Boston Globe's Scores

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For 7,947 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 Autumn Tale
Lowest review score: 0 Argylle
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5,229 out of 7947
  2. Mixed: 1,553 out of 7947
  3. Negative: 1,165 out of 7947
7947 movie reviews
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  1. The Banshees of Inisherin
    Banshees is like a short story trying to be a novel. The extra pages get filled with the postcard views. There are bits of wit — again, this is Martin McDonagh we’re talking about — but overall “Banshees” is lugubrious and slow.
  2. Pinocchio
    The remake is poky and overstuffed. It’s also 17 minutes longer than the 1940 original. Granted, eight minutes of that is closing credits, but still. Pinocchio’s nose isn’t all that’s wooden and too long here.
  3. Champions
    Champions wants to be a clone of the 1976 sports movie classic “The Bad News Bears,” right down to giving us a Tatum O’Neal-style toughie, Cosentino (Madison Tevlin). While Tevlin is very funny and convincing, Harrelson fails to plumb the depths of unlikability in his character that Walter Matthau brought to Coach Buttermaker.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Testament
    Testament deserves some credit for its message; it's too bad that its delivery is strictly third class. [04 Nov 1983, p.48]
    • Boston Globe
  5. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
    The Quantum Realm is definitely where the action is. Too much of it.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Mack & Rita
    The film misses an opportunity to portray the complexity of one’s 30s — and 70s. Still, Mack & Rita is a quirky movie that reminds the audience to live life to the fullest, whatever age they are.
  7. Magic Mike's Last Dance
    Despite the return of director Steven Soderbergh (who also serves, as usual, as editor and cinematographer), writer Reid Carolin, and star Channing Tatum, this installment pales in comparison to its superior predecessors. Dare I say, it lacks — magic?
  8. Wild Bill
    Walter Hill's "Wild Bill" is a too-literal evocation of the played-out frontier experience. It's imaginatively shot and bravely and even iconically acted by Jeff Bridges as Wild Bill Hickock, but it's numbed and numbing. [04 Mar 1996, p.32]
    • Boston Globe
  9. A Haunting in Venice
    Why Branagh and the screenwriter, Michael Green (he also did the two earlier Poirot adaptations), would want to bring actual, real-life horror into a mystery movie masquerading as a horror movie is a mystery beyond the powers of even Poirot to solve.
  10. A Man Called Otto
    As with so many foreign films that get the Americanized treatment, A Man Called Otto is completely defanged, eliminating the dark humor that made the original successful enough to command a remake.
  11. Boston Strangler
    When Boston Strangler focuses on the two journalists who wrote about this case, it is quite involving.
  12. The Boogeyman
    The Boogeyman becomes an exercise in diminishing returns, though it is not without its pleasures.
  13. Gladiator II
    Thumbs up for Denzel; send the rest of this movie to the lions.
  14. Extraction 2
    As per sequel rules, everything has to be bigger. But bigger doesn’t always equal better, as Extraction 2 proves.
  15. The Miracle Club
    I wish the filmmakers had shown as much faith in the audience as its characters have in miracles.
  16. Ghosted
    Rom-com turning into bomb-com (there are lots of explosions) is a funny idea. But since neither the rom-com nor the bomb-com is much to speak of, Ghosted isn’t either.
  17. A Good Person
    If nothing else, Braff gets good to great performances out of his cast. The standouts are Pugh and Freeman: She’s a violent slash of petulance, while he remains a master of barely concealed wrath. Both actors are willing to plumb the depths of desperation, but their hard work is wasted in a film unworthy of their talents. A Good Person is a mediocre movie.
  18. The Edge
    The Edge is mostly corny macho mano-a-mano stuff, made watchable by spectacular scenery and a lot of understatement in Anthony Hopkins's performance and David Mamet's screenplay - until an overwrought ending brings it down. [26 Sep 1997, p.D7]
    • Boston Globe
  19. Monster
    It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie so fully collapse in its third act as this one does, and it does so without warning.
  20. The Old Oak
    It’s a fable that ties up too neatly to be believed, and it’s a story I’m tired of hearing.
  21. I.S.S.
    This film isn’t terrible; it’s just empty. There are few things more disappointing than a genre movie that forgoes developing its intriguing premise to focus on cheap, failed attempts to thrill.
  22. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
    Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget isn’t a bad movie; it’s just an unnecessary one. Whoever thought audiences would be clamoring for the sequel to a 23-year-old film with such a satisfying ending to its story must have been out of their clucking mind.
