Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Clarisse Loughrey, Mark Kermode
Rating Title/Year Author
Joker (2019) Mark Kermode It knew what it was doing. The performance is so intense, with just the right register for the film...hard-boiled cinema, it managed to do something new... EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2019
The Day Shall Come (2019) Mark Kermode It doesn't have the bite or the edginess, nor does it have the surreal quality of his TV work...but I think it's very well-researched, its heart in the right place, and it's funny when it needs to be... EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2019
Abominable (2019) Mark Kermode A blandly-charming, occasionally-thrilling animation...but I wanted a little bit more. Perfectly fine... EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2019
Gemini Man (2019) Mark Kermode All you could concentrate on is the bizarre format...there are Blade Runner-like ideas about souls and bodies and whatnot, but watching it was a totally distracting experience. EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2019
The Goldfinch (2019) Mark Kermode I sat there, watching and thinking, "there are so many good things in this, yet none of them are touching me in the slightest." I was bored, and that's almost the most damning thing. Considerably less than the sum of its parts. EDIT
Posted Oct 2, 2019
Ready or Not (2019) Mark Kermode Laugh-out-loud moments with slight revulsion...rather than running out of steam, it keeps picking up pace and cracking along. EDIT
Posted Oct 2, 2019
Hotel Mumbai (2018) Mark Kermode The film is very well directed by Antony Morris in a way that quite often made me very uncomfortable. EDIT
Posted Sep 23, 2019
The Farewell (2019) Mark Kermode Magnificent screen presence. I thought it was really lovely. I thought it was really funny. I thought it was really moving. You will laugh, you will cry. EDIT
Posted Sep 23, 2019
The Kitchen (2019) Mark Kermode The problem with it is that it's incredibly unbalanced in the way that it doesn't ever know how to exactly deal with the sort of the tougher subject matter, the violence, which it deals with. EDIT
Posted Sep 23, 2019
Phoenix (Føniks) (2018) Mark Kermode The first half works better, but as a claustrophobic, psychological study...it's an interesting piece. EDIT
Posted Sep 18, 2019
Nomis (2018) Mark Kermode So ludicrously over-the-top... EDIT
Posted Sep 18, 2019
Hustlers (2019) Mark Kermode [It] understands its characters, understands its world...it's fun, and I thought Jennifer Lopez was very, very good. EDIT
Posted Sep 18, 2019
Downton Abbey (2019) Mark Kermode A big television production, put on the screen in a grand house that does exactly what you think it will do...nothing to ruffle feathers or frighten the horses... EDIT
Posted Sep 18, 2019
It: Chapter Two (2019) Mark Kermode Yes, there are big-bang scares, but they're not real scares. In the end, what I come away with is a sense of being at a carnival fun-fair. Attractions, bits...but too much, and you're tired and sick. EDIT
Posted Sep 6, 2019
The Shiny Shrimps (Les Crevettes pailletées) (2019) Mark Kermode Often funny, and this theme is important, although it's schematic with moments of cliches...I was won over and moved by it. EDIT
Posted Sep 6, 2019
Rojo (2018) Mark Kermode A film in which there's a sharp edge, and the satire and humor don't do anything to take that sharpness off. EDIT
Posted Sep 6, 2019
The Informer (2020) Mark Kermode It's a functional nuts and bolts thriller with some terrible overacting. EDIT
Posted Aug 30, 2019
A Million Little Pieces (2018) Mark Kermode It falls very much into cliché and artifice. EDIT
Posted Aug 30, 2019
The Mustang (2019) Mark Kermode Despite the fact that the central metaphor is fairly straightforward... I actually thought that the movie told its story very movingly. EDIT
Posted Aug 30, 2019
Bait (2019) Mark Kermode It is a film which is textural to the max. It is a film in which you can feel the grain... It is absolutely, proudly handmade. EDIT
Posted Aug 30, 2019
Mrs. Lowry & Son (2019) Mark Kermode The performances are great. EDIT
Posted Aug 30, 2019
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) Mark Kermode You can feel the love of cinema in it, but I thought it was fantastically ill-disciplined and indulgent and whole blocks of "DVD extras." EDIT
Posted Aug 29, 2019
Angel Has Fallen (2019) Mark Kermode Efficient B-movie trash that I enjoyed watching...I enjoyed myself, and I really hadn't expected to. EDIT
Posted Aug 29, 2019
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Mark Kermode It's slightly baggy, and could deal with some reigning in, but the characters are well-done, and you like the stories...it writes itself into the fiction, and it's good filmmaking... EDIT
Posted Aug 29, 2019
Dolor y gloria (2019) Mark Kermode Colorful, vibrant, bright in the way you want from Almodóvar...if you're a fan, you already know, but if you're coming to this for the first time, it's a really good way in. It's generous, it welcomes you into the story. EDIT
