Paul Whitington's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s): Irish Independent
3/5 61% Suspiria (2018) At times beautiful, at others grotesque, it's ultimately superficial. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 40% Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) Unfortunately, we see lots and lots of Grindelwald. Has Johnny Depp forgotten how to act? Have five outings as the pantomime dame Jack Sparrow shattered his thespian compass and any residual sense of restraint?&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 93% Wildlife (2018) Jeanette is a wonderfully puzzling creation: at times you applaud her spirit and liveliness, at others you wish she'd remember to protect her poor son from her wild excesses.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 97% They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) In this remarkable documentary, Peter Jackson has applied his heavy bag of cinematic tricks to archive footage.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 90% Widows (2018) In fact nothing much about Widows is credible, a fact that jars somewhat with its sententious mood. But it's so well made, that almost doesn't matter.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 32% The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) The design of this film, from costumes to fantastical sets and giant tin soldiers, is splendid, and makes it watchable.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 63% Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Malek handles a pair of dentures and Freddie's oddly plummy speaking voice with aplomb, and captures the cheeky, charming, outrageous persona with which Mercury both confronted the world and protected himself from it.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 79% Halloween (2018) Were it not for these repeated nods back to the classic, Halloween 2018 would be as boilerplate as they come. Still, it should keep fans happy.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 88% First Man (2018) Chazelle beautifully sums up the gulf that now separates Armstrong from his wife when they meet for the first time after the mission.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 90% A Star Is Born (2018) Gaga is so good in A Star Is Born and on so many levels that she single-handedly justifies its existence. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 84% The Wife (2018) [Close's] role is a juicy one, but she capitalises on it brilliantly, and while Bjorn Runge's film feels a little theatrical at times, the acting from Close and her co-stars more than compensates. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 65% The Little Stranger (2018) The Little Stranger is a subtle, delicately unfolding film that pulls you along and gently poses many questions. It's a beautiful film and Gleeson and Wilson are splendid.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 92% Crazy Rich Asians (2018) A comedy with brains and glamour, Crazy Rich Asians arrives in cinemas long after most of us had given up hope of ever seeing a really great romcom again. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 76% Black '47 (2018) Black 47 succeeds magnificently in evoking the misery of the Famine while simultaneously treating us to a rattling adventure yarn.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 27% The Nun (2018) Nuns levitate, Latin devotions are furiously muttered, but only a phial of the Christ's blood will end the nonsense. I wish they'd used it earlier.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 86% The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) It's a very fine film, and thoroughly debunks a barbaric practice.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 88% American Animals (2018) Their exploits are intercut with the reflections of the real protagonists, and surprisingly, this odd mix of documentary and drama works. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 24% Luis and The Aliens (2018) It's passably animated but clumsily written, and not especially original.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 81% Alpha (2018) Alpha is splendidly photographed, nicely paced, and allows us to imagine what it must have been like to live short, brutal, vivid lives surrounded by natural predators.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 49% The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) While no masterpiece, its gender politics are robust, and it's very funny in parts thanks to the wonderful Kate McKinnon, who has a rare gift for mimicry and accents.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 71% The Children Act (2018) Ian McEwan's screenplay explores the emotional toll of making decisions about other people's lives, but Richard Eyre's film is staid, structurally unsound and has an unfinished feel.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 95% BlacKkKlansman (2018) BlacKkKlansman is a clever, furious, fiercely intelligent picture, and easily the best thing Spike Lee has done in years. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 71% Christopher Robin (2018) Perhaps the hardest thing to figure out about Christopher Robin is who the hell it's supposed to be aimed at.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 94% Sicilian Ghost Story (2017) Piazza and Grassadonia handle their ghostly story sensitively, and with consummate skill.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 91% Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) This is busy stuff, full of knowing references to wider DC lore, and should please superhero nerds both big and small. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 88% Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) Just when things start getting boring, Rudd is on hand to reassure us, and the film's ending is a great deal of fun.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 70% The Apparition (L'apparition) (2018) Xavier Giannoli's film moves slowly but with considerable power as it explores faith, doubt, mass hysteria and the desperate human need for supernatural reassurance. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 81% Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) In fact, if you're not even slightly won over by its good humour and innocence, you might want to check your pulse. You could be dead.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 33% Racer and the Jailbird (Le Fidèle) (2018) The two leads are excellent, and though the film stalls a little in the second half, there are some good heist scenes.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 No Score Yet Lost & Found (2017) Lost & Found rambles along aimlessly, sometimes sparking to life. But the link between its stories is tenuous and some are wildly implausible.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 46% Marrowbone (2018) Sergio G Sanchez's film shares the mood and visual aesthetic of other Spanish-directed horrors...and the creaky old house is as much a character as Jack and his siblings. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 88% Whitney (2018) Macdonald has managed to have his cake and eat it in the sense that he talks to Cissy and Bobby Brown and Whitney's brothers without allowing himself to be dragged into their version of events.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 40% Mary Shelley (2018) Fanning seems stiff and miscast as the fearless Mary, and the portrayals of Shelley and Byron are frankly ridiculous.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 71% Adrift (2018) Adrift is a little bit slushy during the couple's courtship, but really comes into its own once the weather turns bad. The storm is brilliantly recreated, and Woodley grounds this solidly entertaining film with a convincingly fraught performance.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 100% Leave No Trace (2018) Leave No Trace asks all sorts of interesting questions about the nature of society and the rights of the individual versus the supposed common good. It looks tremendous, and is wonderfully acted by McKenzie and Foster.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 75% Dublin Oldschool (2018) Tynan's film is laden down with aimless chatter, and its plot meanders drearily towards a country rave that seems curiously old-fashioned, and feels like a piece of Dublin's past, not its present.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 63% Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) Day of the Soldado looks like a shallow imitation of the original, and feels like a film in the midst of a profound identity crisis.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 68% The Happy Prince (2018) The Happy Prince is surprisingly uncinematic, and even the light and colour of southern Italy are not capitalised on by Everett's direction.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 68% Ocean's 8 (2018) It is, though, perfectly enjoyable, and seems to suggest that women are much better team players than men, less likely to become distracted by comparing the size of their genitals, more likely to get the job done.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 89% Studio 54 (2018) Studio 54 only lasted 33 months but would become the stuff of legend, and Matt Tyraneur's documentary tells the club's story wonderfully well.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 89% Hereditary (2018) [Ari Aster] is too clever for his own good, and late on discards his duty to his story and characters in favour of shocks and effects that feel both familiar and contrived...A film that was brooding and fascinating becomes silly, even risible.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 100% All the Wild Horses (2017) Collisions, broken limbs, punctured lungs, mortally wounded horses - it's all part of the fun, and there's always the chance that your nag will decide it's had enough of you and hare off in search of its herd.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
5/5 99% McQueen (2018) The footage of his shows is breathtaking and one is struck again by his chutzpah, daring and sheer originality.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 48% Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) While Fallen Kingdom gets a little too frantic and busy for its own good late on, it's a worthy addition to the franchise and will surely earn a sequel.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 83% That Summer (2018) Rats run through their litter-strewn mansion, and their rich Hamptons neighbours are clearly horrified, but there's a grandeur to the way they pick their way through the trash, seeing around them not a kip, perhaps, but a palace.&dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
3/5 51% Ismael's Ghosts (Les fantômes d'Ismaël) (2018) A film that irritates more often than it amuses. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
2/5 53% Book Club (2018) In Book Club, a bunch of fine actresses in search of a better film pass the time reading. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
4/5 86% My Friend Dahmer (2017) The restraint with which Meyers handles his story deepens it, adding melancholy layers to Jeffrey's morbid dysfunction. &dash; Irish Independent - EDIT
A stern request from Noah leaves Helen devastated. Meanwhile, various pressures cause Helen and Vik to reexamine their relationship; and Alison's worst fears are realized when she returns to Montauk following a crisis.