  23. The Amateur
    The climax of The Amateur is one of the least satisfying meetings of hero and villain I’ve seen in a while.
  24. Ferrari
    Driver and Cruz are perfect surnames for actors starring in a movie called “Ferrari.” That was just one of the many thoughts I had as the minutes slowly ticked by. At least the loud sound mix kept me awake.
  25. The Exorcist: Believer
    Far too much of this movie is a replay of scenes and plot elements that Friedkin’s film did better, and without CGI. The anticipated head-spinning and pea-soup vomit were far more effective with practical effects.
  26. The Iron Claw
    Unfortunately, Durkin’s script is so shallow that every character is reduced to a simple sketch.
  27. Saltburn
    It’s a movie full of grotesques behaving more or less grotesquely. There’s a school of thought that thinks unpleasantness in a movie qualifies as moral candor and high seriousness. Executed well enough and conceived imaginatively enough, it can be. Here it’s simply unpleasantness.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Coup de Chance
    The film’s closing is abrupt and maybe too tidy, but “Coup de Chance” is still a clever little thriller. It displays an admirable economy of storytelling, and its jazz-heavy soundtrack helps maintain a jaunty mood.
  29. Maestro
    Imitation and musical enthusiasm are all there is to this performance; in the dramatic scenes that make up the majority of Maestro, Cooper is the weak link that drags everything down.
  30. Wicked Little Letters
    There are many complaints to be made about “Wicked Little Letters” — its forced humor, its even more forced moral lessons, its tonal unevenness (flat-footed jokiness here, cheap sentimentality there) — but chief among them is wasting Buckley.
  31. Bob Marley: One Love
    Bob Marley: One Love opts to print the legend, but it will just make you want to listen to “Legend.”
  32. Wish
    Though the visuals are often quite stunning, you’ll wish that “Wish” had a better story. Not even Magnifico is powerful enough to make you forget.
  33. The Book of Clarence
    Samuel’s sophomore full-length feature is an ambitious misfire, a noble failure that starts off like “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and ends like “The Passion of the Christ.”
  34. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
    Seeing the Ghostbusters in the Big Apple where they belong put a smile on my face, at least until I realized I was watching a sitcom about wiseass teens and their dopey parents.
  35. Arthur the King
    I should have been more affected by Arthur the King because, after all, “Old Yeller” conditioned my generation to erupt in tears whenever a dog’s fate looks dire. And yet, all I saw were the familiar gears churning underneath.
  36. Nosferatu
    When Dafoe is onscreen, his unpredictable energy drives a deserving stake into the film’s stodgy heart.
  37. Kung Fu Panda 4
    I enjoyed the first three adventures of the Dragon Warrior, but the best thing he can do now is to give this series a much needed skadoosh, sending it to rest in the cinematic spirit realm.
  38. Love Lies Bleeding
    I generally love noir, gore, kick-ass women, the 1980s — but “Love Lies Bleeding” ladled out a visual stew I did not enjoy consuming.
  39. Kinds of Kindness
    Fans of Lanthimos’s works outside his Emma Stone movies will find “Kinds of Kindness” worth watching. As for the rest of us: You’ll start out clapping along with “Sweet Dreams,” but by the end, you’ll be singing Peggy Lee’s immortal question, “Is That All There Is?”
  40. Mickey 17
    While the visuals are often stunning, and the first hour has a loose, raunchy charm, “Mickey 17″ wears out its welcome long before its overlong, nearly t2½-hour runtime ends.
  41. Maria
    As the plot swings haphazardly between drug-induced hallucinations and reality, we lose trust in what we are seeing.
  42. Kneecap
    It runs out of story about midway through, and spends more time attempting to make these guys look cool than showing us the importance of their acts of linguistic civil disobedience.
  43. Monkey Man
    A date movie “Monkey Man” is not.
  44. Shirley
    Despite an impressive pedigree in front of and behind the camera, “Shirley” fails to convey just how remarkable the career of Shirley Chisholm really was. The problem isn’t the narrow focus on one of her accomplishments, it’s the even narrower depiction of who she was as a person.
  45. Moana 2
    Moana 2 is disappointing, but it’s also watchable. I appreciated the attempt to tell a story that wasn’t based solely on the studio’s IP. And the visuals will entertain the kids too young to endure all 160 minutes of “Wicked” this holiday season.
  46. Red One
    Though “Red One” is a bit of a slog, it’s still better than about 98 percent of the Christmas movie junk flung at us by the studios and streaming services every holiday season.
  47. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
    As far as rehashed sequels go, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” could have been worse. That it’s slightly better holds out hope that the inevitable third film will be a major power up in quality.
  48. One Battle After Another
    Contrary to Gil Scott-Heron’s song, the revolution of “One Battle After Another” feels more televised than live. After 161 minutes of it, I was tempted to turn the channel.
  49. Young Woman and the Sea
    The film evokes all of the usual biopic tropes while painting a standard picture of an extraordinary hero.
  50. Karate Kid: Legends
    Even at a mercifully short 94 minutes, this movie is exhausting. That would be fine if it weren’t also overly sincere, familiar, and dull.
  51. Blues Brothers 2000
    There's some terrific music in "Blues Brothers 2000," but you have to sit through a lot of tedious overkill to hear it. [06 Feb 1998, p.F5]
    • Boston Globe
  52. Freakier Friday
    I liked the “Freaky Friday” remake. It had some real emotional heft to it, much of it due to the excellent performances by Curtis and Lohan. This time, all the characters are one-note, especially the teenagers.
  53. The Last Showgirl
    The movie is big and ostentatious when its delicate, sad story needed to be more quietly told. Anderson definitely understands this idea; despite playing a chaotic and unlikable character, she’s the most stable element here.
  54. The Penguin Lessons
    The Penguin Lessons severely falters when it deals with the dangers of military occupation. It’s hard to watch a serious subplot involving people being “disappeared” by the government juxtaposed with scenes of cutesy penguin mayhem and classroom hijinks.
  55. Jurassic World Rebirth
    The true stars of “Jurassic World Rebirth,” the dinosaurs, are often left unidentified; we’re not sure if they’re real or some genetically engineered, made-up monstrosity. The film is so disinterested that it simply throws them onscreen with occasional bits of human beings stuck between their teeth.
  56. Wicked: For Good
    Like its predecessor, Wicked: For Good benefits greatly from the fact that its two leads are fantastic singers, and its director knows how to stage a musical number.
  57. Lilo & Stitch
    Even if I like the film, as I did with “The Little Mermaid,” I still conclude that corporate greed is the sole reason for its existence.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    28 Years Later
    28 Years Later isn’t sure what kind of movie it wants to be: Action-comedy? Gory grindhouse? Serious family drama? Despite some interesting concepts and commendable lead performances, its identity problems alienate. It seems like the years have finally caught up.
  59. Novocaine
    Novocaine is a numbing experience that’s best seen on cable at 3 a.m., preferably after you’ve numbed yourself with the vice of your choice.
  60. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
    Fiennes has an excellent rapport with Lewis-Parry, making their scenes as compelling and moving as anything “28 Years Later” had to offer. It’s too bad that every time the Samson-Kelson plotline gets good, we’re yanked back to dopey Jimmy’s goofy gang and its religious mumbo jumbo.
  61. Bad Shabbos
    Thank goodness for Method Man, who understood the assignment and made the film watchable and fun whenever Jordan showed up. When he isn’t on screen, “Bad Shabbos” is a mediocre movie.
  62. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
    It’s a daring choice to force audiences to spend 2 hours with someone they won’t like, but “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You” is more of an experiment than an empathy machine. It overstays its welcome by at least 30 minutes.
  63. Ne Zha 2
    This isn’t really for kids (I’d say it’s PG-13 level), and it’s so entrenched in its country’s myth-making that I wonder if sheer spectacle alone will be enough to entice American viewers.
  64. The Running Man
    Director Edgar Wright’s version is a more serious affair that not only has a duller hero than its predecessor, it’s also a half-hour longer.
  65. Eddington
    For all that “Eddington” variously concerns itself with politics and conspiracy theories and violence and the Western landscape, what it’s really about is social media.
  66. Fallen
    Fallen is a more than usually ambitious but ultimately failed attempt to merge a supernatural thriller and cop-chase movie. [16 Jan 1998, p.D6]
    • Boston Globe
  67. The Roses
    Unfortunately, “The Roses” is a toothless take on the material. The stakes are never as high as they were in the 1989 movie, and the film takes too much time trying to humanize these people. By the time they’re actively trying to sabotage and murder one another, the movie has completely lost its nerve. The end result feels rushed and weak-willed.
  68. Roofman
    If only this movie were as interesting as the truth. Tatum’s sparkling charm can only take him so far; the script, by Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn, spends way too much time on a romantic subplot filled with sitcom scenarios and uninteresting characters.
