Janet Maslin

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The New York Times
For 1,350 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 59% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Janet Maslin's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 Blue Velvet
Lowest review score: 0 Eye for an Eye
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 684 out of 1350
  2. Mixed: 556 out of 1350
  3. Negative: 110 out of 1350
1350 movie reviews
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    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Amistad
    Dwarfed by the enormity of what it means to illustrate, the diffuse Amistad divides its energies among many concerns: the pain and strangeness of the captives' experience, the Presidential election in which they become a factor, the stirrings of civil war, and the great many bewhiskered abolitionists and legal representatives who argue about their fate.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    The Living End
    Doing himself a great disservice, the writer and director Gregg Araki labels his work "an irresponsible movie" when in fact it has the power of honesty and originality, as well as the weight of legitimate frustration. Miraculously, it also has a buoyant, mischievous spirit that transcends any hint of gloom.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    The Four Seasons
    Mr. Alda's direction is particularly strong for bringing out his actors' humanity, and for developing a comic timing that helps unite the cast.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Arizona Dream
    Arizona Dream is enjoyably adrift, a wildly off-the-wall reverie. It's more than a fish out of water.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Summer of Sam
    This film, like the dazzling but many-tentacled "He Got Game" before it, makes up in fury much of what it lacks in form.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Little Buddha
    Little Buddha displays a deliberate innocence that suits its subject, even if it contrasts so markedly with much of Mr. Bertolucci's moodier, more unsettling work.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    A Dry White Season
    Dry White Season is no less predictable than its predecessors, but its frankness and sincerity matter more than its fundamental bluntness.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Heavy
    Though Heavy begins beautifully, it isn't always able to sustain its balance between narrative subtlety and inertia.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Avalon
    A generous and touching film that is essentially smaller than its own sweeping ambitions, a crowded and skillfully drawn landscape from which no oversize figures emerge. Affection and memory are the forces that give Avalon its vibrancy, but they are also its limitations.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Deep Impact
    Deep Impact confines much of its horror to television news reports and has a more brooding, thoughtful tone than this genre usually calls for.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    La Bamba
    A film like this is quite naturally a showcase for its star, and as Valens, Lou Diamond Phillips has a sweetness and sincerity that in no way diminish the toughness of his onstage persona.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Lean on Me
    Audiences are apt to root for the film's Mr. Clark even when they aren't entirely enthusiastic about what he's doing. Much of this is attributable to Mr. Freeman's fiery and compelling performance, but a lot of it also comes from the director John G. Avildsen (''Rocky''), who has stacked the deck in every way he can.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Apt Pupil
    Both actors play their roles so trickily that tensions escalate until the horror grows unimaginatively gothic.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Smilla's Sense of Snow
    This story has now been gracefully adapted by Bille August into a sleek, good-looking film that captures the book's peculiar fascination.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
    Leonard Nimoy, who directed this third installment, hasn't matched the playfulness and energy of ''Star Trek II,'' but he's way ahead of the first film, making up in earnestness what he lacks in style. That kind of conviction, while sometimes verging on undue self-importance, goes a long way toward making the material touching.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Father of the Bride
    The screenplay represents recycling at its best. The material has been successfully refurbished with new jokes and new attitudes, but the earlier film's most memorable moments have been preserved.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Six Days Seven Nights
    Ms. Heche and Mr. Ford make an appealing, wisecracking team, and they look comfortable with the rugged demands of their roles.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    State of Grace
    With coolly expressive cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth and an insinuating Ennio Morricone score, State of Grace has a somber and chilling tone that is only occasionally breached.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Career Girls
    There is the sense that Mr. Leigh, whose unusual collaborative method with actors is an essential facet of his writing and direction, is too willing to confuse tics with truth. Indeed, this time the actors' solipsism is more apparent.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Phar Lap
    The movie Phar Lap is as much of a crowd pleaser as the champion Australian race horse for whom it is named. In a gently rousing style that should appeal in equal measure to adults and children.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Any Which Way You Can
    Any Which Way You Can is a loose, lighthearted Eastwood vehicle aimed at the good-timey sector of this actor's audience. The real star of this series is Clyde the orangutan, and it looks as if Clyde has another hit on his hairy hands.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    She's So Lovely
    The beat-up poetry, soused look and bad habits of She's So Lovely are often dated. The showy bravado is not.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Rambo III
    Rambo's self-important, weight-of-the-world manner and his taste for political posturing would make him genuinely silly were they not counterbalanced by Mr. Stallone's startling, energetic physical presence and the film's stabs at self-mocking humor.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Point Break
    Point Break, though it's anything but watertight where plotting is concerned, again reveals Ms. Bigelow's real talents as a director of fast-paced, high-adrenaline action. Whenever the flakiness of Point Break threatens to become lulling, Ms. Bigelow wakes up her audience with a formidable jolt.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Extreme Measures
    Brisk and unsettling.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Scent of a Woman
    The good thing is that the principals and film makers make the absolute most of a conventional opportunity.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    From Dusk Till Dawn
    Mr. Rodriguez demonstrates his talents more clearly than ever -- he's visually inventive, quick-witted and a fabulous editor -- while still hampering himself with sophomoric material.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Fireworks
    The filmmaker's equal fondness for bright floral paintings and exploding blood bags is sure to keep an audience on its toes, even if some of the effects are as blunt as (quite literally) chopsticks in the eye.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Late August, Early September
    If Assayas doesn't always transport his film's events beyond the all too commonplace, his understatement can also yield moments of quiet simplicity.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Janet Maslin
    Smoke Signals
    Shows colorful style and a wisdom beyond precocity about its setting and its people.
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