John Nugent

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Empire
For 250 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

John Nugent's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Lowest review score: 20 The School for Good and Evil
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 105 out of 250
  2. Mixed: 140 out of 250
  3. Negative: 5 out of 250
250 movie reviews
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    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 John Nugent
    Minions & Monsters
    The overall tone remains as juvenile as ever. It is goofy and giggly and resolutely wedded to stupidity. There’s little attempt to add much depth to the story, in the way that Pixar might try to — it is essentially, once again, just a series of contrived opportunities for the little guys to get up to chaotic mischief. And so it goes. The world keeps on turning.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 John Nugent
    Finding Emily
    A warm, mostly funny Brit-romcom which both celebrates and tweaks the old template — with winsome turns from Rice and Fearn.  
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    The Thing Expanded
    This affectionate ‘making of’ comes with a runtime that might put some off delving into it, but it is worth it. Just as The Thing was the “ultimate in alien terror”, The Thing Expanded is the ultimate in documentary joy. 
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War
    Both unnecessarily complicated and woefully simple, this is one of the least successful Jack Ryan adaptations yet: neither Clear, nor Present. 
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 John Nugent
    Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
    The first Star Wars film in nearly a decade doesn’t shake up the formula: instead, it’s a lively if inessential extended episode of the series. But Mando remains cool, and Grogu remains cute
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    The Christophers
    Another solidly gripping film from the ever-prolific Soderbergh, this is a terrific two-hander, with Coel and McKellen on fine, fierce form.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Apex
    Just a solidly made cat-and-mouse thriller, with muscularly committed performances from its two leads. It’ll make you want to explore the Great Outdoors and simultaneously never leave your house again.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Mother Mary
    A defiantly avant-garde take on commercial chart-toppers. It’s not for everyone, but it deserves to be: a gorgeous fusion of film, fashion, faith, and certified bangers.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    Michael
    Hugely impressive musical and dance performances from the two young men playing Michael Jackson cannot shake off the uncomfortable fact that there is an entire other side to the pop star’s story which is entirely conspicuous by its absence here.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 20 John Nugent
    Balls Up
    The cinematic equivalent of being teabagged without your consent.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    undertone
    A cautionary tale against the dangers of excessive podcasting, this is a supremely spooky sonic ordeal. As an allegory for Catholic guilt, it’s haunting; as an auditory experience, it’ll fuck you up.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 John Nugent
    Fuze
    It’s thinner than the paper it’s written on, and full of questionable choices — but in a switch-your-brain-off kind of way, this will adequately activate your heist glands. Light the fuze!
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    Mother's Pride
    It’s nonsense — but at the very least, well-meaning nonsense.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 John Nugent
    Dead Man's Wire
    Van Sant’s previous historical fictions have been more incisive, but this is a tense crime thriller, with a solid new addition to Bill Skarsgård’s rogues’ gallery of scumbags.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Arco
    A special sort of film, one which can be enjoyed as a dark climate-change allegory and a bright, colourful, emotional yarn on friendship and family. Fantastique!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 John Nugent
    Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere
    With some genuinely shocking moments, this is a fascinating, frightening —  if frustrating — account of masculinity in crisis.  
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Project Hail Mary
    A very watchable old-school blockbuster crowd-pleaser. Ryan Gosling and an alien made of rocks are the best space-based double-act since R2-D2 and C3-PO.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    Mother's Baby
    Parochial pub-based piffle — like a pint that’s gone a bit flat. But you can’t doubt its sincerity.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Hoppers
    Don’t call it a comeback — but this is really strong stuff from Pixar: funny, thoughtful, sweet, making for a heartfelt paean to nature, and beavers in particular. Dam good.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Wasteman
    An energetic, urgent and damning assessment of our prison crisis, Wasteman marks Cal McMau as an exciting new homegrown director.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    GOAT
    Lovely visuals, but this is a rare miss from Sony Pictures Animation. Watch KPop Demon Hunters again, instead.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
    Gorgeous to look at — but this is simply not looney enough to stand alongside the Looney Tunes greats of old. Needs more anvils.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    My Father's Shadow
    A hugely impressive debut. Personal and political, this is a tender and spellbinding depiction of family in fraught times.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Is This Thing On?
    Essentially “Men will literally do stand-up rather than go to therapy”, in cinematic form. An appealing tragicomedy-drama, told with veracity and heart by Cooper, Arnett and Dern.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    The Voice of Hind Rajab
    About as powerful as cinema gets. Its hybrid blend of documentary audio and devastating dramatisation is heart-wrenchingly, shatteringly effective.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    The Rip
    A gripping, zig-zaggy potboiler, this is a crime thriller in the old-school tradition, with some enjoyable turns from Boston’s finest, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    I Swear
    Just lovely. Tourette syndrome has not been afforded its cinematic dues, but what an affable, funny character to explore it with in John Davidson — and what a performance from Robert Aramayo.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    The Extraordinary Miss Flower
    A true original: an impressionistic portrait of a lost life, recreated in multiple forms with a gorgeous soundtrack. Odd, but unique.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 John Nugent
    Hamnet
    With strong performances in service to a clear, confident vision from Chloé Zhao, this is a wrenching contemplation of the “undiscovered country” of death and grief.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 John Nugent
    Ella McCay
    An odd, messy, misjudged shambles. You can’t fault the earnest tone or the plucky performances, but you can fault almost everything else.
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