Mark Dinning Movie Reviews & Previews

Critics » Mark Dinning

Mark Dinning

Agrees with the Tomatometer 87% of the time.

Publications:: Empire Magazine , Variety

Total Reviews:: 52

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Showing 1 - 50 of 52

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
3/5	81%	...And Justice For All (1979)	" If an uneasy mix of humour and sadness never quite gels, its message is clear and its cast uniformly strong." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 24, 2013
4/5	61%	Jack Reacher (2012)	" Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise deliver on their promise, with a witty, violent take on Reacher that makes up for its lack of height with an abundance of smarts and thrills." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 24, 2012
3/5	51%	Trouble with the Curve (2012)	" You'll know exactly where it's going, but it still has Clint doing full-on-cranky and is a fun finger-up at corporate suits the world over. " — Empire Magazine Posted Nov 25, 2012
5/5	95%	Raiders of the Lost Ark (2012)	" If Lucas is Raiders' guts and Kasdan its head, then Spielberg is its beating heart. Little wonder Part IV is still on the cards." — Empire Magazine Posted Sep 16, 2012
3/5	82%	Fast Girls (2013)	" Despite the whiff of soap, this should get you in the mood for the Olympic summer." — Empire Magazine Posted Jun 10, 2012
4/5	85%	Chronicle (2012)	" A stunning superhero/sci-fi that has appeared out of nowhere to demand your immediate attention." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 30, 2012
4/5	96%	Restrepo (2010)	" Powerful, terrifying and soulful, this real-life Hurt Locker is an intimate, often brilliant insight into combat and comradeship." — Empire Magazine Posted Oct 6, 2010
4/5	53%	Green Zone (2010)	" A wham-bam actioner, but its pointed political subtext ensures Damon and Greengrass deliver their most provocative mission yet." — Empire Magazine Posted Mar 9, 2010
4/5	45%	The Box (2009)	" Movie Marmite. Many will be perplexed. Donnie Darko fans should lap it up." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 4, 2009
4/5	64%	Harry Brown (2010)	" Caine's mesmerising, tough-as-old-boots performance makes Harry Brown, if no Get Carter 2, somewhere not a million miles removed. Get some." — Empire Magazine Posted Nov 13, 2009
3/5	90%	Big River Man (2009)	" Entertaining more as a portrait of a slightly unhinged sportsman than the biography of stunt." — Empire Magazine Posted Sep 4, 2009
4/5	68%	Funny People (2009)	" An absolute treat. In spite of its disappointing climax, this is Apatow's smartest, rudest and - yes - funniest film yet." — Empire Magazine Posted Aug 29, 2009
4/5	90%	Blow Out (1981)	" A forgotten gem." — Empire Magazine Posted Mar 27, 2009
2/5	38%	Zombie Strippers (2008)	" A brilliantly high-concept title and some decent gore aside, you're better off watching the version in your head. It will be infinitely more fun and have markedly improved production values." — Empire Magazine Posted Sep 19, 2008
5/5	94%	The Dark Knight (2008)	" Nolan cements his position as Hollywood's premier purveyor of blockbuster smarts." — Empire Magazine Posted Jul 15, 2008
4/5	63%	Dumb and Dumber (1994)	" [Featrues] a plethora of memorable scenes." — Empire Magazine Posted Apr 28, 2008
4/5	83%	Out of the Blue (Aramoana) (2007)	" A haunting, uplifting and never-exploitative portrayal of a terrifying real-life tragedy." — Empire Magazine Posted Mar 14, 2008
2/5	54%	Basic Instinct (1992)	" Truly bonkers, and perhaps something of a guilty pleasure." — Empire Magazine Posted Feb 8, 2008
2/5	21%	The Hitcher (2007)	" A depressingly formulaic reworking of a unique cult favourite that should have been left well alone. Stick with Rutger." — Empire Magazine Posted Jun 1, 2007
4/5	95%	Re-Animator (1985)	" The plot... took a genre obsessed with masked killers, monsters et al, completely by storm." — Empire Magazine Posted Apr 18, 2007
2/5	7%	Boat Trip (2003)	" It also has one of the most lame plots in the history of lame plots." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2006
4/5	59%	Blade II (2002)	" Popcorn nonsense for sure, but shot with a wit, skill and understanding of its audience all too rarely seen in the genre." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2006
4/5	71%	The Ring (2002)	" As a concept, it's flawed. As a remake, it's good. As modern horror, it's a firecracker." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2006
4/5	74%	Fah talai jone (Tears of the Black Tiger) (2007)	" Wonderfully shot in an oh-so-bright colour scheme and laced with a delightful sense of humour, the tale of gunslinger Dum and his childhood sweetheart Rumpoey is a joy." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2006
3/5	76%	Black Hawk Down (2001)	" Ambitious, sumptuously-framed and frenetic, Black Hawk Down occasionally errs on the confused, but is nonetheless a rare find of a war movie which dares to turn genre convention on its head." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2006
1/5	2%	The In Crowd (2000)	" Stone the crows! Or is that flog the dead horse? Either way, this is cobblers." — Empire Magazine Posted Dec 30, 2006
1/5	4%	Godsend (2003)	" It's mangled into an Omen-lite disaster area, thanks to a script torn between making a moral point about cloning and cheap shocks." — Empire Magazine Posted Jul 3, 2004
3/5	84%	Kill Bill, Volume 2 (2004)	" Go see it, laugh and flinch in all the right places, have a ball, but don't expect to remember this for years to come." — Empire Magazine Posted May 14, 2004
4/5	90%	Near Dark (1987)	" Kathryn Bigelow took on the big boys and won." — Empire Magazine Posted Aug 1, 2003
4/5	96%	Catch Me If You Can (2002)	" A fitting dessert to Spielberg's preceeding entree and main course of A.I. and Minority Report, and one hell of a ride." — Empire Magazine Posted Feb 2, 2003
3/5	26%	Swordfish (2001)	" Techno tosh, but fitfully great fun all the same." — Empire Magazine Posted Jul 27, 2001
3/5	32%	Along Came a Spider (2001)	" In terms of plotting, it's hardly breaking new ground, but spare a thought nonetheless for Morgan Freeman." — Empire Magazine Posted May 7, 2001
5/5	98%	Mean Streets (1973)	" A true rough diamond, Scorsese's breakthrough may be uneven, but at its heart lies fledgling genius." — Empire Magazine Posted May 3, 2001
	100%	The Terminator (1984)	" A tense, slickly executed thriller, which sent a relatively unknown Austrian bodybuilder screaming into the world's spotlight." — Empire Magazine Posted Mar 22, 2001
	37%	Beautiful Creatures (2001)	" Sadly little more than a (very) poor man's Thelma And Louise." — Empire Magazine Posted Feb 23, 2001
	87%	Nico and Dani (Krámpack) (2000)	" Vilches and ... Ramallo, both strong thesps, make a good pair and help keep the story from slipping into sleaziness." — Variety Posted Feb 7, 2001
	70%	Jacob's Ladder (1990)	" Admittedly it is sporadic and at times even rambling, but when it succeeds ... the results are positively haunting." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
4/5	96%	Bullets Over Broadway (1994)	" As one-liningly sharp and self-deprecating as you'd expect. If not more so." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
3/5	46%	Cherry Falls (2000)	" The disappointment is in an ultimately anaemic feel." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
1/5	7%	Chill Factor (1999)	" The makers were certainly never aiming for the cerebral, but nonetheless seem happy from the outset to simply cobble together a couple of action staples and hope it'll all work out. Strangely enough, it doesn't." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
	88%	Platoon (1986)	" Peppered with a superb cast." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
2/5	54%	Scary Movie (2000)	" Rendering this film fairly pointless." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
4/5	57%	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)	" A great work from a greater director, and a blockbuster of quite the most swashbuckling kind." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
	72%	Shallow Grave (1995)	" Brilliantly implicit, relentlessly paced, hilariously dark and underpinned by a central moral dilemma guaranteed to tease long after lights out." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
4/5	91%	Stand by Me (2000)	" An absorbing, touching examination of the loss of innocence that, despite occasionally drifting towards the sappy, undeniably deserves its place in the heart of a generation." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
	89%	The Usual Suspects (1995)	" Certain 'big twists' may have hogged the limelight of late, but rarely have they come 'bigger' or better than in Bryan Singer's glorious exercise in taut intrigue, dazzling plotting and criminal psychology." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
4/5	71%	Chopper (2001)	" Unsettling and at times uneven, but always fascinating material for anyone prepared for a grim ride." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
4/5	78%	Dreamscape (1984)	" Very, very '80s, but lots of fun too." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000
5/5	94%	Deliverance (1972)	" There's real substance in themes, performances and John Boorman's superb direction." — Empire Magazine Posted Jan 1, 2000

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