The Irish Times' Scores
- Movies
For 1,136 reviews, this publication has graded:
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53% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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43% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.9 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 70
| Highest review score: | Son of Saul | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest review score: | The Turning |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 641 out of 1136
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Mixed: 469 out of 1136
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Negative: 26 out of 1136
1136
movie
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
The new film, evocatively shot by Sean Bobbitt, feels like a trivial, if entertaining, diversion on the way to a more substantial closing fall.- The Irish Times
- Posted Jan 13, 2026
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Tara Brady
Though the final act regains some manic energy with ambitious, large-scale action, the composer Michael Abels’s relentless strings, overly extended gunplay and an unkillable creature become exhausting. And that’s before we are promised a sequel. It’s fun. But make the fun stop.- The Irish Times
- Posted May 19, 2026
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Reviewed by
Tara Brady
It’s certainly not the film we were expecting from the talented Augustine Frizzell, writer-director of the giddy stoner-girl comedy Never Goin’ Back and the pilot episode of Euphoria. It is, rather, a moneyed, sumptuous diptych of temporal-jumping love stories.- The Irish Times
- Posted Aug 6, 2021
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
At its best, The Devil Wears Prada 2 engages saltily with the social and economic changes that have set in since the 2006 original. One yearns for a little more of Miranda’s amusingly half-hearted attempts to accommodate woke restrictions on her acidic put-downs.- The Irish Times
- Posted Apr 29, 2026
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Donald Clarke
Cracknell’s romp is, despite what the purists say, a perfectly pleasant variation of a text that could endure worse, but it feels stranded between two competing approaches. An honourable effort for all the bellyaching.- The Irish Times
- Posted Jul 15, 2022
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
The unreal feels real. The real feels even more real. A decidedly decent slice of bog horror.- The Irish Times
- Posted Aug 6, 2021
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
Carrey’s antic madness – elsewhere often too much to digest – is just what the Sonic films needed to balance out the digital gloss.- The Irish Times
- Posted Dec 18, 2024
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
Sadly, the film runs out of steam as it develops into a detective story with a solution that will surprise nobody.- The Irish Times
- Posted Feb 21, 2024
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Tara Brady
The big narrative rug-pull isn’t quite as smooth as it ought to be, but there’s plenty to admire here, including Monáe’s expressive eyes, Pedro Luque Briozzo’s unsettling camerawork, and a thrillingly vicious turn by Jena Malone.- The Irish Times
- Posted Aug 6, 2021
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
Happily, the screenplay is a model of design and economy. The dilemmas remain clear. The solutions mostly make sense.- The Irish Times
- Posted Mar 4, 2022
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Donald Clarke
Though immaculately made in every respect, Paradise Is Burning never quite finds its narrative rhythms. The story is happily fussing over here and then gets distracted by something over there. But Sine Vadstrup Brooker’s lovely cinematography, drifting in the liminal spaces between city and country, keeps the viewer uneasily gripped throughout.- The Irish Times
- Posted Aug 29, 2024
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Donald Clarke
There are reminders of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours and Sean Baker’s incoming Palme d’Or winner Anora in that urban chaos, but Watts’s bland style washes out all the grime to leave us with, well, something you might expect from a streaming release.- The Irish Times
- Posted Sep 4, 2024
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Donald Clarke
The Cellar does sag just a little in the middle, but its spooky beginning and apocalyptic denouement set it aside from the horror pack.- The Irish Times
- Posted Mar 25, 2022
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Tara Brady
Straddling the current revival of the picaresque in US indie cinema (The Sweet East, Riddle of Fire) and cinéma vérité, this is a pleasing meander, skilfully directed, shot, and edited by the upcoming auteur siblings.- The Irish Times
- Posted May 31, 2024
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Donald Clarke
All in all, a diverting entertainment that, unlike so much contemporary horror, is prepared to have a good time. Fun for all the family.- The Irish Times
- Posted May 31, 2024
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Tara Brady
It’s not for everyone. Please Baby Please often forgets that it’s a musical, and the action is increasingly chaotic.- The Irish Times
- Posted Mar 30, 2023
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Tara Brady
The tricky father-daughter pairing at the centre of Charlotte Regan’s surefooted debut feature marks Scrapper as the poppier, knockabout cousin of last year’s Aftersun. In common with Charlotte Wells’s award-winning film, this drama pitches a knowing pre-adolescent against an uncertain parent. But the tone, colours and flights of fancy make Scrapper lighter and sparkier viewing.- The Irish Times
- Posted Aug 25, 2023
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
The film has its flaws, but worriers will find much with which to identify.- The Irish Times
- Posted May 31, 2024
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Tara Brady
It’s a ravishing spectacle. The trouble is that the unremitting gorgeousness robs the material of all its grit, of its satire, of the sense of precariousness that one experiences on the characters’ behalf, of the fear of hunger, and of the dread that any chill or fever might be a death sentence.- The Irish Times
- Posted Dec 27, 2019
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
Some of the stylistic flourishes are delightful. Others work too hard for their own good.- The Irish Times
- Posted Jan 30, 2020
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
A strange, strange film. Often in a good way. Sometimes not.- The Irish Times
- Posted Jul 5, 2022
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
The amiable big-screen spin-off will satisfy fans but – unlike, say, The Inbetweeners Movie – is unlikely to win over those unfamiliar with the show’s pianissimo pleasures.- The Irish Times
- Posted May 27, 2022
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Tara Brady
This pleasant dramedy is jollied along by its talented veteran ensemble and the odd narrative curveball: a subplot about dead cats yields macabre surprises.- The Irish Times
- Posted Jan 2, 2024
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
The two lead actors are strong. The conversations around the museum amusingly tease out tensions between factions in the LGBT community. But Bros fails to satisfactorily map out its own space. Passes the time well enough. Doesn’t quite pull down the barriers.- The Irish Times
- Posted Oct 28, 2022
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Tara Brady
The film – like its subject – lets the pomp and circumstance do the talking.- The Irish Times
- Posted May 27, 2022
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Reviewed by
Tara Brady
Kielty, an accomplished comedian, firmly sits on his jazz hands and performs some of the worst stand-up routines in the history of comedy. Kerslake brings an edge and unpredictability that animates a carefully shaded story. The specifics of place have their own texture; seldom has a script encompassed such a variety of uses for the great Ulster standard: ballbag.- The Irish Times
- Posted Sep 27, 2023
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Tara Brady
Pugh’s emblematic, muddy-hemmed blue dress — designed by Odile Dicks-Mireaux — marks her out against the windswept exteriors. Not for the first time this year, she’s the standout in a film that, given the remarkable personnel involved, really ought to pack a greater punch.- The Irish Times
- Posted Oct 28, 2022
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Reviewed by
Donald Clarke
All this delicious incident has the makings of a gung-ho entertainment – Ian Fleming as mounted by Nasa. Unfortunately that’s not what we get. Even if we were brave enough to try, we would not be capable of spoiling a plot so wilfully obtuse it demands repeat viewings to disentangle.- The Irish Times
- Posted Aug 21, 2020
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Reviewed by
Tara Brady
It’s good fun. The critters are cute. The landscapes are burnt orange dystopian or pretty and pink. The action sequences – some utilising the Philippines’ national martial art, arnis – are staged with aplomb. The central conceit, however, feels unwieldy.- The Irish Times
- Posted Mar 5, 2021
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Reviewed by
Tara Brady
These picaresque and picturesque adventures fail to coalesce into a movie. But it’s impossible to argue with Daria D’Antonio’s ravishing cinematography and an unexpectedly moving coda featuring Stefania Sandrelli as an older Parthenope.- The Irish Times
- Posted Apr 30, 2025
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