Cath Clarke

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The Guardian, Time Out, Time Out London
For 508 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 32% higher than the average critic
  • 9% same as the average critic
  • 59% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Cath Clarke's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 60
Highest review score: 100 Some Like It Hot
Lowest review score: 20 Diana
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 129 out of 508
  2. Mixed: 367 out of 508
  3. Negative: 12 out of 508
508 movie reviews
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    • 39 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
    I have to admit to being helplessly enchanted – or suckered – for the most part. There’s wit here and The Nutcracker will take you from zero to Christmas jumper in the opening sequence. What’s missing is the melancholy darkness of ETA Hoffmann’s story. Instead, schmaltz-merchant director Lasse Hallström tugs at the heartstrings and ladles on the syrup.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Croods: A New Age
    There is just too much going on, and the movie doubles in hecticness with every minute that passes, which may have you rummaging around for a couple of paracetamol.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
    As per the two previous films, Stahelski cranks up the body count with a string of fight sequences so balletic you might forget you’re watching violence – until Reeves sinks a knife into a man’s eye. But, three movies in, franchise bloat is beginning to set in; the dead dog jokes are definitely wearing thin.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The President
    Makhmalbaf says he was inspired by the Arab Spring, and his film is pitched somewhere between allegory and satire.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    A Sloth Story
    It’s perfectly adequate for little kids but with little character of its own and a straight-to-download-style blandness.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Origin of Evil
    Without a doubt this is easy entertainment, never dull, and it has some shrewd things to say about class and money – though the satire might have been sharper and the running time shorter by a good 20 minutes.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Escape from Mogadishu
    This is a decent, intelligent, well-acted film if a little uninspired until that third act, which packs an almighty punch.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland
    There are some lovely playful moments: his favourite elf eats a magic shroom and grows to monstrous proportions. But there is a lot of padding and the decision to stick with the book’s rhyming scheme becomes annoying.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Pathaan
    The film sags a little towards the end, with a few too many implausible action sequences: characters jumping out of helicopters and fighting on top of speeding SUVs, the choreography glossing over the basics of gravity and physics. Still, the cheers kept coming.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Unbroken
    Jolie has assembled an A-list team – Roger Deakins behind the camera, the Coen brothers in charge of the script - but while her film is perfectly competent, it hardly dazzles.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    This Is Congo
    A difficult, depressing watch.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    More Than Honey
    The message to take home: put a pot of lavender on your windowsill. Save bees!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Pete's Dragon
    This being a kids film, there is a ‘message’ – about the destruction of nature. But the eco theme genuinely works with the film’s wonder at nature.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Halston
    The archive clips suggest Halston is a role Richard E Grant was born to play: the designer had a long-limbed loucheness, grandiose affectations and put-on accent, along with a fierce perfectionism.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Valley of Love
    The fish-out-of water moments are great fun, watching arthouse gods Depardieu and Huppert in tacky tourist hell.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Here Before
    The question of whether this is a ghost story or if Laura is experiencing a kind of psychological breakdown twists and turns in ways that lost me by the end. Still, it’s is a very accomplished debut from Gregg, and acted with subtlety and sensitivity by Riseborough.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Love, Marilyn
    Love, Marilyn blows out of the water the impression of Monroe as the helpless dumb blonde.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Alien: Covenant
    Really, this is David/Walter’s show. For reasons too spoilery to give away, Fassbender is electric, giving a spectacularly skin-crawling performance.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
    The film’s good-natured warmth wins the day, just.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Betrayed
    It’s a film of desperately upsetting details.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Imperium
    It is solid and watchable, and Radcliffe is genuinely ace, giving a smart, understated and intelligent performance.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Broken Circle Breakdown
    Heldenbergh and Baetens pull you in with committed performances ­– their raw pain and grief is totally believable. But all that honest, intense emotion is thrown away as the film outstays its welcome by 40 minutes or so, piling one tragedy on to another.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Medusa Deluxe
    Without a doubt, it is an impressive debut from director Thomas Hardiman, even if his script doesn’t quite pull off a first-class whodunnit.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Into the Woods
    Into the Woods starts better than it finishes but it’s a great-looking film, with a nicely old-school, easy-on-the-CG feel.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Missing Link
    But the storytelling is unevolved compared with the animation.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Pirate Fairy
    There are some gorgeous Disney touches, rabble-rousing songs on the pirate ship and the usual ‘best friends for ever’ message.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Testament of Youth
    A beautifully acted but disappointingly stiff period drama.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Dead & Beautiful
    Director David Verbeek’s script doesn’t quite wield the scalpel with enough sadistic glee. Instead, this film feels ever-so-slightly sluggish and dour in places.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Grand Bizarre
    The Grand Bizarre is a film that will alienate many with its video-artiness but the focus here on looking and looking again with wonder at the everyday stuff around us may strike a chord at the moment.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Distant Constellation
    It’s a thoughtful, dream-like film, but, in the end, I’m not sure what Distant Constellation is saying about age or memory.
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