Phil de Semlyen
Select another critic »For 490 reviews, this critic has graded:
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51% higher than the average critic
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5% same as the average critic
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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: | The Lost Daughter | |
| Lowest review score: | Stuber | |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 284 out of 490
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Mixed: 201 out of 490
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Negative: 5 out of 490
490
movie
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Phil de Semlyen
Splicing in montage footage of marching soldiers, shots from Lawrence Olivier’s Henry V, and even archers in action, and layering in discordant sound design, Boyle reinvents the zombie movie as a bloody pop-art installation.- Time Out
- Posted Jun 18, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
It’s hard to draw too much old-school romance from this world of sponsorship, celebrity and sports washing, but F1 manages it on the back of Pitt’s earthy charm. Watch it rev into the canon of great sports movies. Motion sickness tablets recommended.- Time Out
- Posted Jun 18, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
Unfolding at the American filmmaker’s measured tempo, it’s more droll than LOL-funny, though there are some big laughs along the way.- Time Out
- Posted May 27, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
It takes a steady hand to pull off a horror film as outlandish as Dangerous Animals – a movie, lest we forget, that is literally about dangerous animals – but Byrne has pulled off something slick and confident here. It’ll keep horror fans out of the water for years.- Time Out
- Posted May 23, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
In Saeed Roustayi’s Woman and Child, a carefully crafted and endlessly gripping drama that follows a Tehran family’s slow disintegration, it’s the supposedly joyous occasion of a marriage proposal that set the wheels of fate in motion.- Time Out
- Posted May 23, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
South African director Oliver Hermanus finds plenty of deep feeling and sincerity here but his beautiful-looking, measured period piece gets stifled by its own languors – especially in a first half that needs a slug or two of moonshine to inject some life into it.- Time Out
- Posted May 23, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
The director is clearly having a whale of a time taking the piss out of the corruption, cruelty and bribery rife in his country.- Time Out
- Posted May 22, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
For devoted filmlovers, Nouvelle Vague is a must-see – a joyful homage to the art of cinema that’ll have you queuing at your local repertory cinema as soon as the credits roll.- Time Out
- Posted May 18, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
So, sure, the plot is overstuffed, the cross-cutting is frenzied, and Pegg’s goofy asides are the only light relief from the underlying somberness. If you’re looking for flaws, The Final Reckoning definitely has them. But with action sequences this adrenalised, no one is leaving short-changed.- Time Out
- Posted May 14, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
By keeping the camera in the vehicle, hauntingly lit with the blur of passing houses and the glow of the mobile phone, Hallow Road invites you to fill the scene at the other end of the line with a shadowy menace that the final stretch really delivers on.- Time Out
- Posted May 14, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
Writer-actors Tim Key and Tom Basden’s three-hander, set on a remote British isle, have delivered a rare blend of unkempt charm, emotional precision and soulful folk music with this feature-length expansion of their own 2007 short, The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island.- Time Out
- Posted May 12, 2025
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- Time Out
- Posted May 9, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
As so often the case, this Marvel effort is best when its talented cast is flinging around snarky banter and self-aware asides.- Time Out
- Posted Apr 29, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
The Friend is a poignantly affecting watch that mostly earns its emotional payoff, delivering gentle laughs along the way.- Time Out
- Posted Apr 25, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
Malek’s twitchy brand of anti-charm makes him an unusual lead for a film like this, and his outsider energy works better as the tormented killer-to-be than the doting husband. Heller is not always easy to root for, which can make The Amateur a chilly experience.- Time Out
- Posted Apr 8, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
A survival epic full of mysteries and magic, it’s an animated epic worthy of Ghibli.- Time Out
- Posted Mar 20, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
With this quick-witted and sexually supercharged espionage caper, Steven Soderbergh and his screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park) have just remade Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the Industry generation.- Time Out
- Posted Mar 11, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
‘Please don’t be boring,’ Nelson’s villain beseeches Wilson in a clutch moment. Who wants to tell him?- Time Out
- Posted Feb 12, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
As ever, it’s Zellweger that provides the secret sauce.- Time Out
- Posted Feb 12, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
Emotionally charged, Last Breath offers a forensic study of cold professionalism in the face of unfolding disaster. It’s deepened, too, by a rich cast of supporting characters, including Lemons’s fiancée in Scotland, the surface crew who recall the fateful night and his teary-eyed dive leader and mentor.- Time Out
- Posted Feb 4, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
As it is, it’s an atmospheric, sporadically disquieting depiction of fatherhood in freefall.- Time Out
- Posted Jan 15, 2025
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- Time Out
- Posted Jan 14, 2025
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- Phil de Semlyen
This Nosferatu is a worthy modern addition to a classic horror lineage. Get lost in its shadows.- Time Out
- Posted Dec 20, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
The songwriting verve of Lin-Manuel Miranda is missed, too. Composers Barlow and Bear chip in with some catchy ditties, but there’s nothing to match How Far I’ll Go and You’re Welcome.- Time Out
- Posted Nov 26, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
Directed with real élan by Edward Berger – going two-for-two on literary adaptions after his take on All Quiet on the Western Front – Conclave is a film for the ’they don’t make ’em like they used to’ brigade.- Time Out
- Posted Nov 22, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
You’d need an army of flying monkeys to find a Wicked fan with a grumble about this film.- Time Out
- Posted Nov 19, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
But for all its flaws, it’s a colossally entertaining ride that never stints on its efforts to wow you with its scale and spectacle.- Time Out
- Posted Nov 11, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
Most of all, it’s a colourful journey lit up with great tunes and a deep love of music – an ingenious, infectious new spin on the music doc.- Time Out
- Posted Nov 7, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
It’s the two characters with no dialogue at all, Gromit and Feathers, who steal the show – a pair of silent cinema-style adversaries sparring in another joyfully Aardman nostalgic caper.- Time Out
- Posted Oct 28, 2024
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- Phil de Semlyen
A film made with cold courage by the victim of a sexual assault, this gripping Japanese documentary plays like a ’70s conspiracy thriller.- Time Out
- Posted Oct 24, 2024
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