CNN's Scores
- Movies
- TV
For 607 reviews, this publication has graded:
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42% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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54% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.9 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 61
| Highest review score: | Come from Away | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest review score: | Dolittle |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 291 out of 607
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Mixed: 272 out of 607
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Negative: 44 out of 607
607
movie
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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Reviewed by
Brian Lowry
Mean Girls might recycle old tropes about high school’s caste system, but for those who just want a boisterous couple of hours in a theater, it aces that test.- CNN
- Posted Jan 10, 2024
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Brian Lowry
Both in its cultural specificity and the passage of time, Society of the Snow delivers a credible take on a remarkable story – augmented by the prolific Michael Giacchino’s score – while hampered somewhat by the limitations imposed by how those events unfolded.- CNN
- Posted Jan 4, 2024
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Brian Lowry
“Ferrari” doesn’t click on all cylinders, featuring a miscast Adam Driver as the automotive mogul, in a Michael Mann-directed movie with some arresting moments that add up to less than the sum of its parts.- CNN
- Posted Dec 25, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Steeped in old-fashioned virtues and a feel-good underdog story, The Boys in the Boat isn’t bad, but it doesn’t ever navigate its way out of the shallow end of the sports-movie pool either.- CNN
- Posted Dec 24, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Spanning decades, the film version of the Broadway stage production improves in key respects on the Oscar-nominated original movie, with a spiritual message that should resonate through the holidays.- CNN
- Posted Dec 24, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The best one can say about this mildly fun film is that it runs a brisk 80-something minutes, meaning parents can take the kids and have time left over for other holiday errands.- CNN
- Posted Dec 22, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Mostly, this fun-in-the-sun romp in Australia (because hey, it’s summer there) serves as a showcase for Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, who amiably meet the demands of the exercise even if the script only occasionally follows suit.- CNN
- Posted Dec 22, 2023
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Brian Lowry
“Rebel Moon” might look big and splashy, even on a TV screen, but in terms of working as drama, it’s less a rebel yell than a low-key rebel grunt.- CNN
- Posted Dec 21, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Director James Wan again fills the screen with spectacle, some of it unevenly rendered, though even eye-popping digital effects couldn’t compensate for the frequent flatness of the dialogue and situations.- CNN
- Posted Dec 21, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The story plays like a rather tired excuse to redo the first story with a few cosmetic tweaks, hoping to tap into adult nostalgia while potentially attracting a new generation of kids.- CNN
- Posted Dec 15, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Ultimately, American Fiction raises questions about the price of Black success in a White-dominated media and entertainment culture. What it doesn’t do, while maintaining its satirical edge and eye, is provide any easy answers.- CNN
- Posted Dec 15, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The movie’s earnestness can’t wriggle away from the pretty powerful temptation to tap out.- CNN
- Posted Dec 13, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Edgy, unsettlingly paranoid and genuinely clever, it’s a logical continuation of the conversation writer-director Sam Esmail started with “Mr. Robot.”- CNN
- Posted Dec 8, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Funny, sentimental, and anchored as always by Tony Shalhoub’s “defective detective,” it’s a worthy follow-up that goes beyond just being a nostalgic exercise.- CNN
- Posted Dec 8, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Sara Bareilles headlines this adaptation for which she wrote the lilting songs, in a show that manages to be alternately sweet and silly, touching and raunchy.- CNN
- Posted Dec 7, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Wonka only sporadically conjures cinematic magic, and most of those moments owe an oversized debt to tying directly into the earlier movie based on Roald Dahl’s story, as opposed to carving its own path for a new generation.- CNN
- Posted Dec 4, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Thriller 40 consciously and effectively brings the focus back to the music and the thrills he delivered as a performer. As for the ability to keep the rest of his story at bay while watching it, that will likely depend on one’s level of Jackson fandom.- CNN
- Posted Dec 1, 2023
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Brian Lowry
In the charitable spirit of the season, Candy Cane Lane serves as a passable addition to the annual parade of holiday movies trotted out each year. Yet even by that unexacting standard, there’s barely enough juice here to keep the lights on.- CNN
- Posted Dec 1, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Watching Cooper and Mulligan portray their characters across decades, it’s hard not to be impressed, while nurturing a greater appreciation for why Cooper found Bernstein’s contributions and complications deserving of such a tribute.- CNN
- Posted Nov 26, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Wish doesn’t quite reach the stars, but it does shine intermittently while introducing another plucky teenage female heroine, gamely voiced by Ariana DeBose.- CNN
- Posted Nov 26, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Despite a glittering pedigree, the result is an earnest film deficient in the inspirational qualities of its subject matter.- CNN
- Posted Nov 17, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Ultimately, Next Goal Wins derives most of its modest charm from the film’s sheer unpretentiousness, which also makes it light enough to feel fairly disposable, despite being equipped with likable characters and scenic locales.- CNN
- Posted Nov 17, 2023
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Brian Lowry
There’s obviously some talent at work here, but not much in the way of stretching, and the initial energy and sheer dorkiness doesn’t generate enough laughs – some decidedly low-brow (like John’s fascination with videos of mating animals), others cleverer – to sustain a movie.- CNN
- Posted Nov 17, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Splitting the movie into three chapters seems appropriate, since the film delivers a trifecta: overwrought, overacted, and overlong.- CNN
- Posted Nov 16, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Alternately uplifting and devastating, a warm reminiscence about the Harry Potter franchise and a glimpse into child stardom, it’s finally a tribute to its namesake, who concludes that he’d “better tell my story, or it won’t be told.”- CNN
- Posted Nov 15, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The film, while technically superb, feels like it wins several battles but doesn’t entirely qualify as a success in terms of the overall war.- CNN
- Posted Nov 15, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The Killer has an old-fashioned feel and still manages to nail its target by bringing dashes of freshness, wit and unpredictability to this well-worn genre.- CNN
- Posted Nov 10, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The Brooks-Reiner banter is so understated and natural as to basically feel like eavesdropping on one of their lunches, which practically yields more memories than insights.- CNN
- Posted Nov 10, 2023
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Brian Lowry
Clocking in at a welcomely brisk 105 minutes, it’s Marvel’s shortest film, but a lighter tone that occasionally borders on a sort of cosmic “Freaky Friday” doesn’t consistently make the movie fly, much less soar.- CNN
- Posted Nov 8, 2023
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Brian Lowry
The movie lives up to both halves of its title: The Holdovers gets a hold on you, while looming over most stories built around the simple idea that families are often defined by what you make of them, not what you inherit.- CNN
- Posted Nov 3, 2023
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