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. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
    Based on the 1938 novel by Winifred Watson, it's a deluxe romance that most of the time plays like farce.
  2. Chicago 10
    Worth seeing for the expert archival selections, but a decidedly mixed bag for anyone familiar, or unfamiliar, with the times.
  3. The Other Boleyn Girl
    A richly appointed period piece, it features kingly tantrums, mistresses, bodices, roaring fireplaces, incest, and mutton. It also features sharply enunciated, period-perfect dialogue in which nary a contraction can be heard.
  4. Penelope
    This half-baked fairy tale always seems to be on the verge of becoming charming but despite a good cast it never quite succeeds.
  5. Semi-Pro
    None of Ferrell's movies have ever really done justice to the best of his "Saturday Night Live" work, but those of us who love his comedy have learned to take the good with the bad.
  6. Be Kind Rewind
    No doubt Be Kind Rewind will soon make its way to – um – DVD.
  7. Vantage Point
    How can we take this doomsday scenario seriously when we keep waiting for Bruce Willis to rise from the ashes?
  8. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
    Writer-director Cao Hamburger works well with child actors and has a spare, unforced style. But too much of this film is desultory and thin.
  9. Definitely, Maybe
    Isn't terrible exactly, but it's bland, and in some ways that's worse. It's a romance posing as a detective story in which the solution is obvious and not worth the fuss.
  10. Jumper
    I'll say this much for Jumper – it's got a great premise. Or at least the beginnings of a premise.
  11. The Spiderwick Chronicles
    Director Mark Waters does a fine job meshing the fantastical with the quotidian.
  12. Fool's Gold
    The treasure hunt in Fool's Gold is, of course, meant to be about more than money. But the only reason for this movie to exist is to make money.
  13. In Bruges
    It's a showpiece for that Belgian city's medieval splendor. You may want to book vacation reservations upon leaving the theater, although the memory of this underwhelming movie may tarnish the sightseeing.
  14. Caramel
    In some ways, this glossily enjoyable movie is a lot closer to Hollywood than Beirut. At times, I thought I was watching some oddball Lebanese variant on "Barbershop."
  15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
    The New Wave of Romanian cinema is the most exciting in the world right now. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is its latest masterpiece.
  16. Cassandra's Dream
    What we get are themes and variations on previous good work, to lessening effect.
  17. Cloverfield
    It's been a while since we've had a good monster movie, and while Cloverfield probably won't give you sleepless nights, it will certainly keep you awake in the theater.
  18. Mad Money
    The best thing you can say about Mad Money is that it has a good cast. The worst thing you can say about it is that the cast is extremely ill-used.
  19. 27 Dresses
    The romantic comedy 27 Dresses will work best for people who have never seen a romantic comedy. If you have, you might find it amusing to tally up the steals – I mean, homages.
  20. Honeydripper
    There is a great movie to be made about the first stirrings of rock 'n' roll. Honeydripper is not that film, but it certainly whets your appetite for it.
  21. The Orphanage
    Delivers more goose bumps than anything Hollywood has served up in years – which I hope does not mean that Bayona, a first-time feature director and music video whiz, will be enlisted to direct "Saw V."
  22. There Will Be Blood
    Sprawling yet cramped, There Will Be Blood may not be the best movie of the year, but it's certainly the strangest. It evokes passing comparisons to everything from "Giant" to "Citizen Kane" but it's impossible to pigeonhole.
  23. The Bucket List
    The Bucket List is a movie for oldsters that, paradoxically, looks as if it was made for 15-year-olds. If this is what is meant in Hollywood as "thinking outside the box," then it's time to get a new box.
  24. The Great Debaters
    Succeeds in bringing a lump to the throat without, as is de rigueur these days, insulting our intelligence.
  25. Charlie Wilson's War
    It's nice to watch a political movie that, for a change, isn't trying to save our souls. It's possible to have a good time with this movie while, at the same time, regretting all that it isn't.
  26. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
    No better than the first – which means it will probably be creamed by critics and make a jillion dollars. But really, standards are standards.
  27. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
    A considerable achievement even if, on balance, it's more of a Tim Burton phantasmagoria than a Sondheim fantasia.
  28. I Am Legend
    Smith, it should be noted, has compared Neville in interviews to Job. Tone down the highfalutin references. In the end, this is a sci-fi zombie movie, folks.
  29. The Kite Runner
    This is one of those stories that, on some primal level, goes straight to the heart. Be aware that the film features a child rape scene.
  30. Nanking
    Nanking, directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, does justice to this tragedy even though it makes the mistake of mixing the testimony of actual participants with staged readings from actors subbing for real people.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »