Catherine Bray

Catherine Bray
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications: Variety, Sight and Sound, Times (UK), Film4, HitFix

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
82% Listen Up Philip (2014) As it went on, wallowing along... I started really losing patience with it. - Front Row EDIT
Read More | Posted May 7, 2020
95% Radio Dreams (2017) Royami is the heart of the film: It is his sincere and artistically principled dream of a musical union between East and West, between Metallica and Kabul Dreams, that fuels the film's engine. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2017
No Score Yet Motel Mist (2016) For all its grubbiness, Motel Mist often achieves an undeniable sleazy charm -- it's too silly to feel properly exploitative. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 29, 2017
78% Fraud (2018) Fleischer-Camp here stakes a claim in conceptually sophisticated documentary territory with a film that, despite frenetic cutting and a lean runtime, rewards contemplation and patience. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2017
No Score Yet A Yellow Bird (2016) A Yellow Bird is fairly convincing and feels authentic, but the film will not readily appeal to audiences who prefer a balance of light and shade. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 7, 2016
74% We Are the Flesh (Tenemos la carne) (2017) A brief synopsis... barely hints at the intensity with which the Mexican shocker We Are the Flesh unleashes its joyously demented portrait of humanity. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 18, 2016
77% The Ghoul (2017) British writer-helmer Gareth Tunley makes an auspicious debut with this blend of Lynchian psychodrama with low-budget cop mystery. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 1, 2016
91% Indivisible (Indivisibili) (2016) Audiences who can be persuaded to look past the perceived barrier of subtitles would likely be charmed by Dasy and Viola, who raise intriguing and timely questions about female bodily autonomy and the question of what is normal. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2016
92% Raw (2017) Raw is realized to a high standard that should break it out beyond specialist distributors and exhibitors, and genre fests that can get in there before release should book it and watch audiences delight in its stylish sense of body horror. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 29, 2016
59% City of Tiny Lights (2016) Though pleasant enough to watch, there's something not fully realized about the final product here. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 15, 2016
59% Brotherhood (2016) One-man film industry Noel Clarke concludes his 'Hood trilogy with an uneven but respectable final outing for anti-hero Sam Peel. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 14, 2016
78% Bridget Jones's Baby (2016) "Bridget Jones's Baby" is not a comedy for the ages, but it's interesting to see a rom-com starring a middle-aged woman grappling with irrelevance in the workplace. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 5, 2016
58% David Brent: Life on the Road (2017) Ricky Gervais' most enduring creation hits the road for one last attempt at cracking showbiz, in a funny if meandering big-screen adventure. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 10, 2016
94% Swallows and Amazons (2017) It's heartening to see Ransome's fiction taking on a new and more independent form, suggesting an ongoing relevance for a series of books that could easily be viewed as too dated for modern children. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2016
79% Aaaaaaaah! (2015) Steve Oram's deeply British feature debut is the kind of mesmerizing cult oddity whose fan base will be limited but passionate. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 30, 2016
95% The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi) (2016) Practically every surface in the film screams fetish, and, as in his underrated Stoker, Chan-Wook locates eroticism in some unusual places. - Sight and Sound EDIT
Read More | Posted May 23, 2016
4/5 91% Elle (2016) Takes constant delight in venturing where the vast majority of filmmakers would fear to tread. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted May 23, 2016
59% The Neon Demon (2016) The Neon Demon might get the blood pumping temporarily, but it doesn't have staying power. - Sight and Sound EDIT
Read More | Posted May 20, 2016
2/5 44% It's Only the End of the World (Juste la fin du monde) (2016) A wonderful cast are sadly wasted on this screeching melodrama. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted May 20, 2016
84% Divines (2016) Houda Benyamina bursts onto the scene with a punchy, pacy directorial debut, playing as gangster thriller and female buddy movie. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 19, 2016
No Score Yet Chouf (2016) Tunisian-French director Karim Dridi delivers a modest but pacy gangster drama set in the Marseilles projects. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2016
No Score Yet "Suspiria" meets "Ginger Snaps" in a muscular yet elegant campus cannibal horror from bright new talent Julia Ducournau. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 15, 2016
85% The Transfiguration (2017) Michael O'Shea wears his influences on his sleeve in this downbeat, sporadically engaging slow-burn modern vampire fable. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 14, 2016
100% Diamond Island (2016) Cambodian-French helmer Davy Chou's intermittently stylish teen movie lacks narrative momentum but has heart to spare. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted May 13, 2016
90% Innocence Of Memories (2015) Depth is perhaps the stumbling point for "Innocence of Memories." Its ideas are plentiful, but their treatment at times seems to skim the surface. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2016
31% Dad's Army (2016) It's a time-honored style of comedy, accessible to a broad audience, and it works on its own terms, without too many ill-advised attempts at modernization. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 28, 2016
35% Under Milk Wood (2015) Thomas fans with an appetite for endless scenes of hearty romping featuring regrettably song-prone villagers will have little cause for complaint, but commercial potential will be otherwise restricted beyond the film's home turf. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 14, 2015
83% The Incident (El Incidente) (2014) It's all proof that a head-turning first feature can be made for not much more money than a meaty short film nowadays, and, if well done, will act as a far more effective marketing tool for the nascent career of its director. - Variety EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 15, 2015
B 92% 99 Homes (2015) Yes, there are probably more complex and nuanced ways of tackling this topic, but it's hugely important that a mainstream drama on this subject exists. - HitFix EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 27, 2015
C 64% Jackie & Ryan (2015) The best thing about it is is that it shies away from formula, and the worst is either the finger tattoos, or the fact that it hasn't really come up with much to replace the formula it so carefully and laudably avoids. - HitFix EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2015
98% The Babadook (2014) Jennifer Kent's tremendously atmospheric and creepy horror comes highly recommended for those who like complex characterisation and ambiguity with their thrills and chills. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 3, 2015
A- 91% Birdman (2014) Riggan is a gift of a meaty, unflattering role for any middle-aged actor, but feels absolutely tailored to Keaton's strengths, and highly attuned to his career trajectory. - HitFix EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 2, 2015
97% Leviathan (2014) A modern classic weaving together rich characters, witty satire, thriller elements and political bite. Among the finest films of 2014, look for it to show up on several best-of-the-year lists. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 14, 2014
68% The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) Thrilling in its own right, but not as thrilling as what we sense is to come, this is a tasty appetizer for the main event with a nice line in sardonic satire and, as ever, a belting lead performance from Jennifer Lawrence. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 14, 2014
95% Nightcrawler (2014) Nightcrawler would be worth seeing for Jake Gyllenhaal's performance alone, but it's also a gripping and entertaining deep-dive into a nocturnal world of ruthless opportunism as well as a deliciously caustic satire on moral responsibility. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 31, 2014
A 77% The Boxtrolls (2014) It's unlikely to become a cultural juggernaut on the level of something like Frozen, but I think it is as enjoyable. - HitFix EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 2, 2014
3/5 67% God Help the Girl (2014) The whole phantasmagorical enterprise is so sweetly confident that it just about gets away with its entirely casual approach to believability. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 20, 2014
1/5 44% Planes: Fire And Rescue (2014) Displaying a weird lack of memorable or endearing characters, this animated effort feels like a direct-to-video job from the 1990s. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 29, 2014
3/5 57% Here & Now (Here and Now) (2014) Destined to be appreciated most of all by the filmmakers' friends and family, Here and Now is a modest film with a gentle heart. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 1, 2014
96% Blue Ruin (2014) Darkly comic and frequently gripping, revenger's tragedy Blue Ruin proves Jeremy Saulnier is a director to watch. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted May 2, 2014
3/5 44% We Are The Freaks (2013) The strength of We Are the Freaks is that it never feels like a cookie-cutter teen movie. It is, as the title suggests, an oddity - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 22, 2014
96% We Are the Best! (2014) Utterly charming, fresh and funny, We Are The Best perfectly captures what it feels like to be young and misunderstood. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 18, 2014
51% The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) Despite some risible moments (often involving computers), this is overall a fresh and funny addition to the Marvel canon. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 18, 2014
3/5 13% Almost Married (2015) Too many gags are ill-considered and it's ultimately hard to care whether the engaged couple will make it down the aisle. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 25, 2014
77% Teenage (2014) An intelligent and artful approach to an underexposed aspect of 20th century culture, the aesthetic successes of Matt Wolf's youth movement doc make you wish more documentaries were made this way. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 23, 2014
4/5 90% Frozen (2013) Frozen' has both showtunes and darkness, but most satisfying is a formula-defying finale that successfully subverts the fairytale status quo. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 2, 2013
50% Carrie (2013) Effective teen horror with bags of character - think Mean Girls with buckets of blood, only maybe not quite as much of a masterpiece as that would suggest. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 29, 2013
79% Saving Mr. Banks (2013) An enjoyable, occasionally laughable, and sometimes moving drama, with Emma Thompson on fine brittle form as the quintessentially English Australian who gave the world its most famous nanny. - Film4 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 29, 2013
3/5 58% Day of the Flowers (2013) It's refreshing to see a film about two women that doesn't focus entirely on their love lives, but that's the limit of the cliché-busting; elsewhere, archetypes abound. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 26, 2013
4/5 79% Don Jon (2013) As a director, Gordon-Levitt demonstrates considerable technical flair through stylistic flourishes and coaxes great performances out of his co-stars. - Time Out EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 12, 2013