Nicholas Barber

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For 147 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 44% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Nicholas Barber's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 No Time to Die
Lowest review score: 16 Laila in Haifa
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 72 out of 147
  2. Negative: 5 out of 147
147 movie reviews
    • 86 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Across the Spider-Verse leans into the artificiality of its world: its central, postmodern concern is how the multiverse will be affected by the tangled web of various Spider-Man narratives. If you don't happen to be a universe-hopping comic-book superhero, it's hard to relate to any of it.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    It's true that many viewers have already fallen under its spell, but Zhao and O'Farrell have stripped away so much of what makes the novel magical – the time-travelling structure, the hypnotic prose rhythms, the internal monologues and the tiny, tangible details – that what's left is no more profound or authentic than any other costume drama set in ye olde days.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    As unbalanced as it might be, One Night in Miami is a well-acted history lesson and a sincere tribute to the men, their friendship, and their inspiring cultural importance. It’s just that King and Powers’ treatment of that outstanding premise hasn’t quite made the leap from stage play to big-screen film; it has landed in TV-movie territory instead.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Compared to most US action adventures, The Northman is adventurous and distinctive. It feels compromised, but the great stuff outweighs the not-so-great stuff. To see or not to see? If that is the question, the answer is: see it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    With all due respect to Miller's bonkers vision, and his incredible ability to put that vision on screen, Furiosa seems like one of those spin-off graphic novels that plug the gaps between two films in a franchise, but which don't quite match up to the films themselves.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Parts of Dune: Part 2 seem just as monumental, lavishly bizarre and downright disturbing as anything that Jodorowsky and Giger can have had in mind.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    Don't get me wrong. Plan 9 from Outer Space is a terrible film. A dreadful film. An atrocious film. But it does have some elements that are halfway decent, and it's unlikely that it would have a cult following without them.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Stewart is such inspired casting that she makes all this eccentric nonsense watchable.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    The Order is a sombre, steadily paced, conventional drama. It's superbly acted by its charismatic cast, the locations and the period are evoked beautifully, and, best of all, the violent robberies and shoot-outs are staged with a nerve-jangling ferocity that recalls Michael Mann's Heat. But it isn't quite as gripping as the events deserve.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    What's captivating about Bones & All is that it is so understated. The first few gory scenes suggest that Guadagnino has made an outrageous black comedy that gets its startled laughs and screams by contrasting the conventions of a coming-of-age romance with those of an X-rated monster movie. But soon Bones & All becomes entirely straight-faced. It isn't a horror film or a comedy, it's a sincere, sweet indie road movie that happens to feature bloodthirsty serial killers.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    As it is, I have a strong suspicion that Wicked will work much better as the first part of a double bill, with Wicked Part 2 being shown after an interval. But we'll have to wait another year to know for sure.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    On one level, I realise, the dullness is the point. . . But I'm not sure that justifies the film's own efficiently plodding approach because it never seems as if Fincher is giving us the inside track on how assassins actually operate.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    The racing sequences have enough energy and jeopardy to raise the pulse rate, but the rest of Ferrari... well, surely a film about high-speed cars shouldn't pootle along as slowly as this one does.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    The chilling fact is that the real world has overtaken the one in the film. If you read any article about how AI is creeping into our lives these days, then M3GAN's killing spree will seem quaintly innocuous in comparison.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Craig's soul-baring, skin-baring turn aside, Queer is a proudly artificial curio.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is no masterpiece, but it's warm, upbeat, unpretentious entertainment, and it's bound to be popular. We certainly won't have to wait another 23 years before the next Dungeons & Dragons film comes out.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Ramsay's film-making flair lights up scene after scene, but as the narrative fragments, and reality and fantasy blur, you're left with the urge to read the novel to find out what's actually happening. The film may have communicated its heroine's boredom and bewilderment a little too effectively.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    It’s an original and timely feminist spin on HG Wells’s concept, and a welcome riposte to those thrillers that are fascinated by homicidal maniacs at the expense of their victims. If only the film itself had been clever or scary enough to do justice to its ingenious premise.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    The story also ends on a touchingly optimistic note, which is unusual for a Batman film. Who knows, maybe the next one won't be quite as gloomy. Pattinson might even crack a smile. But I wouldn't bet on it.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    The film is interesting and informative, but all those bomb blasts don't leave you as shaken as they should.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    It's good fun, but unless your tolerance for the director's idiosyncrasies is stratospherically high, the chances are that the story will seem too random for you to care about by the halfway point.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    You have to hand it to Nolan. To use the old expression, he puts the money on the screen, delivering the kind of noisy, extravagant and fundamentally ridiculous pulp fiction which reminds you why you go to the cinema. But it collapses under the weight of all the plot strands and concepts stuffed into it. You don’t get the impression, which you usually get from his films, that every element is precisely where it should be. Some parts of it go on too long, others not long enough. It’s a treat to see a really big film again, but a smaller one might have been better.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    Formula One enthusiasts may disagree, and they may be delighted that their beloved motorsport has been put on the big screen in such a laudatory fashion. Everyone else: this is not where you want to be.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    The first in DC's new cinematic universe starring David Corenswet is "glib and flimsy". Comic fans will love it, but this curio feels like "an eccentric sci-fi B-movie".
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Structured as a hardboiled detective thriller, Crimes of the Future has plenty of provocative concepts and images that will put a grin on your face (not least the dancer who has several ears on his face), but you may find yourself willing the plot to pick up momentum, and the ickiness to get a whole lot ickier.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    The stage is set for a rip-roaring adventure, a space opera sprinkled with debates on the ethics of colonialism and assimilation. But then Cameron takes the film in a new direction - and The Way of Water becomes a damp squib.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    It's kitsch at times and transcendent at others, but the delicate puppetry and the gonzo ambition will guarantee Annette a cult following.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Barber
    It's just a shame that the series' farewell had to be so solemn – and so silly.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    As cluttered as it is, though, Blink Twice is stylish and savage enough to gain a cult following. And it is undoubtedly the work of a skilled writer-director, rather than an actor who is having a go at directing.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Barber
    Niki Caro’s film is a well-constructed family-friendly wuxia drama, with bright colours, grand scenery, and commendable themes. But it’s best enjoyed if you’re expecting a solid tween movie rather than a monumental cinematic landmark.

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