Ben Kenigsberg

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The A.V. Club, The New York Times, Time Out, Time Out London, Variety, Village Voice
For 1,131 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 29% higher than the average critic
  • 7% same as the average critic
  • 64% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 9.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Ben Kenigsberg's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 57
Highest review score: 100 Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Lowest review score: 0 Date Movie
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 395 out of 1131
  2. Mixed: 600 out of 1131
  3. Negative: 136 out of 1131
1131 movie reviews
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    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    jackass: best and last
    A regrettable portion of Jackass: Best and Last is simply regurgitated material. (There’s even a special credit for a “best of” cinematographer, presumably because such a large percentage of this film has been seen before.) Far too much of the movie consists of the guys playing the tape and reminiscing about their favorite exploding portable toilets.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Unidentified
    While decently absorbing, Unidentified eventually goes way more Hollywood than either of those films, with a plot that defies logic (raising issues of both structure and perspective) and undermines the movie’s message — unless the pulpy swerve is itself intended as a kind of statement.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Promised Sky
    There is much to be said for [Sehiri's] unsensationalistic approach, and for its specificity of detail, even if splitting the narrative three ways means that each of these stories feels shortchanged.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    México 86
    One need look no further than “Marty Supreme” to see how Mexico 86 might have complicated the audience’s sympathies, but this straightforward crowd-pleaser doesn’t wish to see beyond Martín’s charm.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    With Hasan in Gaza
    While there is value in any documentary evidence of this time and place, Aljafari’s allusive approach seems ill-matched with the urgency of his subject matter.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    Remarkably Bright Creatures
    While being cynical about a wise-octopus movie is probably unfair, being bored by it isn’t great, either.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    They Will Kill You
    A case in which a production designer and prosthetics team showed up for work but the screenwriters might as well have crowdsourced their ideas from fanboys.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Crime 101
    Like lovingly warmed leftovers, it has its satisfactions: a charismatic cast, evocative Los Angeles location work, the sort of granular details on diamond couriering and insurance valuation that might give impressionable viewers ideas.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    Dead Man's Wire
    When Dead Man’s Wire ends with footage of the real Kiritsis and Hall, it is hard not to conclude that a much crazier, livelier film could have been made.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    The King of Color
    We don’t need to hear about Herbert’s party years after his first marriage faltered. But he still had a cool idea, and his explanations of printing technology and color chemistry are almost enough to carry the film.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Happy Holidays
    The movie favors an unflashy presentation that allows its themes to emerge organically. But the interlocking structure, which owes more to the early work of Alejandro González Iñárritu than “Rashomon,” undermines sustained tension, and the dramatic architecture is slightly wobbly.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    Nuremberg
    Evidently, as this muddled movie tells it, the climactic lesson of the Nuremberg trials was that America had a friend, too.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Are We Good?
    Part of the accomplishment of Feinartz’s film, which at times comes across as too deferential, is that it fitfully succeeds in cracking his shell.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue
    It would be easy to dismiss the movie’s perspective as limited and jingoistic, but “The Road Between Us” never pretends to offer more than an in-the-moment chronicle of a violent clash. The bigger problem is that its slickness cheapens the most harrowing recollections.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    The Baltimorons
    The Baltimorons aims for bittersweet rather than wacky. Didi is lonely; Cliff struggles with sobriety. And while the film has clear affection for its Baltimore locations (it’s dedicated to the workers killed when the Key Bridge collapsed in 2024), considerably less thought has gone into creating convincing situations for those backdrops.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    Sketch
    A children’s film that fares better with its nimble special effects than its clunky dramatics.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Daniela Forever
    The philosophical window dressing — would you rather your loved one live a better life if it meant living without you? — doesn’t play to Vigalondo’s strengths.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Everything's Going to Be Great
    By turns heartfelt and, especially in the ghost tête-à-têtes, irksome, the movie is helped substantially by its cast, especially Cranston, who brings a welcome sincerity to a quixotic, potentially cloying character.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Slumlord Millionaire
    Because Slumlord Millionaire has assembled a dynamic and engaging group of activists, it seems churlish to complain that it hasn’t found a way to make the material cinematic.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted
    This fans-only documentary gets bogged down with dull asides.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Words of War
    Some deviations are inevitable, but the expository dialogue — and the convention of having Russian characters speak English, with British accents — are distractions. Even so, Politkovskaya’s bravery, and Peake’s commitment to honoring it, is enough.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    Holland
    The film’s unusual backdrop, unresolved subplots and dream-sequence fakeouts are ultimately all distractions from a story that doesn’t make much sense.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    Magazine Dreams
    Magazine Dreams bludgeons viewers to show off its sensitivity.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    Opus
    Whoever Opus is supposed to be sending up, its aim is a bit wide of the mark. But even if the movie’s only real goal is to frighten, it bets far too much on its eventual twists.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    Seven Veils
    In short, Seven Veils offers plenty to think about. But fans who mourn that Egoyan’s dramatic instincts have slipped in recent years won’t quite be getting a return to form.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Ben Kenigsberg
    Cold Wallet
    The storytelling economy (small cast, one main location) is welcome, but none of the four characters is the sharpest tool in the shed, and whatever insights Hodierne intends on the cutthroat world of crypto remain elusive.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    The Quiet Ones
    The theft that inspired the movie has been called one of the biggest in Denmark’s history. It deserved a sleeker film.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Ben Kenigsberg
    Back in Action
    Back in Action has a better cast than its (often mawkish) writing earns. Mostly, the familiarity takes its toll.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    Oceans Are the Real Continents
    The much-in-vogue hybrid mode proves more cryptic than edifying this time around.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Ben Kenigsberg
    The Bibi Files
    Beyond the videos, the movie takes a thorough, methodical approach to laying out the case against Netanyahu, even if few of its arguments are new.
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