Emma Simmonds
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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White Men Can't Jump (2023) |
The affable banter of the leads ensures that this remains a likeable, if entirely unnecessary, affair - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 01, 2023
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The Winter Lake (2020) |
While the dialogue is uninspired, the plot is an interesting exercise in noir-ish duplicity, and culminates in a tense showdown. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 05, 2023
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One Fine Morning (2022) |
Hansen-Løve brings the lightest of touches to emotionally heavy material, showing how desire and devastation can co-exist. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 05, 2023
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Snatchers (2019) |
With its loose satire of adolescence and sketchy plot, Snatchers doesn't quite feel like the finished article - it's not up with the films it's emulating. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 05, 2023
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) |
The tongue-in-cheek adventure is easy to get swept up in, yet it's the characters you'll be itching to see again. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 23, 2023
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Rye Lane (2023) |
There's a cheeky nod to genre staple Love Actually, but this is a romcom that plays entirely by its own rules. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 16, 2023
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Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021) |
It's buoyantly funny, endearing and wonderfully surreal, conjuring plenty of Borrowers-esque magic out of Marcel and Connie's escapades. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 09, 2023
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Cocaine Bear (2023) |
Ultimately, Jimmy Warden's script runs out of steam, but as Liotta and co grapple gamely with their furry adversary, they show the fun you can have by combining a B-movie concept with A-grade talent. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 09, 2023
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The Son (2022) |
An impossible dilemma brings the film's concerns into sharp focus, but much of what unfolds feels stiff and sanitized. - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 16, 2023
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Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) |
O'Connell brings earthiness and subtlety, while the elegant Corrin undergoes a mesmerising emotional journey, casting off both inhibitions and clothing. - Radio Times
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| Posted Dec 09, 2022
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The People We Hate at the Wedding (2022) |
Although it succumbs to cliché, the film mixes things up with a diverse and talented cast. - Radio Times
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022) |
This illuminating documentary celebrates black film-making and draws much-needed attention to forgotten pioneers. - Radio Times
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022) |
Lyle is an endearing creation. - Radio Times
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| Posted Oct 13, 2022
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Flux Gourmet (2022) |
Combining gorgeous, psychedelic visuals with deadpan humour and diva-like behaviour, it's all deliciously well done. - Radio Times
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| Posted Sep 22, 2022
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Catherine Called Birdy (2022) |
Dunham judges things beautifully, crafting a buoyantly witty script that takes an irreverent feminist approach to the grim realities of the age. - Radio Times
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| Posted Sep 22, 2022
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The Feast (2021) |
The Feast communicates its rage with panache and passion, all held together by Elwy's magnificently unnerving eye-catcher of a performance. - Radio Times
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| Posted Sep 22, 2022
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Official Competition (2021) |
Cruz's eye-catching sartorial style is marvellous, and the cast sends up the industry, and themselves, magnificently. - Radio Times
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| Posted Sep 01, 2022
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Bullet Train (2022) |
Bullet Train is too cartoonish for much to be at stake and piles on the effects-heavy carnage in its final throes. Luckily, Pitt's delivery just about keeps it on track. - Radio Times
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| Posted Sep 01, 2022
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Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) |
What should have been a murky trawl through the swamp of small-town suspicion instead feels sanitized and poorly fleshed out. - Radio Times
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| Posted Aug 04, 2022
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Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) |
While the story feels very familiar, the film plays winningly to its target audience and does a decent job of proving there's life in this franchise yet. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jul 07, 2022
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How to Please a Woman (2022) |
It throws in enough mischievous humour to get by, while its exploration of the desires of mature women is appealing. It's pretty bland style-wise, but Phillips's inherent likeability and a smattering of quirky charm see it through. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 30, 2022
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Charming the Hearts of Men (2021) |
Debut writer-director SE DeRose takes both the sexism and racism of the era briskly to task, though the slightly whimsical tone detracts from the seriousness of the issues. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 30, 2022
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Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) |
Director Johannes Roberts sticks close to the games, which might please fans, but the film's disparate stories don't mesh, and the script merely offers up clichés and identikit characters. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 30, 2022
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Jurassic World Dominion (2022) |
Although the lessons about co-existence are clunky, this is a mostly satisfying film for fans of the franchise. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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Four Good Days (2020) |
The film offers a compassionate if shallow look at recovery and regaining trust. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 08, 2022
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Emergency (2022) |
