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For 6,849 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 43% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.9 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 Oppenheimer
Lowest review score: 20 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,020 out of 6849
  2. Mixed: 3,669 out of 6849
  3. Negative: 160 out of 6849
6849 movie reviews
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  1. Spider-Man 2
    This summer's most satisfying, spectacle-packed movie. Like its predecessor, it offers a strong story rather than a feeble excuse to connect set-pieces.
  2. Two Brothers
    Good-natured, old-fashioned family entertainment, but Two Brothers never quite manages to strike a successful balance between fantasy and reality.
  3. White Chicks
    Be warned - Damon isn't in this one.
  4. Fahrenheit 9/11
    Arguably not the most proficiently crafted film in Cannes this year and certainly not the most balanced, but Moore’s assault on the Bush administration is a terrific polemic.
  5. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
    Unpretentious, unsophisticated and all the better for it.
  6. The Terminal
    Far less cuddly than expected, this unusual and elegant movie may have failed to connect with US audiences but it proves Spielberg is currently the most unpredictable director in Hollywood.
  7. Father and Son
    Sokurov's use of space, religious symbolism and raw emotion compensate for any sense of exclusion.
  8. Seducing Doctor Lewis
    Amused, maybe - but you won't be seduced.
  9. What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?
    Touches on some interesting philosophical ideas, but it's poorly-produced and unclear in tone.
  10. Around the World in 80 Days
    It livens up a bit in the last reel when Fogg’s inventive brain pulls out all the stops to try to win the bet, but by that point you'll be too jaded to care.
  11. The Chronicles of Riddick
    It's no "Battlefield Earth," but it's no "Dune" either. And, no, before you ask, it's not destined to be a cult classic.
  12. The Stepford Wives
    It’s funny, wonderfully performed by all, visually inventive.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Garfield
    Cute and friendly enough, but for anyone over eight, not recommended.
  14. Napoleon Dynamite
    As long as you don't mind making fun of the afflicted, there are some killer comic moments.
  15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Azkaban contains both the longest denouement and the most rousing finish of any of the books, and Cuarón wisely whips through the 'ah-hahs' so that the clever climax, complete with the series' best SFX, can enjoy its moment in the moonlight.
  16. The Story of the Weeping Camel
    What makes this such an affecting picture is the contrast between the wonderfully aloof camels and the interdependence of the extended family, whose smiling resilience only hints at the harshness of an existence that has changed little in centuries.
  17. The Corporation
    What it covers is so fundamentally relevant, and its polemic so persuasively structured, it’s worth braving the runtime even if it could easily have been more concise.
  18. The Day After Tomorrow
    Everybody is good at one thing, they say; for Emmerich, it's destruction.
  19. Baadasssss!
    This plays very much like a standard biopic, lacking the dangerous spirit of the movie that inspired it.
  20. Saved!
    It starts off very sprightly and witty and maintains a high giggle-count throughout.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Raising Helen
    Top marks to Joan Cusack for her excellent supporting turn; commiserations to John Corbett as one-dimensional objet désir Pastor Dan -- unhappily saddled with the most tragic line to reach mainstream film for years.
  22. Love Me If You Dare
    An uncomfortable, if intriguing, mess.
  23. Shrek 2
    Remains hilarious throughout.
  24. Troy
    Bruising battles and some stirring performances make Troy enjoyable, if rather long. But if audiences can forgive the camp, they'll still struggle to empathise with the characters.
  25. Coffee and Cigarettes
    Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina deliver a terrific meditation on insincere actors.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Springtime in a Small Town
    Beautifully photographed by Mark Lee (who also co-shot Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love), and delicately played by an untried cast, this confirms Tian as the Fifth Generation's unsung master.
  27. New York Minute
    Separately the characters are annoying; together it’s unnervingly like watching one actress playing twins.
  28. Van Helsing
    The result reaches overload very quickly, squandering the potentially cool premise in a headlong assault of set-piece over story.
  29. Super Size Me
    It’s a hugely enjoyable descent into epic gluttony.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Envy
    You'd think it'd be hilarious. Think again.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Godsend
    Godsend is based on an intriguing premise. Sadly, it's mangled into an Omen-lite disaster area, thanks to a script torn between making a moral point about cloning and cheap shocks.
  32. Laws of Attraction
    The film seldom raises itself above the level of pleasant. And pleasant ain't sophisticated, and it certainly ain't sexy.
  33. Mean Girls
    Despite its shortcomings -- it’s still one of the better teen movies to come along in a while.
  34. Since Otar Left
    The relationship between Ada and Eka is beautifully written and utterly believable, while the film's central idea of compassionate deception allows Bertucelli to explore the nature of love, culminating in the film's masterful and deeply affecting ending.
  35. The Saddest Music in the World
    There's atmosphere and absurd wit, but the surreal style creates a distance from the characters that's only likely to be appreciated by fans of Maddinís self-conscious artistry.
  36. 13 Going on 30
    If there's a criticism to be made, it's that the script doesn't push itself far enough with the moments in which it excels.
  37. Man on Fire
    By no means perfect - a twist in the tale overextends its already lengthy running time - but it is terrific fun.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kill Bill: Vol. 2
    As it is, it’s an aloof conclusion, an unclimactic climax to a stand-alone film.
  39. Connie and Carla
    This is so derivative it has no soul of its own.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Punisher
    A creaky script which avoids tackling the morality of Castle's actions, while Hensleigh doesn't do himself any favours by slowing the film's momentum with leaden editing.
  41. The Alamo
    In spite of two great performances, this is a muddled affair.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ella Enchanted
    Anne Hathaway delivers another likeable performance in a tweenie treat that has enough smarts to keep older viewers engaged, too.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Girl Next Door
    It has managed, admirably, to strike a balance between the wholesome 'school nerd blossoms' fairy tale and the gross-out comedy that is now a teen movie standard.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I'm Not Scared
    This not being Hollywood, Michele and Filippo do not benefit from life lessons learned as exemplified in coming-of-age pap like "Now And Then." The sweet life, this ain’t.
  45. Hellboy
    Hellboy might not have the name-recognition factor of the Spider- or Batmen, but Guillermo del Toro brings the audience swiftly up to speed on artist-writer Mike Mignola's comic book anti-hero.
  46. Home on the Range
    Highly likeable, pleasantly unpretentious and plenty amusing.
  47. The Prince and Me
    Disappoints due to poor structure, flimsy characterisation and insufficient wit.
  48. The United States of Leland
    It's poetic, hypnotic and well-performed, but fails to either draw out its characters with conviction or fully draw its audience in.
  49. Jersey Girl
    Sweet, formulaic entertainment, but occasionally clunky.
  50. The Ladykillers
    It’s but a shadow of the original and a lesser entry in their (Coens) collection, but you are still blessed by flashes of black heart.
  51. Dogville
    Argue that von Trier's latest is theatre and not cinema. But at least acknowledge that Dogville, in a didactic and politicised stage tradition, is a great play that shows a deep understanding of human beings as they really are.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Mayor of the Sunset Strip
    The resulting portrait seems cruel at times, and Bingenheimer's little-boy-lost expression can be heartbreaking.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
    Themes of self-acceptance and inner strength seem a little out of place in a movie featuring a hound farting at phantasms.
  54. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
    Not particularly funny, or even very sunny, but it is Charlie Kaufman’s first whole screenplay, and as wonderful as it is weird.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Taking Lives
    It's not hard to figure it out, but Caruso manages to throw in some tense moments that almost -- but sadly not quite -- make up for the film's daft ending.
  56. Dawn of the Dead
    A welcome surprise, containing more bona fide scares than Romero's vision, while paying grand lip service to the old master. Truly worthy of that famous title.
  57. Bon voyage
    The result is both audaciously amusing and provocatively sophisticated.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Spartan
    Being a Mamet, we expect superb dialogue and twists, but we also get refreshingly compact action scenes, even if the climactic airport skirmish is on the pat side. A lesser Mamet, then, but still compelling.
  59. Starsky & Hutch
    Goofy and easygoing, Starsky & Hutch is not exactly politically correct, but you'd be hard pushed to find a single mean frame.
  60. Hidalgo
    Ultimately, Hidalgo falls down due to a neglect of basic story elements -- anonymous villains, a hero with no clear goal other than money, love interests who sound alternately gin-sodden and lobotomised -- and after a brief burst of energy staggers home at a mild limp.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    James' Journey to Jerusalem
    The muddled mix of documentary rawness and fable-like naiveté prevents it from fulfilling its parable pretensions.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Club Dread
    Club Dread still thrives on the group's enormous charm and the determined, genuinely funny comedic approach of knowing pop-culture winks and a zaniness that marks them as pleasingly Pythonesque.
  63. Twisted
    The movie may dole out a few guilty pleasures, but you won’t believe a word of it.
  64. The Passion of the Christ
    A tormented movie about torment; loopy, over-reaching and occasionally suspicious. Simultaneously, it is a daring artistic endeavour.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Against the Ropes
    Throw in the blatant signposting of every plot turn and mood shift, and what could have been a gripping tale becomes hammy and overdone.
  66. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
    Lola deserves detention; Lohan deserves better.
  67. EuroTrip
    Like many of its ilk, this lacks both the wit and cheeky charm of the Pie franchise, subsisting instead on trite gags that dredge up every European stereotype from football thugs to French mimes.
  68. Clifford's Really Big Movie
    Bland, but wholesome.
  69. 50 First Dates
    Charming and effective feel-good fare.
  70. Highwaymen
    Both the well-choreographed crash scenes and the gritty cinematography hint at a better film. Shame no-one took the time to make it.
  71. Osama
    The performances are credible, but set-pieces like the water-cannoning of a procession of burkha-clad protesters are also impeccably judged.
  72. Barbershop 2: Back in Business
    This time the banter is tighter and funnier, and Calvin’s musings on the importance of community seem more heartfelt.
  73. The Dreamers
    It seesaws between disturbing psychosis and freewheeling nouvelle vague romance, then turns awkwardly editorial in the last reel.
  74. The Return
    Garin’s performance is just one of the note-perfect elements in The Return -- unfussy acting, unhurried direction, sublime cinematography and low-key music -- which conspire to draw the audience into a deceptively simple story with numerous hidden depths.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Perfect Score
    For its target teen audience, it's a decent enough movie.
  76. You Got Served
    If you pay out money to see this, you got fleeced.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Golden Age
    Extreme and outrageously blasphemous.
  78. The Big Bounce
    It’s sexy, offbeat fun for the most part, but it’s way too laid-back for its own good and, in the end, obstinately refuses to be anything more than the sum of its highly promising parts.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
    Win A Date With Tad Hamilton is a valiant attempt to create a love triangle, but ends up getting all its sums wrong.
  80. The Butterfly Effect
    Arguably worse than its sadistic absurdity is the depressing, limited scope.
  81. Along Came Polly
    It’s not bad, but given all the talent involved, it would have been nice for Hamburg to push the envelope a bit further and deliver something with real bite. As it is, this is more of a pleasant, but forgettable, time-filler.
  82. The Battle of Algiers
    Has a vigour, a commitment and an intelligence that is absent from too much modern cinema.
  83. Secret Things
    Stylish and gripping at times, this wry very-French gender satire is definitetly entertaining but falls down a little in the third act.
  84. Japanese Story
    Offbeat and downbeat, it’s a film full of thoughtful stillness, powerful moods, reflective internal struggles and shattering, lonely self-realisation, suggesting more critical kudos than commercial impact.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Cheaper by the Dozen
    The film works best when it taps into the chaos generated by the kids, and there are a number of suitably anarchic Home Alone-style set-pieces.
  86. Cold Mountain
    As he did with "The English Patient," Minghella has reshaped the novel’s structure, zeroed in on what matters cinematically and dramatically upped the emotional stakes.
  87. Paycheck
    in the end, Paycheck never quite cashes out.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Peter Pan
    Tonally the film is never more than the sum of its parts, while Sumpter, although physically perfect, just isn’t charismatic enough as Peter.
  89. The Company
    Dramatic disappointment aside, there is a feel for the unglamorous, demanding lives of the real dancers.
  90. Monster
    There’s enough dark humour to entertain.
  91. Mona Lisa Smile
    There are some roles Julia Roberts was born to play -- a tart with a heart, say, or a likeable and famous actor -- but a charismatic, inspiring 1950s teacher is not one of them.
  92. The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
    The film's status as must-see documentary of the year is indisputable.
  93. House of Sand and Fog
    There's a desperately inevitable, powerfully tragic last reel, but getting there is absolute torture.
  94. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
    Those who have walked beside these heroes every step of the way on such a long journey deserve the emotional pay-off as well as the action peaks, and they will be genuinely touched as the final credits roll.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Girl with a Pearl Earring
    one of the rare book adaptations that actually benefits from a visual makeover.
  96. The Statement
    Positioned as a tense political thriller, Jewison's film is high on the (somewhat confusing) politics but falls a little short on the thrills.
  97. Something's Gotta Give
    It also takes too long in the final act to write itself out of its plot entanglements, and ends up looking rather too pleased with itself.
  98. Stuck on You
    Decent belly laughs occur, but they are spread thinly over a prolonged period.
  99. Big Fish
    In anchoring the whimsy to something more heartfelt, Burton is greatly aided by Billy Crudup, who underplays potentially cringeworthy bedside scenes with his dying dad.
  100. Honey
    With its hackneyed storyline and critical derision in the US, whispers were that Honey was to be the new "Glitter." It's not nearly that bad, which is a shame since it just skims the embarrassingly blind enthusiasm of which camp classics are made -- instead bouncing along the path of bland and forgettable.
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