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Pharisaic cadre

Last updated: 3/21/2025

Pharisaic cadre

A group of critics, including Mark Kermode, Alan Jones, Nigel Floyd and Kim Newman, who first met in the 1980s and spent their time reviewing films in and around the Soho area of London. Now they gather and get cross when films such as Underwhelmed: Rise Of The Lychees aren't shown to critics, meaning they have to pay to get in.

Interestingly, although Mark coined the phrase himself, Vocabulary.com says "Use the adjective pharisaic to describe a religious person who is smug and judgmental, especially if his actions prove that he's much less holy than he pretends."