Kim Newman

Select another critic »
Empire, Screen Daily
For 551 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 35% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Kim Newman's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Inferno
Lowest review score: 20 Act of Valor
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 260 out of 551
  2. Mixed: 268 out of 551
  3. Negative: 23 out of 551
551 movie reviews
view
per page
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    The Rescue
    Though some of the interludes are surprisingly effective – Cong Cong’s playground romance is genuinely sweet – the downtime between disasters is mostly here to let the audience breathe. The draw of the film is its huge set-pieces, which easily best recent Hollywood essays in disaster such as Deepwater Horizon.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Motherless Brooklyn
    There’s quite a bit to admire in Motherless Brooklyn, but mostly in detail work — the hats, the cars, the join-the-dots conspiracy theory — but it doesn’t really catch fire as either a private-eye mystery or a study in Tourette syndrome savantry.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    It: Chapter Two
    While the film stumbles and meanders, however, there’s no denying that it delivers enough set-pieces for three regular horror films.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Kim Newman
    Godzilla: King of the Monsters
    King of the Monsters delivers what its genre requires. Truly awesome monster scenes fill the screen, often imbued with emotional resonance by music cues.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Kim Newman
    Slaughterhouse Rulez
    Showing more enthusiasm than aptitude, this earns ‘could do better if it tried’ on its report card — but it’s a strange enough genre mix to be vaguely worth a look.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Amaurosis
    A drama of upper-middle-class menace that can’t quite bring itself to be a full-on slasher movie, this has a few too many clichés but offers some creepiness and decent performances.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 20 Kim Newman
    Redcon-1
    Despite lashings of bright red gore and the obvious enthusiasm of its gibbering hordes, Redcon-1 is a hard slog. Nearly two hours of grunts vs zombies feels punitive.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    Shazam!
    The hardest power to depict onscreen is the wisdom of Solomon, but Shazam! makes clever decisions, mixing middle school snark with disarming sweetness. And — yes — it delivers the requisite lightning-strike punch-’em-ups with considerable force.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    The Hole in the Ground
    A soft-spoken yet chilling domestic horror film that tells its slightly overfamiliar tale effectively, with strong performances, quietly disturbing atmosphere, one or two friendly clichés, and good, old- fashioned scares.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Kim Newman
    Anna and the Apocalypse
    It may be a touch overlong – perhaps because everyone has to stop running to sing songs at regular intervals – and the emotional beats familiar, with moments of poignance, tragedy, gruesome comedy (a decapitated zombie in a snowman suit) and absurdity.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Suspiria
    This isn’t an atrocity on the level of, say, Rob Zombie’s Halloween — but it is a horror designed to test your patience rather than your nerves.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn
    Some will find this impenetrable and irritating, but audiences willing to tune into Hosking’s off-kilter style will be moved by the ridiculous love stories and relish the hilarious eccentricity.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    The Nun
    The real nun in the movie is the heroine, played by a spirited Taissa Farmiga, and the dramatic weight falls on her able shoulders.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Kim Newman
    The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl
    Winning and confusing in equal measure, this Japanese animated feature is likely to attract devout admirers but also baffle a significant number of viewers.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    The Cured
    Suspenseful and thought-provoking, The Cured is a serious, engaged horror movie. More upsetting than scary, it ratchets up the tension unsettlingly. There’s life in zombies yet.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Kim Newman
    The Cleanse
    By no means a conventional horror film, yet several degrees more twisted and gruesome than the average indie relationships drama, this is likely to appeal to more adventurous cult film fans.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    The Endless
    The Endless is a demanding, rewarding picture with moments of unusual terror and awe, offering a science fiction/horror scenario on a literally cosmic scale which boils down to a study of a complicated sibling relationship.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    A Quiet Place
    A bravura monster movie which just doesn’t let up, ratcheting tension with nary a word uttered on screen. It also boasts great creature design and a breakthrough performance from young Millicent Simmonds.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Still/Born
    Burke — perhaps best-known as the grown-up version of the scary baby in the last films in the Twilight saga — is outstanding as the fragile, yet determined heroine who is terrorised beyond the bounds of sanity but has to remember that she might be doing all this to herself.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
    It’s an entertaining, engaging, colourful picture in its own right with decently-handled action-adventure set-pieces and sly comedy, detouring from the expected thrills and spills into body-hopping comedy drama.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Nails
    An ordinary, if effective horror picture, is predictable fare with two big ticks to its benefit: a penchant for creep-out scares involving its looming spectre; and a committed, sympathetic performance from Macdonald.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Jigsaw
    If you don’t like Saw, this isn’t going to change your mind – but it’s skilful, satisfying schlock and respectful of its fanbase. And the final death is a show-stopping coup de grace.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Kim Newman
    Realive
    Well-acted, it lacks the standout performances or star presences which propelled the tonally-similar Ex Machina to more than cult success. While it will play to fans of cerebral science fiction, it may be less grabby for general audiences.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    The Vault
    Though it could do with being weirder and wilder, this high-concept mash-up — what if crooks robbed a haunted bank? — features fine work from a brace of rising stars.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Leatherface
    A production line effort with an eye on cashflow rather than the demented work of art Hooper loosed on the world, this eighth entry is above average for its attenuated series. Gore levels are as high as expected and, naturally, the finale leaves things open for further instalments.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Kim Newman
    Dark Night
    A worthy — if chilly and difficult — addition to the sadly extensive filmography of American mass murder. The soundtrack from Canadian singer-songwriter Maica Armata adds some much-needed heart.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    Wish Upon
    A little reticent in gore gimmicks for the Final Destination crowd, but considered as a middle school between Goosebumps and Clive Barker, it’s just the haunted lottery ticket.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    Hounds of Love
    Deliberately uncomfortable viewing, this is nevertheless a compelling exercise in gritty psycho-noir with outstanding performances and real dramatic weight. Director Ben Young is a name to watch.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Kim Newman
    It Comes at Night
    Full of character-based suspense, it’s dramatic and ramped-up with tension. Existing between a Sundance and a FrightFest film, this is a challenging, horribly plausible future vision.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Kim Newman
    Hot Shots!
    Given that this is the first whacky comedy to come out of the Gulf War it’s a shame the whole enterprise isn’t a lot more tasteless, but the half-funny goings-on give that the script has been tailored not to offend a military machine on the point of massive war, perhaps at the expense of unpatriotic laughs. That said, it’s a pleasant enough time-waster, and doesn’t drag on too long.
prev
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »