Empire's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
For 6,820 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 0.8 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:
6820 movie reviews
  1. Parochial pub-based piffle — like a pint that’s gone a bit flat. But you can’t doubt its sincerity.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Mel Gibson miscasts himself in this fairly dull unoriginal movie.
  2. A tired retread of better jokes in the first two movies, this drags along to an admittedly heartwarming conclusion. But it’s a good thing this caps the trilogy because it’s coasting on fumes.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    A colourful and stylish romp, for sure, but a feeling of restlessness sets in long before the series of false endings that finally bring it to a close. Time passes, things happen, but nobody emerges very much wiser.
  3. You’ll need a magnifying glass to find the jokes in this send-up of other, better Holmes screen adaptations. With stars this funny, there are inevitably some moments of mirth (several of them onion-based), but it falls well short of their previous team-ups.
  4. Well-meaning but unfortunately misjudged, this clichéd melodrama is a minor stumble for Harry Styles’ continuing conquest of cinema.
  5. Hardly likely to convince anyone that remakes are worthwhile, Overboard ekes out laughs but fails to add the romance to the comedy. We’d leave this one in the water.
  6. An odd, messy, misjudged shambles. You can’t fault the earnest tone or the plucky performances, but you can fault almost everything else.
  7. Like Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur, this tries hard to do something new and exciting with an old formula. It quickly makes you wish for something more traditional and straightforward.
  8. Marshall's film is crammed full of good ideas but doesn't have the cohesion to pull them all together. Less effective than "Dog Soldiers," never mind "The Descent."
  9. The female-first vibe is refreshing but Something In The Water is something old, nothing new, a lot that is borrowed and an eyeful of twinkly blue.
  10. An unrewarding experience that won't scare you, but might make you think twice before opening email attachments.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    it is intermittently very funny.
  11. No surprises here, nor many laughs, though the romance has a simple, sentimental appeal.
  12. Shark. Weak.
  13. A second-rate slasher, but it shows the odd bit of directorial promise and a great deal of ambition.
  14. Not even Nicole Kidman playing off Kathy Bates — or Zac Efron singing Cher's Believe — are enough to save what should have been a surefire hit from Hallmark musings and tired clichés.
  15. Slow, ponderous and as shallow as it thinks it is deep, lifted only by an impressive opening and fine work from Damon and Howard.
  16. Overlong, it'll most likely try the patience of audiences now accustomed to a bit more bang for their buck, but it's a great deal of fun for those with a penchant for old-style action.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The film drops from obvious comedy into a ready melt slush which no amount of make-up and special effects can rescue.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    That most essential element in a thriller, the suspense, collapses mid-film, making it hard to care about the eventual denouement.
  17. Fine if you like the band - you'll be treated to some cartoons playing over the top of their Discovery album. For everyone else, just daft.
  18. Unfortunately shallow characterisation, a script so laid-back you can almost hear it snoring and the occasional outburst of hokey dialogue lead to a movie a good deal less charming than it thinks it is.
  19. Even a cast boasting Oldman and Harrison Ford can't salvage his dreary, contrived corporate thriller.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    He may look the part, but Timothy Dalton fails the boots, the scuba gear, or the automobiles left him by Moore and Connery.
  20. Despite good performances from El-Masry and Brosnan, this fails to pack the heavyweight knockout punch it sorely needs. Judge’s decision: a narrow loss, on points. 
  21. This was sweet and charming at the time but now it just lacks either the comedy or sophistication of kids' fantasy film that we've all become accustomed to.
  22. It’s not just that Wild Mountain Thyme is bogged down by overripe Irish trappings. It also fails to work on the most basic romcom level — wanting to see a couple get together. Sadly, not even a strong cast can rescue a pot of gold from the end of this rainbow.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    More Oh Mama than Mamma Mia!
  23. A misguided screwball narrative sacrifices the performances of talented men for clumsy, baggy rom-com tropes. Bring back Pony and all of Mike’s men – or just release a live DVD of London’s best night out instead.

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