Nikki Baughan

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Empire, Screen Daily
For 166 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 5.6 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Nikki Baughan's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 X
Lowest review score: 30 The Misfits
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 118 out of 166
  2. Mixed: 45 out of 166
  3. Negative: 3 out of 166
166 movie reviews
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    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Nikki Baughan
    Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
    Perhaps unsurprisingly – and intentionally – Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a much gentler affair, intended to affectionately lampoon those ageing musicians who struggle to retain their creative spark and trade heavily in nostalgia. There is plenty of that here – the film essentially retreads old ground and gags – but the sharp wit of the original is sadly lacking.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Steve
    While the entire cast impresses, standout performances come from Murphy and Lycurgo. They make it clear that Steve and Shy are two sides of the same coin, both shaped by past trauma and finding it almost impossible to exorcise their demons.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Nikki Baughan
    Cover-Up
    Cover-Up pays fitting tribute to a man who has made it his life’s work to seek out and expose the hardest of truths.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Dead Man's Wire
    Director Gus Van Sant turns this fascinating true crime story into both an entertaining period drama and an evergreen tale of ordinary men pushed into desperate acts.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Nikki Baughan
    After the Hunt
    While it may wish to spark debate, the stance it takes on its messaging is troubling – particularly given a stapled-on coda that seems to suggest we should be putting all of this nonsense behind us.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Nikki Baughan
    Bugonia
    It’s a serious message delivered in typically entertaining Lanthimos style and hammered home via a bravura climax which manages to be both gonzo and gut-wrenching in equal measure.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Nikki Baughan
    Friendship
    Part cringe-comedy, part diagnostic study of the modern pandemic of male loneliness, Friendship has several inspired moments, and strong performances from Robinson and Rudd. Ultimately, however, its determination to straddle both camps means it stretches itself rather too thin.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Nikki Baughan
    M3GAN 2.0
    Returning director Gerard Johnstone does not feel the need to rewrite the code, delivering a tried-and-tested mix of action, effects and comedy. Yet the whole thing now feels overly self-aware, resulting in a lumbering actioner that lacks the novelty value of its predecessor.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    28 Years Later
    Danny Boyle’s long-awaited return to the franchise he created in 2002 may lack the immediate, visceral bite of his original 28 Days Later, but nevertheless brings a satisfying mix of old horrors and new ideas.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    How to Train Your Dragon
    Returning director Dean DeBlois (who helmed the animation alongside Chris Sanders, as well as its sequel) has retained the energetic spirit of the original, and he’s helped by some fantastic CGI and a game cast, both of which lean into the fantastical charm of this tale of a hapless young Viking who discovers he is something of a dragon whisperer.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    The Life of Chuck
    For the most part The Life Of Chuck remains a moving drama that comes close to capturing the infinite value of an individual life.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    Tornado
    Scottish director John Maclean’s ambitious second feature is an intriguing blend of Western and samurai actioner — always close bedfellows — which makes the most of its untamed setting.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Pillion
    Open-minded audiences will soon realise that Pillion is not out to provocate, but to authentically and sensitively explore a side of gay culture little seen in mainstream film.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Bono: Stories of Surrender
    The result is an intense baring of the soul that is part performance, part confessional and all entertainment.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Nikki Baughan
    Dangerous Animals
    Sean Byrne’s third feature is a messy mash-up of creature feature and serial killer movie whose psychological posturing and gory effects can’t hide the fact that it’s propped up by tired horror tropes.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Nikki Baughan
    The Woman in the Yard
    A raw central performance from Danielle Deadwyler brings some depth to this Blumhouse thriller, which otherwise maintains a creepy atmosphere but mostly trades in familiar psychological horror tropes and an abundance of jump scares.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Nikki Baughan
    Warfare
    Warfare certainly isn’t the first combat movie to take such an immersive approach to the subject, but what’s striking about this film is its overriding commitment to the truth as perceived by its real-life characters.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Long Day's Journey Into Night
    The festering resentment of things left unsaid fuels this play, and David Lindsay-Abaire’s unflinching, brisk screenplay traces the growing fissures in the family.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    Ricky
    While this expansion of Frett’s 2023 short of the same name may, at times, feel like it’s being cornered into making a political statement, the nuanced central performance from Stephan James largely prevents the message from overwhelming the story.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Companion
    Companion looks fantastic. But, underneath that glossy surface, it makes some biting comments about power dynamics, free will, and what it really means to be human.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    Inheritance
    This guerrilla approach, together with Dynevor’s committed performance, give Inheritance an adrenaline-fuelled agility that lifts it above the normal trappings of the genre.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    The Damned
    While there are perhaps a few too many jump scares, and an overwrought ending which takes some of the wind out of its sails, The Damned is powered to the finish by its creeping sense of dread.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Nikki Baughan
    Get Away
    Get Away attempts to blend Withnail-like irreverence with Wicker Man-tinged folk horror but, while some of those elements hit their mark, the film’s tonal swerves undermine its more original aspects.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    Daddy's Head
    Inevitably, this will mean it draws comparisons to The Babadook, the current high-bar for grief manifestation horror, but Daddy’s Head, which premiered at Fantastic Fest, is sharply drawn, well-shot, and genuinely unsettling in its own right.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Nikki Baughan
    The Penguin Lessons
    In its determination to maintain a glossy, upbeat tone throughout — even when dealing with an event that, as a final sombre title card tells us, saw ‘over 30,000 people killed or disappeared’ — The Penguin Lessons proves to be neither fish nor fowl.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Nikki Baughan
    The Return
    The film moves at a languid pace, with long periods of silence, and there’s not a great deal of action until a final cathartic orgy of violence. Yet this world is richly drawn.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Nikki Baughan
    Speak No Evil
    This remake of the 2022 Danish-language chiller maintains much of what made the original so effective but, in swapping that film’s shocking ending for a more audience-friendly take, loses some of its bite. Nevertheless, a striking performance from James McAvoy keeps things interesting.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Dìdi
    Drawing heavily from his own adolescence, director Sean Wang makes a beautifully-crafted feature debut, which manages to be both personal to his own specific cultural experience, and speak to more universal truths about walking that tricky path to adulthood.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    Meanwhile on Earth
    Like I Lost My Body, Meanwhile On Earth is a moving elegy on the power of grief, and the lengths to which we are driven in order to feel whole. While it may not have quite the same visceral impact as Clapin’s animation, and culminates in a soft, somewhat-obvious ending, it nevertheless leaves its own mark.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Nikki Baughan
    blur: To the End
    It’s a joy to see them performing energetic old hits like ’Popscene’ and ’Song 2’, and a privilege to watch them create their more introspective new material.
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