Jonathan Holland

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Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety
For 90 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 56% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 40% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 4.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Jonathan Holland's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 The Sea Inside
Lowest review score: 30 ma ma
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 90
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 90
  3. Negative: 3 out of 90
90 movie reviews
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    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    While at War
    Ambitious in scope, carefully crafted and featuring several fine performances ... But despite the worthy seriousness of its intentions and the parallels with the present it cleverly draws at every turn, the final impression is of dramatic opportunities left unexplored. While War’s dutiful sense of responsibility to its source material is laudable, it feels limiting.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    The Laws of Thermodynamics
    Though it is intermittently witty, visually playful and laudable in its attempt to appeal to both head and heart, Laws abandons its characters to its big concept.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    The Motive
    A high-risk shot at a screen adaptation of a novel within a novel, The Motive is entertaining and buzzes with fun ideas, but as an involving drama, it never gets past the first chapter.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    The Warning
    One of those thrillers that sets itself some tricky problems early on and fails to successfully solve them later, Daniel Calparsoro’s math-based The Warning nevertheless knows exactly which buttons to press, and is an enjoyably undemanding ride for most of its length.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    The Skin of the Wolf
    Skin plays out with the clarity, simplicity, rawness and grim poetry of a folk tale, tackling on the way some pretty elemental themes, but it’s a tale as told by a very dull speaker. By the end, viewer sensations are mixed, with pleasure at having entered a strange new world, but also frustration at its sheer lack of drama.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    Kill Me Please
    There's a nicely rendered sense of aesthetics, whether it’s in the safe pastel shades which fill Bea’s bedroom and which contrast with the high, sharp tones of the fantasy scenes.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Jonathan Holland
    The Queen of Spain
    One of the most unsettling things about Queen is how awkwardly it tackles all this painful, historical material: it’s as though Trueba’s script knows that homage must be paid to it, but it feels shoehorned in.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    I Dream in Another Language
    This tale of a young linguist seeking to keep a dying language alive is thought-provoking, visually compelling, and hopefully will help to raise awareness about this indirect form of cultural destruction. But its themes are subordinated to surprisingly bland treatment
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    The Hollow Point
    As homage, the film is visually striking, littered with moments of real cinematographic intelligence, and always watchable, in a nasty sort of way, but as a thriller, its ambitions of intensity are thwarted by a plot which becomes increasingly out-there as the twists and turns pile up.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    Come What May
    It’s an impressive backdrop to what’s otherwise a polished period piece without much of a bite to it, hitting all the right notes but doing nothing that feels exciting or out of the ordinary.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    As Luck Would Have It
    Though it slickly offers up drama, black comedy and enjoyable performances in due measure, the picture never develops much bite, though it does bare its fangs.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    Torremolinos 73
    Somewhat wacky tale, based on real events, is kept anchored in reality through attention to detail and by first-rate central perfs.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    The Other Side of the Bed
    A nicely contempo mood, engaging characters energized by solid perfs from a good-looking, high-profile young cast, and genuinely witty scripting are let down only by over-length and some generally turgid tunes.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    My Grandmother's House
    Studded with moments of character-driven charm, with sparky 6-year-old Marina Pastor a particular joy to watch.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    Queens
    A lively, well-packaged but meaningless amusement.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    Elsa y Fred
    Predictable fare that only occasionally fulfils its intention of being simultaneously heartbreaking and heartening.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    Flawless
    As neatly tailored, clean-cut, and visually appealing as a Savile Row suit. But audiences accustomed to more knowing fare are likely to find its twists and turns outdated while yearning for a little of the rebellious fun that made the genre gleam in the first place.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    En la ciudad sin límites
    The pluses outweigh the minuses: Pic is thought-provoking, visuals are spot-on, and the heavy-duty cast pulls the film round even in its wobblier moments.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Jonathan Holland
    800 Bullets
    An uneven but exuberantly anarchic comedy homage to the spaghetti Western.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 40 Jonathan Holland
    The Bridge of San Luis Rey
    The stellar cast can do little to paper over the cracks in an awkward, unevenly-paced script that is composed of a series of sometimes-attractive scenes with little emotional undertow.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Jonathan Holland
    Iluminados por el fuego
    A watchable if none-too-penetrating analysis of the traumatizing effects of a war largely forgotten.

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