Charlotte O'Sullivan

Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications:
London Evening Standard,
Independent (UK),
Sight and Sound
Movie Reviews Only
T-Meter | Title | Year | Review | |
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4/5 | 91% | The White Tiger (2020) |
Move over Tiger King. There's a new tiger in town. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jan 26, 2021
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5/5 | 100% | Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) |
So let me put it another way. Jasmila Zbanic's offering is as suspenseful as The Great Escape and features a bunch of children so cute they belong in a John Lewis ad. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jan 26, 2021
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4/5 | 58% | The Mauritanian (2021) |
A gruelling true-life story of incarceration and torture is made eminently watchable by a central performance from Tahar Rahim that ranks among his best. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jan 25, 2021
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4/5 | 62% | Malcolm & Marie (2020) |
Levinson and his cast play a lot of games to make a serious point. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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4/5 | 98% | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) |
Boseman, as skilful as he was talented, hits the right notes, all the time. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 17, 2020
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4/5 | 60% | Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) |
Jenkins is an expert at weaving emotion into set-pieces. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 15, 2020
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4/5 | 98% | David Byrne's American Utopia (2020) |
This is Byrne's show, but it's also Lee's tale of the unexpected. Enjoy. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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4/5 | 50% | The Midnight Sky (2020) |
Clooney's been saved by the belly. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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4/5 | 57% | The Prom (2020) |
If you hate cheesy glitz, The Prom will make you want to puke into the nearest punch bowl. For the rest of us? It's time to party. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 4, 2020
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4/5 | 95% | County Lines (2019) |
If you were looking for a word to describe writer-director Henry Blake's horribly timely debut you would not pick "fun", yet the filmmaking is so sharp I was hooked from the get-go. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 4, 2020
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4/5 | 82% | Mank (2020) |
By siding with the writer, David Fincher draws attention to the small print and, in the process, concocts a fabulous and moving yarn of his own. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Dec 4, 2020
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4/5 | 83% | Happiest Season (2020) |
It's funny, as well as brave. Thanks, Santa! - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Nov 29, 2020
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3/5 | 75% | Audrey (2020) |
That said, this mostly feels like a project designed to soothe hard-core fans and is basically pretty bland. The real Hepburn had bite. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Nov 29, 2020
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4/5 | 100% | Finding Jack Charlton (2020) |
Let's just say those looking for a fairy-tale ending won't find it, but what we do get feels like a pot of gold. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Nov 25, 2020
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2/5 | 26% | Hillbilly Elegy (2020) |
Suffice to say, unless you're a silly billy, you'll see through the pantomime. This fight ain't fair; it's been rigged. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Nov 25, 2020
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3/5 | 78% | A Christmas Gift from Bob (2020) |
Bob's gift will almost certainly be embraced by a Covid-captive audience. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Nov 8, 2020
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4/5 | 91% | Luxor (2020) |
Luxor is reminiscent of other deliberately excruciating movies in which uptight, middle-class singletons lose the plot. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Nov 8, 2020
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5/5 | 67% | Ammonite (2020) |
As with the rocks Anning can't get enough of, this romance contains multitudes. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 25, 2020
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5/5 | 96% | Nomadland (2020) |
[Zhao's] movie gives a voice to the marginalised. If you listen hard, it might just change your life. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 25, 2020
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5/5 | 85% | Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) |
Baron Cohen gets America. In fact, he gets the world. It's a good thing someone understands us. In this time of trouble, the mirror held up by Sacha and co is just what we need. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 25, 2020
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2/5 | 66% | The Secret Garden (2020) |
[Thorne's] tweaked the timeline, the story now begins in 1947, and is trying to explore some interesting ideas, such as colonialism's impact on bottom-of-the-pile Brits. But the plot is so clumsy and frantic that nothing sticks. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 25, 2020
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4/5 | 95% | Mogul Mowgli (2020) |
If there's a formula for "sexy" film-making, Ahmed and director Bassam Tariq flout the rules at every turn. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 23, 2020
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4/5 | 89% | Kajillionaire (2020) |
Kajillionaire won't make anyone rich, but who cares? - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 13, 2020
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4/5 | 87% | Shirley (2020) |
It's a flawed mistress-piece. I can't wait to watch it again. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 13, 2020
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4/5 | 90% | Supernova (2021) |
