80
Brit thesp Paddy Considine makes a strong writing-helming feature debut with Tyrannosaur, recycling the same cast, characters and setup he used for his 2008 award-winning short "Dog Altogether."
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
40
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
The characters are trapped, suffocated, pushed through a story that gives them very little room or time to figure themselves out, and that finally turns their feelings into the wan stuff of fable.
70
Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
It is the kind of film that leaves you limp, exhausted and feeling battered by the end. But its wrenching performances make the beating worth weathering.
60
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman give such hard-as-nails, lived-in performances in this stark drama directed by Irish actor Paddy Considine ("In America," "Cinderella Man") that it's impossible not to be pulled in.
60
Tyrannosaur won't translate into entertainment, nor as a wake-up call to the dark side of humanity - though it does work nicely as a tart slice of hard-bitten acting; the entire cast is superb.
91
Considine directs with the confidence of a veteran, giving his actors room to work while letting an ominous, overcast mood hang over almost every scene.
80
Village Voice by Nicolas Rapold
Colman's performance comes as a revelation.
50
Slant Magazine by Simon Abrams
The brutality of Tyrannosaur isn't so over the top as to make director Paddy Considine's sympathy for his flawed characters look like a sham. But it does frequently bring his film's seesawing exploration of blue-collar existence to the brink of collapse.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
No walk in the park, Tyrannosaur is a character study steeped in the British (and Irish) tradition of social realism, and the experience of watching this skillfully made film is, well, exhausting.