Boxoffice Magazine's Scores

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For 985 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 51% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 47% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 61
Highest review score: 100 Sita Sings the Blues
Lowest review score: 0 Date Night
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 389 out of 985
  2. Mixed: 513 out of 985
  3. Negative: 83 out of 985
985 movie reviews
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  1. Waste Land
    It's important to note that Waste Land is not a landscape film about the landfill itself. Instead, Walker, who also premiered a second documentary at Sundance, "Countdown To Zero," about the threat of nuclear proliferation, shows that Waste Land is ultimately about the pickers, Tiaõ, Zumbi, Suelem among others, who rise up through the power of their own artistic accomplishments.
  2. Alamar (To the Sea)
    A beguiling cross between fiction and non-fiction, Alamar regards the relationship three Mexican males have with the sea.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness
    The author's texts are used as biographical inventory, and they're not simply read, they're performed, sometimes to the detriment of the prose.
  4. The Ghost Writer
    If it is possible to watch this work as a movie rather than using it as a referendum on its maker’s guilt or innocence, the audience that craves mature, sophisticated and grown-up entertainment will find much to admire here.
  5. The Imposter
    A true crime tale with added layers of intrigue and atmosphere.
  6. Get Low
    Will appeal strongly to a mature audience drawn to robust characters, dry wit, and great performances.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Circo
    The film engages sporadically but mostly fails to take advantage of its under-documented milieu.
  8. Louder Than a Bomb
    Arguably the best creative decision Jacobs and Siskel make in the film is choosing their talented subjects.
  9. Bill Cunningham New York
    The documentary will resonate with New York Times' readers and fans of personal stories.
  10. Chico & Rita
    The blistering tunes and unique animation compensate for the rather unconvincing central love story that works best as a Forrest Gump-ian device to highlight some legendary real-life musicians.
  11. Jane Eyre
    Cary Joji Fukunaga's romantic thriller Jane Eyre is to 19th-century literature what "Black Swan" is to ballet: a thoroughly cinematic, occasionally exhilarating reimagining of a repertoire standard.
  12. Buck
    What makes this movie truly special is that the source of Buck's uncanny gift is actually an acute childhood sorrow.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Flight
    Zemeckis intends to give us a slightly more depraved version of Washington's usual charismatic hero, then pull the rug out from him. But Flight's true downward spiral is its own loss of momentum.
  14. Father of My Children
    The Father of My Children is a protean charmer just like Grégoire Canvel, the title character modeled on the late Humbert Balsan.
  15. Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
    Ultimately rather opaque. It lacks sufficient emotional and psychological clarity to cut through our disaster fatigue.
  16. Undertow
    Sensual and romantic with a heavy dose of the supernatural and populated by indelible characters.
  17. Bobby Fischer Against the World
    Garbus' over-reliance on interviews that state rather than dramatize Fischer's excellence makes this a portrait that too often seems more overheard than inhabited.
  18. A Dangerous Method
    Michael Fassbender (Fishtank, Inglourious Basterds) is reliably great, severely outclassing costar Knightley's grating performance.
  19. Rabbit Hole
    It's an unforgettable, moving and brilliantly acted drama that richly deserves to be seen by anyone who cherishes great filmmaking.
  20. Submarine
    An auspicious, controlled and altogether droll debut film that resembles Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" without being derived from it.
  21. Greenberg
    Although Ben Stiller’s brand of nervy comic ticks can prove irritating on occasions, here he is kept in check so that the humor and the pathos shine through.
  22. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
    A dark and brooding story that only gets more disturbing over the course its 152 minute runtime.
  23. Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
    An entomologist's delight, Jessica Oreck's movie about Japan's insect mania is worth watching even if you're repulsed by creepy-crawlers.
  24. Rango
    Wonderfully animated, witty and wildly imaginative.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Easy Money
    Betrayals will occur and loyalties will be tested, but it's the audience that ends up ripped off.
  26. The Art of the Steal
    The film can be dry and a little repetitive. For all of that, it still manages to generate a surprising measure of suspense and it produces outrage in abundance.
  27. Anton Chekhov's The Duel
    Listen closely, however, and amidst the zingers and world-weary chatter, Chekhov's generous humanism comes through loud and clear.
  28. Martha Marcy May Marlene
    Martha Marcy May Marlene enters so richly into psychological horror it recalls those disturbing dramatizations of Jonestown that were big on TV in the '80s.
  29. Attack the Block
    Cornish's idiomatic dialogue is hilarious and the longtime comic's sense of timing is perfect.
  30. Win Win
    A film with a big heart; it's an eccentric dramedy and a crowd pleaser.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Bernie
    Bernie is an interesting guy, but he doesn't make for very good company.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bridesmaids
    A breakthrough comedy, a four-square piece of populist fun that ranks as quite possibly the best mainstream American comedy in years-at least since "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
  33. The Muppets
    The holiday season just got a whole lot brighter.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
    A CG-steeped period-piece fantasy that weds whodunit drama and punch-and-kick mayhem.
  35. How to Train Your Dragon
    An exciting, fun and sensationally entertaining movie for everyone.
  36. Oceans
    Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, Oceans is simply amazing at times, a truly remarkable and extraordinary journey under the sea that takes us places we have never been before.
  37. The Invisible War
    The Invisible War is that rare, issues-driven documentary that is so powerful it's apt to change minds.
  38. The Desert of Forbidden Art
    This impressive documentary on rarely seen art will have strong appeal for art aficionados.
  39. The Square
    It is a crackerjack thriller and a sensational calling card for the brothers Edgerton.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mid-August Lunch
    It may be difficult for the youth-obsessed American culture to appreciate the quiet joys rendered in this Italian charmer. But, given the increasing dominion of the Baby-Boomer Generation--hungry for life-affirming images of old age--Mid-August Lunch could prove a sleeper-in-the-making.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Caterpillar
    Essentially a sexually charged two-hander with blunt allegorical implications, Kôji Wakamatsu's one-note follow-up to United Red Army is a disappointing affair, visually indifferent and thematically simplistic.
  42. Point Blank
    Thrilling and suspenseful without an American star like Russell Crowe or an excess of explosions.
  43. Prodigal Sons
    The unexpected directions in their family dynamics and unflinching scenes of the volatile Marc keep Prodigal Sons absorbing.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Woodmans
    For all the interviewees who tearfully speak of her work, the film does anything but.
  45. Daddy Longlegs
    Daddy Longlegs is a discovery destined for year-end top ten critics lists and comparisons to classics like Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" are expected. Hopefully, Daddy Longlegs will also introduce the Safdie brothers to the larger audiences they deserve.
  46. Tabloid
    Gripping, offensive and bewildering, Tabloid is a mean-spirited masterpiece.
  47. Frankenweenie
    This magnificent stop-motion cartoon is alive - "it's alive! - with laughs and heart.
  48. Polisse
    Actress and director Maïwenn Le Besco (a.k.a. Maïwenn) confounds expectations by drawing together a heart-thumping patchwork of dramas and emotions.
  49. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
    Using clips from home movies, newsreels and public access TV, Davis does a heroic job of bringing the edgy and diffuse mixed-media New York art scene of the '80s back to life.
  50. Inception
    In terms of sheer originality, ambition and achievement, Inception is the movie of the summer, the movie of the year and the movie of our dreams.
  51. Farewell
    It's hard to watch Farewell without thinking of such '70s classics as "All the Presidents Men" and "Network," mature dramas that Hollywood has since all but abandoned (with intermittent exceptions like The Insider).
  52. The Time That Remains
    Blend of sardonic humor and bitter poetry.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bully
    Graceful cinematography captures the loneliness and isolation of these kids with understatement, even when the director succumbs to twinkling piano that pulls a tad too hard on the heartstrings.
  54. Winnie the Pooh
    Don't count on special effects: it has been lovingly and traditionally animated to pay homage to E.H. Shepard's original drawings.
  55. Higher Ground
    Higher Ground is a weird film with some very nice moments, but its odd and offbeat combination of comic touches, serious spiritual subject matter and occasional surrealist interludes never quiet gels.
  56. Stonewall Uprising
    Educational rather than entertaining.
  57. The Town
    If "Heat" and "The Departed" had a baby, the result might come close to The Town, a riveting and explosive crime thriller and one of the year's best pictures.
  58. In Darkness
    In Darkness takes its place among the many great European films to tackle the subject. Plenty of quality-seeking adult moviegoers will be lured to the arthouse and thoroughly moved.
  59. Cyrus
    Those unfamiliar with the Duplass' previous movies won't realize what's missing; they'll just enjoy the earthy angst, edgy laughs and off-kilter casting of Jonah Hill.
  60. Neil Young Journeys
    Fans of the 66-year-old guitar god (which is to say the only people who'll see this homespun gem) will revel in Young's winsome cruise down Memory Lane.
  61. Source Code
    A Hitchcockian thriller with a bit of "Unstoppable" and a little "Unknown," Source Code is a pulse-pounding flick.
  62. Under Fire: Journalists in Combat
    This is one of the super rare docs that packs an unbelievable punch despite its misguided aesthetics. It's a strange triumph of content over form, which is the province of journalists to report.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Rust and Bone
    What Audiard has created here is nothing less than the rare combination of high art and beautiful filmmaking with visceral power and gut-level emotional reality - it's like a symphony of fists, or a brutal assault by angels.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Don't Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantanamo
    Filmmakers Luc Côté and Patricio Henriquez don't use flashy tricks to tug heartstrings-instead they put faith in the story they're telling. And what a story it is.
  65. See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
    See What I’m Saying is at once heartbreaking and irritating, enlightening and boring, but frankly not aesthetically well made in any particular way.
  66. Blue Beard
    Breillat directs with her characteristic flair for getting under the skin of her protagonists while taking a particular pleasure examining sisterly bonds and feminist concerns within the context of a fairy tale.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Two Escobars
    The key point is made, if seemingly lost in the overly cheery finale.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Raid: Redemption
    An orgiastic barrage of violence, The Raid: Redemption is, at least in its finest moments, one of the most breathless, blistering action movies in recent memory.
