Peter Rainer

Select another critic »
Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Observer, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine (Vulture)
For 2,765 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.6 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Peter Rainer's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Lowest review score: 0 Mixed Nuts
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,744 out of 2765
  2. Mixed: 866 out of 2765
  3. Negative: 155 out of 2765
2765 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 71 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Beyond the Gates
    In some ways the movie's straightforward style is more appropriate to the horror than a more souped-up approach would have been. With material this strong, sometimes the best thing a filmmaker can do is to stay out of the way.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Off the Rails
    It provides us with a window into the psyche of a person worth caring about.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    Spiritual redemption is a big theme of Narnia, but on a purely entertainment level, the movie also goes a long way in redeeming the current sad state of children's fantasy filmmaking.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    At Eternity's Gate
    One of the great achievements of this movie is that, in the end, Van Gogh’s words enter into our soul with the same force as the paintings.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Fracture
    The plot's many complications pretty much all add up, which is a rarity these days for a murder mystery. It's possible that audiences don't even care anymore if a film makes sense as long it's entertaining.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Arthur Christmas
    The action is swift and witty, and the 3-D effects are imaginative and not simply tacked on as with so many animated movies these days.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Into the Abyss
    It gives ample play to all sides of the argument. Herzog allows us to think things through on our own.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Given the slam-bang slapstick featured in so many of her movies, I have to admit the subtlety and fullness of [McCarthy's] performance in this film did hit me as a shock to the system.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
    The marvel of Cage's performance is that, somehow, it's all of a piece. That's the marvel of the movie, too. This is one fever dream you'll remember whole.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    China Heavyweight
    It's really about the ways in which Chinese westernization clashes with the traditionalism of Confucian teachings. It's about competition versus piety.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Neil Young: Heart of Gold
    All in all, a visual and musical feast.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Up in the Air
    This is a movie about, among other things, pain, and it's made by someone who understands its expression.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Bernie
    The innocence of the townspeople is weirdly uplifting. They love their Bernie so much that they seem even more blinkered than he is.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Host
    A cross between "Godzilla" and "Jaws," it manages to be both truly scary and truly funny – sometimes all at once.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Square
    By the film’s end, the main protagonists have become more philosophical, if no less ardent, about the future of Egypt. “We are not looking for a leader,” Hassan declares. “We are looking for a conscience.” He has only to look in the mirror.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Central Park Five
    What we do see, among much else that is damning, are archival NYPD videotapes of the boys being interrogated by detectives who press them to implicate one another in exchange for a leniency that never materialized.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Particle Fever
    Particle Fever doesn’t prompt us to say: “Gee, these superbrains are just like us, except for the brains.” The film allows for our awe. It also demonstrates that science is the most human of activities, with all that that implies.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    We Come as Friends
    The ongoing tragedy in Africa is too nefarious, too complicated, for any one film to do it justice, but We Come as Friends opens a wide window into this mansion of horrors.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Diane
    It’s a rarity, and a real pleasure, to find a movie that presents without condescension rural working-class people, especially women.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    A Hijacking
    His (Lindholm) steadfast, unvarying gaze has its own authenticity. He’s made a thriller that thrills while also respecting our intelligence.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    A Scanner Darkly
    Probably the most faithful to the writer's tortured spirit. It's the kind of movie that gets under your skin - and stays there.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Heart of a Dog
    Anderson works in animation and home movies (Lolabelle “playing” the piano is a wonder), and Anderson’s voice-over narration is closer in quality to song than to spoken word. It’s a confounding, transfixing mélange.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    An Education
    Bracingly perceptive about the human comedy.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
    If the sequels to “The Force Awakens” are as good as this film, that will probably be because they follow the same formula: heavy on the human side, more comedy, less CGI, more fresh faces, and more delightful droids. And, yes, one must pay homage to the Force.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Buck
    The riders who appear in Buck seem almost uniformly exalted by their contact with Brannaman and his methods.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
    At just over two hours, Stranded is nonstop harrowing. It has cumulative power.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    Dirty Wars
    I wish Rowley didn’t so often dabble in standard movie-thriller-style stylistics, but his film is an exposé of practices that need – demand – exposing.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Baader Meinhof Complex
    It leaves us with a question that may be unanswerable: How does one extinguish terrorism when its causes are myriad?
    • 63 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    A Cat in Paris
    It's a sweet and disquieting excursion made by filmmakers whose eyes and ears and imaginations are in marvelous sync.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 91 Peter Rainer
    The Lady in the Van
    The remarkable thing about Smith in The Lady in the Van is that, even though the role is no longer fresh for her, the performance certainly is. She gives it everything she’s got because, you feel, she wants to honor this character. She wants Miss Shepherd to live on.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »