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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    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Other Way Around
    Afterwards, everyone smiles reassuringly – then one man pipes up: “Don’t take this the wrong way, but …” and a begins a pretentious intellectual takedown. Like the film it’s a funny-smart moment, witty and grownup.
    • 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.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    Wildcat
    What an intimate, thoughtful film. I can’t remember the last time I watched a documentary so desperately wanting a happy ending for everyone – human and ocelot.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    Eternal Spring
    This is a painful, important film, made more urgent in light of China’s tightening of religious freedoms and human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslims.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Edge of Tomorrow
    The film’s Groundhog Day-meets-Independence Day plot is actually pretty genius.
    • 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.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Cath Clarke
    Spree
    Spree is meant to comment on the shallowness of social media culture; the trouble is, it’s a film with the depth of a puddle.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Cosmic Princess Kaguya!
    The plot pings about hyperactively, so dizzying that Cosmic Princess Kaguya! may leave audiences over 15 years old feeling more ancient than the original tale.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    The Extraordinary Miss Flower
    Flower herself remains elusive – which is the point, perhaps, since the perspective here is mostly lovers’ projections written on a delirious high, reconstructed from the letters.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    Macbeth
    This Macbeth is ferociously well acted. Fassbender’s prowling energy electrifies the film.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    Revoir Paris
    It’s a measured, quietly powerful film with a performance from Virginie Efira that seems almost telepathic at times; in scenes where she doesn’t say a word, barely twitching a muscle in her face, yet somehow you know what she’s feeling.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Wild Men
    There are some very funny scenes and a reasonably tense shootout finale – though the sentimental ending felt to me like a bit of a cop-out.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    Florence Foster Jenkins
    Director Stephen Frears sketches out her tragic backstory, and Streep in grande dame mode is not to be missed.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Unicorns
    Co-directing Unicorns with James Krishna Floyd (the star of My Brother the Devil), who wrote the script, El Hosaini brings a streak of hopefulness to gritty social realism, with the added attraction of superstar drag queens.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Letters from Baghdad
    The film also touches on Bell’s work for the British government, drawing up the boundaries of Iraq after WWI – which was to have consequences still felt today.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Thief Collector
    The film offers a fascinating glimpse into the mystery of other people, especially other people’s marriages. Friends and family still look dazed that the Alters – Rita and Jerry! – were behind the theft.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Cath Clarke
    The Retirement Plan
    Cage dials it down nicely, keeping his freaky at a gentle 6 out 10. The film cruises along on his charm; it’s otherwise a totally disposable but mostly entertaining action comedy drama with a really stupid plot and a few good laughs.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Dior and I
    The pressure for minimalist Simons to succeed in the ultra-feminine world of Dior is intense.
    • 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.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Sisu
    It’s super fun entertainment, which mostly disguises the fact it’s not going to stick in the mind for long.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Hard Miles
    I warmed to its sensitivity; it possesses an insistence that these difficult boys are vulnerable and scared kids (undermined only slightly by the fact that the actors playing them look well into their 20s).
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    More Than Honey
    The message to take home: put a pot of lavender on your windowsill. Save bees!
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    The Justice of Bunny King
    The strength of the writing is in portraying Bunny’s reality, allowing us to wonder – like the social workers – whether she really is a reliable parent. This is thoughtful film-making, though I didn’t quite buy into the explosion of drama at the end.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    The Brand New Testament
    This is a film with a big heart and an even bigger imagination.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Food, Inc. 2
    Like I say, there’s nothing new here for even casual followers of the food crisis. But it will make you think twice about what you put in your supermarket basket.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Cadejo Blanco
    The tension leaks away in the second half; the film could have done with being snipped by a good 20 minutes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    Mindhorn
    Thorncroft is a gem of comedy creation – played to perfection by Barratt.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Rotting in the Sun
    Silva packs in more penises in five minutes on the beach than I’ve seen on cinema screens in a decade of movie-watching; his representation of hedonistic gay culture feels nicely casual and natural.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Cath Clarke
    Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
    It’s stylishly shot by first-timer Louis-Seize, a bit reminiscent of an early Jim Jarmusch movie with its deadpan sense of humour, never trying too hard, just a little bit too cool for school.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Cath Clarke
    The Lady in the Van
    A wonderful Maggie Smith plays all this dead straight, poker-faced for maximum laughs. It’s a peppery, unsentimental performance. She’s hysterically funny, till she’s not – flooring you as the regret and tragedy behind Miss Shepherd’s vagabond life is revealed.
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