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Nick De Semlyen

Tomatometer-approved critic
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Reviews

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Predator: Badlands (2025) 86% 4/5 EDIT “Badlands is big popcorn fun, a geeky commingling of lurid sci-fi, comedy and rowdy action that gets high off its own supply. ” – Empire Magazine Nov 4, 2025 Full Review Saturday Night (2024) 77% 3/5 EDIT “The founding of a comedy institution shot as a madcap thriller, Saturday Night glides over the surface rather than drilling deep, but it’s largely a hell of a fun 109 minutes.” – Empire Magazine Feb 4, 2025 Full Review Paddington in Peru (2024) 93% 3/5 EDIT “The Paddington series goes 'Raiders of The Lost Bear', swapping Primrose Hill for the savage jungles of Peru. It's a decent threequel, though a little of the enchantment has been lost in transit. ” – Empire Magazine Nov 4, 2024 Full Review The Last of England (1988) 60% 3/5 EDIT “Jarman mars his brilliance by making his almost wordless film often unwatchable and the message unintelligible. ” – Empire Magazine Oct 22, 2024 Full Review The Cement Garden (1993) 85% 4/5 EDIT “It deals with the equally stark topic of incest with delicacy and poetic elegance, always aware of where its boundaries lie.” – Empire Magazine Oct 22, 2024 Full Review Saints and Soldiers (2003) 64% 3/5 EDIT “Despite the odd clunking mis-step and aspirations above its rank, this has enough going for it to get it home safely.” – Empire Magazine Oct 22, 2024 Full Review Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) 96% 2/5 EDIT “Interesting in places, but let down by a narrator/director who is as dull as dishwater.” – Empire Magazine Oct 22, 2024 Full Review The Petrified Forest (1936) 94% 3/5 EDIT “If you can get past the painted backdrops and interminable tumbleweed, there's some smart banter, a sweet romance, and a surprising ending. ” – Empire Magazine Oct 22, 2024 Full Review Patty Hearst (1988) 60% 3/5 EDIT “Paul Schrader's intense drama pulls out all the stops.” – Empire Magazine Oct 22, 2024 Full Review Strange Darling (2023) 96% 4/5 EDIT “You’ll think you know where this sun-baked serial-killer thriller is going, until you don’t. A nifty, chronologically crafty tale, fuelled by bravura acting by Willa Fitzgerald, it’s a small movie with high impact. ” – Empire Magazine Sep 18, 2024 Full Review Hundreds of Beavers (2022) 97% 4/5 EDIT “A tale of pelts that pelts along, with more lunacy and creativity than a brace of other films, this film dares to go full beaver. ” – Empire Magazine Jul 12, 2024 Full Review Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) 65% 3/5 EDIT “Scruffy and overstuffed, but contagiously good-natured. And frankly more films need to feature showdowns at abandoned alligator-themed amusement parks.” – Empire Magazine Jun 5, 2024 Full Review Monkey Man (2024) 89% 4/5 EDIT “Stylish, high-energy, smart and eye-wateringly violent. There are quibbles, for sure, but where it counts, Monkey Man goes bananas in the best possible way.” – Empire Magazine Mar 26, 2024 Full Review The Holdovers (2023) 97% 5/5 EDIT “Hunham’s hero Marcus Aurelius once wrote, “Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing.” Take his advice and see this film.” – Empire Magazine Dec 8, 2023 Full Review Past Lives (2023) 95% 5/5 EDIT “A transcendent debut for South Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song, this romantic drama is a masterclass in slow, simmering storytelling. It will stay with you, maybe even into your next life.” – Empire Magazine Sep 5, 2023 Full Review Air (2023) 93% 3/5 EDIT “It’s a lot of fun, way more than a film about a large company striving to make even more money should be. But it could have paid a little more heed to #3 on Nike’s famous list of ten corporate principles: “Break the rules.”” – Empire Magazine Mar 21, 2023 Full Review Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) 76% 5/5 EDIT “It’s a leap beyond even what he pulled off with the first film, a phantasmagorical, fully immersive waking dream of a movie in which something impossible is happening on-screen at almost every moment. ” – Empire Magazine Dec 13, 2022 Full Review Decision to Leave (2022) 94% 4/5 EDIT “A spry police procedural fused with an achingly intense romance, Decision To Leave keeps you off-kilter throughout, in the best possible way. Make a decision to see it.” – Empire Magazine Oct 19, 2022 Full Review Spiderhead (2022) 39% 3/5 EDIT “You can feel the strain of its expansion from novella form, but it’s just about worth a visit.” – Empire Magazine Jun 14, 2022 Full Review Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) 81% 4/5 EDIT “Reminiscent of The Happytime Murders but actually watchable, this zippy, highly amiable rodent noir turns out to be a delightful surprise. It flings a lot of ideas at the screen — and most of them stick.” – Empire Magazine May 18, 2022 Full Review Uncharted (2022) 41% 2/5 EDIT “A film based on a game inspired by films that are much better than this one, Uncharted is watchable enough but could have been so much better.” – Empire Magazine Feb 13, 2022 Full Review Boiling Point (2021) 99% 3/5 EDIT “A fast-paced and hectic kitchen thriller that, though it tries to spin a few too many plates, pulls you deep into a fascinating, detailed world most of us know little about.” – Empire Magazine Jan 9, 2022 Full Review Wrath of Man (2021) 68% 3/5 EDIT “Guy Ritchie delivers a nice surprise: an LA neo-noir with high-voltage action and an ice-cube-cool Statham. If it gets a bit tangled up in its time-hopping reveals, it's largely an enjoyable, rattlesnake-mean thriller.” – Empire Magazine Dec 9, 2021 Full Review The Many Saints of Newark (2021) 72% 4/5 EDIT “A busier proposition than its HBO forefather, this sets up more than it can pay off. But it does manage to balance fan-service with plenty of rich, original, complex material. Bada? Bing.” – Empire Magazine Sep 21, 2021 Full Review Free Guy (2021) 80% 2/5 EDIT “Not quite 'Ready Player One Star', but this is an odd duck: a Black Mirror-ish concept played for laughs, which ends up getting tangled up in its own code.” – Empire Magazine Aug 5, 2021 Full Review
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