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Jim Schembri

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Jim Schembri has been a professional film critic since 1980, chiefly for Cinema Papers magazine, The Age newspaper and radio station 3AW. He now operates independently at jimschembri.com. Jim fell in love with the power of film as a young child after seeing The Lord of the Flies on 온라인카지노추천, which he thought was real, and The Love Bug at the cinema, which he saw three times. He was six. Jim’s personal film collection contains more than 30,000 titles, including rare VHS tapes of such lost classics as Android (1982) and Weekend at Bernie's II (1993). He also owns many Beta tapes and two working Beta machines, which he refuses to sell on eBay. His second favourite movie quote is from the 1967 classic The Graduate: “Plastics”. His favourite movie quote comes from Steve Martin in the 1991 film Grand Canyon: “All of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.” For Jim this is more than just a great line; it is a philosophy of life.

Reviews

Movies 온라인카지노추천 Shows
National Theatre Live: Dr. Strangelove (2025) 1.5/5 “It’s a fair bet that the more you love the movie, the more you’ll dislike this bloated misfire...lugubrious, flatulent...And where the heck is Miss Foreign Affairs? How could they have even considered adapting the film without her luminous presence?” – jimschembri.com Apr 24, 2025 Full Review The Accountant 2 (2025) 77% 3.5/5 “Those who enjoyed the playful action of the 2016 film are set to have an even better time with this well-cobbled follow on...A caution, though: the film contains a scene involving the unfiltered depiction of line dancing that some might find enjoyable.” – jimschembri.com Apr 24, 2025 Full Review Sinners (2025) 98% 1/5 “Commits the one Cardinal Sin of any vampire movie – it’s boring. Super-dull and way too frigging long, it'll make you wish for a vampire apocalypse just to get the stupid thing over with...If you can't be scary, at least be funny. Please.” – jimschembri.com Apr 17, 2025 Full Review Warfare (2025) 93% 3.5/5 “Alex Garland and war vet Ray Mendoza can’t be faulted for the searing realism they bring to their portrayal of modern combat – the sound design is particularly powerful – and for showing how little high-tech resources count against a gushing wound. ” – jimschembri.com Apr 17, 2025 Full Review The Correspondent (2024) 3.5/5 “Urgent, topical, compelling...Roxburgh [delivers] a career-topping performance in a superbly realised work aimed at a mature-aged audience who will appreciate an aggressively engaging, fact-based film that speaks forcefully to a host of hot-button issues.” – jimschembri.com Apr 17, 2025 Full Review The King of Kings (2025) 64% 3/5 “A warm, well-animated, faith-affirming retelling of the timeless Jesus story. Geared for the family demo, all the more violent, gory bits have been toned down but the essence is still there - thankfully including Christ’s iconic table-tossing moment.” – jimschembri.com Apr 12, 2025 Full Review Death of a Unicorn (2025) 54% 1.5/5 “Yawnsies. Should have been called Death of a Good Idea.” – jimschembri.com Apr 11, 2025 Full Review The Amateur (2025) 61% 3.5/5 “Tense, tightly directed action thriller In the spirit of the Bourne films that will leave devotees of the genre with nothing to carp about...Making the most of his decidedly non-action-man frame, Malek is well-cast as the unlikely angel of vengeance.” – jimschembri.com Apr 11, 2025 Full Review American Psycho (2000) 68% 2/4 “Although the film looks sharp, the emotional comfort zone Harron allows the audience simply saps it of any bite or value.” – The Age (Australia) Apr 5, 2025 Full Review Novocaine (2025) 81% 2/5 “Lame. Even the torture scene is yawn-inducing. Recommended only for those with an undemanding taste for things queasy. ” – jimschembri.com Apr 3, 2025 Full Review A Minecraft Movie (2025) 48% 3/5 “A diverting if unexceptional movification of the video game, the film sports a largely incomprehensible story...boasts a cracking pace and a distinctive look. ” – jimschembri.com Apr 3, 2025 Full Review Dog Man (2025) 80% 3.5/5 “As crazy as the plotting gets the film is anchored by a cleverly devised emotional lynchpin, bonding the two warring characters via the evil cat’s clone, a cute kitten whose naivety imbues it with transformative, heart-melting powers. Lovely stuff.” – jimschembri.com Apr 3, 2025 Full Review Alien Love (2024) 40% 0.5/5 “As much as we like to laud anyone with the tenacity and fortitude to make an independent film, it need be stressed that any such endeavour must satisfy the basic tenets of narrative coherence for the enterprise to be worthwhile. That is not the case here.” – jimschembri.com Apr 1, 2025 Full Review American Trash (2024) 3/5 “LaSardo, a veteran character actor often cast as the heavy, does well here as both director and lead...[His] portrayal of a hard man with a vulnerable, arguably naive side is believable, particularly in scenes where both aspects grind against each other.” – jimschembri.com Apr 1, 2025 Full Review A/way (2024) 3.5/5 “A beautifully etched rumination about loss and romance...A finely honed cinematic squib that doesn’t follow a conventional structure, A/way nonetheless delivers a satisfying sense of closure.” – jimschembri.com Apr 1, 2025 Full Review The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia (2024) 4/5 “Outstanding, compelling, tightly directed drama...an accomplished piece, one of the best films in recent memory about the underside of easy fame.” – jimschembri.com Apr 1, 2025 Full Review Séance (2024) 100% 3/5 “Having proved her salt with the hot-mess drama Scrap, writer/director Vivian Kerr deploys a dab hand here, fashioning a first-class drama full of suspense & delicious Goth visuals as our quartet become entangled in the crosscurrents of deceit and desire.” – jimschembri.com Apr 1, 2025 Full Review Oh Canada (2024) 64% 2/5 “Great idea and Richard Gere creates a salty presence but the choppy nature of all the flash-backing is a drain on the attention and makes it tough to feel for the beleaguered characters.” – jimschembri.com Mar 27, 2025 Full Review A Working Man (2025) 49% 3/5 “A celebration of everything Statham fans are entitled to expect: slick production; loads of action; tumbling vehicles; plenty of tough talk; and, of course, the mandatory mumblecore dialogue delivery. That’s not a knock, by the way.” – jimschembri.com Mar 27, 2025 Full Review The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024) 88% 3/5 “There’s a rather hilarious gag about influencer culture early on that alone would be worth the price of admission. Blessedly, that golden jibe is but one joke in a relentless stream of verbal and visual gags in this fast, fun-filled animated lark.” – jimschembri.com Mar 27, 2025 Full Review The Return (2024) 78% 3.5/5 “Punchy stuff this, very well-directed by Uberto Pasolini with Fiennes in top form and looking respectably ripped alongside his much younger, torso-bearing co-stars.” – jimschembri.com Mar 20, 2025 Full Review Bob Trevino Likes It (2024) 95% 3.5/5 “An unabashed and very effective tearjerker, writer/director Tracie Laymon knows exactly how thick to lay it on. ” – jimschembri.com Mar 20, 2025 Full Review The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) 71% 3.5/5 “Director James Ashcroft does a nifty job with this tight Stephen King-esque psychological horror jaunt, eliciting high-end turns from his two leads.” – jimschembri.com Mar 20, 2025 Full Review Flow (2024) 97% 4/5 “A beautiful, beguiling, wordless work...a sage reminder of the power image-only stories can wield, demanding full attention from the viewer, who is in turn rewarded with a gentle stream of detail and nuance. What a fabulous film this is.” – jimschembri.com Mar 20, 2025 Full Review Disney's Snow White (2025) 40% 3.5/5 “The terrific thing about Snow White 2.0 is that while they’ve updated the tale a bit to make our princess a more pro-active character, they haven’t really altered the essence all that much, with many images and themes echoing the original.” – jimschembri.com Mar 19, 2025 Full Review
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