Christian Science Monitor's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Select another publication »
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
view
per page
  1. War Horse
    War Horse, despite its excellences, is a supreme demonstration of a director phoning it in.
  2. The Aristocrats
    Mighty monotonous after a while.
  3. The Eagle Huntress
    The film, some of which looks staged, is too slick, and its feminist emphasis, complete with Australian performer Sia singing “You can do anything” on the soundtrack, grates. But Aisholpan triumphs over these excesses.
  4. Zheng hun qi shi
    Liu is dazzling as the heroine, and the movie as a whole strikes a lovely balance between comedy and compassion.
  5. New Waterford Girl
    Balaban's superb performance blends with Moyle's mostly understated directing to produce an uneven but sometimes enchanting comedy-drama.
  6. Army of One
    Concise, humane documentary.
  7. Heathers
    The flamboyantly filmed story makes some telling points about adolescent life. But despite its oh-so-cynical mannerisms, it falls all over itself to flatter an allegedly self-absorbed and self-pitying teen audience. [7 April 1989]
    • Christian Science Monitor
  8. First Position
    I've become weary of documentaries about winning prizes, but this one is special because the kids are.
  9. I Served the King of England
    It's a giddy nightmare. Nothing is quite what it seems in I Served the King of England, and this is poetically appropriate. The world it depicts is too dangerous and too lovely to classify.
  10. Gangs of New York
    The movie is strong in sound and fury, weak in nuance and insight.
  11. Felicia's Journey
    Egoyan's cinematic brilliance shows up intermittently in this atmospheric thriller, which gains most of its punch from Hoskins's surprisingly subtle performance.
  12. The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack
    The archival and interview footage is priceless.
  13. The Vertical Ray of the Sun
    The cinematography is gorgeous from first frame to last, but the story occasionally rings false.
  14. Nowhere in Africa
    If lush landscapes and exotic wildlife are what you're after, this isn't the safari for you. But many moviegoers will respond to its mixture of family drama and Holocaust-era history.
  15. A Beautiful Mind
    While it's a splendidly acted film, A Beautiful Mind is also a wasted opportunity.
  16. Slow West
    The film is too artsy for its own good, but it has some marvelous Coen Brothers-style black humor.
  17. Your Sister's Sister
    More good than bad, at least until its too tidy conclusion. Since it's essentially a three-character movie, it's a good thing that the characters, and the actors who play them, can hold the screen.
  18. Akeelah and the Bee
    A slight but winning heart-tugger.
  19. Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
    This is a startlingly funny portrait of Gothic Americana.
  20. Brick
    It's reminiscent of David Lynch, who is a master at mixing the ghastly and the risible. Brick would be better with a bit more Lynch in its soul, but Johnson is his own man, and I look forward to what he comes up with next.
  21. Doctor Strange
    Allow me a quick lament: Do we really want to see a great actor like Cumberbatch, not to mention Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton, entombed in yet another superhero franchise?
  22. Death and the Maiden
    Sigourney Weaver isn't quite up to her most demanding scenes, but Ben Kingsley is expertly enigmatic as the stranger, and Stuart Wilson is excellent as the husband who doesn't know whom to believe. [27 Jan 1995, p. 14]
    • Christian Science Monitor
  23. Tiny Furniture
    Lena Dunham, the writer-director-star of the microbudget Tiny Furniture, has a distinctive comedic take on the world – a kind of haggard spiritedness.
  24. Bringing Out the Dead
    Equally fascinated by the afflictions of life and the usually squandered opportunities these afford for courage and self-sacrifice.
  25. The Sheep Detectives
    The best family films are those that entertain both children and adults. The Sheep Detectives can be enjoyed simply as a funny fable with a solvable mystery at its center. The well-placed clues are hidden in plain view.
  26. Journey to the Sun
    This is only Ustaoglu's second film, but smart performances and expressive camera work mark her as a talent to watch in the future.
  27. Air Guitar Nation
    Director Alexandra Lipsitz doesn't do much more than chronicle the noise, but it's intermittently fun stuff.
  28. Walk the Line
    Cash was a true anomaly: a poseur who was also the genuine article. A better movie would have made that contradiction its core.
  29. Control
    If it weren't so smartly filmed and acted, this might add up to an over-the-top mess. But watch how inventively Mr. Antal keeps the action moving and you'll see why his picture has won a passel of prizes.
  30. Terri
    From a psychological standpoint, this is murky territory but Jacobs presents it as the height of enlightenment – a confluence of two damaged souls. At least "Good Will Hunting," another movie that played this game, wasn't blah.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »