CineVue's Scores

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For 1,771 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 48% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Lowest review score: 20 Victoria and Abdul
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,013 out of 1771
  2. Mixed: 727 out of 1771
  3. Negative: 31 out of 1771
1771 movie reviews
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  1. Family Romance, LLC
    Herzog doesn’t quite hit the mark here: Family Romance’s denouement is certainly moving but its depiction of Ishii’s emotional conflict is undercooked and perhaps even a little trite. Nevertheless, on a formal level, it’s a fascinating study of the artifice of the genre, a deconstruction of the comforting contract between artist and viewer that guides us towards a particular kind of emotional or intellectual engagement.
  2. On the Record
    On the Record is at once a heartbreaking account of the survival of a group of courageous women, an analysis of the structural and cultural intersections between racism and misogyny, and an indictment of an industry happy to ignore and condone sexual violence.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bad 25
    Bad 25 is primarily a film about an album and not about a life; a tribute to the master craftsman and musical talent that was Jackson and not a penetrative investigation of the man who made the music.
  4. Guest of Honour
    Buried underneath the convolutions, the mistaking of melodramatic sensationalism over psychological reality, there really is something of a real emotional centre that just about makes enduring the rest worth it.
  5. On a Magical Night
    As in thrall to its fantasy as its characters, On a Magical Night confuses what is admittedly a charming conceit for depth. Nevertheless, that charm is enough to sustain the picture across its 90-minute runtime, even if its effects quickly recede into memory.
  6. Joan of Arc
    The visual aspects of the film cannot override the sometimes cumbersome dialogue that orientates political scenes of this subject matter.
  7. Da 5 Bloods
    Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is not only his best recent film, but also one of the most vital of the year.
  8. A Rainy Day in New York
    Not great, not hilarious, but not terrible or awful either.
  9. Mike Wallace Is Here
    Avi Belkin’s Mike Wallace Is Here harvests a vast archive of interviews and b-roll footage to create a fascinating profile of a combative, conflicted figure, who nevertheless substantially changed the face of how news was reported.
  10. Wake in Fright (1971)
    A jolting cinematic experience, Wake in Fright bites like a dingo and kicks like a mule.
  11. The Whistlers
    A stylish and fitfully engaging crime thriller with a great concept, let down by incoherent plotting and impenetrable characterisation.
  12. The Assistant
    Quietly raging, The Assistant is a bleakly precise study of complicity in workplace abuse.
  13. Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy
    Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is an affectionate and reverential look at a remarkable figure and a testament to her achievements within the Mexican culinary landscape.
  14. Ema
    There’s so much to enjoy in Ema that it comes as a surprise that there’s so little there.
  15. Cuck
    Ultimately, though it hints at moments of wit, Cuck never feels serious enough to be a convincing character study and not garish enough to head into genre territory. Ultimately, this sordid tale feels both real and inconsequential.
  16. Who You Think I Am
    While Binoche is reliably magnetic and the fitfully pretty visuals match a ripped-from-the-headlines script, Who You Think I Am’s pot never quite comes to the boil.
  17. The Grand Bizarre
    For fans of Mack’s juxtapositions of natural and synthetic imagery and of her fascination with repetition and patterns, The Grand Bizarre is surely the artist’s most accomplished work.
  18. Why Don't You Just Die!
    Aside from the film’s more immediate pleasures, what is perhaps most intriguing about Why Don’t You Just Die! is Sokolov’s almost visible attempt to find his own voice: among this melange of film-school influences, it’s undoubtedly there, though perhaps it hasn’t quite formed yet.
  19. Beastie Boys Story
    The tributes paid to Yauch throughout by both Horovitz and Diamond are genuinely touching, and it’s here that Beastie Boys Story breaks through its inherent – often distracting – staginess. While there is still a definitive, impartial Beastie Boys film in the offing, devout fans should be more than satisfied by this nostalgic oddity.
  20. Winter Flies
    It’s a coming-of-age tale without summer sun that feels all the more formative because of it.
  21. Children of Paradise (1945)
    An unmitigated masterpiece from start to finish, Carné’s epic love story through Parisian theatreland feels as fresh and effervescent today as it must have done on its initial release, brimming with perfectly-sculpted heroes, villains and wildly imaginative set-pieces.
  22. Sea Fever
    Sea Fever proves better in concept than in execution, let down by a second act of fumbled editing and slackened tension.
  23. The Other Lamb
    A visceral, Atwoodian journey, The Other Lamb is as much an examination of narcissism and the existing structures of gendered power as it is of the limits of faith.
  24. System Crasher
    System Crasher is the outstanding feature film debut of German director Nora Fingscheidt. A tremendous slice of life filled with light and energy, which doesn’t shy away from the tough realities of what social care is like for children with severe developmental issues.
  25. Astronaut
    Astronaut is a sweet film that could have done with more fire under its belly earlier on.
  26. Fire Will Come
    Fire Will Come is of an enigmatic and poetic cinema, borne of fierce, barely-contained vision.
  27. Radioactive
    Sadly, Radioactive is as lifeless and inert as a rock, badly let down by a dismal script, and carrying all the half-life of an unfinished fish dinner.
  28. Vivarium
    It’s open to debate whether this claustrophobic little parable means something. It’s devilishly clever but there’s a suspicion that this is beautiful calligraphy without words. And yet with the added circumstance of self-isolation, quarantine and quiet four-walled despair, Vivarium will undoubtedly resonate.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    And Then We Danced
    Akin’s assured directing makes this a film that doesn’t put a foot wrong.
  30. Vitalina Varela
    A work of astonishing aesthetic beauty, made up of static compositions and use of chiaroscuro that recalls the Dutch masters.
  31. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
    Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ timely documentary on the Nobel Prize-winning novelist is a persuasive argument for rereading Morrison if you’ve already read her works – and if you haven’t, an imperative to get to it.
  32. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
    Not since Jane Campion’s The Piano has a costume drama presented such a gorgeous view of love from a woman’s point of view.
  33. The Invisible Man
    By situating the film in the context of domestic abuse, Whannel avoids cliché by evoking the way that distressed women are routinely treated as irrational and disreputable – a theme carried through to the film’s inspired conclusion.
  34. Midnight Family
    An acutely observed and frequently heartbreaking documentary.
  35. Greed
    Conceived as a biting commentary on inequality, sweatshop labour and…well, greed, the film lacks fluency and laughs, rarely managing to lands its many upward punches.
  36. Little Joe
    Compared to the sophisticated and nuanced horrors of Black Mirror, Little Joe feels like a fairly straightforward riff on a very familiar idea.
  37. Emma.
    This version of Emma. is unlikely to win any accolades for invention. Indeed the 1996 film Clueless arguably remains the most exciting version of Austen’s novel. Nevertheless, de Wilde’s version is a confident and lively translation of Austen’s wit on to the screen.
  38. Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
    One of Birds of Prey’s great pleasures is that it tells a Gotham story without having to tell the Gotham story: the adventures of Harley Quinn and associates are not at the centre of some grand narrative, and they are all the better for it.
  39. Parasite
    A masterful dissection of social inequality and the psychology of money.
  40. Queen & Slim
    Queen & Slim is consciously political – powerfully so – but it is simple human survival that drives the two protagonists.
  41. The Lighthouse
    Eggers has created a film of disturbing horror, absurdist comedy and probing psychodrama which defies the generic boundaries as it breaks through them. The Lighthouse is a saltwater gothic masterpiece.
  42. Richard Jewell
    There are several commendable performances in Richard Jewell – Bates’ among them – that lift an otherwise stolid, workmanlike entry into the filmography of the 89-year-old Eastwood.
  43. To the Ends of the Earth
    To the Ends of the Earth is a light, airy and fun journey with flashes of poetry.
  44. The Personal History of David Copperfield
    Despite its slightly televisual veneer and sporadic bouts of mawkishness, as far as British costume dramas go, The Personal History of David Copperfield is better than the majority.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Present.Perfect.
    Composed entirely of found footage and presented in black and white to lend visual consistency, the film raises important questions about the politics of viewership, the documentary form’s complex ties to reality and about human relationships in a digitally connected world.
  46. Amanda
    Hers delivers a hard lesson about the healing power of love and acceptance with simple and unsentimental eloquence.
  47. Uncut Gems
    Uncut Gems is not only one of the tightest, tensest American thrillers of recent years but also a fine addition to the New York-set movie canon.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Don't Be a Dick About It
    Director Ben Mullinkosson noted the cinematic potential of the volatile dynamic between his two cousins and, in Don’t Be A Dick About It, renders it lovingly to create a charming and often hilarious documentary-comedy hybrid.
  49. Long Day's Journey Into Night
    Throughout Long Day’s Journey into Night, there is reference to a spell which makes a house spin, and in many ways, the technical accomplishment (cinematographer David Chizallet) of the second half puts the viewer under a spell of joy: this smooth-flowing dreaminess combined with the mystery of the first half makes for a sensuous, visually stunning, eerie tale, and it is compelling viewing.
  50. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
    The Rise of Skywalker offers us nothing but toadying supplication to the worst aspects of fan culture. There is no story to tell here, no characters to care about, no ideas to explore. The film is pure construct, a box built for its own sake, at long last opened with excruciating listlessness, revealing nothing but its own vapid emptiness.
  51. Citizen K
    In all this, there is an implicit if undeveloped criticism of the way that power and capital are so often the spoils of posturing masculine insecurity.
  52. How to Train Your Dragon 2
    To follow-up a successful film is a daring achievement in itself, but to surpass it is something else, and that’s what DuBois does here.
  53. The Cave
    The Cave is a raw, urgent film about one of the great humanitarian crimes of our times, made all the starker for the utter lack of a global response.
  54. The Cat Returns (2002)
    As with much of Miyazaki’s own output, the film offers a winning heroine and a joyful dip into Japanese folklore, even if it does not stand up against the studios most celebrated works.
  55. The Irishman
    With The Irishman, Scorsese offers us his first truly autumnal film – a picture about age’s slow, inevitable decline. There are the signature dolly shots, the period pop music, the bursts of brutality, but there is also a frail melancholy we have rarely glimpsed in even his statelier films.
  56. Judy & Punch
    With quite a simple plot, it’s not a particularly challenging or unpredictable storyline, but it’s elevated by great performances, refreshingly dry humour, bold cinematography by Stefan Duscio, and a vibrant original score by François Tétaz.
  57. Mystify: Michael Hutchence
    Mystify: Michael Hutchence is an impeccably assembled, comprehensive tribute to a rock legend and is entirely worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned Winehouse doc.
  58. Sorry We Missed You
    Laverty and Loach have created another hard-hitting, powerful film, spiked with humour and moments of rare but profound humanity.
  59. American Dharma
    In giving rope to Bannon and hoping that he’ll hang himself, we’re instead forced to watch him fashion a lasso and play at being John Wayne, with Morris seemingly powerless to stop him.
  60. Chained for Life
    Poignantly reflecting the intimate connections humans can create in a short space of time, Chained for Life is a rich and rewarding experience.
  61. Synonyms
    Mercier has a presence about him that’s unshakable.
  62. The Peanut Butter Falcon
    It’s refreshing to see a character with Down Syndrome treated with depth and intelligence, in control of their own story and not being patronised. Gottsagen is truly a shining light, bringing a strong, wonderfully rich performance -and brilliant comic timing- as Zak to the film.
  63. Kinetta
    The reticent interactions of Lanthimos’ trio of despairing souls mirrors the faded hopes of a transitory generation of dreamers, yet sadly Kinetta is too lost amongst the small, ostensibly insignificant gestures of its characters to truly grasp the larger movements occurring within the periphery.
  64. The Last Tree
    While comparisons to Moonlight are not without merit, The Last Tree bucks the coming-of-age blueprint in new, specific ways.
  65. Memory: The Origins of Alien
    Memory certainly makes a good go of it, weaving together industrial production history with its mythic, pulp and artistic inspirations. The disparate strands of Alien’s origins have never quite been connected like this in a popular documentary, but billing this as the “untold story” of Scott’s film is a bit of a stretch.
  66. Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
    The tradition of star-worship and auteur theory has unnecessarily diminished the key roles of others. Thankfully, Making Waves gives these genius-level background figures their well-earned due.
  67. The Farewell
    Those looking for a complex, funny and touching family will be more than rewarded for seeking this out.
  68. Ad Astra
    Scenes come and go with a weightlessness that has nothing to do with zero gravity.
  69. So Long, My Son
    At just over three-hours, So Long, My Son is an emotionally wrenching film that’s epic in scope but intimate in feeling.
  70. Saint Maud
    Saint Maud is the dive into obsession, isolation and urban deprivation that you need right now.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    For Sama
    For Sama is a clarion call to the ignorant West and a testament to the sustaining power of unconditional love in the face of absolute horror. It is terrible to witness and absolutely essential viewing for all.
  72. Saturday Fiction
    Saturday Fiction certainly demands patience, shrouded at first in a smog of exposition.
  73. Jojo Rabbit
    As both director and performer, Waititi is on top form.
  74. First Love
    This is pop-punk filmmaking – vibrant, disposable, and shallow. Still, it’s difficult to care about the nutritional content of your confectionary when it tastes this sweet.
  75. Babyteeth
    Babyteeth is a funny, vibrant and deeply moving piece of work. Its flaws are the flaws of youth, overcompensating for boredom with frenetic hyperactivity.
  76. Hail Satan?
    The Temple’s antics are a hilarious middle finger to the establishment, while, their stand against hypocrisy and the Evangelical Right’s blatantly theocratic mission to take control of the levers of power feels vital.
  77. Color Out of Space
    If there is any real complaint to be levelled at Color Out of Space, it’s that it has more ideas than it knows what to do with.
  78. About Endlessness
    Made up of a series of related but not necessarily connected vignettes, each filmed with a static camera, they resemble New Yorker cartoons scripted by Samuel Beckett.
  79. The Painted Bird
    Is The Painted Bird exaggerated? Does it go too far? Does it break the limits of taste? “Yes” on all counts. Walking out is an understandable and valid reaction but watching, getting angry, suffering and approaching understanding is also important too.
  80. Wasp Network
    It might be that there’s a meatier version of the film – a Carlos-style miniseries perhaps – but as it stands, shifting between a lighthearted caper and more consequential political tragedy, Wasp Network is an entertaining fumble.
  81. The King
    The King feels disconnected and unurgent. Despite some wonderful moments, it perhaps lacks the requisite majesty.
  82. An Officer and a Spy
    The film itself is utterly uncontroversial, solid, occasionally stolid, and perfectly fine.
  83. Seberg
    Superficiality soaks the entire film.
  84. The Laundromat
    Hopefully, Soderbergh’s film will raise more awareness as well as a chuckle.
  85. Bait
    A formally dazzling, half-comic portrait of a community struggling against the tides of change.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Souvenir
    As heartbreaking as it is acutely observed, Hogg’s deep-diving autobiographical film is a beautiful, confessional tell-all about the brief joys and enduring tragedy that helped her find her voice as an artist.
  87. Mrs. Lowry & Son
    Spall and Redgrave are both magnificent, rising above the material in a way only talented actors can. One wonders what they could have done with more interesting and passionate material.
  88. Joker
    Phoenix has created a masterful performance for a film which itself feels like a masterpiece: a cracked masterpiece.
  89. The Truth
    The truth is that The Truth is an above-average French comedy and Kore-eda has succeeded in a finely wrought act of ventriloquism and diva worship. But the Japanese director’s fans can be forgiven for thinking above average is not good enough for such an accomplished filmmaker.
  90. Marriage Story
    At the heart of Marriage Story are two career-best performances from Driver and Johansson. There is sensitivity, wit and intelligence in abundance, and in one barnstorming scene the kind of raw emotional nudity that’s rarely captured on screen: it’s the painful core of the movie which the laughter might ease but can’t erase.
  91. The Cordillera of Dreams
    The Cordillera of Dreams is a stirring look at a nation still recovering from the brutalisation meted out by General Pinochet’s callous and paranoid actions, but Guzmán goes further to offer his opinion of the present issues facing the country, specifically neoliberalism’s assault on land, resources and people.
  92. Pain and Glory
    Pain and Glory is a study of acceptance, revelation and reconciliation; it is about cinema’s relationship with the past and its power to reshape and cohere memory as a means of coming to terms with it.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One Child Nation
    The revelations and images contained within are individually resonant and telling of a wider picture, but there’s a sense that Wang, or perhaps her financiers, are cautious of pushing too far. Unfortunately, this winds up leaving One Child Nation a muddle of confused half-messages which reach for and fall slightly short of an admirable goal.
  94. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
    Despite its lunkish, ludicrous – and frankly cynical – qualities, this entry retains much of the appeal of previous entries.
  95. 13th
    It’s a valiant call to arms, a beacon of defiance, but one that could have burned more violently than it ultimately does.
  96. Holiday
    Through Eklöf’s ruthless observations on sex, class and family, one comes to view this world with a cold-blooded voyeuristic gaze.
  97. The Dead Don't Die
    Jarmusch has opted for a stumbling dead so indulgently pleased with itself that it resembles little more than a precocious home movie filled with familiar faced pals all of whom find the joke funnier than any audience will.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Honeyland
    The directors’ regard Hatidze with reverence and respect, allowing her the space to feel the tragedy and confusion of her plight and to sit with her melancholy as her life is changed by forces she cannot control.
  99. I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians
    The result is a formally loose, but dizzyingly dense and morally forthright examination of national attitudes and the myopia of nostalgia told through ranging meta-constructs and highfalutin debate.
  100. Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love
    It’s a mesmerising watch for fans of Cohen’s music, a fitting portrait sewn artfully together, and given a greater intimacy by dint of the fact Broomfield himself spent time in Hydra in his twenties and befriended Marianne whilst there. The only glaring absence is the lack of commentary from Cohen himself on their relationship.
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