012)	" The Bourne Legacy in no way honours the Bourne legacy. It is merely an exercise in brand maintenance until Damon feels like climbing down off his wallet to be Bourne again." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Aug 16, 2012
3/5	93%	The Sapphires (2013)	" All shortcomings are invariably forgiven whenever the hyper-talented Mauboy gets near a microphone, and the film's winning selection of soul standards and original tunes fire up." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Aug 10, 2012
4/5	73%	The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)	" Welcome back, Spider-Man. If you can keep this up. then long may you continue to amaze." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Jul 5, 2012
2.5/5	37%	Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)	" The fourth is not about to hand in what is clearly a licence to print money." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Jun 29, 2012
3/5	78%	Brave (2012)	" Nice enough, but not essential. " — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Jun 21, 2012
4/5	74%	Prometheus (2012)	" The sheer ambition at work throughout Prometheus makes the occasional scripting hiccup a forgivable flaw." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Jun 8, 2012
	74%	Prometheus (2012)	" On a visual level, Prometheus truly delivers upon all expectations, with superb creature design and some of the best 3D production work since Avatar." — Daily Telegraph (Australia) Posted Jun 2, 2012
2/5	70%	Men in Black III (2012)	" This messy, overbearingly loud and barely diverting action comedy happens right in front of you. Then high-tails it out of your memory for good." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted May 25, 2012
	58%	The Dictator (2012)	" Yes, you will be offended. But there's no hope of not laughing often at a film dedicated "in loving memory of Kim Jong-il."" — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted May 14, 2012
2.5/5	38%	Dark Shadows (2012)	" With Dark Shadows, an erratic mish-mash of horror, comedy and camp period satire, Burton delivers less than even his most ardent followers might have bargained for." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted May 10, 2012
1.5/5	36%	Iron Sky (2012)	" Iron Sky really could have been something if only someone had written a decent script." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted May 10, 2012
3/5	67%	Trishna (2012)	" Pinto and Ahmed are not the most gifted of actors, their lack of screen chemistry actually fits their eternally disconnected characters curiously well." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted May 10, 2012
4/5	62%	Café de Flore (2012)	" Cafe de Flore lays out an open-ended obstacle course for heart and mind. Stay the distance and so much will stay with you for some time." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 26, 2012
3/5	83%	Wish You Were Here (2013)	" For the most part, this is consistently strong and intriguing stuff, let down only by a seemingly rushed (or possibly ill-conceived?) final act." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 26, 2012
3/5	80%	Spud ()	" Teens will find much to like about Spud but older audiences may find it familiar." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 20, 2012
	93%	Marvel's The Avengers (2012)	" This truly epic action picture positively pulses with panache, wit and excitement throughout." — Daily Telegraph (Australia) Posted Apr 19, 2012
4/5	100%	Life In Movement ()	" Though much of the film's context is ensconced in the dance industry, Life in Movement is a powerfully rendered tale of young creatives finding their place in the world." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 13, 2012
3/5	95%	L'ordre et la morale (Rebellion) ()	" As a director, [Kassovitz] throws some great moves -- a sequence where a gendarme explains how the station was invaded is a kind of 360-degree whirl of memories brought back to life." — Herald Sun (Australia) Posted Apr 12, 2012

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