Dallas Observer's Scores

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For 1,518 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 48% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 59
Highest review score: 100 Final Destination 3
Lowest review score: 0 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 678 out of 1518
  2. Mixed: 604 out of 1518
  3. Negative: 236 out of 1518
1518 movie reviews
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  1. Kangaroo Jack
    Were it not for the involvement of producer Bruckheimer, who has made billions by conning millions into believing they can't live without his celluloid crack, it's doubtful Kangaroo Jack would even exist. As it stands now, the "movie" barely exists anyway.
  2. Divine Intervention
    Sly and corrosively funny political black comedy.
  3. City of God
    Emotionally gripping from start to finish, the movie presents an electrifying and unforgettable look at life in a place that God has all but forgotten.
  4. Crimson Gold
    Not a great film, but a good one.
  5. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
    It was Melville's second-to-last feature, and it shows him in top form, with a more generous dose of humor than usual.
  6. Just Married
    Dude, where's the script? Just Awful.
  7. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
    A fascinating, frequently hilarious meditation on delusion, self-loathing and personal salesmanship
  8. Love Liza
    Provides Hoffman with what he's long deserved: a movie of his own.
  9. Chicago
    The singing and dancing in this Chicago are uniformly splendid, right down to Gere's tap dancing. The high wit and dark eroticism Marshall brings to the famous "Cell Block Tango" number are matchless.
  10. The Pianist
    There have been other films dealing with the Jewish ghettos during the Nazi occupation of Poland -- some very good -- but The Pianist, the latest feature from Roman Polanski, may be the best.
  11. Max
    Pits good taste against rousing intellectual provocation, and, happily, allows both to win.
  12. Nicholas Nickleby
    If you're after some family-friendly classic lit at the multiplex, here 'tis.
  13. The Hours
    It's a noble work, an elegant work, a compassionate work -- and a somewhat tedious and glaringly self-important work.
  14. Catch Me If You Can
    Breezy and easy to swallow. Its maker, Steven Spielberg, hasn't had so much fun in two decades.
  15. Morvern Callar
    One of the glories of the film is that Ramsay keeps us rigorously to Morvern's point of view without ever being explicit about what's going on in her head.
  16. Two Weeks Notice
    Viewers looking for extremely light, romantic entertainment with a guaranteed happy ending could do worse.
  17. Narc
    Authenticity and plausibility get gunned down from the get-go, but if explosive shaky-cam ultraviolence and frequent extreme close-ups of greasy whiskers are your bag, this hyperactive wannabe may count as something of a score.
  18. Gangs of New York
    The problem here lies not in the abundance of blood--we've seen that before--but in the film's pounding insistence, which prevails for all two hours and 40 minutes, that we also absorb a rather thin and unreliable history lesson.
  19. Spider
    It takes an especially fine-tuned director and an inventive actor to cut as close to the bone as Spider does.
  20. Antwone Fisher
    In the hands of lesser mortals, this would add up to perhaps the worst movie of the year. In the hands of Denzel Washington, it manages to work magic on some who might not tolerate such shenanigans from, say, Chris Columbus.
  21. 25th Hour
    The movie resonates precisely because it serves as documentary only pretending to be fiction: It's set in a real place recovering from real pain, which Lee makes tangible.
  22. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
    The year's greatest adventure, and Jackson's limited but enthusiastic adaptation has made literature literal without killing its soul.
  23. The Guys
    The Guys is less a tearing open of old wounds than a balm to be applied over them. It doesn't wallow. It doesn't weep.
  24. Maid in Manhattan
    Plays like something Dr. Phil and "Sex and the City's" Carrie Bradshaw might have written during a commercial break, a feel-good fantasy that sounds deep but has no more depth than a kiddie pool drained for winter.
  25. The Hot Chick
    A mind of overcooked pasta and a stomach of iron may get you through it, but it really is worth considering how desperately you need cheap chuckles while executive producer Adam Sandler and his favorite charity case laugh all the way to the bank.
  26. Evelyn
    James Bond wants us to believe he's an Everyman. The lovely thing is, it works.
  27. About Schmidt
    What makes About Schmidt so extraordinary is how ordinary its tale is; it's a gray picture about gray people looking for some kind of meaning in their gray lives.
  28. Drumline
    If you were ever in marching band, you'll love this; if not, stay far away.
  29. Star Trek: Nemesis
    Plays like a greatest-hits remix; like "Die Another Day," it's bent on resurrecting a moribund franchise by recalling all the things you used to love about it till you grew into big-boy pants.
  30. Analyze That
    Everyone seems more relaxed this time around, including director Harold Ramis, who was presumably less intimidated now that he knows De Niro can be really funny and draw a large audience to a comedy.
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