  69. The Bride!
    Individual parts of “The Bride!” work, but as a whole, the critic in me found it confusing and irritating.
  70. Little Buddha
    For all its Himalayan aspirations, "Little Buddha" is shallow and superficial.[25 May 1994, p.69]
    • Boston Globe
  71. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
    Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has enough good material to make you wish it were better. Unfortunately, it owes debts to the biopic genre that no honest film can pay.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A House of Dynamite
    Despite its intent to scare viewers into thinking about the possibility of a nuclear attack on a major American city, the screenplay structure of “A House of Dynamite” robs most of its power. The same events are seen from three different perspectives, a narrative device that becomes an instantly forgettable gimmick.
  73. The Testament of Ann Lee
    Once again, Fastvold and Corbet have crafted a movie I admired more than I liked.
  74. Eternity
    I’ve said this a million times before, so it will sound familiar: All a rom-com needs to work is characters you want to see end up together. “Eternity” fails this test big time.
  75. Is This Thing On?
    Dern is excellent, as usual, and her scenes with Arnett feel realistic. The screenplay by Cooper, Arnett, and Mark Chappell is really thin, however, and I didn’t find any of these people compelling.
  76. Ella McCay
    Thankfully, Ella McCay is not as bad as its predecessor. Had this film been a total disaster, it would be easier to dismiss. But every so often, there are glints of the James L. Brooks brilliance I loved so much.
  77. Midwinter Break
    Hinds and Manville do a credible job of portraying a marriage that has run its course, and their best work occurs in the silences that pass between their characters, Gerry and Sheila.
  78. Lorne
    As a documentary about Lorne Michaels, “Lorne” isn’t much; it’s more of a look at “Lorne Michaels,” the character his mysterious nature created.
  79. Valentine's Day
    This is many lousy movies for the price of one.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    The Spy Next Door
    The film’s so formulaic your 6-year-old will be ticking off the plot points as they lope by.
  81. Leap Year
    It’s unclear what Amy Adams did to deserve Leap Year, but all that’s missing from the movie is a set of jailhouse bars over her scenes.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
    Almost but not quite as obnoxious as its title. Little kids will love it. You’ll need a hazmat suit.
  83. Ninja Assassin
    It’s like Bob Fosse night at the martial-arts studio. Most of the killing here is done with bladed throwing stars that, like the ninjas themselves, arrive from nowhere. They appear to have been used to edit the film as well.
  84. Gamer
    For long stretches of the PlayStation-minded Gamer, the action does drag.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    Planet 51
    Young children and adults with high pain thresholds will enjoy the movie during its brief pause on the way to your On Demand menu.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
    2 1/2 hours of tumescence disguised as a motion picture.
  87. The Good Guy
    It’s network television drama, starring actors best known for their TV work and full of the petty gripes and mild worries of characters who really have nothing compelling to worry about.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    Jennifer's Body
    Jennifer’s Body falls into the dispiriting category of dumb movies made by smart people, in this case a glibly clever writer and a talented director who think a few wisecracks are enough to subvert the teen horror genre.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    Knowing
    Starts off mildly ridiculous, ascends to the full-blown ludicrous, and finally sails boldly off the edge of the absolutely preposterous.
    • 26 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
    Slightly better than it should be. For Tucker Max, this possibly represents a triumph.
  91. The Proposal
    Neither (Bullock/Reynolds) brings out anything good in the other, and watching them try hurts the eyes, the tummy, and the libido.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    The Limits of Control
    Jarmusch has come up with a dud.
  93. P.S. I Love You
    Blithely inept.
  94. Hide and Seek
    Ignore the hype. You won't find anything startling or memorable in the derivative Hide and Seek.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 38 Reviewed by
      Ty Burr
    The Pacifier
    JUST worth your children's time, and hardly worth yours.
  96. Black Cloud
    But this film, with its many cliches and borrowed substitutes for creativity, suggests his (Schroder) career in the boxing arena might have peaked with ''The Champ."
  97. Nina's Tragedies
    Gabizon never establishes a consistent tone or point of view. Instead, we hop from one episode to the next, with no momentum and no reason to care about these people.
  98. Sahara
    In the end, the thing that Cussler's fans will probably object to most is the nonsensical way Sahara manhandles his story.
  99. House of D
    House of D, is like the kind of sticky greeting card you'd find on CBS some Sunday nights.
  100. It's All Gone Pete Tong
    Isn't all wrong. But even at its very best, it's just all right.
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