Deborah Ross
Deborah Ross's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when
published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
The Mail on Sunday (UK),
The Spectator
| Publications: | The Mail on Sunday (UK), The Spectator |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | Apostasy (2017) |
The script is superbly restrained, as is the direction, which delicately handles extremely painful situations. Nothing is ever clumsily spelled out.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jul 26, 2018
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| 80% | Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) |
The thinking here is that if you (and your mum) loved the original film then you will love this. But I did love the original (as did my mum) yet I just couldn't love this. Sorry.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jul 19, 2018
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| 94% | First Reformed (2018) |
But it is, at least, powerfully puzzling and grippingly puzzling. You may not understand it (completely), but you will come away with the feeling that something was being said, whatever that something may have been.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jul 12, 2018
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| 4/5 | No Score Yet | Hull's Headscarf Heroes (2018) |
A moving, affecting and fitting tribute that also showed how women can be strong and complex, whatever the era.‐ The Mail on Sunday (UK)
Read More | Posted Jul 10, 2018
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| 5/5 | No Score Yet | The Coronation (2018) |
The Queen was actually in it!... She is a person. She speaks, she smiles, she jokes. Who knew? ‐ The Mail on Sunday (UK)
Read More | Posted Jul 10, 2018
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| 43% | Swimming with Men (2018) |
The film is prosaically directed by Parker, and while Brydon can be a wonderful, understated actor, he can't bring depth to Eric because Eric has no depths, and he can't bring life to a script that is neither trenchant nor witty.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2018
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| 100% | Leave No Trace (2018) |
Little is said and little happens - it's inaction-packed, if you like - yet it pulls you in and keeps you pulled in. I'm still turning it over in my mind days later. It will certainly leave a trace in you, in other words.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jun 28, 2018
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| 89% | Hereditary (2018) |
Ride of pure terror? I've had more terrifying rides on the teacups at the fair.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jun 21, 2018
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| 74% | The Happy Prince (2018) |
A sad film, but ravishingly so.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jun 21, 2018
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| 67% | Ocean's 8 (2018) |
Ocean's 8 is the all-female spin-off of the all-male Ocean's trilogy and it's a sop, with a third act that drags like nothing on earth.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jun 13, 2018
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| 5/5 | 71% | King Lear (2018) |
It was like turning on the TV in a foreign hotel room...So let's just say I failed it, and not the other way around. ‐ The Mail on Sunday (UK)
Read More | Posted Jun 4, 2018
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| 72% | Double Lover (L'amant double) (2018) |
[Double Lover] has been billed as an 'erotic thriller' but as it is, in fact, a rape-culture fantasy dressed up as one, I found it about as erotic as descaling the kettle, say. Also, it felt 90 years long.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted May 31, 2018
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| 92% | Pandora's Box (1929) |
With Pandora's Box you forget that it's black and white. You forget that the internet has yet to happen... You forget that more than two hours have gone by. You forget because it's completely modern... 100 per cent gripping and involving.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted May 31, 2018
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| 68% | Edie (2017) |
I desperately wanted to love Edie, and I did give it every chance, I think, but I just could not love it as I wished.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted May 24, 2018
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| 68% | On Chesil Beach (2018) |
...you carry on caring and hoping and praying, even if the characters do end up being slightly distant and beyond our reach.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted May 18, 2018
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| 48% | How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018) |
[How to Talk to Girls at Parties] is a convoluted, woeful mishmash with nothing that feels essential to the central story, as there is no central story.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted May 10, 2018
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| 94% | Beast (2018) |
Essentially, this is a compelling, layered portrait of a compelling, layered young woman, who owns it.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Apr 26, 2018
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| 85% | Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2018) |
Perhaps this is meant to be a satire of the romantic narrative but if it is, it was too subtle for me. Also, it did not burn.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Apr 19, 2018
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| 77% | Funny Cow (2017) |
The film is broken up with intertitles that seem unnecessary, as does the business of having the adult characters meet their childhood selves. But the story is wholly worth telling. And Peake is blistering.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Apr 19, 2018
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| 94% | Custody (Jusqu'à la garde) (2018) |
The suspense builds, but apart from the final moments perhaps, which are pure Stephen King, it is never melodramatic. ‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Apr 12, 2018
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| 67% | Wonderstruck (2017) |
The plot is so reliant on coincidences and contrivances you'll want to throw stuff at the screen.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Apr 6, 2018
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| 89% | Isle of Dogs (2018) |
The main thing to know is that none of it works to the extent that you give any kind of a damn. It's so highly stylised that it all happens at a chilly remove, and we're not given reason to feel anything.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Mar 29, 2018
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| 80% | Unsane (2018) |
As written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer, the film can feel like 98 minutes of mansplaining, and it is thematically messy, as it throws so much else into the pot, like the American private healthcare racket.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Mar 22, 2018
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| 5/5 | 89% | Being Blacker (2018) |
Tender and loving and sharp and engrossing and somehow unpicked not just a life but also what it's like to be black in Britain today without ever getting in your face. ‐ The Mail on Sunday (UK)
Read More | Posted Mar 19, 2018
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| 96% | Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017) |
It's a proper story alright, and a fascinating one.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Mar 8, 2018
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| 87% | You Were Never Really Here (2018) |
Based on the novella by Jonathan Ames, the film has the casual, sadistic violence of a Tarantino film, but none of the narrative inventiveness, as far as I could fathom. Or narrative clarity.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Mar 8, 2018
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| 77% | Dark River (2018) |
There are occasional fine, touching moments but, for the most part, it's as heavy-going as it is heavy-handed and some aspects are plain odd.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Feb 22, 2018
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| 99% | Lady Bird (2017) |
This is a coming-of-age story that's affecting without ever being sentimental, and feels absolutely true -- like remembering the teenager you once were, even if you were never a Lady Bird (or Debee) exactly. A rare bird indeed.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Feb 15, 2018
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| 92% | The Shape of Water (2017) |
I liked it well enough, but not as much as I should have.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Feb 15, 2018
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| 93% | Loveless (Nelyubov) (2018) |
It is a bleak film, but Zvyagintsev's artistry means that it is not just compelling, but more involving than you'd ever think possible, given the two main characters are so unceasingly terrible.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Feb 8, 2018
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| 82% | Charlie Wilson's War (2007) |
Wilson? Enormously pleasurable company, since you ask. True, he's a lech, but such a gallant lech, plus he also gets irony. ‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2018
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| 91% | Phantom Thread (2018) |
It is a wonderfully fixating film in every respect, and wholly non-formulaic.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2018
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| 58% | W. (2008) |
The trouble, basically, is that this film just doesn't know what it is about. Is it about dynasty? Imperialism? Ambition? The dark side of democracy? What? And, consequently, you are just not made to care about any of it. ‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 31, 2018
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| 45% | Lakeview Terrace (2008) |
Alas, LaBute loses it entirely in the third and final act, when he yields entirely to genre convention and allows it all to explode into a shoot-out of the utmost silliness.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 31, 2018
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| 33% | Magicians (2007) |
This film is just such a wasted opportunity. ‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2018
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| 72% | When Did You Last See Your Father? (2008) |
There are, alas, true weaknesses in this adaptation - too many close-ups of Colin Firth with tears in his eyes is one; too many mirror reflections are another - but it is neatly executed with a well-crafted script. ‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2018
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| 73% | The Illusionist (2006) |
So, in short? Well, the scenery is very pleasant and this film would kill a couple of hours on a plane. But I don't think I'd advise schlepping to the cinema rather than, say, staying at home for a nap then a bit of cheese.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2018
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| 55% | Body of Lies (2008) |
It's actually the pile up of clichés and implausibilities that make the whole thing such a slog. ‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2018
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| 74% | Son of Rambow (2007) |
True enough, it's make-believe, but to believe in make-believe, you do have to be firmly on board in some way. Otherwise, it's just nonsense.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2018
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| 88% | Unrelated (2014) |
Unrelated observes the English upper-middle classes so astutely that, at times, it is almost painful to watch.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2018
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| 82% | Tropic Thunder (2008) |
The bulk of this movie, alas, comes down to weak sketches held together by ridiculous action, vast explosions and more or less everything else it should be parodying.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2018
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| 85% | Mongol (2008) |
Stunning to look at, but as an engaging, illuminating, convincing piece of cinema? No, not really.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2018
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| 50% | Downsizing (2017) |
It offers a jumble of barely explored, quarter-baked ideas attached to a laborious plot.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 25, 2018
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| 87% | The Post (2018) |
It's a bit of a Trojan horse, as it cleverly smuggles in another film; a film about a woman coming into her own, which has to be satisfying. And is.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 18, 2018
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| 92% | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) |
The narrative never goes where you think it will go. Instead, it takes your narrative expectations and shreds them before your eyes.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 11, 2018
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| 82% | Brad's Status (2017) |
I'll tell you what Brad's status should be: face well and truly slapped.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Jan 4, 2018
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| 82% | Molly's Game (2018) |
There's no nuance, no reflective downtime, and it ends with what may be the worst cod-psychology scene of all time. It all comes down to daddy issues, apparently. Oh, boo-hoo.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Dec 13, 2017
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| 97% | Menashe (2017) |
It is small and specific, admittedly, but it also tells a universal story about a father's struggle to hold on to the son he loves, and it tells this story tenderly, thoughtfully, beautifully.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Dec 7, 2017
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| 85% | Battle of the Sexes (2017) |
The film is not unsuccessful, as it's mostly entertaining enough, and if the gender politics seem oversimplified, there are reminders of some real-life commentaries.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Nov 29, 2017
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| 80% | Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017) |
This is essentially held together by the two lead performances. On paper, Bell has the lesser role, but this is his best performance to date... As for Bening, if she doesn't get Oscar-nominated this year, I will eat my hat, and also yours.‐ The Spectator
Read More | Posted Nov 16, 2017
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