Nicholas Barber
Nicholas Barber's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when
published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
BBC.com,
Newsweek,
Independent (UK),
Independent on Sunday,
Daily Express (UK)
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2/5 | 93% | War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) |
Too gloomy to provide many summer-blockbuster thrills, but too silly to be a serious art-house allegory, the film is best left to completists. It just isn't a very profound or moving film - although it does sometimes ape one.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Jul 7, 2017
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| 4/5 | 92% | Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) |
Considering that it's the sixth Spider-Man movie in 15 years, and that it features the third actor in the title role, it's amazing that it's as distinctive and enjoyable as it is. You might even say that it's a marvel.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Jul 6, 2017
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| 1/5 | 16% | The Mummy (2017) |
There are a few amusing lines and creepy moments, but, between the headache-inducing flashbacks and hallucinations, the narrative would be easier to follow if it were written in hieroglyphics.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Jun 8, 2017
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| 4/5 | 85% | Okja (2017) |
A slightly shorter, slightly more disciplined Okja might have been better, but the one Bong has made is still a joy.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 25, 2017
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| 2/5 | 73% | Wonderstruck (2017) |
Haynes' cabinet of wonders is exquisitely carved, inlaid and varnished, but it has precious little inside.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 19, 2017
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| 3/5 | 70% | Alien: Covenant (2017) |
It's clear that Scott is no longer inspired by long-headed, scaly-tailed beasties; the characters who fascinate him are the philosophical replicants who were in his second science-fiction classic, Blade Runner.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 11, 2017
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| 1/5 | 24% | Unlocked (2017) |
John Malkovich enjoys hamming it up as her exasperated boss. Everybody else is taking this silly pot-boiler far too seriously.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted May 7, 2017
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| 2/5 | 30% | A Dog's Purpose (2017) |
The problem which, ahem, dogs the film is that while the loyal hound is naturally devoted to each of its owners, they never really interest the rest of us.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted May 7, 2017
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| 94% | Neruda (2016) |
Sweeping, poignant, bizarre, funny and unique.‐ Newsweek
Read More | Posted Apr 20, 2017
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| 2/5 | 73% | The Sense Of An Ending (2017) |
The Sense Of An Ending would be watchable as a Sunday evening TV drama, but there's nothing cinematic about this slight, anti-climactic story of a retired Londoner who is shaken by the death of someone he knew as a teenager.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2017
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| 5/5 | 95% | The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi) (2016) |
The Handmaiden is stylish, funny and daring enough to keep you gripped to the end.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2017
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| 3/5 | 66% | The Fate of the Furious (2017) |
The action set pieces are several miles over the top... But what makes these sequences work is the bickering banter between Johnson, Statham, Chris Bridges, Tyrese Gibson and the rest of the mismatched cast.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2017
|
| 4/5 | 44% | Ghost in the Shell (2017) |
The new Ghost in the Shell is a lot more coherent than the old one. Both a nightmarish body horror-movie and a hard-boiled conspiracy thriller, it slots in plenty of images and scenes from the anime, while forging a narrative of its own‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Mar 30, 2017
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| 2/5 | 71% | Beauty and the Beast (2017) |
Beauty and the Beast is simply a cover version of a chart-topping song, played with such anonymous competence that Condon's motto must have been, "It ain't broke, don't fix it." Another motto might have been better: "If it ain't broke, don't remake it."‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Mar 3, 2017
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| 2/5 | 10% | Fifty Shades Darker (2017) |
Dopey romantic fantasy is only a few semi-nude scenes away from being a daytime-TV movie.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Feb 9, 2017
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| 3/5 | 43% | Gold (2017) |
McConaughey gives his considerable all as a wild-eyed desperado, but the rest of Gold can't reach his manic energy levels.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Feb 5, 2017
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| 5/5 | 92% | Toni Erdmann (2016) |
Worth almost three hours of anyone's time.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Feb 5, 2017
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| 4/5 | 89% | Loving (2016) |
Loving glows with the kind of decency and humanity that we badly need to be reminded of at the moment.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Feb 5, 2017
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| 3/5 | 78% | T2 Trainspotting (2017) |
If it's difficult to watch T2 without remembering how much better Trainspotting was, the film's saving grace is its own willingness to comment on this decline.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Jan 23, 2017
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| 1/5 | 18% | Assassin's Creed (2016) |
There's a treat in store for anyone who takes a perverse pleasure in seeing truly terrible films, because Hollywood's latest video-game adaptation, Assassin's Creed, is a Christmas turkey with all the trimmings.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Dec 23, 2016
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| 4/5 | 73% | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) |
Almost every scene has something ingenious and beautifully designed for you to gasp at, and the supernatural hijinks are all underpinned by Rowling's sincere pro-tolerance message. But it's all at the expense of the supposed protagonists.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Nov 17, 2016
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| 3/5 | 84% | Deepwater Horizon (2016) |
An effective disaster movie ...‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Nov 9, 2016
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| 3/5 | 47% | Free State of Jones (2016) |
By covering so many events in one go, Ross's episodic and exhausting history lesson wastes the remarkable story of Knight's wartime escapades.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Nov 9, 2016
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| 2/5 | 63% | Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) |
The plotting of his new film is so convoluted that cinema-goers will need flow charts to stop them being utterly baffled.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Nov 9, 2016
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| 90% | Doctor Strange (2016) |
Despite focusing on one of the company's less famous and more bizarre characters, it is all too familiar for a film with 'Strange' in the title. Still, none of that stops it being thoroughly enjoyable.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Oct 28, 2016
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| 2/5 | 43% | The Girl on the Train (2016) |
What's frustrating is that if you stare at The Girl on the Train hard enough, you can just about make out what the writer and director were trying to do.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Oct 7, 2016
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| 3/5 | 86% | Hacksaw Ridge (2016) |
As clichéd as it is, Hacksaw Ridge passes muster because it is so uncynical about the man it memorialises. Gibson's reverence, for soldiers and for hardline Christians alike, is disarming.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Sep 9, 2016
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| 5/5 | 92% | La La Land (2016) |
Most cinema-goers are already madly in love with at least one of them, and that love will hit stratospheric new heights when they see how skilfully Gosling and Stone balance their absurd attractiveness with goofy self-deprecation in La La Land.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Sep 2, 2016
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| 3/5 | 76% | Lights Out (2016) |
Lights Out has the best horror gimmick since Paranormal Activity.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2016
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| 4/5 | 70% | Asterix and Obelix: Mansion of the Gods (Astérix: Le domaine des dieux) (2014) |
Forget Captain America: Civil War and Deadpool. This is the comic-book adaptation of the year.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2016
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| 3/5 | 61% | David Brent: Life on the Road (2017) |
It feels like a Christmas TV special that could have been broadcast 10 years ago. But as Christmas TV specials go, it's a very funny one.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2016
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| 3/5 | 55% | Jason Bourne (2016) |
It's just like old times. Once again, Bourne hurtles from one grey and gritty European metropolis to another at breathtaking speed... And once again, Greengrass stages the action with bone-jarring immediacy.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Aug 19, 2016
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| 3/5 | 65% | Nerve (2016) |
You go along with the charismatic cast and atmospheric shots until, ultimately, it gets on your nerves.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Aug 14, 2016
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| 4/5 | 87% | Pete's Dragon (2016) |
It's possibly a little too gentle and a few jokes might have made it even better but, these days, Hollywood films as quietly humane as this one are almost as rare as dragons.‐ Daily Express (UK)
Read More | Posted Aug 14, 2016
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| 1/5 | 59% | Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016) |
Thanks to Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Zoolander 2 is no longer 2016's most disappointing fashion-industry comedy comeback.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Jul 21, 2016
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| 3/5 | 73% | Ghostbusters (2016) |
It is daringly progressive, and it is a landmark in mainstream entertainment. It's just a shame that it isn't a bit funnier.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Jul 15, 2016
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| 1/5 | 48% | X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) |
In this senseless and uninvolving new sequel, the series' former wit, resonance and internal logic seem to have been lost in all the swirling clouds of computer-generated dust. ‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 25, 2016
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| 4/5 | 89% | Loving (2016) |
If Loving can be accused of being too muted, its central performances speak volumes.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 19, 2016
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| 3/5 | 79% | American Honey (2016) |
American Honey is an exhilaratingly unconventional, unjudgemental ride.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 19, 2016
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| 3/5 | 71% | Café Society (2016) |
While it never fails to look gorgeous, it doesn't stop drifting long enough to show us anyone or anything in detail.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 12, 2016
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| 3/5 | 90% | Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
It's this levity that makes the much-touted battle royale between Team Cap and Team Iron Man so much fun.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted May 12, 2016
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| 2/5 | 95% | The Jungle Book (2016) |
There were times during The Jungle Book when I was rooting for the tiger.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Apr 13, 2016
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| 4/5 | 27% | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) |
In Ben Affleck's Batman, here at last is the sadistic, fascistic, half-crazed vigilante that comics fans have been waiting for.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Mar 23, 2016
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| 4/5 | 91% | Zero Days (2016) |
It is still chilling to hear that computer viruses can now cause "real-world physical damage" on a scale that experts would have laughed off as 'Hollywood-esque' just a decade ago.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2016
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| 4/5 | 51% | Genius (2016) |
It coasts to a standstill when they part company in the final act. Still, that only underlines the film's point. Neither of the men is a genius without the other man there beside him.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2016
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| 3/5 | 84% | Midnight Special (2016) |
The film's nocturnal eeriness is compelling enough to pull you past several plot holes, and the sudden demonstrations of Alton's powers are spine-tingling, in spite of the substandard CGI.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2016
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| 4/5 | 85% | Hail, Caesar! (2016) |
Hail, Caesar! is that rare beast: a feel-good Coen brothers film. It feels very good indeed.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2016
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| 4/5 | 81% | The Revenant (2015) |
As it is, you're bound to be impressed by what the actors went through, but you won't be so bothered about the characters they play.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2016
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| 4/5 | 92% | Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) |
When The Force Awakens gets going, you couldn't ask for a more propulsive, joyous or witty Star Wars film‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Dec 16, 2015
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| 4/5 | 98% | Inside Out (2015) |
In the first half of the film, I was being piloted by Confusion and Dissatisfaction. But by the end, Joy was very much in charge.‐ BBC.com
Read More | Posted Dec 8, 2015
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