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For 321 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Days and Nights in the Forest
Lowest review score: 20 Megalopolis
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 187 out of 321
  2. Mixed: 129 out of 321
  3. Negative: 5 out of 321
321 movie reviews
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  1. Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
    Not that it is completely uncool or completely un-fun. Birds of Prey is certainly more coherent than Suicide Squad, and more energetic than the lacklustre Charlie’s Angels reboot, which was Hollywood’s last attempt to assemble a trio of action heroines. Perhaps it counts as progress, too, that after so many years when gory, postmodern Tarantino rip-offs were about men, there is finally one that’s about women instead. However popular the film becomes, though, I doubt that anyone will adore it as much as it evidently adores itself.
  2. 1917
    Perhaps no film can capture the enormity of that war, which left around 17 million dead, and generations to grieve. Director Sam Mendes wisely takes the opposite approach, personalising the experience through two young British soldiers sent on a harrowing, high-stakes, night-long mission, he creates a film that is tense, exhilarating and profoundly moving.
  3. Little Women
    Gerwig’s smart, delightful film seems on its way to becoming a classic.
  4. Cats
    Cats needed more narrative, more comedy, more show-stopping tunes, and more choreography that hadn’t been chopped to ribbons by the editors.
  5. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
    The main feeling it instils in the viewer is a renewed respect for the imagination of Lucas. The Rise of Skywalker has been lovingly crafted by a host of talented people, and yet the best they can do is pay tribute to everything he did several decades ago.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ice Age: The Meltdown
    Reuniting the mismatched heroes from its hit predecessor, Carlos Saldanha's mix of race-against-time action and eco-friendly propaganda is actually an improvement on the original, not least for giving its funniest character - acorn-hunting rodent Scrat - a lot more to do.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ali G Indahouse
    Ali G Indahouse delivers more than its fair share of saucy hilarity.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
    This remarkable collaboration between legendary Japanese animator Leiji Matsumoto and Parisian techno gurus Daft Punk is a visual and aural treat of intergalactic proportions.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    25th Hour
    The message underlies but never overpowers a moving, witty character piece.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ice Age
    Though the narrative style of Ice Age has been around for almost as long, superb animation, a droll script, and excellent vocal talents make this a compelling and surprisingly moving addition to the computer-generated canon (where it sits alongside the likes of "Monsters, Inc." and "Shrek").
    • 69 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Performance
    Uncorked in 1970, it's a shocking crime thriller, a time-capsule of Swinging 60s London and a fizzy intellectual headtrip all whisked into one astonishing film.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kirikou and the Sorceress
    Taking its artistic inspiration from African sculpture and Egyptian art, the distinctive pictorial style of Ocelet's award-winning feature is bolstered by an authentic soundtrack from Senegalese musician Youssou N'dour. Couple this with the film's pint-sized but big-mouthed hero, and you've got one of the most enchanting animated features in quite some time.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bamboozled
    There's no questioning the strength of Lee's polemic nor the social and political observations that "Bamboozled" offers, yet as a piece of film-making it is undeniably flawed.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Original Kings of Comedy
    The Original Kings of Comedy has more to do with great comedy than Spike Lee's direction.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Children of Heaven
    Certainly the youngsters in Children of Heaven respond well to the direction of Majid Majidi and give off emotions and thoughts in such an unmannered way that many proper actors could learn loads.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jack Frost
    A watchable, if by-the-book little movie.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wilde
    It's not a perfect film because it does take quite a while to bring you into the characters' lives and engage you in their fate but when that becomes ominously clear, you're hooked.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Big Lebowski
    Apart from psychedelic dream sequences with a bowling twist, it's the wealth of great characters and their insane dialogue that make this a memorable film.
  19. Extreme Measures
    It's a little hard to take Hugh seriously but he acquits himself reasonably well in this slight but entertaining thriller.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fly Away Home
    Although developing from a small, insightful, character-based beginning to a more Hollywood-friendly feel-good climax, this intelligent, atmospheric, and well-crafted family movie seldom loses its way.
  21. She's the One
    A flimsy but pleasant enough comedy.
  22. The Phantom
    Whether the film excites you or not, it does excel with some glossy art direction that looks suitably slick in a quality picture transfer. Clear and sharp, this is a pleasure to watch.
  23. Mulholland Falls
    Mulholland Falls is a period thriller that is distinguished by an excellent cast, even if most of them seem to be outdoing each other in deep gravel voices.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    I Am Cuba
    It's a vibrant, joyous piece of technical accomplishment that's probably one of the most relentlessly innovative films you'll ever see.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Heavenly Creatures
    The Kiwi native proved he had more up his sleeve than trashy schlock.
    • BBC
  26. Pulp Fiction
    It's hard to over sell a movie that is so supremely confident in writing and direction. Despite an almost audience-annihilating run time of nearly two and a half-hours, it is consistently absorbing.
  27. The Shadow
    Despite its shoddy script it does benefit from superior art direction that looks a million dollars.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Schindler's List
    The documentary style allows Spielberg to deliver his message without preaching. The clever use of light and shade also makes it visually stunning.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tokyo Decadence
    Almost entirely free of context or comment, it’s like watching a grim, sordid and in fact rather dull porno flick, where the director documents the sexual demands of a number of ‘imaginative’ businessmen and then – unlike the prostitute herself – does nothing with them.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Army of Darkness
    Nonsense is no bad thing, but here it's poorly executed and from Raimi we've come to expect something better.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sneakers
    This is an energetic, fun, almost enchanting thriller with genuine moments of tension and a good few thrills too.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Paris Is Burning
    A poignant, heartfelt tribute to a vibrant New York subculture and its flamboyant acolytes, captured on grainy celluloid, shortly before it got appropriated and streamlined by the mainstream.
  33. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
    The sequel to Gremlins actually proves more enjoyable than the first film, offering audacious dark humour and a lot of knowing 'in-jokes'.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    We're No Angels
    Neil Jordan's re-working of Michael Curtiz's 1954 film We're No Angels is a woefully shoddy, misfiring, and mis-conceived affair typical of the director's frequent forays into Hollywood.
  35. A Cry in the Dark
    At the heart of "A Cry in the Dark" lies a true story so incredible that to have it made into a film could have tempted a sensational outcome of the most ridiculous proportions.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Withnail and I
    Withnail & I has an air of authenticity only reality could give, and Robinson could only tell MacKerrell's story once. There could never be another Withnail.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Evil Dead II
    Not so much a follow-up as a ruthless self-parody, Evil Dead II ranks as one of the most visually inventive, relentless, and truly original films ever made.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Sacrifice
    It is a difficult film - slow-paced, unashamedly theatrical and heavily laden with philosophy – yet a profoundly satifying one: a rewarding display of filmmaking mastery that forms a mystical and enigmatic coda to a legendary career.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Legal Eagles
    While the picture falls well short of the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn comedies it seeks to emulate, it's slick and good-looking enough to while away a few undemanding hours.
  40. Black Moon Rising
    Tommy Lee Jones wisecracks his way after the Black Moon supercar in this intriguing action film that was to prove highly influential for the later "Die Hard".
    • 66 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Breakfast Club
    The performances by the young cast, culminating in an exuberant pot-smoking session, followed by a genuinely touching denouement, is classic stuff. And such lines as: "The chick can't hold her smoke!" and "You wouldn't know her, she lives in Canada," are still spouted today.
  42. Blood Simple
    Intriguing, clever, and often surprisingly funny there's plenty to please in this thriller, that remains fresh and original.
  43. Once Upon a Time in America
    A film as epic and rich as Sergio Leone's imagination, Once Upon a Time in America sits at the head table of gangster movies. 
  44. Tenebrae
    Sadistically beautiful and viciously exciting, welcome to true terror with Dario Argento's shockingly relentless Tenebrae.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mirror (1975)
    Cinema rarely gets this close to poetry in motion.
    • BBC
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wild Style
    It's a bona-fide piece of cultural history. If you love hip hop, this is unmissable.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stalker
    Stalker is an epic and frequently puzzling inquiry into freedom and faith, which unfolds in an unspecified totalitarian society.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Diva
    A witty, playful intelligent film as enjoyable as it is influential.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Long Good Friday
    A touchstone for many of the sub-standard gangster films Britain mercilessly churns out today, The Long Good Friday is classy fare and superior viewing to its modern counterparts in every way.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Superman II
    The film's message may be a clichéd staple of comic books - with great power comes great responsibility - but it's handled with sincerity and skill.
  51. The Mirror Crack'd
    It becomes increasingly hard to care as pace, reality, and even believable fantasy are buried under a wreath of ye olde boredom. As always though, Elizabeth Taylor brings a little bit of class to her scenes.
  52. Inferno
    There are some outstanding sequences in this movie that are truly chilling
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Vengeance Is Mine
    Made in 1979, the film has aged superbly, the shock of its violence and acuity of its insights still retaining their punch. True, its lengthy running time is demanding and the momentum does dip in the second half, but it's held together by cool-headed technique and Ken Ogata's imposing lead performance.
  54. Rabid
    Ultimately Rabid boils down to zombified sluts and shock moments but it's an irresistible combination that Cronenberg handles well.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Carrie
    There are some fine gory moments in "Carrie", but the real shocks come from the slick emotional exploitation employed by director Brian De Palma.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Rocky Horror Picture Show
    The film itself is filled with great tunes and a slightly loopy plot. So it's just like your common-or-garden musical in that way. Where the film really takes off is in its subversion of sexual mores as Brad and Janet break free from their normality.
  57. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
    There are some cheesy moments (and gaping plot inconsistencies) as one might expect. But any laughter soon turns to screaming as the screen fills with calculated gory mayhem and some fine shock moments.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    The sufferings were well worth it, and the Pythons delivered a classic comedy.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
    Like any decent slasher movie, there's something unsettling about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that goes beyond the blood and gore. [4 star rating for DVD only]
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII
    Maybe because or in spite of this near psychedelic experience, Floyd at Pompeii has become my favourite concert film of all time. Maybe it's because the lack of an audience means you don't feel like you're having a second hand experience. Maybe it's because you're getting to see a legendary band playing sometimes genuinely transcendent music in a strange environment.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Don't Look Now
    With Sutherland and Christie in fine form it all adds up to one of Roeg's finest films and an undeniably key work in British cinema.
  62. Serpico
    Al Pacino takes on police corruption in the gritty Serpico, a film that's entirely dominated and driven by Pacino's empowered performance.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asylum
    They're all rather deliciously far-fetched stories but fun to watch. And the demented camera angles and fast pacing makes the tales far more unsettling than you might imagine.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Tokyo Story
    Hardly anything actually happens, and yet it's one of the most emotionally involving dramas ever made.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Klute
    Klute still perhaps stands as Pakula's finest moment. Informed in part by the conventions of film noir - duplicitous female, ambitious private investigator, and murky goings on of the sexual variety - Klute manages to distill them all into something highly original and distinctly unsettling.
  66. Get Carter
    As bleak as it is hard and viciously uncompromising, Get Carter is one of those films that has become increasingly interesting over time.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    El Topo
    Without the aid of mind-expanding narcotics though, El Topo can't help looking laughably ramshackle, the combination of bad dubbing, shoddy camerawork and over-the-top performances making it pretty much unwatchable by modern standards.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
    Fortunately, the script is brilliant enough to work even in this reduced form - with the captivating performances of Stephens and Blakely putting a hilariously camp spin on Wilder's overblown adventure.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bullitt
    If more attention had been paid to plot and characterisation, this would have been a great rather than a good movie. Even so, it stands as a cinematic landmark. Without it there may well have been no Dirty Harry or The French Connection.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Party
    A mischievously rib-tickling tale with a stupidly simple premise: Sellers plays an uninvited guest at a Hollywood party who loses his shoe and talks in a dodgy Indian accent.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Bedazzled
    Bedazzled is a biting, mischievous and witty satire of the highest order.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Alfie
    Based on the play by Bill Naughton, Lewis Gilbert's film broke new ground by interspersing its amorous anti-hero's sexual conquests with frank and witty confessionals delivered straight to camera.
  73. The Endless Summer
    A cheesy but good-humoured voiceover adds to the charm, while the events on-screen can often be exciting and fascinating to watch.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Ipcress File
    This eerie (and nowadays somewhat kitsch) spectacle aside, helmer Stanley J Furie opts for spycraft nitty-gritty over suspense. However, he doesn't skimp on style: with the action lensed from an array of low, skewed angles, even a trip to the supermarket rouses the retina.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    From Russia with Love
    A thrilling espionage adventure chock full of iconic characters, set pieces and one-liners.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Knife in the Water
    Coming on like an art-house Dead Calm (on which it was clearly an influence) Polanski's drama is slow-moving to the point of inertia, but patient viewers will appreciate the creeping tensions and Oedipal undertow. Not easily accessible, but a film whose scenes and themes stick with you.
