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. Bruce Almighty
    The screenplay doesn't ultimately make much sense. Carrey is a unique comic talent, though, and Freeman and Aniston back him up with such sensitive supporting performances that the film almost works if you can suspend enough disbelief to swallow its fantastic premise.
  2. Everybody Says I'm Fine!
    The consequences aren't remotely as comic as they're meant to be.
  3. The Sea
    Ultimately more ambitious than enlightening.
  4. Sweet Sixteen
    Loach has made more memorable films, such as "Raining Stones" and "Ladybird Ladybird," but his dramatic sense remains strong and his social conscience is absolutely unstoppable.
  5. Cinemania
    You may become a cinemaniac yourself after sitting through this beauty.
  6. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
    Although it isn't very original in style, this heartfelt account is always instructive and frequently very touching.
  7. The Matrix Reloaded
    Like its predecessor, it's a hugely ambitious picture...But also like its predecessor, it cares far more about action, adventure, and violence than feelings, relationships, and ideas.
  8. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
    The visual style is at once deliberately archaic and slyly postmodernist, slinky and sensuous from first frame to last.
  9. Daddy Day Care
    Murphy gives one of his more-restrained performances, which suits the mood of carefully contained mayhem established by Steve Carr, the director.
  10. King of Hearts (re-release)
    This engaging 1966 comedy isn't de Broca's best movie, but it was so popular with American audiences in the late '60s that it's still one of the era's most fondly remembered cult classics.
  11. The Shape of Things
    LaBute is coming of age as an artist, and his future looks brighter than I ever would have suspected a year ago. Enfant terrible or not, he's starting to become a substantial figure in American film.
  12. Washington Heights
    De Villa's debut film is persuasively written and acted, if a tad rougher around the edges than one might wish.
  13. Down with Love
    A total lack of chemistry between the stars -- neither of whom is particularly good at romantic comedy in the first place -- and you have a promising package that grows steadily less lovable as it goes along. Down with this movie!
  14. Man on the Train
    Heartfelt performances make up for some stodgy dialogue and corny moments, though. And it's nice to know some filmmakers still have a foot firmly planted in old-fashioned humanistic storytelling.
  15. The Dancer Upstairs
    While you can't fault The Dancer Upstairs for lack of ambition, its tantalizing ingredients add up to a less impressive package than I'd hoped for. Malkovich should select a more manageable subject the next time he sits in the director's chair.
  16. Owning Mahowny
    In the acting department, there's nobody on the current scene with more sheer talent --- or offbeat charisma -- than Philip Seymour Hoffman, in whose bearish body nestles the heart of a lithe and limber artist.
  17. The Lizzie McGuire Movie
    The action is light and lively all the way, poking inventive fun at everything from nosy little brothers to clueless hotel managers and romantic Romans who aren't as glamorous as they claim to be.
  18. Blue Car
    Ms. Moncrieff's low-key directing is matched by fine acting from Agnes Bruckner as Meg and David Strathairn as her mentor. Aside from a somewhat schematic climax, this is as smart a debut as we've seen in a long while.
  19. Identity
    Just loopy enough to be tantalizing, involving, and fun.
  20. Confidence
    The film is as tricky and superficial as its low-life characters, using visual flimflam to mask its lack of substance.
  21. It Runs in the Family
    The best reason to see It Runs in the Family is the sight of unquenchable Kirk.
  22. People I Know
    Pacino's performance in People I Know is the best thing he's done in ages.
  23. Manic
    What really hurts is the movie's shallow screenwriting, self-indulgent acting, and woozy camerawork.
  24. City of Ghosts
    The film has plenty of shortcomings, but it's fun to see Caan back in action.
  25. House of Fools
    Konchalovsky keeps the action reasonably quick, but sentimental storytelling eventually swamps the picture.
  26. Marooned in Iraq
    A mix of war film, road movie, and romantic comedy-drama, this peripatetic yarn is less resonant than Ghobadi's beautiful "A Time for Drunken Horses," but it has enough energy to keep your eyes popping and your toes tapping.
  27. A Decade Under the Influence
    It's illuminating and nostalgic and for anyone who lined up for American movies in that bygone golden age.
  28. Malibu's Most Wanted
    The comedy is often crass and crude, but it makes telling points about how much of "race" is more about the words and gestures we use than the actual colors of our skins.
  29. Lilya 4-Ever
    This grim Danish-Swedish production is socially revealing and artistically creative, both coldly realistic and infused with compassion for its heroine and her youth culture.
  30. Winged Migration
    As gorgeous as it is to watch, Winged Migration suffers from a lack of organization.
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