Emily VanDerWerff

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The A.V. Club, Vox, Vox.com
For 30 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 0% same as the average critic
  • 47% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Emily VanDerWerff's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Lean on Pete
Lowest review score: 16 God's Not Dead
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 30
  3. Negative: 3 out of 30
30 movie reviews
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    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Emily VanDerWerff
    The Half of It
    There are some really terrific moments there — particularly where the movie leaves its central relationships — but they all hinge on a series of actions that the characters seem to undertake simply because the movie is almost over. It’s too bad. There’s a great movie inside of The Half of It, and Wu is a tremendous talent who shouldn’t have to wait 15 years to make another feature film.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Emily VanDerWerff
    Noelle
    Noelle is Kendrick’s movie, and it’s a fitting reminder of why she’s such a potent star in projects that require some degree of cheerful borderline sociopathy. She smiles and sings and makes you believe in some truly unfortunate and fake-looking CGI reindeer in a story that keeps mutating and gobbling up other genres.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Emily VanDerWerff
    The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
    To be sure, The Lego Movie 2 is a lot of fun. If you loved the first movie or just need something to see in theaters, it won’t disappoint. It neatly subverts a bunch of the issues the first movie had, particularly when it came to how that movie portrayed its women characters. But it also loses a little something in terms of expectations versus reality.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Emily VanDerWerff
    Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
    Motion capture is a great way to achieve certain effects. But it turns out when you use it to graft human expressions onto animals, you end up with the first movie to star an all-Tuunbaq cast.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Emily VanDerWerff
    The Predator
    Throughout, The Predator feels like it’s been cut to the bone, in a way that ultimately requires viewers to make tiny little leaps to keep up, and all those tiny little leaps eventually add up to a big, big gap between viewer and film.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Emily VanDerWerff
    Roman J. Israel, Esq.
    Roman J. Israel, Esq. is the most frustrating kind of movie there is: one that almost succeeds, and is more disappointing because it doesn’t.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Emily VanDerWerff
    Kingsman: The Golden Circle
    Just like the first movie, the film’s politics are all over the place in a way that should be fun but ends up feeling distracting. Yet it’s hard to hate this movie too much. It has a weird generosity toward its audience. It keeps giving and giving and giving, until you’re overstuffed. It’s a Thanksgiving feast movie, where you’re vaguely impressed at all of the effort, even if the individual elements leave something to be desired.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 40 Emily VanDerWerff
    Transformers: The Last Knight
    There’s fun to be had in The Last Knight, if you can find it among the chaos — and if you can remember it after the fact.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Emily VanDerWerff
    Cars 3
    Like all Pixar movies, Cars 3 is gorgeous...but like most of the studio’s 2010s output, its storytelling is perhaps too complicated to really register. The movie is constantly trying to outmaneuver itself, leading to a film that’s pleasant but not much more.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Emily VanDerWerff
    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
    Dead Men Tell No Tales tries to serve far too many masters with its story.

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