  77. 8½
    Dreams of the future merge with memories of the past as a fascinating array of imagery is conjured to the screen. The effect is sometimes confusing - but always beautiful - and eventually intertwines to a singular life-confirming realisation that cuts through the madness and embraces it.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jules and Jim
    This is a painfully moving story about uncompromising friendship and uncontrollable love - not so much unrequited as undeserving and unfulfilled.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The End of Summer
    Ozu's pared-down visual style facilitates our involvement with these 'ordinary' characters, who are struggling to reconcile their feelings of duty and desire, and to accept life's inevitable changes.
  80. Breakfast at Tiffany's
    Woven into this heady romance is chic Hollywood comedy at it's finest, combined with evocative cinematography.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Breathless
    The thin, conventional storyline is swept along by the imaginative, urgent style with its then innovative jump cuts, overlapping dialogue and handheld camerawork. A landmark film, it forever changed perceptions of cinema.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Hidden Fortress
    A comic epic, Hidden Fortress focuses not on the high drama of the aristocrats' escape, but on the slapstick antics of the faint-hearted peasants as they whinge and moan their way through the countryside.
  83. Plan 9 from Outer Space
    Don't get me wrong. Plan 9 from Outer Space is a terrible film. A dreadful film. An atrocious film. But it does have some elements that are halfway decent, and it's unlikely that it would have a cult following without them.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Wild Strawberries
    This is one of the truly outstanding works of post-war European cinema.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Seventh Seal
    Full of haunting, iconic images and a touch of hopeful humanity, The Seventh Seal is cinema at its most artful, a philosophical meditation on the meaning(lessness) of this mortal coil.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Fly
    With such a dramatic opening The Fly has a lot to live up to and what emerges is a sad story of considerable pathos despite the ridiculous plot.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Horror of Dracula
    It's a film that deserves recognition as one of this country's finest horror movies, a sexually charged Gothic nightmare featuring standout performances from Hammer stalwarts Lee and Peter Cushing, who stars as vampire hunter Van Helsing.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Cairo Station
    Watching the film now, almost half a century after its first screening, it's easy to see why it upset so many people "Cairo Station" is a pressure cooker of lust, jealousy, and psychosis.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Paths of Glory
    The searing Paths Of Glory continues to impress with its striking blend of formal brilliance, economical storytelling and emotional directness.
  90. The Bridge on the River Kwai
    Director David Lean achieves a fine balance of creating complex characters from a fine cast, while keeping the pace up throughout this long movie.
  91. An Affair to Remember
    Branded by some as nothing more than a glorified soap opera, "An Affair to Remember" isn't afraid to employ some rather obvious dramatic devices, but it's hard not to become swept-up into a romance that seems doomed to failure.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    High Society
    After opening with a calypso tune from the inimitable Louis Armstrong, High Society really has nowhere to go but down, yet somehow director Charles Walters manages to keep this Technicolor musical sparkling through the next 100 minutes.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Rebel Without a Cause
    Originally shot in black and white, then switching to CinemaScope early in production, Rebel Without A Cause is a brilliant, iconic movie.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oklahoma!
    With some of the most famous tunes in all showbusiness, plenty of dancing cowboys, and an irrepressible feel good factor, expect a dose of good old-fashioned entertainment.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    White Christmas
    It's warm, sweet, and perfect for wasting a winter afternoon.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
    Widely regarded as the best excursion for Jacques Tati's alter ego Monsieur Hulot, this whimsical comedy builds on the work of American silent stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, to produce a French variation on the art of slapstick.
  97. The Quiet Man
    Wayne and O'Hara create a fine rapport, with good performances that build to a truly satisfying climax.
  98. The Day the Earth Stood Still
    A true sci-fi classic.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Sunset Boulevard
    The finest movie ever made about the narcissistic hellhole that is Hollywood.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Asphalt Jungle
    Shot with an eye for the grimy beauty of the underworld and utterly merciless to its characters, The Asphalt Jungle is a biting, bitter espresso of a movie.
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