Philip Kennicott

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Washington Post
For 45 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 26% higher than the average critic
  • 8% same as the average critic
  • 66% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 4.5 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Philip Kennicott's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 61
Highest review score: 100 Peter Hujar's Day
Lowest review score: 20 Manderlay
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 45
  3. Negative: 6 out of 45
45 movie reviews
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    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Tokyo!
    Tokyo, if anything, becomes more of a mystery after Tokyo! than it was before. That's the strength and curse of the film. If you can't find real connections between its disparate stories, you can always make them up yourself. But if that kind of film frustrates you, think twice before booking a ticket to Tokyo!
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Philip Kennicott
    Is Anybody There?
    Caine is magnificent, and the film is worth a look for his contribution alone. But Milner is a promising actor, too, and the pairing of young and old is believable and occasionally very moving.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    In the Pit
    What Rulfo needs, unfortunately, is what too many trendy directors forsake: some social context, some succinct voice-overs and some talking heads to put the serious issues (urban poverty, urban stress, environmental degradation, corruption) into perspective.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Shrink
    Shrink is no worse than the average Hollywood comedy. But it shows, more obviously than most, the bankruptcy of standard-issue American pop narrative, circa 2009.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    What We Do Is Secret
    You are left with the feeling that either Grossman hasn't done justice to the Germs or the justice they deserved was to spend eternity as a historical footnote.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Traitor
    Traitor traffics in the cliches of the terrorist chase film -- including the usual stereotypes of Muslims -- while trying not to succumb to outright bigotry.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Herb & Dorothy
    You can't hate the film anymore than you can hate Herb and Dorothy. But this is lazy work.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Watchmen
    Watchmen is a bore. Sad to say, after a wait of more than two decades, the much-anticipated adaptation of the world's most celebrated graphic novel is long, dull and subject to what might be called the "Lord of the Rings" problem: It sinks under the weight of its reverence for the original.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    A Jihad for Love
    The director raises the question that haunts the whole film: Who should feel shame: gay Muslims or the Muslims who oppress them?
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Drawing Restraint 9
    Sad to say, the new Matthew Barney opus, Drawing Restraint 9, made in collaboration with his main squeeze, Bjork, doesn't advance the Barney oeuvre an inch past where he left it with his massive, megalomaniacal opus known as the "Cremaster" series.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Philip Kennicott
    The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
    If a few decent actors play their roles and defend their turf, it doesn't matter how preposterous the whole proposition is.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Philip Kennicott
    Disgrace
    Is it a great movie? John Malkovich's portrayal of an aging and sexually aggressive professor of poetry is enough to make the film worth anyone's while.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    I.O.U.S.A.
    There is a difference between the importance of a film's subject and the quality of a film's execution. And the execution is lacking. The film just isn't, well, very interesting.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Philip Kennicott
    Madea Goes to Jail
    Both slapstick and social drama, and it is certainly the most confident mix of the two that Perry has managed to achieve with this particular part of his vast media franchise.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Casino Jack and the United States of Money
    Gibney's documentary strains to make sense of the minutiae without losing the audience's attention over its formidable, two-hour length.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Philip Kennicott
    Marley & Me
    There are three fine performances lost in this otherwise middling film. Alan Arkin makes a wonderfully gruff newspaper editor who does just about as much barking as Marley. Jennifer Aniston makes the most of the rather slender figure of Jennifer Grogan, creating a believably human picture of a career woman who gives it up for the kids. And then there's the dog that plays Marley.

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