Arizona Republic's Scores

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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:
  1. Positive: 1,702 out of 2969
  2. Mixed: 1,148 out of 2969
  3. Negative: 119 out of 2969
2969 movie reviews
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  1. Maleficent
    Jolie's performance so overshadows the rest of the cast (and the rest of the movie) that you sometimes feel as if the other characters are, like us, just standing around watching her. This is not, however, the fault of the other actors. It's the fault of screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who doesn't give them much to do that's challenging or interesting.
  2. The Dictator
    For the most part, the movie's rhythms feel slightly off -- there are long stretches without a laugh -- and there is a mean-spirited air to the whole thing.
  3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    This "Transformers" is better than the second film (though that's not saying much), with some enjoyable bits here and there.
  4. Zack Snyder's Justice League
    If you’re looking for a brisk, compelling story, maybe not. It’s as if there is a third version of this film, something in between the two in terms of tone and fan service, that would be the best way to tell this story. That’s unlikely to happen, of course. How many “Justice League” movies do we really need, anyway?
  5. A Wrinkle in Time
    There are moments of real power and beauty in Ava DuVernay’s film, based on the much-loved Madeleine L’Engle novel. You just have to work too hard to find them.
  6. I Do... Until I Don't
    It’s a big disappointment, not least because of its talented cast, and Bell’s obvious talents as a filmmaker.
  7. Barely Lethal
    Barely Lethal has some laughs, and will probably serve nicely as a movie you can land on for a few minutes when it shows up on cable. But it slides into the rote generic-teen-comedy mode too soon to be anything more.
  8. Going the Distance
    When Going the Distance works, it works well, and it feels genuine. But like a bad relationship, the movie will continually let you down.
  9. Keeping Up with the Joneses
    Relying wholly on good casting and the charisma of its actors, big and small, to elevate too-familiar material, the film’s stale humor hinges on two faulty premises: That the suburbs are inscrutable and that the people who live in them are clueless.
  10. Destroyer
    Destroyer frequently zombie-shuffles into unintentional hilarity, confusing darkness for depth, ugliness for complexity, convolution for smarts. It is just too self-serious to take seriously.
  11. 8: The Mormon Proposition
    The interviews throughout are the best part of the movie - the least heavy-handed, yet most effective, element. There is a message here of the necessity for tolerance, but 8: The Mormon Proposition would have been better had its makers presented it in a more consistent, artful fashion.
  12. Ocean's 8
    Bullock’s performance anchors the movie — and nearly drags it down. Ocean’s 8 has the cast, and the cultural moment, it needs. It just doesn’t do enough with it.
  13. 3 Days to Kill
    Although it’s not impossible to mix humor and violence, as “Midnight Run” proves, it isn’t easy — as 3 Days to Kill proves. Points for effort all the way around, and welcome back, Costner. Let’s hope things get better from here.
  14. Skyscraper
    Johnson is his usual amiable self, but the best thing about the movie is Campbell.
  15. Red Right Hand
    Red Right Hand wants to be a kudzu-covered, Southern-fried crime story, a morality tale set in the “hills” as rich as pig knuckles from a jar in a juke joint. Mostly it’s just a dopey mob movie with Southern accents of varying quality — predictable and cliched.
  16. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
    Hotel Transylvania 3 is a harmless enough excuse for a couple hours of air-conditioned entertainment, which is all some people ask of a kid’s film. But there’s something bleak about its banality.
  17. Ya Veremos
    Despite competent performances all around, you never feel much chemistry between the actors.
  18. American Pastoral
    American Pastoral is a movie, like the Pulitzer Prize-winning Philip Roth novel on which it is based, dense with passion, politics and historical import. But Ewan McGregor, directing his first feature, never brings the film fully to life.
  19. Spiderhead
    Kosinski never manages full control of the film’s tone, which is essential in a story like this.
  20. Breaking In
    Breaking In is a shallow nod to female empowerment, not the embodiment of it.
  21. Repo Men
    There's not a lot of humor here, just violence and more violence. The acting is fine enough - Whitaker, of the talented bunch, seems to be having the best time - but the slicing and dicing overpowers the cast, the story and everything else.
  22. The Finest Hours
    The Finest Hours is set in the early '50s. But did it really need to feel like it was made during the Eisenhower era?
  23. Beirut
    Beirut is inoffensive in its familiarity, a handsome enough thriller to pass the time. What it’s lacking are stakes.
  24. Max
    It's the Walmart of feel-good family films: accessible, cheaply made, useful in a pinch and full of American flags.
  25. Ode to My Father
    Everything is lathered with a syrupy, string-laden musical score designed to gnaw at a viewer's tear ducts. It's about as subtle as having an off-screen narrator yell "Start crying!" before big scenes, and probably as effective.
  26. Spiral: From the Book of Saw
    Along the way there is some really gory violence and some really cliched cop-drama dialogue, with acting to match. But as long as Rock is on the screen, which is almost constantly, it at least keeps your interest.
  27. Multiple Sarcasms
    Timothy Hutton is a good actor. So whom to blame for Multiple Sarcasms?
  28. 30 Minutes or Less
    Director Ruben Fleischer, who directed Eisenberg in the worlds-better "Zombieland," never finds that kind of successful groove here, instead bouncing from one set piece to another, with vastly inconsistent results.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Banshees of Inisherin
    It's visually stunning, well written and the acting is top-notch. But without context, the plot falls flat, leaving behind an unsettling and bizarre film.
  30. Vacation
    This is a funny movie, in places.
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