Mark Kermode reviews The Critic - Kermode and Mayo's Take

#MarkKermode #SimonMayo #FilmReviews
Ian McKellen stars as a powerful London theatre critic who becomes entangled in a web of deceit and murder.
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[@adamthorntonillustration9281]

My father, Peter Thornton, was in Theatre of Blood. He played a policeman with the responsibility of (unsuccessfully) protecting one of Vincent Price's victims. He died when I was 9, but makes me smile whenever I see him in that film.

[@CashelOConnolly]

Well your dad was in one of the greatest horror movies ever made! You should be very proud of him Grand health from Dublin Cashel O’Connelly ✌🏻🇮🇪

[@henryglennon3864]

Never would have imagined Sir Ian McKellen playing Jay Sherman, but he's got range.

[@4amfilms]

Gah, you beat me to it.

[@shiptoast4465]

Hachi machi

[@GeriatricFan1963]

It stinks!

[@richardrickford3028]

Fascinating review. I was lucky enough to see Ian McKellen play Coriolanus in the National Theatre back in 1985. He is such a brilliant actor. I also think of him playing Richard III in a film where he played the part as a 1930's dictator. I always get frustrated at interviews with Ian McKellen because I want him to talk more about Shakespeare. Though having said he will talk a lot about gay rights which of course is a really crucial topic.

[@dewimatthews6037]

"Gemma Arterton who is always fabulous" right again, Mark.

[@davidrobinson2776]

You can tell Mark would have loved to have been a film critic back in the day.

[@davidrowley-ic6dx]

Hmmmm ….. “The Phone Book” starring Sir Ian McKellen ?? … a new 26 part cinematic Multiverse … now, which major studio can we pitch this one to …. ?? It’ll be a certain success addressing all the key sociopolitical issues of our generation !! …. I really love this thought … thank you Mr Kermode for seeding my mind with this image 😂😂😂😂😂

[@thecinematicmind]

I remember watching a TV recorded of Edward II with Ian and Timothy West. That was powerful to heartbreaking.

[@kildogery]

Will Self is very self aware, he's not very modest, however.

[@markhayward7400]

I saw "The Critic" yesterday evening. It had performances to cherish. Ian McKellen's obviously, but especially Mark Strong's. He achieved miracles with a script that gave him nothing. The film itself was a strange affair. With a subject matter that demanded the drama, tension, and pacing of a good film noir, we got instead a period costume drama that often had the langour of a Merchant-Ivory film. It badly needed to be quicker, less pretty and more seedy.

[@danthsmith]

Saw a preview and enjoyed it

[@gerrypike8324]

I enjoyee the film. It does have a dark heart, with McKellen’s character increasingly unhinged and losing contact with the consequences of his actions. His eternal cynicism curdles into violence as he manipulates the innocents around hi, becoming as poisonous as his pen. It is atmoshperic, in a noir-ish way, most of it taking place in artificial evening lighting, and a shade gothic, too, though we never actually see the violence. The cast is terrific, Gemma Srterton looks suitably lovely, Lesley Manville is herself as Gemma’s cockney mother and Mark Strong is terrific as the upright but conflicted Newspaper owner who is smitten by Arterton’s actress. The gay theme is strong, McKellen moving in a privileged, cloistered but precarious world where appearance is all. Like Wilde, whom he adored, his critic has a self-destructive streak, a desire to flaunt himself in ways which will destroy him. The ending is odd, a bit too pat after all the guile and bile.

[@michaelcurry1142]

A strong cast in this noirish story that's interesting when viewed as a story of how the repressed(by sexuality, race, gender) struggle to survive in an unfair system while trying to keep their morality in a time when England teeters on the border of fascism.

[@Digibeatle09]

Due to the highly desirable convention that we don’t include plot spoilers - so I can’t elaborate to illustrate why I think this is so - just to say, Ian McKellen’s character - I speak of the character’s actions as the film proceeds - combined with the character’s motivations - leaves - imo - a pretty bad taste in one’s mouth by the end of the movie. Brilliantly acted no doubt but I feel the script could have included some more sympathetic aspects to McKellen’s character - true the climate of the 1930s was pretty horrible for gay people but I never felt, watching the movie, that “society was to blame” for why he went to the lengths he did.

[@johnmichaelcule8423]

Cary Grant plays a theatre critic in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE and he's only a slight jackass.

[@JONESANDDUDDING]

Bored me to tears unforunately. The film seemed to have various ideas, but spent almost no time exploring any of them in enough depth to make it interesting.

[@ConfusedProud]

Rattling

[@CashelOConnolly]

People create,critics do nothing but destroy

[@KumoCC]

reviewbros do nothing but destroy. Generally art criticism is a form of creation.