Stephen Whitty

Select another critic »
Film Journal International, New York Daily News, Screen Daily
For 202 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 42% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 56% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 6.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Stephen Whitty 's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 59
Highest review score: 100 Manchester by the Sea
Lowest review score: 0 Hardcore Henry
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 202
  2. Mixed: 76 out of 202
  3. Negative: 30 out of 202
202 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 94 Metascore
    • 90 Stephen Whitty
    Dunkirk
    Let other directors play with toy soldiers and computer effects. This is big-time, old-school filmmaking. Dunkirk isn’t overdone. It’s simply done epically...But it’s also human. It has room for small acts of heroism, of kindness, of forgiveness. And for a single, simple important, timeless message of resilience: Take what comes. Do what you can. Never surrender.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
    It never stops for a minute, yet it never goes anywhere. And much as it promises to take you to a thousand planets, it can’t find one sign of intelligent life.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    Spider-Man: Homecoming
    No, this web-slinging crime fighter isn’t quite of world-saving, world-weary Avenger caliber yet. But that’s OK. In fact it’s better, because he’s something we’ve really been missing for a long time. Our old friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Stephen Whitty
    Despicable Me 3
    The film has to rush at the end, to wrap up all these different stories, and it still leaves one of them open-ended. It’s possible that they ran out of time. But it’s more likely that another sequel is already planned.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Stephen Whitty
    War for the Planet of the Apes
    The cast is all top-notch. Harrelson can peel and eat scenery like a bunch of bananas, but he’s mostly in control here. Andy Serkis is beautifully intense as Caesar, and Steve Zahn a welcome addition as the scaredy-cat Bad Ape.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    The Beguiled
    Still, there is plenty of erotic tension here, as the days drift by and the nights drag on. Kirsten Dunst is terrific as a slightly sad teacher with her own designs on the Yank. And Elle Fanning is a landmine in lace as the school flirt.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Stephen Whitty
    Cars 3
    There’s a new “Cars” pulling into theaters, but the series is out of gas.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    The Mummy
    Sure it’s got big, blurry action scenes, a plane crash, and an army of dusty, mindless zombies. But I think some of them may have been the screenwriters, because the movie’s practically lifeless.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Stephen Whitty
    Wonder Woman
    We get it, and DC finally should, too: Superhero movies can be fun. And Wonder Woman is a movie that'd send even the Suicide Squad home smiling.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Stephen Whitty
    Baywatch
    After a sharp, satiric opening, though, Baywatch slowly sinks. The scenery is pretty, including the actors, but Johnson and Efron are better at making fun of themselves than landing zingers.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Stephen Whitty
    The Circle
    Director James Ponsoldt — who did the very good "The Spectacular Now" and "Smashed" — is great at visuals, peppering the screen with glowing tweets and comments. He overplays the comedy, though, and underplays the mystery — there's never a feeling that Mae is in real danger.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Stephen Whitty
    Unforgettable
    Unforgettable isn't.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Stephen Whitty
    Going in Style
    Going in Style has gone a little soft. The geezers-go-gangsta story is back, but in a remake that lacks the edge that made the 1979 original memorable. It’s cuddly when it should be cranky, nice when it needs to be a little nasty.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    The Assignment
    The Assignment is a movie about a heartless assassin, a mad doctor and a forced surgery. But it’s the movie that should be sued for malpractice.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Stephen Whitty
    T2 Trainspotting
    Sequels are tricky things, and decades-late followups are the trickiest. T2 Trainspotting almost pulls it off, too, bringing back the original’s hallucinatory style, jolting musical choices and charismatic cast.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    Kong: Skull Island
    The new Kong: Skull Island really gets it right — the exotic adventure, the spectacular special effects, the towering terrors. It’s a big hunk of nostalgic fun, reminding us of the 1933 original even as it monkeys around with the classic story.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    Beauty and the Beast
    In a nice bit of sorcery, Disney’s taken their 1991 animated classic — and their 1993 Broadway hit — and combined them into a groundbreaking delight, anchored by a breakthrough performance by Emma Watson.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    Logan
    A stand-alone adventure, it’s also a salute to a series, a character and a quietly committed actor.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    Fifty Shades Darker
    Since Dornan is as dull as a catalog model anyway — he wanders through the movie like an Abercrombie searching for his Fitch — the shopping-list look of the movie makes sense. But Dakota Johnson deserves better.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 30 Stephen Whitty
    The Comedian
    Robert De Niro is back doing standup in The Comedian, and it's a movie made to be heckled. Full of gross jokes (and an even grosser love story), it deserves the hook — and fast.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
    True, the movie's intense, and Jovovich is certainly in fighting shape. But after 15 years of this franchise, it's getting hard to tell Alice from the things she's fighting. It's all squint and grunt, slash and groan.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    xXx: Return of Xander Cage
    Diesel is the star (as well as a producer), in every scene. And he drags the film down with him.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Stephen Whitty
    The Founder
    The details of how the McDonalds literally invented the fast-food concept are fascinating. The period details feel right. All in all, the film's a slick, good-looking package. But it still feels empty. Where's the message? Where's the meaning? Where's the beef?
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    20th Century Women
    Kind of like all the other characters Annette Bening plays, year after year - never to nearly enough applause.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Stephen Whitty
    Live by Night
    Although Affleck's been a decent director - capturing real local color in "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town," building tension nicely in "Argo" - his work here is dim and dull. Live by Night may be about rum, but the pacing is like molasses.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Stephen Whitty
    Passengers
    It loses some of its warmth, and most of its charm. And it ends up as nearly as cold and creepy as the space it takes us through.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    Fences
    Washington isn't a visionary director, something he's proved before in "The Great Debaters" and "Antwone Fisher." But he is a fine actor, and if nothing else Fences preserves his career-best performance, as a loving, bullying, wounded, roaring bull of a man.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Stephen Whitty
    Hidden Figures
    Hidden Figures is an earnest movie, but not a very exciting one. The screenplay feels as engineered as a Gemini rocket launch, with every scene and line carefully calculated.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Stephen Whitty
    Silence
    Silence is a slowly unfolding, deeply thoughtful film about questioning yourself. About questioning authority. About taking stock of where you've failed as a human being, and wondering how you can make amends — to yourself, to others, and to God.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Stephen Whitty
    Jackie
    Whenever the movie begins to falter — it cuts, sometimes confusingly, among at least three different timelines — Portman pulls it back together, and sets it back on course.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »