Lynden Barber
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Patriot Games (1992) |
The director, Australia's Phillip Noyce, pumps enough adrenalin into the story to help the audience suspend its derision, and the supporting cast works hard at bringing a degree of dignity to some clichéd characterizations. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 06, 2023
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Army of Darkness (1992) |
Adolescent gross-out is replaced with adolescent humor, with the usual bad acting much in evidence. Raimi's energetic inventiveness offers only partial compensation. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 31, 2023
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Thelma & Louise (1991) |
Thelma & Louise is a pop fantasy with a viewpoint rooted in the kind of everyday reality that Hollywood routinely denies, playing fast and loose with the kind of masculine film conventions that have been long overdue for upsetting. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Feb 28, 2023
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Tár (2022) |
Even by her usual high standards, Blanchett’s acting here is mesmerising, bringing to life a character who is not only charismatic, highly intelligent and passionate about music, but also bafflingly devious and egoistic to the nth degree. - Limelight
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| Posted Dec 22, 2022
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Groundhog Day (1993) |
That it works so entertainingly is a tribute to an ingenious script -- which gradually turns the film into an unconventional romantic comedy and, almost miraculously, never runs out of steam -- and to a pair of very likable performances. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Dec 21, 2022
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Postcards From the Edge (1990) |
"Postcards" won't solve the fundamental dilemmas of human existence, but it passes the time agreeably. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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Dances With Wolves (1990) |
On paper, Dances with Wolves looks like another Heaven's Gate... But not only has this epic successfully disinterred a long-buried genre, it's a triumph on all levels that establishes Costner as a born film-maker. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 02, 2022
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The Quiet Girl (2022) |
Visually the film is striking and sometimes breathtaking. Writer-director Colm Bairéad is clearly a major talent. - Limelight
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| Posted Oct 03, 2022
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Addams Family Values (1993) |
Addams Family Values is a slick, witty and mischievous delight, and one of those rare sequels which surpasses its predecessor. Not that the latter was a difficult task. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Sep 22, 2022
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True Things (2021) |
Ruth Wilson gives a riveting performance... - Limelight
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| Posted Aug 26, 2022
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The Forgiven (2021) |
Ralph Fiennes is back in the desert in a film that combines a serious moral with caustic humour. - Limelight
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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Diva (1981) |
I was no opera fan at the time, indeed had found that musical form somewhat alienating, and yet after being mesmerised by the aria performed by soprano Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez near the start of the film, the barriers began to melt. - Limelight
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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Driving Miss Daisy (1989) |
Tandy and Freeman give performances of splendid depth and restraint that are matched by Beresford's admirably light directorial touch and the sumptuous cinematography of Australian Peter James. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jul 25, 2022
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The Martha Mitchell Effect (2022) |
For follow-up viewing, turn to the hour-long documentary The Martha Mitchell Effect, which shows the real Martha to have been an even more colourful personality than the one portrayed by [Julia] Roberts. Which is really saying something... - Limelight
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| Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Falling for Figaro (2020) |
It’s no surprise that Lumley is absolutely fabulous and will draw most of the audience, but it’s Macdonald who makes the biggest impression. - Limelight
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| Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Official Competition (2021) |
I’d call Official Competition’s satire wryly amusing rather than belly-laugh producing, but no complaints from this quarter -- that’s exactly the tone the directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat are going for, and they pull it off very nicely indeed. - Limelight
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| Posted Jun 23, 2022
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Maigret (2022) |
Helping enormously is the casting of Gérard Depardieu in the lead role -- an icon of the French cinema playing a leading fictional icon whose physical appearance is just right. - Limelight
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| Posted May 26, 2022
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Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015) |
If you ever wondered what led Putin to mount an invasion, here is a crucial part of the story. - Limelight
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| Posted May 02, 2022
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The Bombardment (2021) |
If you think you can handle the confronting subject matter, this is thoughtfully made and worth a watch. - Limelight
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| Posted May 02, 2022
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Black Crab (2022) |
The action is often bloody but unfailingly tense and gripping. - Limelight
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| Posted May 02, 2022
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River (2021) |
The name Jennifer Peedom won’t raise many nods of recognition outside the film industry...but her outstanding documentary films set in the wilds of the natural world should see her more widely recognised as among Australia’s finest filmmakers now working. - Limelight
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| Posted Mar 25, 2022
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The Silence of the Lambs (1991) |
Ultimately, though, what makes Lambs so uncommonly effective is not what it shows but what it suggests about humanity. You have been warned. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 22, 2022
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Lost Illusions (2021) |
It’s a splendidly involving tale full of thematic parallels to today’s world of fake news and corrupt and immoral media... - Limelight
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| Posted Mar 21, 2022
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Petite Maman (2021) |
It is a splendid example of how to use a fertile imagination to create a spell over the viewer despite extremely limited resources. - Limelight
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| Posted Mar 21, 2022
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The Duke (2020) |
Enticing viewers to chuckle or guffaw can be hard, though the best comic actors make it look deceptively simple. - Limelight
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| Posted Mar 07, 2022
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The Lost Daughter (2021) |
the romance of the setting is undermined by the harshness of the human behaviour it places under the microscope... - Limelight
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| Posted Jan 31, 2022
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West Side Story (2021) |
Lead actors Ansel Elgort as Tony and the previously unknown Rachel Zegler as Maria sing, dance and act magnificently. - Limelight
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| Posted Dec 22, 2021
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Licorice Pizza (2021) |
I'm not sure if I really believed in Gary as a character, though I went along for the ride anyway. At least it took us somewhere different. - Limelight
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| Posted Dec 22, 2021
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King Richard (2021) |
The film is gripping and relentlessly entertaining, especially in its early sequences... - Limelight
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| Posted Dec 22, 2021
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Delicious (2021) |
The film is imbued with gentle humour and an unpredictable story, even if its conjecture about the invention of the modern restaurant - which happened in Paris, not in the countryside - is cheekily fanciful. - Limelight
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| Posted Dec 22, 2021
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Belfast (2021) |
With one foot in warm nostalgia, the other in grey ugliness and violent threats, Belfast maintains a fine balance between the two. - Limelight
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| Posted Dec 17, 2021
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Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021) |
Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude doesn't so much tear up the standard rule book of feature film construction as dangle it over the balcony by its ankles - before letting go. - Limelight
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| Posted Nov 30, 2021
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The Worst Person in the World (2021) |
The only bad thing about this intimate romantic drama from rising Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier is that its title, if taken literally, is somewhat misleading. Other than that, it's a beauty. - Limelight
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| Posted Nov 30, 2021
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Greyhound (2020) |
Although designed for cinemas, this story about an Allied convoy trying to survive a pack of U-Boats mid-Atlantic grips from the word go, even while inevitably losing the immersive effect it would have enjoyed on a huge screen. - Limelight
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| Posted Nov 29, 2021
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Buckley's Chance (2021) |
A likable family entertainment. - Limelight
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| Posted Jul 01, 2021
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Cousins (2021) |
The film is surprisingly approachable, which is not to say it's entirely unflawed. - Limelight
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| Posted Jun 28, 2021
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My Name Is Gulpilil (2021) |
This is not a conventional documentary so much as a very personal celebration of this man's brilliant career and multiple talents. - Limelight
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| Posted May 28, 2021
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Ema (2019) |
You may love it or hate it or find yourself conflicted. You probably won't forget it easily. - sbs.com.au
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| Posted May 24, 2021
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Heroic Losers (2019) |
This may be a familiar formula, but the result is nonetheless funny, ingeniously plotted and with plenty of charm and energy. - Limelight
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| Posted May 24, 2021
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Supernova (2020) |
The performances are marvellously subtle but the film often feels soporific. - Limelight
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| Posted May 05, 2021
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Schindler's List (1993) |
Steven Zaillian's ingeniously structured script presents the unpalatable in a way it can be digested -- by hooking it into a powerful, almost mythical story about a man who becomes a hero almost in spite of himself. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Apr 14, 2021
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The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) |
In context, however, there's enough character building for these concerns to fade away, and while there's no denying this is at heart a traditional legal melodrama, it's a stirring one with the great Frank Langella in typically fine mettle... - Limelight
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| Posted Mar 19, 2021
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News of the World (2020) |
Because he so often doesn't appear to be acting, in my book, a compliment, many overlook just how varied Hanks's roles can be and how accomplished he is as a performer... - Limelight
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| Posted Mar 19, 2021
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Wayne's World (1992) |
Totally non-bogus and excellent! Sorry. It's catching. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 10, 2021
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Nomadland (2020) |
Fern hits the road in her mobile home initially to pick up work in a gargantuan Amazon warehouse, a symbol of 21st-century postmodernity as dehumanising as any 19th-century cotton mill or factory. - Limelight
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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A Sun (2019) |
Not only is the film visually outstanding, but it takes us on a most unpredictable narrative journey where characters who seem initially unsympathetic finally come to be people we genuinely care for. - Limelight
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| Posted Jan 09, 2021
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37 Seconds (2019) |
Mei Kayama [gives] an authentic and genuinely touching performance. - Limelight
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| Posted Jan 09, 2021
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The Joy Luck Club (1993) |
The Joy Luck Club is an extraordinarily ambitious attempt at examining the lives of three generations of Chinese women in both China and the United States that somehow works like a dream. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Dec 17, 2020
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The Father (2020) |
How could this new UK production, directed and co-written by Frenchman Florian Zeller from his own play, possibly emulate [Sarah Polley's 2006 drama, Away from Her] or find anything new to say? Here is how. By switching the point of view. - Limelight
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| Posted Nov 25, 2020
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Misbehaviour (2020) |
...while the film is energetic, often amusing and accurate about the era's often alarming prejudices, it also gets entangled in didacticism and self-consciousness... - Limelight
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| Posted Nov 20, 2020
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