Charlotte O'Sullivan
Tomatometer-approved critic
| Publications: | London Evening Standard, Independent (UK), Sight and Sound, Time Out |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2/5 | 33% | The Predator (2018) |
The original was blissfully simple: alien sadist messes with the wrong dude. Here, nothing adds up.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Sep 14, 2018
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| 4/5 | 93% | Crazy Rich Asians (2018) |
In many ways, this supposed celebration of diversity disappoints. It doesn't matter. Its unpredictable female leads are as good as gold.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Sep 14, 2018
|
| 4/5 | 87% | The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) |
Cameron - the kind of cool kid who'd use the word "cool" with caution - fits Moretz like a glove.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Sep 12, 2018
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| 4/5 | 89% | American Animals (2018) |
Other directors have folded real-world figures into fictional narratives. It's the scale of the invasion that sets Layton's project apart.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2018
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| 4/5 | 92% | Searching (2018) |
For most of its running time, Searching refreshes our screens. Smiley face.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2018
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| 3/5 | 49% | The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) |
It gets so much right. A sequel, with Morgan in the driving seat, would be awesome.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Aug 26, 2018
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| 3/5 | 69% | The Children Act (2018) |
File this under missed opportunity. More often than not, it feels like a pretentious episode of Holby City. Or a shallow take on John Huston's The Dead.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Aug 26, 2018
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| 4/5 | 78% | The Escape (2018) |
Tara... is desperate to consume and create art, yet time and again she's reduced to a trophy or static muse. Arterton, a one-time Bond girl, surely knows how that feels.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Aug 9, 2018
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| 3/5 | 80% | Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) |
Euphoria! Tears! Fernando! Dagnabit. This film will leave you high and wet. And willing (almost) to contemplate the prospect of Mamma Mia 3.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jul 22, 2018
|
| 4/5 | 94% | A Prayer Before Dawn (2018) |
Cole has got one of those faces that's hard to pin down, and for this testing role he's yanked every which way. ‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jul 22, 2018
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| 3/5 | 58% | Hotel Artemis (2018) |
Pearce is trying to appeal to Foster fanatics and hardcore action buffs. Sadly for him, he lacks the kind of weapons that would impress either crowd.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jul 22, 2018
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| 3/5 | 93% | First Reformed (2018) |
Schrader is the divine mortal who wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. He's as passionate as ever; what he has lost is his discipline.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2018
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| 2/5 | 46% | Skyscraper (2018) |
With a panache worthy of Oscar Wilde, Johnson delivers lines such as: "This is stupid!"‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2018
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| 5/5 | 100% | Leave No Trace (2018) |
By the end, though, Will and Tom feel all too human. And their predicament will have you in tears.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2018
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| 3/5 | 51% | Freak Show (2018) |
Lawther is subtle. The film? Not so much.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 22, 2018
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| 76% | The Happy Prince (2018) |
Everett deserves praise for not turning Wilde turned into some kind of gay saint. Our hero is the victim of homophobia, yes, but also insecure and manipulative.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 15, 2018
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| 4/5 | 88% | A Ciambra (2018) |
Carpignano doesn't judge his characters. He just lays bare what makes them tick.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 15, 2018
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| 4/5 | 85% | My Friend Dahmer (2017) |
Isn't there something pathological about the way we privilege the pathological? If you can stomach the focus of My Friend Dahmer, you'll find this rewarding.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2018
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| 2/5 | 51% | Ismael's Ghosts (Les fantômes d'Ismaël) (2018) |
Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg momentarily bring verve to proceedings. ‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2018
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| 4/5 | 100% | McQueen (2018) |
It's a cliché to talk of artists as tortured, but McQueen's anguish is palpable.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2018
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| 2/5 | 68% | On Chesil Beach (2018) |
You can't doubt the film's good intentions. Its crime is the Hollywood ending.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 25, 2018
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| 3/5 | 71% | Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) |
Nothing in Solo can compete with a single scene in The Force Awakens. But what this film does have is cape-clad pilot Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and his pal, uppity droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 25, 2018
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| 4/5 | 95% | The Breadwinner (2017) |
This beautiful and continually surprising film makes us think about what children can and can't bear.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 25, 2018
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| 4/5 | 95% | Zama (2018) |
Martel has made a woozy epic about the toxicity of torpor.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 25, 2018
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| 4/5 | 96% | Filmworker (2018) |
Whether you're fascinated by Kubrick or the human condition this is a minor classic.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 25, 2018
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| 3/5 | 27% | Sherlock Gnomes (2018) |
Actually more fun than the original and guaranteed to make under-10s shudder with delight.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 11, 2018
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| 2/5 | 47% | How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018) |
It's a lovely yarn, simple and sly, but what it's spawned is often painful.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 11, 2018
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| 5/5 | 86% | Tully (2018) |
Cody's writing has never been better.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted May 4, 2018
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| 3/5 | 95% | Beast (2018) |
Writer/director Michael Pearce, making his feature debut, is only 36. His assurance is astounding.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 27, 2018
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| 4/5 | 77% | Funny Cow (2017) |
This film is interested in the point where hate and humour meet. Its protagonist is a real cow. I loved her to bits.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 25, 2018
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| 4/5 | 85% | Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2018) |
Claire Denis knows how to make an exit. The French director's portrait of the artist as a 50-year-old woman is mostly maddening.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 25, 2018
|
| 14% | Blumhouse's Truth or Dare (2018) |
It's mostly pants, with a haunted church that must have cost about $5 to assemble and a stinky performance from Teen Wolf cutie Tyler Posey.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 14, 2018
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| 4/5 | 95% | Custody (Jusqu'à la garde) (2018) |
Human beings aren't always straight with each other. With thrilling skill, Legrand and his team find a crooked path to clarity.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 14, 2018
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| 4/5 | 95% | A Quiet Place (2018) |
You'll root for the Abbotts till your cheeks are sodden. All hail a blockbuster that's ultra-sound. And pray that it blows the competition away.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 8, 2018
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| 4/5 | 87% | Thoroughbreds (2018) |
Thank goodness, the film stays on track and Cooke's character, especially, keeps on confounding us.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Apr 8, 2018
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| 3/5 | 82% | Journeyman (2017) |
Young men and women are desperate to box and Considine makes sense of their desperation.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Mar 29, 2018
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| 3/5 | 51% | Tomb Raider (2018) |
Vikander's expressive face is a godsend. Whether being throttled by a goon or torn away from a loved one, this stricken Lara feels like one of us.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Mar 19, 2018
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| 74% | Mom and Dad (2018) |
A hilarious, knowing bit of schlock ...‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Mar 11, 2018
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| 4/5 | 88% | You Were Never Really Here (2018) |
I'd happily pay to see this movie again. And again. Phoenix and Ramsay are demonic upstarts. And for most of this movie it's just heaven to be by their side.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Mar 11, 2018
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| 4/5 | 94% | A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica) (2018) |
A Fantastic Woman asks us to embrace all things fluid and, thanks to the superstar at its centre, it's a pleasure to go with the flow.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Mar 4, 2018
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| 3/5 | 84% | Game Night (2018) |
The spoofy action set-pieces are ho hum. What's special is the minutiae-based, casually political banter.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Mar 4, 2018
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| 3/5 | 70% | Finding Your Feet (2018) |
This is a silly old film but its vulnerable characters are a blast.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2018
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| 5/5 | 99% | Lady Bird (2017) |
Like many wonderful actresses with a gift for words (think Julie Delpy, Sarah Polley and Lake Bell) Gerwig has slipped behind the camera to create something quietly political.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Feb 16, 2018
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| 3/5 | 71% | The Mercy (2017) |
Firth laps up the ambiguity, expertly conveying the mess - the brilliant mess - inside Crowhurst's head.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Feb 9, 2018
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| 4/5 | 94% | Loveless (Nelyubov) (2018) |
The latest from Leviathan director Andrey Zvyagintsev is a fluffy romcom perfect for St Valentine's Day. Just kidding.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Feb 9, 2018
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| 4/5 | 93% | Journey's End (2018) |
Think of it as a really, really, little gem.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2018
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| 5/5 | 97% | Coco (2017) |
Funny, irreverent and eye-popping. It will also make you want to cry at least once but possibly as many as three times.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2018
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| 2/5 | 69% | Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars (2017) |
Lili Fini Zanuck's documentary gives us plenty of time to ponder Clapton's physique but if you're hoping to get inside the rock legend's head, look elsewhere.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jan 18, 2018
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| 4/5 | 92% | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) |
Three Billboards is great.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Jan 12, 2018
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| 2/5 | 82% | Molly's Game (2018) |
Sorkin, directing for the first time, has made an outrageously self-righteous thriller.‐ London Evening Standard
Read More | Posted Dec 21, 2017
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