William Arnold

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer
For 1,340 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 65% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 33% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 0.8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

William Arnold's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 Where the Day Takes You
Lowest review score: 0 The Musketeer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 866 out of 1340
  2. Mixed: 356 out of 1340
  3. Negative: 118 out of 1340
1340 movie reviews
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    • 34 Metascore
    • 25 William Arnold
    Street Fighter
    Director de Souza tries for a distinctive blend of exotic locations (Queensland, Thailand), big-budget explosion effects and a hallucinogenic style, but the mix ultimately turns out to be a recipe for tedium - and, though he tries, he can never quite give the movie the humor and flair that might have made it at least campy fun. [24 Dec 1994]
    • Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    • 50 Metascore
    • 42 William Arnold
    My Super Ex-Girlfriend
    It's not terrible, but it's mediocre and not much more than a string of cheesy sex gags.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 16 William Arnold
    Deck the Halls
    It is so contrived and utterly stupid in every way that it surely must be the nadir of the genre.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 58 William Arnold
    Amateur
    Amateur, the fourth film of American independent filmmaker Hal Hartley, is by far his best - though, in the wake of "The Unbelievable Truth," "Trust" and "Simple Men," that is, admittedly, not saying much. [05 May 1995]
    • Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    Frailty
    Somber and violent but undeniably stylish and unsettling thriller.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 58 William Arnold
    Sweet Home Alabama
    Witherspoon shines. She's never looked better, and she carries herself with both her usual comedic flair and a surprising elegance.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 58 William Arnold
    Sleuth
    At 86 minutes, Sleuth '07 plays like a Cliffs Notes version of the original (which was skillfully adapted by Anthony Shaffer from his own hit play) with far too much of its pacing and delicious texture ruthlessly cut.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 67 William Arnold
    The Yards
    It almost completely falls apart in a tortuous third act and ultimately leaves us feeling strangely empty and dissatisfied.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 25 William Arnold
    Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
    It is shockingly devoid of any shred of originality and imagination. [10 Dec 1993]
    • Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    The Good Thief
    It's a sumptuous mood piece.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 91 William Arnold
    Little Children
    It's as absorbing as a train wreck, and its brand of heavy drama is so rare in movies these days that everything about it seems amazingly fresh.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    Boiler Room
    Ends up being empty, anti-climactic and overlong.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
    This is an adrenaline-pumping, devilishly well-made thriller set against the downfall of an American family.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 83 William Arnold
    Being Julia
    The supporting performers all shine, especially Irons in the thankless role of the clueless cuckold husband.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 William Arnold
    South Central
    It's grim, humorless, uncompromisingly hard-edged, and marred by a handful of scenes that are clumsily staged and acted. And yet the film has an honesty and sincerity that is magnificently embodied in the always believable performance of star Plummer. [07 Nov 1992]
    • Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    • 42 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    Along Came a Spider
    It's a superior film in every way to its predecessor "Kiss the Girls."
    • 58 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
    The movie constantly verges on being a parody, but Moore's performance stays miraculously away from caricature.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 58 William Arnold
    Æon Flux
    The futuristic thriller is overly familiar and never especially gripping -- and too somber and cerebral for the young action crowd -- but it looks terrific and is in no way an embarrassment.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    Liberty Heights
    As good as the film is in so many ways, it also altogether rings a bit false and contrived.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 58 William Arnold
    Peaceful Warrior
    Cult-favorite director Victor Salva ("Jeepers Creepers" I & II) is a competent visual storyteller and the film believes in itself so strongly (and with such a straight face) that it's hard not to halfway enjoy it.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 25 William Arnold
    American Pie
    Idiotic.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 25 William Arnold
    Romance & Cigarettes
    Besides being inept, it's also pretentious and boring: an ambitious art film gone horribly wrong.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 91 William Arnold
    Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
    It's crammed full of the dash, filmmaking flair, swashbuckling magic, impossible stunts and tongue-in-cheek humor that made the series such a phenomenon of its time, and -- for those versed in its traditions -- almost every frame is enjoyable on some level.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 67 William Arnold
    Cure
    Clearly, this film is less than a suspense masterpiece. Its violence is often gratuitous.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    The Time Machine
    For the most part, it's imaginatively staged and consistently entertaining.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    The Royal Tenenbaums
    It makes for chuckling entertainment and it's fun to watch as it's happening. But its New York characters are not a bit believable, there's no real bite to the humor, and the film never adds up to be more than the sum of its parts.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 42 William Arnold
    Romeo Is Bleeding
    But Medak never finds his groove in "Romeo." Every scene smacks of deja vu, the cynicism and irony become smothering, it's never funny or exciting enough to hold our attention, and it finally just collapses into the same pointless violence of "Gunmen" - including a scene in which a character is buried alive. [4 Feb 1994]
    • Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 William Arnold
    All the King's Men
    The new production is handsome and offers a few riveting moments, but it's basically a botched job that misses all the impact of both the original movie and the 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren that inspired it.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 William Arnold
    Catch a Fire
    The movie is flawed and doesn't completely come off as a convincing biography, but its heart is in the right place, it has moments of poignancy and power, and it makes a pleasant change of pace for a genre that essentially has become a cry of despair.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 William Arnold
    The Painted Veil
    It's by far the most faithful of the three versions, and beyond this integrity it also offers an ensemble of graceful performances and an epic evocation of 1920s China -- though, like its predecessors, it's far from a perfect crystallization of the novel.
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