Phil de Semlyen

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Empire, Time Out, Time Out London
For 128 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 49% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Phil de Semlyen's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Leviathan
Lowest review score: 20 Hellboy
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 128
  2. Mixed: 64 out of 128
  3. Negative: 2 out of 128
128 movie reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    The Two Popes
    Meirelles injects enough visual snap to remind you that he once made City of God. If the second half gets a little sidetracked by flashbacks, another meaty Vatican scene is never too far away. Watching these two actors chewing over big issues—God, aging, loneliness, celibacy, abuse in the priesthood—under the vast ceilings of this gilded palace is a joy.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    The Good Liar
    Director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) can do this stuff with his eyes closed, and sometimes it feels like he might be doing that as the plot chugs from London to Berlin and secrets are duly uncovered. But there’s enough visual flair to elevate things above standard genre fare.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Frozen II
    If Frozen was about coming to terms with who you are, Frozen II is about transformation. Does it offer further evidence for those who saw "Let It Go" as Elsa’s covert coming-out anthem? Sadly not, though she remains an intriguingly elliptical canvas on which to project genuinely groundbreaking ideas about empowerment and identity.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    A Dog Called Money
    If you’ve ever wondered what the boredom threshold is for watching a musician tuning a hurdy-gurdy, you’ll find the answer here.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Last Christmas
    If Last Christmas isn’t quite irresistible in its emotional moments and the cheesiest bits are borderline indigestible, its effervescence makes it a fun enough watch. At the very least, it’ll make you fall hard for its other romantic lead: London.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    Harriet
    Widows' Cynthia Erivo supplies dramatic weight to a project that squanders it on awkward action moments and simplistic showdowns.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    The Etruscan Smile
    The predictable fish-out-of-water comedy gradually gives way to something deeper, as conflicting world views are exchanged, homespun wisdom dispensed and minds broadened.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Farming
    It has a kernel of raw torment and an unforgiving streak that hints at still-unreconciled wounds, too. It’s not the best film of the year, but it’s definitely one of the most personal.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    Terminator: Dark Fate
    Even with the original stars returning, the sequel feels weightless, disposable and hardly the stuff of Skynet nightmares.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Judy
    Its trump card, of course, is Zellweger, who blows through the film in a gust of jittery energy, wounded ego and half-buried star quality. The transformation is startling.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Downton Abbey
    Yes, it’s basically an episode of the show stretched out to two hours, but like the Crawley family silver, it’s so polished you can practically see your face in it.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Phil de Semlyen
    The Laundromat
    The tonal lurches – from jokey to earnest and back again – will have whiplash setting in by the time its eccentric fourth-wall-breaking coda comes around, while some odd casting choices (and accents) drain gravity from the serious moments.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Ema
    It's the exuberant yin to the stately yang of Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie, Larrain’s last film, and it’s full of the pheromones of sexual discovery and the piss and vinegar of toxic relationships.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    No.7 Cherry Lane
    It definitely demands patience ... but it rewards it with a similarly narcotic effect.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    The King
    Sure, some of the historical detail is terrible (did Henry V really get crowned topless?) and Shakespeare purists may scream heresy, but director David Michôd has done something genuinely fresh and confident with this well-told piece of English folklore.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    The Informer
    The Informer is a film that favours brawn over brains, punching its way through any plot predicaments. A smart hairpin or two would have made it a juicier watch.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 100 Phil de Semlyen
    Joker
    Joaquin Phoenix is devastating as the villain-in-the-making in this incendiary tale of psychological escape and psychopathy.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Ad Astra
    It’s often thrilling, occasionally improbable, sometimes confounding, but like its director, Ad Astra is never bound by the gravitational pull of the ordinary. Strap in.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Angel Has Fallen
    It’s frenetic, brashly executed and so full of shooting, you’ll stagger away with tinnitus.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Blinded by the Light
    It’s defiantly cheesy and very hard to resist.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Armstrong
    It’s all watchable enough but hardly a giant leap for documentary making.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 20 Phil de Semlyen
    Stuber
    Clearly surge pricing also applies to jokes, because it’s mostly about as funny as a traffic jam.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Article 15
    The storytelling never lacks for sincerity and quiet power. It’s a cry from the heart with a courageous message.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Maiden
    As an object lesson in leadership, Maiden is compelling, but its flashbacks to a less enlightened time in sport are the biggest showstoppers – and jaw-droppers.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Dark Phoenix
    It’s not nearly as good as Logan or X2, but it’s a whole lot better than the eyeball-poking affliction that was X-Men: Apocalypse. On the flipside, it still feels like a fairly pointless retread of Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s The Dark Phoenix Saga, which we’ve already seen (and hated) in Brett Ratner’s 2006 disaster X-Men: The Last Stand.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Diego Maradona
    Diego Maradona has the football and the drugs – think Scarface with screamers – but it’s a surprisingly emotional ride too. In the spirit of all good docs, it’ll make you reappraise your feelings about the man and the myths around him.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    The Whistlers
    The Whistlers has a tonne of pulpy circuit-breakers – look out for a hilarious ‘Psycho’ tribute – to remind you not to take it all too seriously. Hitchcock would have approved.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Les Misérables
    It’s a hugely impressive debut and visually arresting from first to last.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Phil de Semlyen
    Little Joe
    Gardening has never been so creepy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Phil de Semlyen
    Bacurau
    Maybe the film loses its head a bit at this point too, with its deeper message lost in the epic bloodshed, but the chances are you’ll be having too much fun to mind.
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