Empire's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
For 6,821 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:
6821 movie reviews
  1. Unflinching in its depiction of rural reality, this may be a dour drama, but it has been made with sincerity and an exceptional sense of place.
  2. Not for anyone with a sensitive gag reflex. Joshua Marston provides a harrowing depiction of drug- muling for dummies. The raw, revolting, dangerous details of such an undertaking are graphic.
  3. Fun, but it mugs too hard.
  4. This stripped-down chiller has some decent jump-frights, but a dearth of memorable moments.
  5. If you're looking for sophisticated wit keep going, but Major League is pleasant, undemanding fun and the most likely of the baseball movies to hit over here. You don't need to know what they're doing on the field, there are some amusing supporting performances, and everybody likes to see losers make a dream come true.
  6. Another lavish and largely entertaining Disney re-do, with strong turns from Massoud and Scott. But, appropriately for someone playing a huge, powerful entity trapped in a tiny ornament, Smith’s genie performance feels disappointingly constrained — both by overdependence on the original and some ghastly CGI.
  7. Hollywood over-indulgence at its best.
  8. This nightmarish travelogue is coy about gore, but it’s still an effective thrill-ride. If the sequel happens, let’s hope it delivers some actual combat.
  9. Una
    It’s a film to see for the performances, which are faultless, but while it’s sometimes riveting this play has been awkwardly translated to screen.
  10. Family dysfunction to make Jeremy Kyle blush, but thanks to McConaughey's oily power and Friedkin's unflinching purpose it's a compelling beast.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Break-Up doesn't turn the rom-com on its head, but with its focus on the darker side of love manages to gently tip it on its side.
  11. The action meanders occasionally, but the performances are consistently disarming and Luciano Zito and Diego del Piano’s black-and-white photography complements the mood of ironic melancholy.
  12. One of those rare things...a sequel that's funnier and more successful.
  13. Your opinion of this unasked-for but likable comedy sequel depends entirely on whether your reaction to the statement “It’s better than the first one” is 1) “Dear God, it could hardly be worse” or 2) “Awesome!”
  14. It's well performed, and Collet-Serra knows his way around a beautifully timed scare, but what's most haunting is the sense that the same idea has been done better before.
  15. Lots of interesting concepts competing for limited running time make for more of a TV pilot than a feature film.
  16. Hiddleston and Olsen impress, and the music remains golden, but this is just another by-the-numbers biopic.
  17. Another bravura performance from Juliette Binoche glosses over the flaws in a soft-focused glimpse at the seamier side of student life.
  18. A solidly okay Saturday night effort, but unambitious considering the talent involved. Maybe Rodriguez should direct Predator Resurrection, but get a science fiction writer to script it.
  19. An affectionate and entertaining tribute to the Western - but, Estevez aside, Young Guns II doesn't exactly add much to the old genre.
  20. There's a hint of comforting, chocolate-box, Sunday-night TV here, but it's delivered via such quietly powerful performances and with such hope that it's hard to resist.
  21. Charming, handsome and full of pep – all 70 year-old Cap lacks is a knockout blow. Still, Johnston should be saluted for old-fashioned heart in a cynical age, while Marvel should be confined to barracks for cynical marketing.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dog
    More predictable than shaggy, Dog is more interesting than the standard man-mutt buddy movie but still never really pulls the heartstrings. What it lacks in urgency and emotion, Tatum more than makes up for in movie-star wattage.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Well made, but not entirely successful ensemble thriller.
  22. Pixar’s first out-and-out love story, Elemental is overstuffed and inconsistent — but packed with enough moving sentiment, gorgeous design and punchy voice performances to mean it still burns bright.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A daft movie, but one not without its moments of healthy radiance, spurred on by some bristling gags and a welcome comic return by Emma Thompson as a gauche fellow doctor caught in a romantic sub-plot.
  23. Like Paranormal Activity at a wedding - Paranuptial Activity? - this low-budget horror has its moment. Much, much better than Legion, although not as scary as the actual Book of Revelation.
  24. The archive footage is compelling, but the soundtrack is a muddle of voice-over, music and effects.
  25. It's not sure where to go once the final Iron Man suit is constructed, and seems in a rush to get there, but Downey Jr and the supporting cast are so perfectly placed we're already looking forward to the bound-to-be-better sequel.
  26. It's no first-rank CGI cartoon, but shows how Pixar's quality over crass is inspiring the mid-list. Fun, with teary bits, for kids; fresh and smart for adults.

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