Kathleen Murphy
Kathleen Murphy's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Film Comment Magazine
MSN Movies
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
The Visit (2015) |
Working Hitchcockian elements of existential terror into a grotesque Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, Shyamalan has delivered a satisfyingly scary old-school hair-raiser that's smart, funny, and deeply disturbing. - Parallax View
Read More
| Posted Sep 11, 2015
|
|
|
|
Listen to Me Marlon (2015) |
[Stevan] Riley explores the seductive, dangerous business of acting, using one of its greatest and most conflicted practitioners as case history. - Parallax View
Read More
| Posted Aug 20, 2015
|
|
|
|
The Salvation (2014) |
This peculiar western runs on the kind of stylized genre storytelling that fulfills familiar forms and conventions, satisfying our appetite for archetypes and inevitability. - Parallax View
Read More
| Posted Mar 14, 2015
|
|
|
|
Only God Forgives (2013) |
You may find the waters toxic, but Only God Forgives is a mesmerizing medium. - Parallax View
Read More
| Posted Jul 07, 2014
|
|
|
|
A Dark Truth (2012) |
Can't come up with a single reason to recommend this leaden excuse for an eco-thriller, which one Damian Lee claims to have written and directed. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jan 02, 2013
|
|
|
|
Jack Reacher (2012) |
If Cruise's fantasy superhero garners as many staunch fans ... we may be witnessing the birth of a new franchise. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jan 02, 2013
|
|
|
|
Amour (2012) |
A relentless and shattering masterwork, 'Amour' breaks the heart but satisfies the soul. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Dec 19, 2012
|
|
|
|
Deadfall (2012) |
'Deadfall' deftly transforms the climactic moments ... therapeutic for some, devastating for others. It's a beautiful thing. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Dec 06, 2012
|
|
|
|
A Royal Affair (2012) |
'Affair' is disappointingly conventional, much too decorous and, at two hours-plus, sometimes just plain dull. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
|
|
Jack and Diane (2012) |
Devoid of energy and direction, 'J&D' settles for faux-naif posturing and arty color design. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Nov 02, 2012
|
|
|
|
Chasing Mavericks (2012) |
... you see what 'Chasing Mavericks' missed entirely: the transfiguring energy that animated this remarkable child of the sea. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
|
|
3, 2, 1... Frankie Go Boom (2012) |
Though deliciously rude and crude, '3, 2, 1 ... Frankie Go Boom' possesses a surprisingly sweet heart. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Oct 18, 2012
|
|
|
|
Sinister (2012) |
Sinister' may make you jump at predictable intervals, but it never rattles your existential certainties the way truly subversive horror does. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Oct 11, 2012
|
|
|
|
End of Watch (2012) |
What saves this cop show from its predictable tropes and cliches are terrific performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, who've got each other's backs as actors and as "brothers" in law enforcement. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
|
|
Liberal Arts (2012) |
Liberal Arts is so sweet and safe an undertaking, it's like getting baptized in warm bathwater. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Sep 10, 2012
|
|
|
|
Premium Rush (2012) |
Premium Rush isn't mindless mayhem, a thriller for teenage boys bursting with hormonal bloodlust. Koepp's film has a brain... - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Aug 27, 2012
|
|
|
|
Robot & Frank (2012) |
Robot & Frank is very nearly a one-man show, a master interacting with a machine. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Aug 21, 2012
|
|
|
|
Hope Springs (2012) |
Though falling short of what might have been, Hope Springs must still be recommended as superior entertainment for card-carrying grown-ups. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Aug 07, 2012
|
|
|
|
Step Up Revolution (2012) |
Despite their infectious energy and some mind-blowing moves, there's a chaotic formlessness to even the best of these set pieces - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jul 26, 2012
|
|
|
|
Easy Money (2010) |
This Swedish gangster flick blasts out from under you like a high-octane muscle car... - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jul 17, 2012
|
|
|
|
Red Lights (2012) |
Stultifying from start to finish, this mess of a movie is supremely incoherent -- plot-, dialogue- and character-wise. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jul 11, 2012
|
|
|
|
Magic Mike (2012) |
Steven Soderbergh's funny, exhilarating, down-and-dirty celebration of a different breed of costumed superstud... - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jun 27, 2012
|
|
|
|
Your Sister's Sister (2011) |
No question that Shelton and her cast share a remarkable collaborative rapport. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jun 16, 2012
|
|
|
|
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) |
Cocooned in so-hip-it-hurts smugness, these faux-fairy tales perpetuate the sophomoric notion that deadpan quirk and snark are just cover for all that's really warm and cuddly and true. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jun 05, 2012
|
|
|
|
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) |
...off-kilter wit and smarts to an animated bestiary that keeps you laughing while eloquently re-defining where home is. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jun 05, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Intouchables (2011) |
Savoring such moments... is like selling your soul to the devil. You'll pay for it later, but they please as they play. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted May 22, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Samaritan (2012) |
The theme's familiar, but The Samaritan's stylish palette -- the colors of corruption and despair -- paints it new. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted May 16, 2012
|
|
|
|
I Wish (2011) |
With almost supernaturally effortless grace, Kore-eda has connected the film's every element, each one pregnant with beauty and meaning... - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted May 08, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Omen (1976) |
What partly recommends and partly handicaps The Omen... is its old-fashioned quality. - Parallax View
Read More
| Posted May 04, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Raven (2012) |
The director who stitched The Raven together has no idea how to frame or compose a scene, let alone 'grow' a film organically. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Apr 25, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Moth Diaries (2011) |
The Moth Diaries fails to frighten, titillate or otherwise engage the imagination. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Apr 19, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Lady (2011) |
Yeoh's serene dignity counts for much, but overall The Lady suffers from a serious case of the bland. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
|
|
Goon (2011) |
Good for lowdown fun, this subversive comedy invites us in to celebrate its idiosyncratic bunch of sweet-natured goons. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Mar 27, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Hunger Games (2012) |
ADD auds won't mind that there's no time to get to know anybody, or watch a relationship unfold, or ride the dramatic rise and swell of a compelling narrative. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
|
Silent House (2011) |
For 88 minutes, Olsen rivets our attention, and the camera's, so fiercely it verges on unbearable. Silent House is her movie. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Mar 06, 2012
|
|
|
|
This Means War (2012) |
A droopy love triangle seriously short on sexual chemistry, not to mention the kind of playful self-awareness that can spice up even the blandest romantic comedy. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Feb 15, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Vow (2012) |
A Valentine Day's gift swaddled in sanitized Saran wrap, The Vow is a pretty package of sweets, sealed off from the corrupting air of reality. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Feb 09, 2012
|
|
|
|
The Woman in Black (2012) |
One or two moments of genuinely unsettling horror fail to keep this 95-minute ghost story alive and moving. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Feb 02, 2012
|
|
|
|
Man on a Ledge (2012) |
"...it didn't entirely suck but sort of just petered out..." - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2012
|
|
|
|
Coriolanus (2011) |
Fiennes directs theater on the grand scale, burning his characters down to expose the terrible beauty of the human soul. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Jan 16, 2012
|
|
|
|
War Horse (2011) |
Tonally jarring and structurally disjointed, it's a punishingly long and bumpy ride. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Dec 26, 2011
|
|
|
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011) |
Eighty-seven minutes, the duration of this auditory assault, would be sufficient to slaughter every brain cell and induce blithering idiocy. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Dec 15, 2011
|
|
|
|
I Melt With You (2011) |
...music video masquerading as movie, all whacked-out sound and fury, signifying nothing. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Dec 07, 2011
|
|
|
|
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) |
A meticulously visualized anatomy of melancholy, this challenging movie freezes you to the edge of your seat, adrenalized with terror and pity. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Dec 02, 2011
|
|
|
|
Sleeping Beauty (2010) |
Truth is, there's really nothing, shameful or otherwise, to see in this pretentious and empty fairy tale. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Nov 29, 2011
|
|
|
|
The Artist (2011) |
Unfettered by irony, inspiring the kind of spontaneous emotional response we yearn for at the multiplex, [it] immerses us in joyful illusion, a world of movies within movies. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
|
|
Arthur Christmas (2011) |
Everything you see in Arthur Christmas is fashioned in the service of telling a story ... brilliantly - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
|
|
Immortals (2011) |
This monumental tale of warring gods and men is a beautiful, dead thing, bereft of organic or kinetic life. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Nov 11, 2011
|
|
|
|
In Time (2011) |
Oddly, Niccol doesn't seem to have a clue how to mine dread and anxiety out of that greenly flickering readout of a human lifespan. - MSN Movies
Read More
| Posted Oct 27, 2011
|
|
|
|
Almayer's Folly (2011) |
... this provocative director's exploration of cultural, ethnic and gender powerplays held me captive for much of its long running time... - Parallax View
Read More
| Posted Oct 22, 2011
|