Popular reviews

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★ 8

  I want a cage match with Joe Wright and Tom Hooper.

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  Review by Lucy ★★ 15

  best picture showcase: film #6

  joe wright’s directing is strong, but my fatigue is stronger. i slept through at least 30 minutes of this

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★ 10

  An electric chamber piece that couldn’t more perfectly complement “Dunkirk” if Christopher Nolan wrote it, “Darkest Hour” is as rousing and ferocious as Winston Churchill was himself. It’s also a hell of a lot more controlled. Unfolding with the clockwork precision of a Broadway play — director Joe Wright has always been at his best when he’s been at his most theatrical — this tightly coiled retelling of Churchill’s first days in office is more than (yet another) passionate appeal to our collective goodness, it’s a deliciously unsubtle testament to the power of words and their infinite capacity to inspire.

  That the film arrives at a time when words seem to have lost all their value only makes it that…

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  Review by Chinar ★★ 6

  A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Ch-😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

  ... and the Oscar goes to... not Timothée Chalamet!

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  Review by kevinyang ★★ 17

  Somehow manages to spend two hours in Winston Churchill's face without introducing any clarity or complexity to his decisions. And when your film rests on one character, you better damn well make it feel like the audience is gaining insight into said character. The supporting characters are all bland robots because the script has no idea how to craft a meaningful, compelling relationship on screen; it's almost laughable that they even try with Lily James because it's clear from the writing that her character was unfortunately an afterthought. Instead, the film resorts to cheap, surface level drama and even conjures up one of the more cringeworthy scenes of the year near the end.

  Oldman is pretty good, not mindblowing like…

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  Review by Darren Carver-Balsiger ★★½ 68

  I'm a huge history nut, with particular interest in modern and political history. So I'm quite knowledgeable on Winston Churchill (or at least, I've read a full biography on him) and have a few thoughts on him. My close friends who I've discussed history and/or politics with (usually drunkenly) have experienced what I'm going to dub "the Churchill conversation" which is where I basically argue that Winston Churchill is the most overrated person in history. To put my argument succinctly: he was elitist, stupid, immoral, and (most importantly) usually wrong. He did terrible things throughout his entire career but just so happened to do the right thing during World War Two (and was helped by many factors outside his control).…

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  Review by David Jenkins ★½ 2

  Joe Wrong

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  Review by Dan ★ 19

  Somehow... this imperialist trash was worse than I thought it was going to be?? I'm genuinely impressed by that because my expectations were already on the floor. Oh well I hope Joe learns from this and goes back to making movies with Keira Knightley. 1 star because Ben Mendelsohn is hot.

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  Review by kyle ★½ 2

  me, trying to be a responsible oscars viewer and watch my last film in the best picture nom category:

  gary oldman: HUMPh garble war cigar eat MY *heavy spitting* bloody prosthetic silicone fat makeup *grumble grumble* DUNKIRK DUNKIRK DUNKIRK

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  Review by cathy ★★½ 1

  very disappointing addition to the Dunkirk Cinematic Universe

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  Review by matty ✨ ★★★ 2

  me, during the beginning of the movie: wow, old white men sure do know how to yell

  me, during the scenes involving the dunkirk evacuation: sick Dunkirk (2017) - dir. Christopher Nolan reference 😩👌🏻

  me, during the rest of the movie: wow, old white men sure do know how to yell

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  Review by Tasha Robinson ★★★½ 2

  The Oscars are going to love this one, because its Srs Bzns historical drama with an actor who transforms himself. It's also gorgeous. But I'm baffled about how we can spend so much cinematic time with someone, tracking his every decision, and still come out on the other side knowing and caring so little about him. In the end I had no insight at all into why he made the choices he made, I just knew he felt REALLY STRONGLY about them.