Mark Hughes
Tomatometer-approved critic
| Publications: | Forbes |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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| 86% | You Were Never Really Here (2018) |
[T]he sheer power of artistic skill on the screen is striking and demands attention... This is what we mean when we say we want films that make us feel, and it's something [director Lynne] Ramsay has done consistently through her entire career.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Apr 14, 2018
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| 77% | Chappaquiddick (2018) |
[A] moving, infuriating portrayal of a dreadful moment in history and its shameful aftermath.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Apr 5, 2018
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| 73% | Ready Player One (2018) |
[A] heaping helping of exhilarating summer popcorn spectacle delivered ahead of schedule for springtime... Steven Spielberg at the top of his game...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Mar 29, 2018
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| 39% | A Wrinkle in Time (2018) |
[S]trange, irreverent, and ultimately a family-pleasing heartfelt fantasy tale. There's nothing else like it in theaters...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Mar 8, 2018
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| 96% | Black Panther (2018) |
[A] tour de force, one of the smartest, most original action-packed blockbusters of the decade... bold and visually stunning filmmaking...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Feb 6, 2018
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| 91% | Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) |
[G]ets off to a bit of an uneven start, but finds its footing eventually... not the best of the series, and not the best of the new films, but it's still a worthwhile entry in the continuing saga...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Dec 12, 2017
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| 97% | Coco (2017) |
[O]ne of Pixar's all-time greats, a marvelous achievement worth experiencing with your whole family.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Nov 23, 2017
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| 40% | Justice League (2017) |
Fast paced & with its eye always on moving the story forward, Justice League balances frequent humor with equally frequent character exchanges & development... [A] two-hour live-action superhero cartoon made for kids as well as adults.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Nov 15, 2017
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| 57% | Murder On The Orient Express (2017) |
When I walked out, I was left wanting, more mindful of unfulfilled promise than impressed by half a good movie. I cannot claim this is a bad movie, I simply cannot say it is a truly good one overall.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Nov 10, 2017
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| 92% | Thor: Ragnarok (2017) |
[O]ne of the boldest and most sensuous of the MCU releases... outrageously entertaining, sure to please all ages & turn Thor into a far more popular character with mainstream audiences...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2017
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| 87% | Blade Runner 2049 (2017) |
[A] miraculous, riveting cinematic achievement that does the impossible -- living up to the original film and even at times surpassing it.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Oct 5, 2017
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| 92% | Dunkirk (2017) |
[A] breathless, awe-inspiring depiction of war by land, sea, and air... [O]ne of the few perfect films of the 21st Century.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jul 21, 2017
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| 93% | War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) |
[A] brilliant, beautiful, breathtaking blockbuster filled with grand performances and gripping emotional storytelling... [T]he must-see movie of the Summer...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jul 13, 2017
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| 92% | Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) |
[T]he perfect Spider-Man movie and one of the best films yet in the MCU. Audiences are going to fall in love with it...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2017
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| 16% | Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) |
[A]t the end of the day it just wants to give you a couple of hours of pure escapism full of exciting action, cool visual effects, a bunch of corny jokes, and leave you feeling like you just stepped off a roller coaster.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jun 21, 2017
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| 68% | Cars 3 (2017) |
[T]he best of the series, a sumptuous visual treat with great humor, a big heart, and surprisingly strong messages about inclusion and self-worth.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jun 16, 2017
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| 92% | Wonder Woman (2017) |
[A]n electrifying, breathtaking cinematic achievement... Amazing performances, pulse-pounding action, and outstanding visuals make it one of the best superhero movies of all time.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 30, 2017
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| 30% | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) |
Fans of the originals will recognize enough connective tissue to make them mindful of the first trilogy, & average viewers will find more than enough to enjoy & make them glad they bought a ticket.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 25, 2017
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| 67% | Alien: Covenant (2017) |
[S]cary as hell, and will give you a spectacularly bloody good time at the theater.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 16, 2017
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| 30% | King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017) |
[I]t fails to deliver a film worthy of [its] ambitions... There was a good movie in here somewhere, but only pieces of it were allowed to survive.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 11, 2017
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| 36% | Snatched (2017) |
[It] will crack you up from start to finish, while also leaving you misty-eyed and wanting to hug your mom.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 11, 2017
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| 83% | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) |
[A] grand and worthy sequel that packs an emotional wallop and brilliant visuals.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Apr 26, 2017
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| 70% | Beauty and the Beast (2017) |
[A] gorgeous, entertaining, amusing fairy tale come to vivid life, and is bound to please the vast majority of audiences‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Mar 17, 2017
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| 75% | Kong: Skull Island (2017) |
Kong: Skull Island is a fast-paced adrenaline rush that gives us lots of CGI eye candy, lots of thrilling action sequences and scary moments, lots of laughs, and lots of charismatic performers...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Mar 6, 2017
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| 93% | Logan (2017) |
Operatic and also deeply personal, Logan is one of the true great films of the superhero genre, among the best films of 2017 to date, and a rousing send-off for the old guard while ushering in the future of the X-Men franchise.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Feb 17, 2017
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| 41% | A Cure For Wellness (2017) |
The sumptuous visuals and spiral into confusing dream-logic - or more accurately, nightmare-logic... sets the stage for a horror production driven by aesthetics and ideas more than pure plotting and character-driven narrative.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Feb 16, 2017
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| 90% | The Lego Batman Movie (2017) |
A visual treat that's terrific fun for the whole family... gloriously silly and wildly hysterical, but also unexpectedly faithful and remarkably emotionally perceptive.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Feb 9, 2017
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| 35% | Live By Night (2017) |
[A] smart, sultry, thrilling piece of gangster fiction in the best traditions of classic Hollywood gangster movies of the 1930s and 1940s while taking other inspiration from 1970s neo-noir crime cinema.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jan 13, 2017
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| 80% | Patriots Day (2017) |
Patriots Day is ultimately a tale of hope and inspiration... The survivors live on and honor those who died, and the people from whom so much was taken came together, stood together, and healed together. Patriots Day honors them, as should we all.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jan 12, 2017
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| 84% | Silence (2017) |
[V]isually breathtaking, passionate, and provocative. Its implications will stay with you long after you've left the theater...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jan 4, 2017
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| 86% | Lion (2016) |
[A] tale of tragedy and loss, of pain and heartbreak -- but also a tale of hope and mercy, of faith & love, and of how sublime moments of grace in our lives can often come from the aftermath of suffering.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Dec 30, 2016
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| 85% | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) |
[A]n eye-popping heart-stopping joyride that leaves you breathless... a grand and operatic vision...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Dec 15, 2016
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| 86% | Hacksaw Ridge (2016) |
The war is depicted as Hell incarnate, with a great deal of focus on apocalyptic eruptions of flame and people consumed in fire... [R]emarkably realized and recalls the finest moments of Gibson's earlier directorial work.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Nov 4, 2016
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| 89% | Doctor Strange (2016) |
[A] masterpiece of comic book cinema... part Iron Man, part The Matrix, part The Conjuring, and part Harry Potter [with] a dash of Inception, a pinch of Nightmare on Elm Street, [and] a hint of Hero...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Oct 27, 2016
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| 37% | Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) |
It could've been and should've been a lot better - it's not terrible, it's just not particularly good either.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Oct 21, 2016
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| 52% | The Accountant (2016) |
Exciting, sometimes funny, and with several appealing performances in a story about human connection and loss and how we strive to feel complete and make sense of our lives...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Oct 14, 2016
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| 93% | Queen of Katwe (2016) |
[O]ften uplifting, often heartbreaking, & always absorbing, filled with impressive performances & a subversion of Western expectations that make it rise above the other entries in the genre over the last few years.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Sep 23, 2016
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| 86% | Sully (2016) |
[P]uts viewers right in the air with the crew and passengers of [the] events, making the overall impact unlike anything else this year in cinema...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Sep 9, 2016
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| 97% | Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) |
Whimsical yet mature, fantastically magical yet full of realistic emotions and a simple, earthly plea for redemption, it goes beyond childish notions of resolution and "victory" toward a far more moving and poetic destination.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Aug 19, 2016
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| 59% | War Dogs (2016) |
[F]ails to get to deeper ideas and truths that are ripe for exploration in precisely a film of this nature, and it winds up almost a caricature of the very sort of film it tries to emulate.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Aug 18, 2016
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| 97% | Hell or High Water (2016) |
Hell or High Water is one of the great modern westerns... the sort of substantive food for the soul we all need to experience.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Aug 12, 2016
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| 27% | Suicide Squad (2016) |
[T]akes the superhero genre in a new direction, letting the bad guys be bad guys even while they're forced into service for supposed "good." It's crowd-pleasing genre entertainment with delightful performances, [and] eye-popping visuals...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Aug 2, 2016
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| 88% | Pete's Dragon (2016) |
Pete's Dragon is an excellent entry in Disney's catalog of live-action remakes... [A]s American folktales go, it's the best I've heard in a long, long time.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jul 27, 2016
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| 75% | The BFG (2016) |
With so much going for it, including being adapted from a best-selling children's book, it was a real surprise to me that the film overall was unsatisfying. The whole wound up being less than the sum of its parts...‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jul 1, 2016
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| 37% | The Legend of Tarzan (2016) |
[It] moves from one big action set piece to another, propelled by old-fashioned action-adventure sequences that are the stuff of solid summer popcorn fun... a rousing good story with thrills & laughs.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jul 1, 2016
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| 79% | The Conjuring 2 (2016) |
The Conjuring 2 fail[s] to live up to its excellent predecessor... a horror movie should never, ever cause me to laugh when it's trying to scare me or attempting a serious emotional moment.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2016
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| 92% | The Nice Guys (2016) |
Shane Black's best work yet... a smart, funny, sexy action movie... You can tell Black would be happy making films like this for the rest of his life -- and we should be so luck.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 21, 2016
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| 48% | X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) |
[A] film with much promise that it cannot quite live up to... [B]etter than Origins, better than The Last Stand, & actually almost (but not quite) on par with the first X-Men outing... ‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted May 12, 2016
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| 78% | Keanu (2016) |
[Y]ou're going to laugh, and laugh a lot. Keanu has heart in the form of Peele and Key, and in form of a cute kitten worth all the trouble the two men endure to rescue him.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Apr 29, 2016
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| 77% | Elvis & Nixon (2016) |
Emotional impact winds up victim to brisk pace and a desire to hurry and show us some other weird behavior by Elvis to get a laugh.‐ Forbes
Read More | Posted Apr 22, 2016
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