Christian Science Monitor's Scores

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For 4,492 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 43% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 'Round Midnight
Lowest review score: 0 Couples Retreat
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,780 out of 4492
  2. Mixed: 1,361 out of 4492
  3. Negative: 351 out of 4492
4492 movie reviews
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  1. Off the Map
    Scott has the courage to let the imaginative story unfold at its own leisurely pace, and it's not surprising that the acting is excellent, considering that he's among the very best American screen actors.
  2. Sheriff
    Some of the material is dramatic, other bits are dull.
  3. Be Cool
    The overlong comedy has few laughs and flirts far too much with racist, homophobic humor. A waste of a fine cast.
  4. The Jacket
    The result is what you might call a mass-audience art film. It doesn't entirely succeed, but it's certainly a change from today's standard mysteries and horror movies.
  5. Dear Frankie
    Well acted, capably directed, not as substantial as it might have been.
  6. Face
    Well made, nice performances, very slowly paced.
  7. Gunner Palace
    Illuminating, disturbing, evenhanded.
  8. Intimate Stories
    Gentle, humanistic, delicious.
  9. Walk on Water
    Compassionate and marvelously acted, although a subplot about the gay grandson slows the story down for a while.
  10. The Best of Youth
    This is epic filmmaking on a profoundly human scale, directed to perfection and magnificently acted by everyone in sight.
  11. Diary of a Mad Black Woman
    Plenty of mad moviegoers will put this in their diaries as one of the worst pictures in ages.
  12. The Other Side of the Street
    An absorbing new spin on the ingenious "Rear Window" concept, with poignant comments on aging in modern society.
  13. Up and Down
    Always hard-hitting and often grimly, revealingly satirical.
  14. Sexual Dependency
    The pace of this Bolivia/US coproduction is slower than that of a snail, but it gathers some interest as the themes of the vignettes dovetail near the end.
  15. Because of Winn-Dixie
    Bland, amiable, innocuous.
  16. Constantine
    The story is a retread of the old "Exorcist" and "Omen" formats, but it delivers as much action and spectacle as fans of the genre could want.
  17. Son of the Mask
    Cumming's antic acting is the only asset of this boisterous comedy.
  18. Nabbeun namja
    Certainly offbeat, but not on a level with director Kim's previous work about marginalized people.
  19. Downfall
    A riveting re-creation of three world-changing collapses: those of the Nazi party, of militarized Germany as a whole, and of the Führer who guided them into self-destructive ruin.
  20. Schultze Gets the Blues
    Filmed in a leisurely, understated style, this dark comedy is downright entrancing. A spectacular directorial debut.
  21. Turtles Can Fly
    Superb acting and authentic details energize this rare Iran/Iraq coproduction.
  22. Cinévardaphoto
    Three short documentaries about photography made by one of France's finest directors.
  23. Hitch
    Along with its try-anything-for-a-yuk screenplay, the worst thing about Hitch is its running time of almost two hours. Did the studio forget to edit this flimsy thing down?
  24. Inside Deep Throat
    The doc is longer on historical interest than original insights or analysis.
  25. My Mother's Smile
    This superbly filmed Italian drama stands with Bellocchio's best work. Originally titled "Ora di religione."
  26. Uncle Nino
    The acting is endearing and the story has great charm before predictability and sentimentality eventually take over.
  27. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
    Lovely to look at, if not very deep in its thinking about relations between humans and their animal friends.
  28. Pooh's Heffalump Movie
    The gentle story, told via old-fashioned "flat" animation, is perfect for the very youngest viewers.
  29. The Letter: An American Town and the 'Somali Invasion'
    Revealing and harrowing.
  30. The Wedding Date
    Suffers from a lack of chemistry.
  31. Emile
    Poignant and well acted, though not very memorable.
  32. Harry + Max
    Intermittently insightful, but a disappointment from the talented Munch.
  33. Rory O'Shea Was Here
    Superbly acted.
  34. Swimming Upstream
    Rush and Davis shine, and the drama is engrossingly told until it turns sadly sentimental in the last minutes.
  35. Sunset Story
    Utterly unsentimental, deeply moving.
  36. Assisted Living
    Gently filmed, quietly thoughtful, sometimes almost heartbreaking.
  37. Freak Weather
    A promising feature-film debut.
  38. Fear X
    This thriller is ingeniously woven with motifs suggesting the difficulty of seeing and understanding truth, and substitutes psychological chills for commonplace gore.
  39. Travelers and Magicians
    Colorful, if not exciting.
  40. Aliens of the Deep
    A major treat for the eyes.
  41. Lost Embrace
    Lively, gentle, smart.
  42. Army of One
    Concise, humane documentary.
  43. Are We There Yet?
    Cube is cute and Long is lovely, but the youngsters are too brash and smug to bear. At least there's a heartwarming end to the excursion.
  44. Head-On
    Superbly acted.
  45. Watermarks
    Not a great movie, but contains fascinating historical material.
  46. She's One of Us
    Imaginatively acted, endlessly atmospheric.
  47. Arakimentari
    Illuminating, if not exactly edifying.
  48. Assault on Precinct 13
    It's all energetically filmed, but I miss the cool, modest clarity of the first version. Bigger isn't always better, even at the movies.
  49. With God on Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right in America
    A scrupulously balanced look at the subject outlined in the title. Packed with historical, sociological, and cultural context.
  50. Coach Carter
    The movie's moral messages are all on target. Too bad the movie is much, much too long and Jackson gives one of his dullest performances ever.
  51. Racing Stripes
    Like most movies aimed at the younger set, Racing Stripes has easily absorbable lessons to teach: Be yourself, never stop trying if your goal is worthwhile, and so forth.
  52. The Chorus
    Extremely goodhearted, if not exactly original or exciting.
  53. About Baghdad
    Harrowing, informative, conscientiously balanced documentary. [14 Jan 2005, p.14]
    • Christian Science Monitor
  54. White Noise
    Beneath its regrettably banal surface, White Noise raises the creepy question of whether intimidating, even malign forces may be lurking in those fancy gadgets that fill our living rooms and offices.
  55. Murder-Set-Pieces
    Be warned that the results are in aggressively awful taste from beginning to end.
  56. Wall Street: A Wondering Trip
    Documentary about stock trading, with some vivid images but no clear perspectives or opinions on the material it presents.
  57. In Good Company
    Lively acting and timely humor are the main assets of this garden-variety comedy.
  58. The Merchant of Venice
    In this exquisitely filmed adaptation Pacino is as vivid a Shylock as we're likely to see. Despite all the scholarly excuses for this drama, though, it's shot through with outrageously anti-Semitic attitudes.
  59. A Love Song for Bobby Long
    Rambling, meandering, likable.
  60. The Assassination of Richard Nixon
    This is one of the rare movies to explore American materialism through the eyes of an all-too-ordinary person who isn't up to the challenges of everyday life.
  61. Darkness
    The thriller makes up in moody weirdness what it lacks in horror-tale originality.
  62. Donkey Skin (re-release)
    Tuneful, colorful, delightful.
  63. Meet the Fockers
    De Niro and Hoffman almost give comic life to this brainless, vulgar farce.
  64. The Phantom of the Opera
    The acting and crooning are sadly uneven, making this a shaky comeback vehicle for the screen musical.
  65. Hotel Rwanda
    The subject is crucially important, but the movie dilutes its impact with by-the-numbers filmmaking, and Cheadle's one-note performance displays few of his acting gifts.
  66. The Aviator
    Has to be called one of the year's best movies. Credit goes partly to the built-in fascination of its subject and partly to its excellent cast.
  67. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
    I hate to sound per-Snickety, but this lemon of a movie is a sadly unfortunate event.
  68. Spanglish
    Ultimately more exasperating than rewarding.
  69. Flight of the Phoenix
    Effective action, solid suspense, excellent Ribisi, plus enough clichés to equal the grains of Gobi sand that fill the screen.
  70. Beyond the Sea
    Spacey is almost as swinging as Darin was, but his filmmaking leans toward tried-and-true formulas.
  71. The Sea Inside
    Bardem is brilliant.
  72. Imaginary Heroes
    Superbly acted.
  73. Million Dollar Baby
    It's an ideal match, and Eastwood deserves accolades as both director and star of this powerfully made picture.
  74. Santa Smokes
    Forgettable fun.
  75. Ocean's Twelve
    Isn't just a double whammy, it's a whammy squared - a goofy, stylish heist movie that'll steal moviegoers from other pictures.
  76. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
    The director of "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" scores his most funny-sad movie to date.
  77. A Talking Picture
    As a nonagenarian, de Oliveira is the world's oldest working filmmaker, and still one of the best. This is a lovely, lively, timely treat for the eyes and mind.
  78. A Tale of Two Sisters
    Quite restrained for what's basically a horror movie, and very well acted.
  79. Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
    A stirring documentary, and would be more so if it focused more on social problems than on Briski's own work.
  80. Closer
    It's too emotionally honest and psychologically dense for its own good. It's a movie that demands more than one viewing to absorb all its ideas and feelings.
  81. House of Flying Daggers
    It's great, fantastical fun.
  82. Conspiracy of Silence
    The story meanders, but the subject is timely and important.
  83. The Deserted Station
    Intimate and engaging.
  84. Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
    Gripping, suspenseful, and spiced with fascinating information about the long history of chess between human and mechanical opponents.
  85. A Very Long Engagement
    Longer than necessary, that is, for the story it has to tell. This flaw aside, the drama is well crafted and sometimes touching, with especially forceful opening scenes.
  86. Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
    A must-see account that casts a harshly illuminating light on a key period of recent American history.
  87. Alexander
    It's astounding that the ingenious creator of "JFK" and "Wall Street" could make an epic on war and empire that's so utterly simplistic and unreflective.
  88. Christmas with the Kranks
    Its main message is that everyone should believe and behave in exactly the same way. Groupthink wins again!
  89. Notre musique
    Visually sublime and intellectually dense, this is one of the extremely rare movies that prove cinema can be as complex and profound as the very greatest art works in any form.
  90. Bob, Verushka & the Pursuit of Happiness
    Tries to be a new "Something Wild"; ends up being tamer than tame.
  91. National Treasure
    Too bad the clever bits are swamped by no-brainer gunfights, rescues, and chases galore.
  92. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
    The delights of the movie lie in its zany characters, its goofy settings, and above all its surrealistic visual style.
  93. Bad Education
    Spain's most important living filmmaker isn't at his very best in this complicated tale, but it raises still-timely questions well worth pondering.
  94. Days of Being Wild (re-release)
    It's inexplicable that Wong's early masterpiece has been virtually absent from American screens since he completed it in 1991.
  95. After the Sunset
    This indirect rehash of "To Catch a Thief" trades Hitchcockian shrewdness for the slickest kinds of Hollywood glitz, gloss, and vulgarity.
  96. Finding Neverland
    Forster keeps the picture as a whole in perfect tune with Depp's approach.
  97. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
    The movie catches occasional fire when Bridget suddenly says what's really on her mind. The rest is silliness.
  98. Kinsey
    The movie's style is fairly staid, but it's hard to imagine how Neeson could be better, and the subject is handled with taste and tact.
  99. Little Lili
    Splendidly acted and directed.
  100. Noel
    Santa Claus's bag couldn't hold as many clichés as the screenplay dishes out.
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