Politically punchy and engaging. - Radio Times
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| Posted May 13, 2022
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Murina (2021) |
The cast dig deep but newcomer Filipovic deserves the film's focus, giving an unaffected, ambiguous turn as a quiet but determined girl fighting to break free from her father's ferocious grasp. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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Moonshot (2022) |
Although the story is a little slung together, the mashing of sci-fi and romance feels like a giant leap for a genre in desperate need of new ideas. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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The Contractor (2022) |
While the plot doesn't stand up to scrutiny, some decent action sequences at least keep things interesting. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) |
It's great fun watching Cage gamely reassume his action persona in a knowing and intentionally preposterous context, and he throws himself into the high jinks and self-ridicule with aplomb. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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The Lost City (2022) |
Riotously funny, supremely silly and with star power in spades, The Lost City is a real gem of an action comedy. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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The Bad Guys (2022) |
A superbly selected voice cast bring swagger to this animated caper from debut director Pierre Perifel. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 07, 2022
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The Worst Person in the World (2021) |
By turns irreverent and illuminating with some sadness along the way, it skips by delightfully, finding much to say about the complexities of love and life for a generation less wedded to tradition. - The List
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| Posted Mar 25, 2022
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The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022) |
The sixth instalment in the Ice Age franchise, and the first to go straight to streaming, marks a sad turning point. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 24, 2022
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The Phantom of the Open (2021) |
The film can feel a little on the slight side, yet it's delightfully quirky and a real spirit-lifter, with Maurice a perversely inspiring figure who reminds us that winning isn't everything. - The List
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| Posted Mar 18, 2022
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Paris, 13th District (2021) |
It's thrilling to see this director, who turns 70 this year, keeping things as fresh as ever. - The List
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| Posted Mar 18, 2022
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Midnight (2021) |
Marking the impressive debut of writer/director Kwon Oh-seung, this cleverly constructed South Korean serial killer flick unfolds in the dead of night in the near-deserted backstreets of Seoul. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 17, 2022
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Turning Red (2022) |
The message about learning to love the beast within is tenderly handled, with delightful cultural details relating to rituals and cuisine combining winningly with universally relatable themes. - The List
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| Posted Mar 11, 2022
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Happening (2021) |
Getting right up in the face of a globally contentious issue, Audrey Diwan's harrowing and masterfully executed sophomore film shows the terrible consequences of denying a woman her right to choose. - The List
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| Posted Mar 08, 2022
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Ali & Ava (2021) |
A moving yet often very funny film that is buoyed by gorgeous performances and an eclectic soundtrack. - The List
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| Posted Mar 04, 2022
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Bergman Island (2021) |
Bergman Island provides some interesting insight into the titular director, while critiquing hero worship and noting the shadow that can be cast by one individual. - The List
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| Posted Mar 03, 2022
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Hive (2021) |
Hive provides a window into a world far removed from western expectations of equality, and is a wonderful tribute to those who dare to go against the grain whatever the personal cost. - The List
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| Posted Mar 03, 2022
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Cyrano (2021) |
It's a welcome dose of post-Valentine's Day romance and heartache. - The List
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| Posted Feb 25, 2022
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Red Rocket (2021) |
A beautiful, nuanced and fascinatingly knotty piece of film-making. - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 18, 2022
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The Desperate Hour (2021) |
While the story eventually becomes more than a little ridiculous, Watts gives us a credible focal point, and takes us on a roller-coaster ride of emotion. - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 18, 2022
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Kimi (2022) |
Events take a credibility-testing turn for the outlandish during the action-packed dénouement, but Soderbergh ensures things remain solidly enjoyable throughout. - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 18, 2022
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The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) |
Chastain is typically charismatic, anchoring the film and emoting engagingly through the cumbersome, often distracting facial prosthetics. Her performance has the power to win you over. It really is all in her eyes. - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 18, 2022
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Book of Love (2022) |
The film successfully blends its fish-out-of-water and romantic elements into a pleasingly feather-light entertainment. - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 18, 2022
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Death on the Nile (2022) |
If Branagh fails to freshen things up, he does at least deliver in the most basic terms. - The List
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| Posted Feb 11, 2022
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Parallel Mothers (2021) |
Despite the upsetting subject matter, Parallel Mothers positively glows with its love for these wonderful women and their cheering sense of solidarity. - The List
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| Posted Jan 26, 2022
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