Ray Bennett

Select another critic »
The Hollywood Reporter
For 161 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 47% higher than the average critic
  • 0% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 0.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Ray Bennett's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Coriolanus
Lowest review score: 20 Bubble
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 91 out of 161
  2. Mixed: 57 out of 161
  3. Negative: 13 out of 161
161 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    The Turin Horse
    By this time, cinematographer Fred Kelemen's mostly stationary camera has revealed about all there is to see in a fine array of textures in such things as the wooden table, the rough floors, the walls of stone, the ropes on the horse and the skin on the boiled potatoes. That does not, however, make up for the almost complete lack of information about the two characters, and so it is easy to become indifferent to their fate, whatever it is.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Janie Jones
    An earnest tale about a faded rock star who discovers he has a teenaged daughter and takes her on the road, Janie Jones follows a predictable path and despite decent performances it does not catch fire.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Burke and Hare
    A so-called black comedy that is more sort of dull, spotty and yucky.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Special Treatment
    With neither great insight nor any sign of wit, the film is not likely to capture interest outside France.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Brighton Rock
    Rowan Joffe's film of Graham Greene's 1938 novel "Brighton Rock" takes a gothic approach to the story of a young thug obsessed with hell with little of the writer's subtlety and too much reliance on a loud quasi-religious choral score.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Polytechnique
    As much a memorial as it is a docudrama and as such it will interest educators and students, and make for sober television. It's a pity, though, that more of an attempt wasn't made to understand the killer and explain such things as why no one apparently thought to phone for help or hit the fire alarm.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    The Trip
    The project suffers badly from being largely improvised as the pair fall back on familiar impressions and old jokes. Lazy and indulgent, it smacks of being what the British call a "jolly," that is a freebie with no obligation to turn in work afterward.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Priest
    A short, dour and stodgy creature feature with average 3D effects that draws on so many film influences from westerns, action adventures and sci-fi tales that what fun there is comes from spotting the many sources.
    • 22 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Passion Play
    If the degree of laughter at the wrong moments and the number of walkouts at the Toronto International Film Festival are any indication, the film will appeal only to the most fondly indulgent.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Henry's Crime
    While Malcolm Venville's Henry's Crime is billed as a comedy it's more funny odd than funny ha-ha.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Another Year
    Acutely observed but gloomy and lacking narrative, it tells of 12 months in the life of a decent but dull suburban couple and their friends, most of whom you would go out of your way to avoid at a party.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Boxing Gym
    The film captures the energy, the stresses and the tension of people striking punching bags and each other but without narration, it all feels a bit random and uninteresting.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker
    A lame and disappointing affair.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    Hot Fuzz
    All the action is staged with energy, but it gets relentless without anything really funny going on.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Cassandra's Dream
    As writer, Allen offers lazy plotting, poor characterization, dull scenes and flat dialogue.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    Rachel
    The drive to keep alive the name of a young American woman who died beneath a U.S.-made bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier in Palestine continues in Simone Bitton's sober documentary Rachel.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Hunger
    Trite, grim and feebly provocative.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
    The film is neither intelligent enough nor silly or grotesque enough to become a lasting favorite.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Death Defying Acts
    What it lacks is a villain, and magic without danger is simply a parlor trick, which is what the film becomes.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    Nanny McPhee
    Colorful, noisy and brimming with special effects, the picture may please young audiences simply looking for loud action, but its corny storyline and brittle lack of warmth may discourage both parents and children.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Dead Man's Shoes
    The film is filled with deeply unpleasant and stupid people whose vapid speech is largely incomprehensible due to thick regional accents.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    The Other Boleyn Girl
    Shot in high definition and filmed at many historic locations, the film somehow still lacks the splendor of an epic, and its urgency to get on with the next plot point leaves much unexplained while context goes out the window.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
    With its intelligence at the level of the simple-minded, however, the film is not likely to attract moviegoers who seek something more than a screen filled with kaleidoscopes of colored metal. Fan boys will no doubt love it, but for the uninitiated it's loud, tedious and, at 147 minutes, way too long.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    The Edge of Love
    The film belongs to the women, with Knightley going from strength to strength (and showing she can sing!) and Miller again proving that she has everything it takes to be a major movie star.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Lions for Lambs
    Politicians, the media, educators, military commanders and a docile public all come under fire in a well-made movie that offers no answers but raises many important questions.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Ray Bennett
    Valiant
    A plucky little bird that just won't fly.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Elizabethtown
    Tedious humor and sentimentality bury what could have been a pretty good road picture.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Ray Bennett
    Defamation
    The most affecting scenes, however, involve the class of Israeli teenagers visiting Auschwitz.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    Lost in Beijing
    The script by first-time director Li Yu and producer Fang Li introduces some degree of subtlety in the responses of the four principals, but the plot doesn't really hold up.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Ray Bennett
    The Wind That Shakes the Barley
    Atmospheric but pedestrian, it is a retelling of the classic tragedy of all civil wars, from the U.S. to Vietnam to England, where brother is pitched against brother.
prev
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »