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. Gladiator
    Scott's filmmaking is as blunt and bullying as the mayhem it portrays.
  2. Adorenarin doraibu
    Its amiable acting and feisty visual humor make it a must for fans of Japanese film.
  3. Luminarias
    The movie is very small in scale, but the performances are appealing and Fernandez's screenplay casts an interesting light on the main characters' self-images as Latina women.
  4. The Big Kahuna
    Good acting and pungent dialogue.
  5. Frequency
    Emmerich's screenplay gains emotional punch from its sincere concern for family values, but science-fiction fans may be disappointed by the limited exploration of its fascinating time-travel premise.
  6. Bossa Nova
    The story is slender, but the Brazilian settings are exquisite and lilting tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim cast a spell over the entire enterprise.
  7. The Idiots
    Tries to be daring and iconoclastic but winds up seeming as spoiled and childish as its main characters.
  8. Timecode
    It would be even more impressive if the story and characters lived up to the inventive techniques, though.
  9. Where the Heart Is
    Ultimately, it's more an emotional hodgepodge than a compassionate look at real human problems.
  10. Croupier
    Hodges and screenwriter Paul Mayersberg fill the British production with Dostoevskian ironies, and Owen is perfect as the antihero.
  11. The Last September
    The movie doesn't have much more get-up-and-go than the characters, but solid performances and richly textured camera work keep it involving most of the way through.
  12. J'aimerais pas crever un dimanche
    Wants to appear bold and liberated, but it seems awfully solemn about the subculture it explores.
  13. U-571
    Full of old tricks - cuts between worried faces and overheated gauges inching into the red zone - but director Mostow pulls most of them off with conviction and pizazz.
  14. The Virgin Suicides
    An artful blend of '70s detail and dreamlike moodiness makes Coppola's first movie an exceptionally promising directorial debut.
  15. Keeping the Faith
    Norton gives the comedy unexpected sparkle in his directorial debut.
  16. The Specialist
    An astonishing human, political, and historical document.
  17. American Psycho
    A standard-issue slasher movie, stylishly shot, but with little to distinguish it from a long line of "Psycho"-spawned gorefests.
  18. Where the Money Is
    Newman's magnetic face isn't enough to raise this intermittently amusing thriller above the ordinary caper-comedy crowd.
  19. Est - Ouest
    Wargnier chooses a sweeping title and a sweeping topic, then turns everything into half-baked melodrama, heavy on over-the-top emotion but light on subtlety and ideas.
  20. Southpaw
    The picture is more sociologically instructive than emotionally involving, serving as a document of contemporary Irish life rather than an ordinary inspirational story.
  21. The Filth and the Fury
    Efficiently and imaginatively directed.
  22. Rules of Engagement
    Spoiled by its simplistic portrait of people from the Mideast as incorrigibly violent and untrustworthy.
  23. Return to Me
    The picture goes for sentimentality rather than substance every chance it gets, and the cast falls right into its syrupy trap.
  24. Black and White
    The story is a mess, as usual with Toback's movies, but intricacies of contemporary urban culture are vividly illuminated by his insistence on blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.
  25. The Road to El Dorado
    The package would be more enticing if it didn't fall so squarely into overused Hollywood formulas.
  26. High Fidelity
    The meandering story and channel-surfing style prevent it from gathering the emotional momentum it would need to get below the hero's skin and let us know what really makes him tick.
  27. Waking the Dead
    Offbeat tale, which tackles weighty themes. But sentimentality overtakes intelligence.
  28. 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.
  29. Such a Long Journey
    The dialogue and acting are stagy at times, especially in the early scenes, but the characters are compelling and the Indian atmosphere is vividly sketched.
  30. All I Wanna Do
    Lively acting and good-natured feminism lift this lightweight comedy a notch above the norm.
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