Without entering into spoiler territory, Tusker decides on a plan of action that feels more familiar than it should. But you need to see this movie. Just be aware that the script's not as stellar as the leading men. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 13, 2020
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5/5 | 98% | One Night in Miami (2020) |
King's the greatest. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 13, 2020
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5/5 | 96% | Soul (2020) |
Co-directed and written by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, this is nourishment for, well, the soul. If you're feeling kind of blue, help is on its way. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 13, 2020
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4/5 | 90% | The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) |
Sacha Baron Cohen steals the show in Aaron Sorkin's mostly entertaining, occasionally cheesy, totally timely take on a notorious US trial. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 4, 2020
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4/5 | 86% | On The Rocks (2020) |
This voyage around a father navigates territory that often seems overly smooth. Luckily, Murray and Jones provide all the jagged edges we need. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Oct 4, 2020
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5/5 | 95% | David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020) |
This is an emotional experience. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Sep 28, 2020
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4/5 | 78% | The Broken Hearts Gallery (2020) |
[T]he performances and one-liners are so droll you'll almost certainly come out beaming. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Sep 12, 2020
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4/5 | 82% | I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) |
Charlie Kaufman's latest is so good it induces separation anxiety. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Sep 5, 2020
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4/5 | 35% | The New Mutants (2020) |
Fox's last X-Men movie is an unholy mess... Out of the wreckage, a cult classic has been born. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Sep 5, 2020
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4/5 | 73% | Mulan (2020) |
I'm as athletic as a bed sock but, for so many reasons, this movie made me want to do backflips. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Sep 5, 2020
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4/5 | 100% | Coup 53 (2020) |
Coup 53 is stranger than fiction and a terrifying reminder that the past never goes away. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Sep 3, 2020
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2/5 | 63% | Hope Gap (2020) |
Diehard fans of Nicholson will probably suck it up. For the rest of us, this is hopeless. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Aug 28, 2020
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4/5 | 70% | Tenet (2020) |
To point out that Tenet has flaws feels ungrateful. It's like slagging off Santa. But, I confess, some of the yick yacking - vis a vis physics, metaphysics and so on - made me sleepy... Those quibbles aside, Tenet is an eye-popping, ground-breaking blast. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Aug 21, 2020
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4/5 | 83% | Flash Gordon (1980) |
Basically, whether laughing with this film, or at it, you'll have a blast. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Aug 9, 2020
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4/5 | 72% | An American Pickle (2020) |
This is more of an appetiser than a main meal, but it's still dill-ish. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Aug 9, 2020
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3/5 | 44% | Endings, Beginnings (2020) |
If you can sit through to the end (a huge if), you'll be pleased that you did. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Aug 9, 2020
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4/5 | 48% | Unhinged (2020) |
Even when simply glowering, Crowe keeps us guessing. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 31, 2020
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5/5 | 98% | The Fight (2020) |
This is a jubilant and mischievous documentary that suggests changing the world for the better is something we can all do. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 31, 2020
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4/5 | 76% | Summerland (2020) |
Canny and adorable, Summerland's a family film with a difference. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 31, 2020
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4/5 | 79% | How to Build a Girl (2020) |
Johanna may be wise, but the film never puts her on a pedestal. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 26, 2020
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5/5 | 99% | Saint Frances (2020) |
You could also describe it as the missing link between Bridesmaids and Roma. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 26, 2020
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4/5 | 92% | Clemency (2019) |
Clemency is one of those deliberately harrowing movies that leaves you feeling elated. The very precision of the film-making gives you a sense of hope. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 18, 2020
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3/5 | 94% | Come As You Are (2020) |
Come As You Are thinks it's radically inclusive. Come again? - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 18, 2020
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4/5 | 80% | The Old Guard (2020) |
Luckily, the film itself - an adaptation of Greg Rucka's 2017 comic - is massively enjoyable. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 10, 2020
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3/5 | 47% | Scoob! (2020) |
Tony Cervone's cheeky meddling with a franchise is inferior to James Bobin's 2011 Muppets reboot, but it's fun and will keep kids glued to the couch. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 10, 2020
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2/5 | 55% | Back Roads (2018) |
All roads lead to unintentional giggles. - London Evening Standard
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| Posted Jul 5, 2020
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