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John Pym

John Pym's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 91% EDIT “One feels throughout a little like an unwilling guest at an evangelical meeting: being thumped about the ears with bits and pieces of received "truth" to which the only response is acceptance or baffled disbelief.” – Sight & Sound Apr 3, 2024 Full Review The Deer Hunter (1978) 86% EDIT “Although its scope is broad and its concentration on the exactitude of detail and location absorbingly accurate, the film remains at heart remarkably straightforward. ” – Sight & Sound Aug 30, 2022 Full Review Thief (1981) 80% EDIT “At heart, though, Mann is more concerned with the seductive technicalities of crime. ” – The Times (UK) Jul 7, 2022 Full Review Carmen (1915) 80% EDIT “Frankly a mess.” – Time Out Jul 2, 2020 Full Review EDIT “[Director] Celestino Coronado's Hamlet is held together in large part by the poised confidence of the principals, notably by Helen Mirren and the Meyer brothers.” – Sight & Sound Mar 31, 2020 Full Review Black Joy (1977) EDIT “Succeeds on a higher level, however, thanks largely to the authority of Trevor Thomas' performance.” – Sight & Sound Mar 19, 2020 Full Review Rocky (1976) 93% EDIT “Rocky, Stallone's alter ego, is sufficiently engaging to make one forget, momentarily at least, the script's milk-fed lack of originality.” – Sight & Sound Feb 6, 2020 Full Review Ironweed (1987) 58% EDIT “Perhaps the heart of the matter is the false lure of the original: some books, such as Ironweed despite strung visual incidents and an almost palpable sense of place, just do not translate to the screen.” – Sight & Sound Jan 28, 2020 Full Review Slaves of New York (1989) 22% EDIT “Ivory observes these youthful shenanigans with a notably engaged sympathy.” – Sight & Sound Jan 17, 2020 Full Review Camp de Thiaroye (1988) 100% EDIT “A notable picture which in fifty years will still have much to say.” – Sight & Sound Jan 16, 2020 Full Review Paris by Night (1988) EDIT “Charlotte Rampling gives a stylish, strikingly uncaricatured performance, which becomes truly remarkable when, at the end, she manages to stoke our sympathy for this coolly amoral murderess.” – Sight & Sound Jan 16, 2020 Full Review A Fish Called Wanda (1988) 96% EDIT “To those who appreciate Ealing comedy (which is to say all right-thinking people), watching the film is like chancing on a Hogarth sketch in grandmother's attic, clearly and unmistakably signed by the Master.” – Sight & Sound Jan 16, 2020 Full Review Glory (1989) 95% EDIT “The film's chief virtue is its spectacular choreography. The final battle... is a striking combination of dynamism and clarity.” – Sight & Sound Jan 16, 2020 Full Review Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) 84% EDIT “Coal Miner's Daughter, however, belongs to Sissy Spacek, and in a smaller way to Beverly D'Angelo, who plays Patsy Cline, Loretta's friend and erstwhile country-music 'rival'. Both sing their hearts out with infectious application.” – Sight & Sound Jan 16, 2020 Full Review Mystery Train (1989) 89% EDIT “Mystery Train, evocatively photographed by the clear-eyed outsider Robby Muller, is occasionally touched with comic inspiration.” – Sight & Sound Jan 11, 2020 Full Review Presumed Innocent (1990) 86% EDIT “Where Presumed Innocent really takes off, though, and begins to catch an authentic flavour of the book is in the courtroom performances.” – Sight & Sound Jan 11, 2020 Full Review Manhattan (1979) 93% EDIT “Allen has always had difficulty harmonising his comic talents and the skittering form of his films: Manhattan is a temporary resolution gratefully received.” – Sight & Sound Jul 31, 2018 Full Review The Old Dark House (1932) 97% EDIT “The film is shot through in almost every scene by a wholly individual sense of comic timing and bizarre juxtaposition.” – Monthly Film Bulletin Jul 6, 2018 Full Review The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) 95% EDIT “The harmonious unity of Ermanno Olmi's film, despite one or two discordant notes, stems largely from the director's circumspect approach to all its elements. The parts are justly proportioned and nothing is allowed to command undue attention.” – Monthly Film Bulletin Jan 22, 2018 Full Review The Big Sleep (1946) 96% EDIT “The plethora of killings now seems on the whole less horrific than it once did, while the film's tone of escalating absurdity in a genuinely dark world grows if anything even more sprightly as the years go by.” – Monthly Film Bulletin Feb 22, 2017 Full Review Experience Preferred... but Not Essential (1982) 88% EDIT “Nothing particularly surprising here, but the sentiment is notably unforced.” – Time Out Oct 29, 2014 Full Review Pin Up Girl (1944) 33% EDIT “The script is nothing special, but Grable and singing rival Rae, both engaging troupers despite the mugging, do their best to liven up the proceedings.” – Time Out Aug 29, 2014 Full Review
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