Phil de Semlyen

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For 490 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 51% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 5.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Phil de Semlyen's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 The Lost Daughter
Lowest review score: 20 Stuber
Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 5 out of 490
490 movie reviews
    • 47 Metascore
    • 30 Phil de Semlyen
    In the mood for two hours of relentless fights, gory kills, clichéd McGuffins and unmemorable characters, all served up in a weightless CG environment? Mortal Kombat II punches a hole in all those boxes.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Apart from the confetti-cannon finale, this isn’t the hackneyed stereoscopic where things burst through the screen, but an immersive front row and on-stage spot at Billie Eilish’s 2025 world tour.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    The Devil Wears Prada 2 is one of those nice surprises, a so-called legacy sequel made with love and executed with flair. Think Top Gun: Maverick with better hats.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    The photography is spectacular. Petit and his crew have abseiled, crawled and waded through the darkness to chart the earth’s shadowy recesses.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    A woolly family caper with a nostalgic flavour, The Sheep Detectives conjures flattering comparisons with Babe.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Finding positive manifestations for mass groups of men marching through cities in identical clothing is no mean feat, but you’ll walk away from Ultras with a new understanding of a misunderstood phenomenon.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Generic, sure, but gripping enough, Apex has located a corner of God’s own country where the devil reigns.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    No one expected this long-delayed piece of Michael Jackson pop-aganda to lay bare the man behind the myths and myriad controversies in forensic style. And yet… this soft-ball character study of the King of Pop only doubles down on the former, while completely ignoring the latter, hitting all the usual dreary biopic beats along the way.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Newcomer Abraham Wapler as video artist Seb and Zinedine Soualem’s high-school teacher Abdel are standouts in the likeable ensemble, but the Adèle timeline, a sepia-tinged coming-of-age tale with a backdrop of characters to put Madame Tussauds to shame, is the film’s heartbeat. It’s a great excuse to revisit this gilded age in French history.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    An early twist means that the bloodletting develops a repetitive feel, and there are unfortunate parallels with the recent Ready or Not 2, but the wincing and guilty laughs never quite dry up. Cult status may await.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    The Magic Faraway Tree isn’t on Wonka’s level, let alone Paddington 2’s – two other Farnaby joint – and the aesthetic is occasionally a bit CBBC, despite the bucolic settings and intricate sets. But with the cracking cast, thoughtful message and the odd rollicking adventure, it’s a fun family movie that’ll finally give you permission to switch off the wifi.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Sorrentino explores these heavyweight themes with his usual wit and high style – as well as a standout soundtrack of haunting classic cues and Eurodance bangers. Surreal, comedic touches also prick the pomposity of La Grazia’s cloistered world.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    A slow cinema treat, Two Prosecutors rewards patience, with endless waiting rooms and antechambers both a limbo state and a last-chance saloon for Kornyev. It’s a haunting, mesmerising, pessimistic piece of work.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Director Bienvenu, who also voices helpful robot Mikki in the French version, has crafted a family film that’s offbeat and full of heart.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Weaponising the cinema’s Dolby Atmos into a delivery mechanism for frights is a clever ploy that Undertone never maximises.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Newton is a fun addition as the bubbly Faith, but the game Weaving is MVP again: a sharp finger in the eye of the one percent. This is a broader sequel, though, that only has more of the same for her to do. It’ll pass an evening but it won’t blow your mind.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    The symbolism is lightly worn here in a gently observational film that’s underpinned with humanism and compassion.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    With Gosling and Hüller to the fore, Lord and Miller have delivered a cosmic adventure with hope in its heart and a twinkle in its eye.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    It’s often enthralling – especially with Murphy at its heart – though rarely explosive.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Smart storytelling and snappy editing elevate the jokes and enrich the emotions.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    And that’s the major problem here. When the first Scream hit, it had a ball deconstructing ’80s and ’90s horror movie tropes. Six movies and three decades on, it’s become the very thing it was built to deconstruct, trapped in its own lore and fumbling about for its old smarts. The genre has moved on. Scream needs to get with the times.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    If, like Alan Partridge, you believe that Wings were ‘the band The Beatles could have been’, Morgan Neville’s propulsively upbeat music doc is a total treat.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    The class satire, the strongest suit of its Ealing ancestor, is blunter than a burglar’s cosh. The murders should be the juice in this devilish cocktail, especially with Zach Woods, Topher Grace and Ed Harris as the marks. But the deaths are throwaway affairs.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    It’s refreshing to see a grown-up big-screen thriller this well crafted – and one that cares for its grounded characters and their predicaments. If it comes off the road once or twice, it’s still well worth the ride.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Rather than a bruising marital wipeout drama, Is This Thing On? is a film about how new purpose and a new tribe can help you re-evaluate what was there all along (the title, of course, refers to the marriage as well as the mic). It might make you think about relationships differently; it probably won’t make you want to take up stand-up.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Kangaroo has a love for the people, landscape and wildlife that leaves a warm glow. It’s not doing anything wildly different or unexpected, but it’ll put a smile on your face.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Happily, Send Help is both a return to the world of horror and a major return to form for the Evil Dead man, who’s been waylaid with bland franchise fare in recent years.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Finally, someone has returned to The Damned United’s cunning formula for a good football movie: don’t show any football.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Empathetic, funny and myth-busting – there are 300,000 children and adults living with TS in the UK alone whose condition will be better understood for this film – it gives you permission to laugh at the situation while feeling only compassion for the man.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    This is simultaneously the nastiest and most soulful of the franchise to date – and the most probing.

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