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Philip French

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

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
North (1994) 12% EDIT “North the boy has everything and faces no real threat, while North the movie is a parasitic ragbag of movie references.” – Observer (UK) Jan 23, 2026 Full Review Misery (1990) 87% EDIT “At once wonderfully original and aware of its ancestry, this astonishing film is a taut, darkly comic thriller.” – Observer (UK) Jan 22, 2026 Full Review The American President (1995) 90% EDIT “This is a romantic fairy-tale intended to amuse, inspire and get Clinton re-elected, not to raise questions, and as such it's a smooth entertainment. ” – Observer (UK) Jan 22, 2026 Full Review The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) 93% EDIT “A challenge to McCarthyism as the cold war was hotting up, it has a striking score by Bernard Hermann, whom Wise met on Citizen Cane. ” – Guardian Jan 15, 2026 Full Review Stand by Me (1986) 88% EDIT “Stand By Me is an economical, gentle, truthful tale.” – Observer (UK) Jan 14, 2026 Full Review A Few Good Men (1992) 85% EDIT “Certainly it poses some important questions. But because the authors are so intent on creating an exciting melodrama that appeals alike to hawks and doves, the issues are fudged and no one really gets his way in court. ” – Observer (UK) Jan 8, 2026 Full Review The Sure Thing (1985) 84% EDIT “A dissappointing campus comedy. ” – Observer (UK) Jan 8, 2026 Full Review Out of the Past (1947) 87% EDIT “The script is dense, subtly shaped, and bristles with stylised, often witty hard-boiled dialogue and voice-over narration.” – Guardian Jan 7, 2026 Full Review *batteries not Included (1987) 55% EDIT “I found the film highly resistible. ” – Observer (UK) Jan 7, 2026 Full Review Empire of the Sun (1987) 75% EDIT “Even though you might be impressed by the portentous mood, you'll wonder how a film that comes to look like a sanitised fusion of The Go-Between and Tenko can have been derived from a novel that has been favorably compared to A High Wind in Jamaica. ” – Observer (UK) Jan 7, 2026 Full Review The Princess Bride (1987) 93% EDIT “A captivating, wonderfully witty swashbuckling fairy-tale. ” – Observer (UK) Jan 7, 2026 Full Review Re-Animator (1985) 88% EDIT “Neither really funny nor truly frightening, it is too self-consciously bent on acquiring instant cult status.” – Observer (UK) Jan 5, 2026 Full Review At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) 67% EDIT “The week's only movie with a moderately compelling narrative, serious subject matter and interesting characters. ” – Observer (UK) Dec 19, 2025 Full Review Final Analysis (1992) 57% EDIT “This is sub-Vertigo stuff, sacrificing everything to serpentine plot twists and the tone is relentlessly misogynous. ” – Observer (UK) Dec 19, 2025 Full Review Salmonberries (1991) 67% EDIT “A characteristic Adlonian mixture of the artful and the artless.” – Observer (UK) Dec 19, 2025 Full Review The Doctor (1991) 81% EDIT “There is a deal of designer blood in The Doctor, and much heartache. But little pain, dirty or financial anxiety. ” – Observer (UK) Dec 19, 2025 Full Review Hook (1991) 37% EDIT “Adolescents will find it patronising. Grown-ups will be bored, embarrassed and, if British, annoyed to find their childhood dreams so thoroughly colonised by Hollywood.” – Observer (UK) Dec 19, 2025 Full Review True Lies (1994) 77% EDIT “It is murky misogynistic stuff that gets its laughs from the strong persecuting the weak, and involves the degradation and humiliation of an innocent woman and a sad, inadequate man. ” – Observer (UK) Dec 10, 2025 Full Review The Abyss (1989) 76% EDIT “The cast is fine, the set-pieces grand, the special effects outstanding. But after a couple of hours underwater the movie gets the bends.” – Observer (UK) Dec 9, 2025 Full Review Repo Man (1984) 93% EDIT “In the end Repo Man, for all its energy, doesn't come off. But Cox is a film-maker of style and promise whose next film we await with interest.” – Observer (UK) Dec 8, 2025 Full Review Finders Keepers (1984) EDIT “The picture grabs for the nearest crutch whenever it starts limping. Which is only too often. There are funny and inventive moments, but this isn't prime Lester.” – Observer (UK) Dec 8, 2025 Full Review The Dogs (1979) EDIT “Jessua, a New Wave director from whom we've heard too little, develops a nice edge of hysteria and paranoia while keeping laughter at bay.” – Observer (UK) Dec 8, 2025 Full Review Improper Conduct (1984) EDIT “This film has a lot to tell us, and I hope it will be widely shown.” – Observer (UK) Dec 8, 2025 Full Review The Terminator (1984) 90% EDIT “A similar story was developed with more ingenuity and far less violence in Star Trek. But this one is told with great gusto, high-tech resourcefulness and a bizarre wit. ” – Observer (UK) Dec 8, 2025 Full Review A Christmas Carol (1984) 98% EDIT “The British supporting cast is wholly admirable.” – Observer (UK) Dec 4, 2025 Full Review
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