Posted Aug 29, 2019
Crawl (2019) Mark Kermode Perfectly good, if disposable, popcorn entertainment... EDIT
Posted Aug 29, 2019
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) Clarisse Loughrey It's interesting because a lot of the bigger action set-pieces are done in a traditional manner, but I liked that the characters weren't being swallowed up by all the noise... EDIT
Posted Aug 2, 2019
Charming (2018) Clarisse Loughrey You get a Sia song in the middle, which is quite nice, but not really worth an entire watch...it feels like you're watching echoes of other movies. EDIT
Posted Aug 2, 2019
Of Fish and Foe (2018) Clarisse Loughrey The documentary holds back. There's no real narrative, not much text on screen...it's a very nuanced, inflammatory subject, so you lose a lot in just showing it without explanation or context... EDIT
Posted Jul 26, 2019
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019) Clarisse Loughrey It never really goes beyond the idea of her being a muse, which doesn't constitute an entire personality. You know that there's more to the story there, and it's disheartening to see that. EDIT
Posted Jul 26, 2019
The Current War (2019) Clarisse Loughrey It's so busily shot, and the camera is always trying to do something...the score can feel intrusive...all of that at once was so distracting, and I was struggling to focus on the dialogue. EDIT
Posted Jul 26, 2019
() Clarisse Loughrey It's a bit disjointed, and the musical numbers kind of just pop out of nowhere, but overall I enjoyed the humor and the history. EDIT
Posted Jul 26, 2019
Only You (2018) Mark Kermode This very intimate but unobtrusive cinematography that really makes you feel in the bubble with the couple without being voyeuristic. I loved the way it played with and inverted stereotypes. EDIT
Posted Jul 24, 2019
Gwen (2018) Mark Kermode Atmospheric, creepy, and it had a real sense of bitter chill. Very, very well played by the cast. EDIT
Posted Jul 24, 2019
The Wedding Guest (2018) Mark Kermode Something you will have to seek out, but Michael Winterbottom is always worth seeking out. EDIT
Posted Jul 24, 2019
The Edge (2019) Mark Kermode Every moment that you're on the pitch, you can't even blink...the tiniest fraction of a physical move is the difference between winning and losing...I was gripped. EDIT
Posted Jul 24, 2019
Tell It to the Bees (2018) Mark Kermode When it falls apart, it really does fall apart quite clunky... EDIT
Posted Jul 19, 2019
The Lion King (2019) Mark Kermode I'm very impressed with how they did...I just love cartoons. This is a movie that said sit there, we've done all the work. EDIT
Posted Jul 19, 2019
Ibiza: The Silent Movie (2019) Mark Kermode One thing that impresses me about this film is that, despite never being to Ibiza or knowing anything about dance music, it passed that crucial documentary test and kept me interested in the subject. EDIT
Posted Jul 8, 2019
Midsommar (2019) Mark Kermode It's a world that you absolutely believe in, aided by really really brilliant performances. EDIT
Posted Jul 8, 2019
Vita & Virginia (2018) Mark Kermode Quite irritating...not entirely successful, but it does have things in it that work, not least the performances. EDIT
Posted Jul 8, 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Mark Kermode This does a nice job of doing the European vacation schoolboy thing that just happens to have a superhero element in it. EDIT
Posted Jul 8, 2019
Dirty God (2019) Mark Kermode It's a demanding role that requires a level of fearlessness and revelation. And Knight absolutely commands the screen, a star is instantly born. EDIT
Posted Jul 2, 2019
Yesterday (2019) Mark Kermode There's a good-natured, barreling charm to the film. EDIT
Posted Jul 2, 2019
In Fabric (2018) Mark Kermode It's deliciously playful. No one makes films like Peter Strickland. EDIT
Posted Jul 2, 2019
Apollo 11 (2019) Mark Kermode Astonishing...the documentary footage, which alternates from the spaceship and the American audience...it just brought back what an unbelievably impressive achievement it was in 1969. EDIT
Posted Jul 1, 2019
Anima (2019) Mark Kermode I'm not a huge devotee of Yorke's solo stuff, but I found it very, very interesting. I'd liked to have seen it on a big screen. EDIT
Posted Jul 1, 2019
Support the Girls (2018) Mark Kermode A kind of social realism...there's a real feeling of family, but it's also a workplace, where it's possible for people to be mistreated...stripped-down and unexpected. EDIT
Posted Jul 1, 2019
() Mark Kermode During the course of the drama, we see changes in this character, the horror and hardship of that plight. Staggering... EDIT
Posted Jun 21, 2019
Child's Play (2019) Mark Kermode There's a throwback retro-gore charm to it...much better than I expected. I enjoyed myself, watching it breathe new life into this. EDIT
Posted Jun 21, 2019