Arizona Republic's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
For 2,969 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 62% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 The Peanut Butter Falcon
Lowest review score: 10 The Legend of Hercules
Score distribution:
2969 movie reviews
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    This is one film I think you should remain seated for as the dark comedy and psychological thriller will leave you feeling better about yourself in the end.
  1. There is an edginess to Babygirl, an uncomfortableness that is part and parcel of the subject matter. But it’s somehow accessible. Maybe that’s a plus, maybe that’s a minus; perhaps it depends on your taste for this sort of thing. But there’s undeniable power in Kidman’s performance, one of the most interesting and, along the way, best of the year.
  2. There isn't a false note among the performances. It's the first movie for Hayward and Gilman; whatever awkwardness they display is appropriate. Willis may never have been better. Norton is fantastic. Murray and McDormand are also ... well, you get the idea.
  3. It stands on its own as another in a long line of attempted explanations of what made Dylan Dylan. The more the merrier.
  4. Sometimes infuriating but never depressing, The Florida Project doesn’t just shine a light on people rarely represented in anything but a condescending manner. Instead it brings us into their world and introduces us to its inhabitants in a meaningful way. We care about them.
  5. It's feel-good, no question about it. But it's also absorbing, important and inspiring.
  6. For a movie that seems at times to have no idea what it's trying to do, 'Silver Linings Playbook' is compulsively watchable. ... Throwing together so many movie tropes and blending them is both a brilliant idea and a scary one, but one that Russell proves well capable of handling.
  7. The Lego Movie is a delight, a funny, fast-moving film that should satisfy adults and children alike.
  8. The film only works if Ethan Hawke is scary. And he is.
  9. Genuine, honest, thrilling.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It's not a usual story: a down on its luck team that has its own way of doing things turns a jaded coach into a human with a heart. We've all seen that before. But, Waititi's singular style makes it a joy to watch and a film worth cheering for.
  10. All of Us Strangers, defies easy categorization in the usual fashion. But it’s also easy to place it in one category: that of really, really good movies.
  11. Trapero handles the movie's pacing with a masterful ease.
  12. As in a Le Carré novel, we're given long doses of the private lives of the protagonists, and we learn their secrets, their insecurities and the toll taken by the necessity of constant lying.
  13. The Rider is a beautiful movie, a Western of sorts that isn’t limited to that classification as it chronicles the life of a down-on-his-luck cowboy who simply keeps on living, as difficult as that sometimes can be.
  14. Director Felix Van Groeningen unflinchingly depicts the struggles and hopes of a family affected by drug addiction in a powerfully honest movie with gut-wrenching acting.
  15. Melancholia is an intense, exhausting experience. That may not sound appealing, and for some, it won't be. But nor should it be off-putting. Proceed with caution, perhaps. But proceed nevertheless.
  16. This is a story about taking risks, about putting the good of the country before your own. It sounds corny and clichéd, but even in Spielberg’s hands it doesn’t come off that way.
  17. I can say without hesitation that if you’re looking for something ambitious and difficult and super weird — and satisfying, in the end, though think of that in loose terms — I recommend the rather amazing experience.
  18. For much of the movie Morris simply lets the loquacious McKinney talk, and she never, ever stops. And she never disappoints.
  19. Like the elements of a good hit song, it all comes together and seems fresh. It may sound like something you’ve heard before, but it also sounds new.
  20. Brooklyn often feels like a throwback in the best way, while Ronan has an old-time star turn, and she makes the most of it.
  21. Despite the gore and the tragedies witnessed on screen, I left the theater hopeful.
  22. The Act of Killing is a horrifying film, a surreal experience that explores the limits of human cruelty. It’s a film that is absolutely hard to watch. It’s also a film that absolutely should be seen.
  23. The whole film is an exercise in trust and the lack thereof. In the end, it’s a kind of horror film, really, a reminder that these sorts of things were endured by so many for so long, with hope an unlikely ally.
  24. A mixture of magical realism, Southern gothic, coming-of-age movie, star turn for first-timers, disaster story and out-and-out strangeness. It's unlike any film you've seen.
  25. Of its many brilliant aspects, the film does illuminate the numbing grind of real life when you’re trying to make art.
  26. It is intelligent, moving and wholly original.
  27. Not just a fascinating character study but a kind of horror movie as well.
  28. If it sounds like so much backroom politicking, it is. But it's exceptionally interesting, entertaining backroom politicking.

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