Xan Brooks

Select another critic »
The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer (UK)
For 194 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 45% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Xan Brooks' Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 69
Highest review score: 100 Riefenstahl
Lowest review score: 0 Melania
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 100 out of 194
  2. Mixed: 91 out of 194
  3. Negative: 3 out of 194
194 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Xan Brooks
    Vortex
    Noé’s extraordinary film unfolds as a tale of murmured terrors and nameless dread, creeping softly around a cramped Paris apartment like a cinematic Grim Reaper.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    Bombay Rose
    The disparate ingredients do not always gel. But in fits and starts Bombay Rose casts quite a spell.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    Mandibles
    Mandibules is a rollicking, rambunctious tequila-dream of a movie.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Xan Brooks
    Hopper/Welles
    The restored footage is an intriguing relic – an offcut, raw copy. There’s something pleasingly voyeuristic about the experience of being allowed behind the velvet rope to watch these blusterers hold forth, although I expect their charms may be limited to die-hard devotees.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    Final Account
    Explicitly, his film shows how a hundred shades of grey combine to make a darkness. Implicitly, it warns that it could well happen again.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Xan Brooks
    The Duke
    What a lovely, rousing, finally moving film this is.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    Apples
    What prevents Apples from becoming a simple Lanthimos copycat is its comparative kindness and its abiding direction of travel.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    And Tomorrow the Entire World
    The tale drifts and falters when I wished it would have hit home with more conviction, but that may be partly the point. The struggle is endless, unwinnable. Everybody is compromised.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    The World to Come
    The World to Come is a ravishingly beautiful love story set in 1850s America, with painterly visuals that nod to the work of Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    Sun Children
    Energetic and heartfelt, tipping towards tragedy, Sun Children crawls through the mud and emerges all the stronger. The quest is a red herring; the real treasure is the film.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    Padrenostro
    What can’t be faulted is Noce’s sheer boldness and ambition. If Padrenostro winds up as a bit of a mess, it’s a beautiful mess, a glorious mess.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    The Disciple
    I wish that I enjoyed The Disciple as much as I admired it. The film is a labour of love insofar as it feels overthought and overburdened, with all the rough edges planed down.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    Dear Comrades!
    It’s a film that understands that humour and horror are not always mutually exclusive and that even the worst moments in life carry an air of the absurd.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    Pieces of a Woman
    Viewed as an acting masterclass, the film is bruisingly impressive in its way. The principal actors raise the roof; each gets to do their big turn for the camera. But it feels a little schooled, a little staged, like a workshop at the Actors’ Studio.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    Guest of Honour
    I’m not convinced it amounts to any more than the sum of its parts, but the parts are intriguing – and some are possessed of real power.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    About Endlessness
    About Endlessness contains moments of devilish wit, but at heart it is a sad, sweet picture, threaded with themes of estrangement and separation. Andersson isn’t exactly asking us to laugh at or pity these people. Instead, we’re being encouraged to wonder at their predicament – and perhaps relate it to our own.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    Ema
    While I confess that I found Ema to be a notch down on his best work, it’s still hugely distinctive and daring and may well be a grower.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 100 Xan Brooks
    The Painted Bird
    I can state without hesitation that this is a monumental piece of work and one I’m deeply glad to have seen. I can also say that I hope to never cross its path again.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    The King
    One watches Chalamet’s performance here with a simmering unease, willing him on but wondering if he is entirely fit for the task.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    The Perfect Candidate
    The Perfect Candidate is a simple story, told without frills or even much in the way of nuance. But it’s socked through with great power, conviction and an underlying hope for a better world.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    Wasp Network
    The film is glossy, illuminating and frequently exciting. What it lacks is an emotional charge and a fine-grained texture. We need to invest in these people in order to understand their decisions – and care about the consequences of these.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Xan Brooks
    American Skin
    No one in real life speaks the way they do in this film. No genuine drama is this crudely ordered drama, with its telegraphed turnabouts and conveniently-placed confessions, all building to a stage-managed plea for tolerance and unity.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    The Laundromat
    The film’s prize asset ... is Meryl Streep.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 100 Xan Brooks
    Joker
    What a gloriously daring and explosive film Joker is. It’s a tale that’s almost as twisted as the man at its centre, bulging with ideas and pitching towards anarchy.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Xan Brooks
    Seberg
    It tells us that Seberg was wronged and that she looked really great in a bra – and not necessarily in that order.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    An Officer and a Spy
    It’s a solid, well-crafted piece of professional carpentry, like a heavy piece of Victorian furniture; built to last; built to be used. The longer you look at it, the more impressive it grows.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Xan Brooks
    Ad Astra
    It’s an extraordinary picture, steely and unbending and assembled with an unmistakable air of wild-eyed zealotry. Ad Astra, be warned, is going all the way - and it double-dares us to buckle up for the trip.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 80 Xan Brooks
    Marriage Story
    Baumbach seeks to mine his material for laughs, no matter how desperate the situation becomes.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    The Truth
    It’s handsome, it’s amusing, it knows exactly where it’s going. All that is missing is that crucial fifth gear.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Xan Brooks
    West of Sunshine
    West of Sunshine’s rough, down-at-heel Aussie vibe prompts one to set it alongside other recent bawlers and brawlers, such as Kriv Stenders’ Boxing Day or David Michod’s Animal Kingdom. But Raftopoulos is altogether more protective of his characters, shielding them from full-blown horror, clearly wishing them well even as they stumble and fall, and his film works best in tenderly framing a burgeoning father-son friendship.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »