Donald Clarke

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The Irish Times
For 556 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Donald Clarke's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 Son of Saul
Lowest review score: 20 Sonic the Hedgehog
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 280 out of 556
  2. Mixed: 255 out of 556
  3. Negative: 21 out of 556
556 movie reviews
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    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    I Blame Society
    Made within the communities it satirises, I Blame Society thrives on its own crotchety energy.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    House of Cardin
    House of Cardin drags out fascinating archive interviews to tease and tantalise. Cardin is articulate about his creative strategies, but the man inside remains something of a mystery.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Promising Young Woman
    Promising Young Woman nonetheless remains an entertaining, imaginative exercise in creative score-settling.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    The Last Right
    All this might be unbearable were it not for some lovely performances and, despite the familiar tropes, a commitment to treat Louis and his condition with respect.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Palm Springs
    We end up with a philosophical comedy that is not afraid to aim the odd joke below the belt or, as resolution looms, to give in to sentimentality. It’s a little bit Capra. It’s also a little bit Beckett.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    The Mauritanian
    Few viewers will find themselves unengaged during The Mauritanian, but there are too many middlebrow beats either side of the jarring chords. Definitely worth a stream. Unlikely to change many minds.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Godzilla vs. Kong
    That overqualified cast works hard with the mindless plot, but the stars of the piece remain the venerable beasts themselves.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    Ammonite
    We are left with a perfectly respectable, eminently professional slice of prestige arthouse. Nobody with even modestly open-minded sensibilities will walk away in a blind fury. Few will leave in an ecstasy of transcendence.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Donald Clarke
    Six Minutes to Midnight
    It would be nice to say that Judi Dench, inevitably the headmistress, elevates the project, but even she can’t get gas back into the plummeting Zeppelin (wrong war, I know).
    • 44 Metascore
    • 40 Donald Clarke
    Cherry
    For all that good work by a strong cast, the word that hangs over this overlong film is sluggish.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Judas and the Black Messiah
    A thrilling picture. But also a sobering one.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Notturno
    Nobody with a sense for contemplative cinema will be left unsatisfied by Notturno.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 20 Donald Clarke
    Backtrace
    Time moves so slowly one begins to fear it may turn backwards and return us to the far distant opening credits.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    The Owners
    Williams and her contemporaries are excellent. The senior actors do, however, steal the show. It’s lovely to see both having such a disreputably good time.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    The United States vs. Billie Holiday
    For all its abundant flaws, The United States vs Billie Holiday is clearly the work of a man with hot celluloid running through his lymphatic system. I guess that is a compliment.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Zappa
    Perhaps overwhelmed by interviews, experimental movies and live footage, Winter allows few compositions to play at length. But the full man emerges in all his contradictions and confrontations.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 40 Donald Clarke
    Willy's Wonderland
    Nobody without a spear through their head could sincerely describe Willy’s Wonderland as a good film, but it is trash with a commendable pedigree.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    News of the World
    This is an awfully clean version of borderline anarchy. But the relationships are teased out so delightfully that few will feel it worth complaining. Even the sentimental denouement is forgivable.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 20 Donald Clarke
    Eye for an Eye
    An early contender for turkey of the year.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Rams
    No sensitive viewer could deny the spirit of the original remains, but Jeremy Sims’s charming cover version reverberates with unmistakably Australian harmonies.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    Older Than Ireland
    Older than Ireland is at its most moving when addressing the universal experiences that shape all lives.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Donald Clarke
    76 Days
    It is a terrible story, but, in its constant discovery of bravery and compassion, ultimately a hopeful one.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    The Dig
    This charming, beautifully made drama gets about halfway (maybe a little more, maybe 60 or 70 per cent) towards confirmation as a classic of English reserve before a stunningly uninteresting subplot concerning less charismatic characters arrives to deaden the closing scenes.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    The Racer
    It is a strong, stoic performance from Talpe in a film that doesn’t allow its secondary characters much nuance.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    Wonder Woman 1984
    The longer it goes on, however, the less fun and more earnest it becomes.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
    As the band explains in this excellent documentary from Frank Marshall (whose odd career has taken in Arachnophobia, Congo and Alive), it took them five months to go from obscurity in Australia to careering about swinging London with The Beatles.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    Dating Amber
    There’s not much formal romance here, but there’s a great deal of love.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    White Riot
    White Riot is here both to educate and to serve the nostalgists.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Donald Clarke
    The Devil All the Time
    There is an argument here about the corrupting influence of religion on ordinary Americans, but it is made with such bellowing cacophony that tinnitus ends up blurring the syntax.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Donald Clarke
    i'm thinking of ending things
    Jessie Buckley’s determination to stop her slippery part from wriggling out of her clutch is positively heroic. The Kerry actor becomes Everywoman and Nobody. Her sorrow is bottomless. Her uncertainty is painful. One can imagine no better guide through these mysterious swamps.
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