Derek Elley

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Variety
For 400 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 45% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 52% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Derek Elley's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Atonement
Lowest review score: 10 Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 199 out of 400
  2. Mixed: 178 out of 400
  3. Negative: 23 out of 400
400 movie reviews
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    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Jude
    Technically, pic is top-drawer, with restless, fluid cutting by Trevor Waite that adds to the unstarchy look, and a copious musical score by Adrian Johnston that gives a separate "sound" to the many locations (a folksy drone for Marygreen, High Baroque music for academic Christminster, and so on).
    • 23 Metascore
    • 20 Derek Elley
    Formula 51
    There's an appalling amount of talent at waste up on the screen, starting with Jackson and Carlyle whose tall/short, silent/motormouth double act never clicks.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    Cassandra's Dream
    Like a tragic overture played at the wrong tempo and slightly off-key, Woody Allen's London-set Cassandra's Dream sends out more mixed signals than an inebriated telegraphist.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    2046
    The overall effect simply underlines the central weakness of the pic: that the neo-kitschy futuristic scenes don't add much to the real-life '60s relationships.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    Ong Bak
    Strongly recalls Hong Kong kung-fu movies of the late '60s and '70s, with physical grit, over-the-top heroics and inventive fight choreography providing the entertainment.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    About a Boy
    Pleasant and engaging, rather than laugh-out-loud funny or emotionally involving.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    A State of Mind
    Admirably non-judgmental docu about life in "the least visited, known, understood country in the world," per Brit director Daniel Gordon, brings a refreshing balance to the usual blind vilification of the country.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    An American Werewolf in Paris
    An enjoyably trashy blend of impressive special effects, low-key refs to Landis's movie, and sudden moments of horror breaking the jokey tone.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    9 Songs
    A touching, often poetic, sometimes achingly real snapshot of a brief encounter related almost entirely through the bedroom.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Bride & Prejudice
    Austen nuts may rend their frocks, and Bollywood buffs may split their cholis, but there's an immensely likable, almost goofily playful charm to Bride & Prejudice that finally wins the day.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Welcome to Sarajevo
    The film's persistent skimming from one vantage point to another, with no dominant dramatic line until midway through, will unsettle audiences expecting a more regular construction and something on which to hook their emotions over the long term.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    The Edge of Heaven
    Superbly cast drama, in which the lives and emotional arcs of six people -- four Turks and two Germans -- criss-cross through love and tragedy.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Derek Elley
    An Ideal Husband
    Shines like a freshly minted coin in Oliver Parker's adaptation.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Derek Elley
    Downfall
    Not so much a Hitler movie as a portrait of a totalitarian machine's spiritual and emotional collapse, Downfall is a cumulatively powerful Goetterdammerung centered on the last 10 days of the bunkered Fuehrer and those around him.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Nowhere in Africa
    Easy on the eye and effortlessly entertaining across almost 2½ hours.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    London to Brighton
    Does what it does well but too often seems a pointless exercise in British miserabilism crossed with a nasty gangster yarn.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    Memories of Murder
    A powerful, slow-burning portrait of human fallibility.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    A Room for Romeo Brass
    An easygoing kitchen-sink comedy with an unsettling final act.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    28 Days Later...
    Shows a rather arrogant disdain for its audience in between occasional flashes of flair.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    Keeping Mum
    Rather dark, decidedly English and exceedingly well played, Keeping Mum is a neatly crafted black comedy with more than a nod in tone toward the Ealing classic "The Ladykillers."
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Gandhi, My Father
    Classy production values and a textured lead performance by Darshan Jariwala are undercut by a lack of real drama in Gandhi My Father.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Iris
    A triumph on the casting side but less so dramatically, Richard Eyre's Iris fails to do full justice to its subject.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Ted Bundy
    Looks set to unsettle as many conservative auds as it will delight nihilistic film buffs.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    The Buffalo Boy
    Sports a stronger narrative spine than is usual in Vietnamese rural dramas and a less fragile tone in its deployment of landscape and character.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop
    Western audiences familiar with "Blood Simple" will get a kick out of the reinventions.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Derek Elley
    Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
    A drama of impeccable intentions flawed by arch dialogue and only OK direction.
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