Frank Lovece

Select another critic »
Film Journal International, Newsday, TV Guide Magazine
For 113 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 47% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 52% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 4.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Frank Lovece's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 61
Highest review score: 100 Smallfoot
Lowest review score: 20 Analyze That
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 113
  2. Mixed: 49 out of 113
  3. Negative: 16 out of 113
113 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 52 Metascore
    • 78 Frank Lovece
    Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
    This exquisitely mounted sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) skims past any narrative shortcomings through the complete and convincing totality of the wizarding world it creates, drawing you into another reality with perhaps more verisimilitude than any film in the Harry Potter canon.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 90 Frank Lovece
    Bohemian Rhapsody
    Deftly tweaking the tropes of rock biopics, this drama of singer Freddie Mercury and British hitmakers Queen dazzlingly captures an era, a man and the universal quest for identity.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Smallfoot
    Beautiful is the apt description for this hilarious masterpiece that embraces reason, celebrates truth and ultimately believes we're civilized enough to accept both.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 78 Frank Lovece
    40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie
    There is magic in this film's ode to growing old and being with the people who knew us young.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    A Hard Day's Night
    Refreshing, innovative and immensely funny.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Cast Away
    This is no film for the squeamish.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Scream
    Compared with most of what passes for scary movies these days, this is golden: It's not stupid, it's not wussy and it pulls off a couple of pretty nasty jolts.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    The Exorcist
    This truly terrifying film version of the best-selling Blatty novel is far superior to the book.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Our Song
    The movie sticks with you as few do: It's rewardingly authentic and emotionally real.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    A Mighty Wind
    While the unfortunate epilogue strains the naturalism of what's gone on before and leaves a bit of a sour taste, this semi-improvisational comedy otherwise reaches Balzacian brilliance.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    The Legend of Drunken Master
    If you've never seen a martial arts movie, this is a great place to start.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    El Norte
    An effective and moving drama about the strength of the human spirit and the will to survive.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Sling Blade
    The atmosphere is Southern Gothic pure enough to do Carson McCullers proud -- grotesque, sentimental and dankly nasty -- and Thornton manages not to undermine his own writing.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Ran
    Stands separate from the rest, in a pantheon, a true cinematic masterwork of sight, sound, intelligence, and most importantly--passion.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Me You Them
    Like the hardscrabble lives of this isolated wasteland, it's equal parts unforgiving white-heat aridity and golden late-afternoon glow.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Josie and the Pussycats
    That rare film aimed at teenage girls that's still enjoyable for grownup viewers.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 90 Frank Lovece
    Songcatcher
    In a film mercifully free of the usual warm and fuzzy movie sentimentality, director Maggie Greenwald and her fine cast shatter most hillbilly stereotypes.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    Shrek
    Colossally entertaining.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Frank Lovece
    The Emperor's New Groove
    A comic masterpiece.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Waking Life
    A collection of interconnected vignettes shot as live-action digital video footage which is then 'fed into' computer animation software, Linklater's latest film is an audacious, ambitious undertaking. There's a surreal yet consistent logic to it, which is the film's biggest accomplishment.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Trainspotting
    Captures the way drug addiction gives structure and purpose to aimless lives, and evokes the breathtaking rapture of a fix. All this and a happy ending, too.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Mule Skinner Blues
    This is as powerful a set of evidence as you'll ever find of why art matters, and how it can resonate far beyond museum walls and through to the most painfully marginal lives.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Shine
    Feel-good tone notwithstanding (and creepy to boot), there are nagging riddles about the Helfgott story that the film has neither the nerve nor the sense to tackle.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    Captain Corelli's Mandolin
    The able cast brings these emotionally complex characters to life, while making Shawn Slovo's occasionally lyrical dialogue sound perfectly natural.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Happy Accidents
    This sweet, lovingly passionate story is nonetheless a charmer. Anderson's technique -- jaggy, product-testimonial close-ups; eerie still-image insertions -- is arresting, but this is an actors' showcase.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Ed Wood
    Delightful, off-the-wall, and ultimately moving.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Malèna
    It differs from American films about the period in its evocation of day-to-day passion. The power of beauty is often dealt with in films, but not so often its powerful curse.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Minority Report
    The film proceeds from an utterly fascinating notion. As with A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Spielberg's admirable intent is to create a prescient, serious science-fiction movie.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 90 Frank Lovece
    Dog Run
    For all the casual terribleness it records, it is entertainment; the characters are real and fleshed-out, and we care about what happens to them.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    While this is just as long as the first film, more convincing special effects help make time fly.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Atlantis: The Lost Empire
    The character designs, however, are much less impressive. Except for the oddly naturalistic Sinclair, the rest look like cartoony characters from one of Disney's '60s films.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    Panic
    From the opening lines to the epilogue (one of the film's few misfires), this taut first feature from TV producer and novelist Henry Bromell sustains a taut mood of unease and isolation, and the ensemble performances (TV starlet Campbell's included) have the qualities of the highest-caliber stage work.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    The New Wizard of Oz
    Though the electric organ score is unnecessarily ominous in clearly comical scenes, this is a fascinating early interpretation of what has become a classic tale.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    I Am Sam
    Penn's stark and unvarnished portrait of the challenged Sam makes even the hardest-to-swallow plot acceptable.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Under the Sand
    The film ends with a return to the beach, and one of the most psychologically chilling and expertly photographed shots imaginable.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    X2: X-Men United
    The combat visuals that follow are as powerful as those of any war film.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Diamond Men
    The ever-charismatic character actor George Coe stands out as a small-town jeweler grateful for a late-life affair.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Spirited Away
    Serenely stunning.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    Ice Age
    No matter your age, this is one great AGE to be at.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    The Lady and the Duke
    The effect is one of gorgeous puppets, a removed perspective that makes some of the most powerful political and social events in history seem like the sad, desperate flailing of monkeys.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Everybody's Famous!
    Sometimes seems as noisy and unrefined as Jean himself. But it has just as much heart, and builds up to rousingly "Rocky"-like climax.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    The American Astronaut
    The characters may be one-dimensional ciphers with nothing much to say, but boy, do they not say it with style.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Rififi (re-release)
    Manages to inject more than a little humor into this tension-filled genre classic.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
    A brilliant surrealistic joke about a group of friends whose attempts to dine are continually thwarted.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Frank Lovece
    Four Weddings and a Funeral
    With grace and cleverness, mixing romance and comedy in a genuinely delightful way.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Fargo
    This may be the warmest movie the Coen brothers have ever made. There's something unmistakably human beneath the oh-so-clever surface.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 100 Frank Lovece
    Secrets & Lies
    A radiant, heartbreaking film.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Frank Lovece
    Chocolat
    The film burbles with delightful dialogue and a sparkling sense of life.

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »