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. Taking Lives
    No amount of technical skill can substitute for genuine shivers, and in the fright department this picture rarely lives up to its hype.
  2. Wonderful World
    This is a half-baked movie about a half-baked person, but it has a fine, melancholic afterglow.
  3. Sade
    Auteuil is a superb actor. Still, the real-life Sade would be dismayed to see himself portrayed more as an eccentric old codger than the world-changing firebrand he worked hard to be.
  4. The Bone Collector
    This variation on the "Rear Window" format works best when director Noyce gives free rein to Washington's thoughtful charm.
  5. Femme Fatale
    May not always make sense, but it's crammed with flamboyant images and frisky cinematic pranks -- It's far from a great movie, but there's nothing like it on the current scene.
  6. Samehada otoko to momojiri onna
    The movie is visually impressive, but Ishii's virtuoso style can't overcome the flatness of the comic-book story he's telling.
  7. Great Expectations
    The stars are appealing and the filmmaking is imaginative at times, but the picture never builds much dramatic momentum.
    • Christian Science Monitor
  8. The Original Kings of Comedy
    Sometimes they're truly hilarious; sometimes they're lazy enough to milk laughs from scattershot vulgarity.
  9. Fight Club
    Undermines its serious undertones with an avalanche of smirky cynicism designed to flatter the hipper-than-thou fantasies of adolescent moviegoers.
  10. Vanilla Sky
    Resembles a fast-and-flashy variation on "The Sixth Sense," with touches of "The Matrix" as a bonus.
  11. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
    The humor is as crude as the characters, but the picture has energy.
  12. Bound for Pleasure
    Interesting as anthropology, although the subject won't appeal to many people.
  13. Don't Say a Word
    The movie has promise as a psychological thriller, but the filmmakers show far more interest in chases and shoot-outs than characters and ideas.
  14. The Color of Paradise
    Although it has a good heart and a warm spirit, this prettily filmed drama is more sentimental and manipulative than earlier Iranian films on youth-related subjects.
  15. Love's Labour's Lost
    It's all very colorful, but the movie's diverse elements clash as often as they cooperate.
  16. Emerald Cowboy
    The acting is weak, largely because many of the performers seem uncomfortable speaking English. The last half-hour works up a fair amount of action and suspense, though.
  17. Ned Kelly
    The cast works hard, but Jordan's directing is too ponderous and slow to build dramatic energy.
  18. Michael
    Nora Ephron's comedy tries to be sweet, hip, innocent, and sophisticated all at the same time, and it doesn't take long for these contradictory goals to cancel one another out.
  19. POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
    Any highfalutin interpretations of his new film only serve to camouflage what is, in essence, a scam about a scam.
  20. Mission: Impossible II
    Woo's patented pyrotechnics - intricate editing, acrobatic camera movements, slow-motion mayhem - lend intermittent sparks to the violent action sequences, but the two-dimensional characters have little personality.
  21. 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.
  22. Zus & zo
    The characters of this Dutch comedy aren't very interesting or original, but it has a stylish look and spirited performances.
  23. Human Nature
    Every single frame of this film is as cute, slick, and snappy as the adorable little mice who end the movie with a gag right out of "Babe: Pig in the City."
  24. Speed 2: Cruise Control
    It's all idiotic but energetic, directed by Jan De Bont in his usual techno-action style.
  25. Outside Providence
    The story is lively and energetic, if you can take its raunchy jokes and rowdy behavior.
  26. Jefferson in Paris
    Slow, beautifully filmed, Nolte's Jefferson implausible.
  27. Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony
    There are lots of lively tunes in an excellent cause, but in the end you wish you'd either probed more deeply into historical events or heard more uninterrupted minutes of inspired performing.
  28. Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust
    Daum travels to Poland with his wife and their skeptical sons in this documentary, hoping to prove that people who are not Orthodox Jews like them are worthy of attention and compassion.
  29. Knight and Day
    With all the money expended on this movie, couldn’t anybody come up with a few good lines in between all the kabooms?
  30. The Contender
    The story is so calculated that it ultimately bears little relation to the real world.
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