Boxoffice Magazine's Scores

  • Movies
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 4.3 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. Negative: 83 out of 985
985 movie reviews
  1. A who's who of classic action stars light up the screen for pure combustible entertainment in Sly Stallone's The Expendables, a sort of "Dirty Dozen" meets "Inglourious Basterds"--and then some.
  2. While Caruso will fail to win over adult reviewers, I Am Number Four will connect with teen moviegoers anxious for a new young adult fantasy fix to hold them until the next "Twilight Saga" hits in November.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    As broad as a barn yet as thin as paper, The Watch is a summertime action-comedy that works almost in spite of its overcrowded cast and loose, pulpy spitball of a plot.
  3. Full of high flying action, nifty monsters, valiant heroes, plotting villains and impressive CGI.
  4. The film is a twisty and playful primer that suggests the best thing to do when beset with ugly forces is to publicly laugh them off. What happens in private is your business.
  5. It's a movie about a life, and life can be kinda funny and kinda poignant, even when it's full of ordinary things, like age, sickness and loss.
  6. Viewers will find its emotional arc obvious and familiar, although the summoning of those emotions is where the movie derives its power.
  7. Watching even the most tossed-off gag is worth whatever shortcomings Make Believe has, including its lack of real drama.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    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.
  8. The story behind brothers Logan and Noah Miller getting their movie made is almost better than what’s onscreen, but the film is heartfelt and engaging enough to be worthy of attention.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This is strictly talking heads fare, broken up with movie clips, stills and home movies; fortunately, Jack Cardiff's ephemera are better than yours.
  9. Reilly delivers another one of his trademark "nutty pal" performances that continue to win him fans.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    From start to finish, Brewer's remake exudes the look and style of its forebearers: semi-awkward dance choreography, clunky dialogue and an obedience to formula that borders on cliché. But somehow, it works.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Bourne Legacy doesn't reach the heights of the previous three films, but a guns-blazing final act and strong performances from its entire cast might give it the juice to try for a fifth sequel.
  10. Annette Bening is the most pivotal character in the movie, both angry and scared.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The key point is made, if seemingly lost in the overly cheery finale.
  11. Joseph Gordon-Levitt dominates this slight, worth-a-watch dramedy.
  12. The film knows the aesthetic of enlightenment, the filmmakers demonstrate adoration for their subject, but whether or not the film grasps the principle further is very arguable.
  13. The reinvention of this neighborhood may be in the cause of progress for New York's urban landscape, but sometimes you can't help feeling that the planners and the bureaucrats should leave well-enough alone.
  14. This rags-to-sequins tale may be schmaltzy in its sincerity, but 'tis the season. Glitter is optional, but certainly encouraged.
  15. Pleasantly old fashioned, with plush period sets of '20s Shanghai and actual hand-to-hand combat.
  16. Bong's stylistic embellishment of the simple tale of a mother who will do anything to protect her son is breathtaking.
  17. A coming of age story in which the children better the world for the adults, Kore-Eda's heart is in the right place.
  18. Luke Wilson's terrific performance renders an uneasy hybrid of crime drama, comedy and ecommerce far more compelling than it otherwise would be.
  19. Akin to a stroll through a gallery, L'amour Fou is meditative and magically eye-opening.
  20. Along the way Göran and Sven suffer the standard indignities of a Gay couple in an idyllic Swedish neighborhood. Which, as it turns out, are all the same indignities a Gay couple suffers living in an idyllic American neighborhood.
  21. Moving and more ambitious than a CW serial drama or the long-ago ABC After School Specials because its honesty outweighs its occasionally trite dialogue and sometimes false scenes.
  22. An entertaining fright movie that’s crazy fun and full of genuine scares.
  23. The accessible story and fast-paced action scenes could draw a good arthouse audience, more than usual for a Romanian film.
  24. Boote's strong film will make you look at the floating plastic bag from American Beauty in a new, wholly suspicious way.
  25. The script is intermittently literate and frequently funny, the young cast (headed by Radnor) is highly appealing.
  26. The resulting distillation is brisk, light and engaging with none of the cheap shots that usually accompany any discussion of ventriloquism. If anything, Goffman is too gentle, refusing to pursue his charges into their darker corners.
  27. The premise is fetching and feels like a mystery, particularly as the film orchestrates its story to make the work of the Alps group seem like a kind of heist.
  28. Contrary to all of my bitter nudging, I found both sweet and charming. It's just me: I hate precocious children.
  29. Michael Fassbender (Fishtank, Inglourious Basterds) is reliably great, severely outclassing costar Knightley's grating performance.
  30. Even better than the first edition, in its own sitcom-ish ways.
  31. Forty-four years after his exciting debut feature "Fists in the Pocket," Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio continues his late-career renaissance with the passionate, beautifully crafted, period melodrama Vincere.
  32. The central notion in After the Cup is not the obvious; we can all live and work together to our greater achievement no matter where we are from or who we are. Rather, the question here is-will we-even when we lose the football game? It's a much smarter and more interesting question.
  33. Holy Rollers is mostly a marker being put down by some talents to watch, especially Eisenberg, who is greater than fans of "Zombieland" could have imagined.
  34. It's difficult to imagine a more fascinating case of sociopathic, obsessive-compulsive behavior, or a more disciplined, engrossing study of it. And yet a vital ingredient is missing.
  35. In sum, the film is not without its sweetness. Carell's Barry retells the story of his life in dioramas populated completely with costumed, stuffed mice.
  36. The movie version has the exciting and challenging parts down but the moral awakening it so strenuously wants us to experience remains beyond its reach.
  37. Yet another movie marketed with the line “From the author of The Notebook,” The Last Song is distinguished from other Nicholas Sparks adaptations because it’s the first screenplay the best-selling novelist has written himself.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While "Role Models" mined riches even in the well-plowed comedic soil of cretins befriending kids, Wanderlust's equally musty city-vs-country culture clash plot finds only flecks of hilarity in mostly bland-to-bold mediocrity.
  38. In any case, The Girl Who Played with Fire works well as a stand-alone feature, though it's more fun if you've seen the first film.
  39. Best enjoyed as a rousing period piece.
  40. Odd but endearing, The Good Heart has just exactly that--a good heart--mixed with a simplistic story that comes recommended as a showcase for two fine actors at the top of their game.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    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.
  41. By poking fun at the cliches, director Gluck thinks he can turn an inevitability into an in-joke. Eh, it'll do.
  42. The romantic drama earns solid marks for atmosphere, moving shots of post-Katrina New Orleans and acting.
  43. Its tone is pleasant and its humor, charming.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    With his cinema-verité treatment of baby-daddy drama in Prince of Broadway, Baker proves himself a worthy heir to the Italian neorealists of the '40s and '50s-capturing capably the desperation, and potential defeat, inherent in poverty.
  44. For all the innovative dishes we watch being concocted, the movie needs another ingredient or two for flavor enhancement and full satisfaction.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    James keeps viewer attention the whole time, despite forcing unnecessarily sentimental music on his footage and chopping his scenes down to dramatic highlights rather than letting them play at length.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Safe House isn't the most original of plots - it feels like a loose amalgamation of ten other spy flicks - but director Espinosa infuses his production with some bold choices, both in terms of technics and twists.
  45. With the nation’s unemployment rate hovering around 10% and home foreclosure numbers stubbornly high, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s haunting documentary of multigenerational troubles is either a case of great timing or, possibly, the worst timing ever.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The filmmakers do bang-up job expanding the frontline perspectives, aiming to subvert a ruling regime’s course and expose its cloudy human rights record.
  46. Boasting impressive production values, engaging storytelling and a standout lead performance by German star Ulrich Tukur, John Rabe will receive enthusiastic word of mouth from select arthouse audiences.
  47. Panettiere's performance has the straightforwardness of a jumbo crayon.
  48. Despite its ultimate lack of profundity, Gainsbourg is certain to still be a sufficiently engaging and meaningful experience to enthrall the initiated while stimulating the curiosity of the uninitiated.
  49. Offers the kind of intimate, naturalistic look at human interaction that recalls the heyday of Eric Rohmer.
  50. With a powerhouse cast that also includes Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ben Foster, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon and Ice Cube, the carefully crafted and trenchant drama will appeal to more audience members than it will to critics.
  51. Insidious could have been something special: a horror movie that actually horrifies without resorting to gore. Instead, thanks to too many cheap jokes and a bit of silly music, it falls short.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    In an era where monster mythology has become raw material for all sorts of mediocrity, Priest is one of the best examples of a broad-scale vampire blockbuster.
  52. A complex political statement, Amigo is epic in scale but trades the schmaltz of the traditional war film for a more resolute treatment of subject.
  53. In some ways the film is reminiscent of "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World" with the theme of greed and a gaggle of people all after a piece of the pot, but Lottery Ticket pays off on the laughs with a strong message about using sudden riches responsibly and the importance of giving back to the community.
  54. The way the film handles relationships has a similarly light but lived in air to it as well.
  55. This is a film of warmth, humor, suspense and surprising grace.
  56. Where Rubber veers off the road is that for all its giggly moments and meta-whatever, it's never quite funny enough or scary enough.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It isn't a problem that 2 Days in New York is implausibly stuffed with incident for a movie that transpires over the course of just 48 hours, the trouble lies in how much time it still manages to waste.
  57. The song and dance interaction of kids hollering advice during Blue's Clues happens here on the big screen, which is meant to transform the movie into a social event of sorts.
  58. Strictly for kids, but pure movie fun nonetheless,
  59. With an incredible performance by young Natasha Calls and surprisingly effect direction by Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch) you'll be surprised how this horror gets you just when you think you're safe.
  60. The performances are excellent, even if none of the characters are all that likeable or involving.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    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.
  61. This is a wholly accessible story that most filmgoers will find pithy and generally well done.
  62. Wilson is nicely restrained as a loving husband caught in a middle-aged crisis, while Sudeikis makes a great foil as a guy in over his head.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A cleverly daft meta-romp that will be best remembered for its quotes, Seven Psychopaths is a game and garishly shot production that's elegant in its own seedy way.
  63. Araki's got a certain garish flare to his delivery that those more patient with the content will find appealing and Thomas Dekker offers an engaging performance.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The stylish sci-fi film makes some eye-popping and unexpected choices that add up to one heck of a fun film.
  64. Cairo Time remains smart, compelling and appropriately sad at its finale.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's hard to imagine who will thrill to this violent, gorgeous, and empty film.
  65. Bolly-Holly-Tele-Novella heaven, in three languages.
  66. While the anthropomorphism Joubert employs to tell the lions' story may strike some as cloying, ultimately that doesn't distract from this tale of survival in an inhospitable environment.
  67. The message is nearly as slight as the presentation and just as hard to pin down, but even when tackling something as sharp edged and soft bellied as exclusion Littlerock is not without its pleasures.
  68. Back for a third go-around, the Step Up franchise is still as light on story as it is on its feet, but audiences looking to get a cinematic workout from the high-stepping action served up here could do a lot worse.
  69. The Losers not only looks like a low rent, buttoned-down version of The A-Team, but it also resembles a hybrid of other flicks like "Mission: Impossible" and "Inglourious Basterds."
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The result is an initial comedic buzz, but the further these women plunge into hot water - and are forced to confront their personal and professional hang-ups - the more the story turns screechy and obnoxious.
  70. Having spent multiple summers in Kashmir as a child, he (Tapa) knows what the average Kashmiri wants and the difficulties they encounter trying to get it. It's what makes Zero Bridge a winning example of modesty in front of the camera and intelligence behind it.
  71. While this film has the trademark Solondz black comedy, it does not probe into deeper emotions as successfully as "Happiness" did.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Shaolin is simultaneously regal and stilted, stirring and sluggish.
  72. The Spierigs make exciting use of their clever vampire premise and the result is a potential horror/action franchise equal to "Underworld."
  73. They’ve shed all of the Brit-centric political aspects and updated it to make a riveting, pulse-pounding suspense thriller that really does keep you on ‘edge.’
  74. Carancho's noir vibe stems from the scenario itself, plus claustrophobic cinematography and art direction.
  75. It's a trenchant modern western and fans of the genre should embrace it for more reasons than just the presence of the epic Sam Shepard who, by the way, owns this Butch Cassidy.
  76. Cool It resonates, and gives one pause not just to consider the merits of the global warming question, but to consider the merits of all that we've decided to do about it, impending doom notwithstanding.
  77. Sullivan's easygoing performance as a Brooklyn musician dumped by his girlfriend prior to a planned Jamaican cruise together syncs perfectly with writers/directors Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner's dreamlike storytelling.
  78. Ultimately rather opaque. It lacks sufficient emotional and psychological clarity to cut through our disaster fatigue.
  79. It's a magical film in the vein of E.T. where an otherworldly event changes a family forever.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    With a similar brand of self-aware playfulness, retains its predecessor's sturdy narrative foundation.

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