  69. The Impossible
    The key selling point is Bayona's ten-minute reenactment of the tidal wave and its carnage, which is brutal, visceral and without peer. His visual mastery is almost enough to make up for The Impossible's conventional final hour and the empty feeling of trying to find the point of this whole exercise.
  70. The Pirates! Band of Misfits
    The Pirates! Band of Misfits is one of the funniest animated films in years, or to put it in terms you scallywags can understand: it's a treasure trove of laughs.
  71. Declaration of War
    Instead of venturing into mournful "Terms of Endearment" territory, the film - and the filmmakers - commit to a relentless determination to live.
  72. The Loved Ones
    Like Carrie without the telekinesis, this horror movie replaces the supernatural with blunt brutality and dark humor to terrific effect.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
    Mission: Impossible 4 is so well-made and smooth you may need to see it more than once to truly appreciate its brains and nerves and blood.
  74. The Dish & the Spoon
    The Dish and The Spoon boasts the efficiency and tidiness of early American indies like Rob Nilsson's "Heat and Sunlight," while it relocates its foreign film-like emotional landscapes to more native climes.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Magic Mike
    By way of remarkable sleight-of-hand, Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike both is and is not the freewheeling, fun-loving, male stripper extravaganza its trailers peddle.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A Screaming Man
    The first half-hour is as evocative as (and more specific than) Claire Denis' "White Material," a similarly broad treatment of post-colonial chaos. The rest, sadly, falls apart, but Haroun's formal skill confirms his continual promise.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Island President
    A gripping new documentary that's essential viewing for anybody who believes that the impact of global warming is tomorrow's problem.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Cabin in the Woods
    Drew Goddard's giddily brilliant The Cabin in the Woods has a lot on its twisted mind.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
    The film, despite its promise to excavate an inner life, wilts into banality whenever Gould's thorny paranoia and control issues come up.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Crime After Crime
    Stylistically dull, Crime After Crime proceeds from one talking-head interview to the next, sticking to sentiment.
  81. Dogtooth
    Dogtooth will begin to open the door for U.S. specialty audiences to discover Lanthimos as a new master and anticipate his future films.
  82. Rejoice and Shout
    Some of the performances in the film (from Mahalia Jackson to The Clara Ward Singers) are deeply affecting and the historical context the film provides is as impressive as the music itself.
  83. Wreck-It Ralph
    Consider it a force in the Best Animated Film Oscar race.
  84. ParaNorman
    ParaNorman is easily one of the most charming, imaginative and quirky comedies to come out of Laika Entertainment (Coraline), but for all its cleverness and urbane wit, it's in no way appropriate for kids.
  85. Let It Rain
    The performances are excellent, even if none of the characters are all that likeable or involving.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Paul Williams Still Alive
    Too bad the film's obscure star will be a hard sell to non-music geeks or anyone born after 1965, because this film's a blast.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Safety Not Guaranteed
    Not sure if you'll enjoy Safety Not Guaranteed? Here's a quick litmus test: how do you feel about watching Mark Duplass, accompanying himself on zither (!), singing a heartfelt song about how "everyone in the big machine tries to break your heart?"
  88. Lovers of Hate
    Lovers of Hate would be a family tragedy if the immature antics of the three characters didn't send you ping-ponging from sympathetic chuckles to guffaws of disgust.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    50/50
    A soft and sweet cancer drama that hits with the force of an ill-timed hug.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Super 8
    It's in the moments Abrams attempts to combine emotional payoffs with popcorn-style thrills that the film rings most false.
  91. War Horse
    Director Steven Spielberg doesn't have a steady grip on War Horse's careening tone, but he'll be damned if there's not 15 minutes in there for everyone.
  92. Easy A
    This is one of those movies in which the lead character is so self-possessed, wise, well spoken and witty, that she sounds far too adult to be a teenager.
  93. The Oath
    By focusing on the human aspect of Al-Qaeda, The Oath does give the viewer something to think about, but the film is unsatisfying, raising questions and providing too few answers.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Armadillo
    With perspective firmly confined to the soldiers, Armadillo has inevitably invited many comparisons to "Restrepo," last year's Oscar nominated documentary about Western forces trying to gain ground in Afghanistan. But "Restrepo" is by far the better film.
  95. Shame
    Overall it's a game effort but despite its strong ambitions and provocative themes, Shame may leave you just like its main protagonist - in need of a very cold shower.
  96. Tiny Furniture
    A small film about enormous fears.
  97. Despicable Me
    A rousingly funny, heartfelt and imaginative 'toon blessed with the vocal talents of Steve Carell and loaded with whimsy and smarts.
  98. The Double Hour
    The twists and turns in The Double Hour are not arbitrary; rather, they are well considered and effective, right down to the last frame.
  99. Undefeated
    It's a stirring mix of sports and human drama that exudes an almost earthy sense of genuineness.
  100. Smashed
    Alcoholic movie characters run the gamut from lovable millionaire (Arthur) to Skid Row bum (Henry Chinaski from Barfly) to all-out, suicidal depressive (Ben from Leaving Las Vegas). As written and performed, Winstead's Kate triangulates between all these approaches and finds a sincerity that plays to the intellect, not to the rafters.
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