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
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    An interesting stop-gap in the slasher genre.
  1. Expertly executed example of a golden time in British cinema - one to savour.
  2. Love is here in all of its many guises, brought together with a touch of subtitled sophistication.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Amped up for the big screen while maintaining its sense of heart and with lashings of charm and gentle comedy, Bob’s Burgers proves more than worthy of the feature treatment.
  3. The best Rocky film since the original, honouring the Stallone legacy while setting it in a different direction. Feel the need. The need for Creed.
  4. A low-key treat about rising above the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet is something to shout about.
  5. This intelligently scripted and imposingly played costume noir revisits the conventions of Victorian melodrama to comment on modern attitudes to oppression, prejudice and morality.
  6. This fourth Toy Story isn’t as essential as the previous films in the series, but there’s no denying the joy of seeing Woody and friends back in action, while once again it’ll likely leave you with a tear in your eye.
  7. Silberling does a good job of introducing Snicket to the big screen in an impressive adaptation that’s always smart, even if it’s rarely spectacular.
  8. Bird and Lindelof have thrown everything they have at this film and, aside from a pause for breath at the end, they’ve made something funny, surprising and packed full of wonder.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The sight of Brynner walking indestructibly toward the camera, all in black, his eyes cold and unerring like a couple of silver bullets, is as haunting as any screen bogeyman.
  9. A little pretentious maybe, but then you've got to wonder at a woman who could sit motionless in a wooden chair, eight hours a day for three months.
  10. Time may be shot in black and white but the world it captures is anything but clear-cut. By turns moving and angry, it’s a thought-provoking hymn to love, family and the power of Black female courage.
  11. One too many jokes about Dick Van Dyke's dire Cawk-nee accent can drag a movie down.
  12. A quartet of pitch-perfect performances from a cast uniformly at its career best, together with a director on shockingly mischievous top form, this is a shot of pure, exhilarating cinematic malice. And if nothing else, it contains the most surprising puking sequence since Monsieur Creosote.
  13. A boxing drama with a difference, Journeyman packs a powerful punch — and reminds us not to take Paddy Considine for granted.
  14. Shot in a grainy grey and white helps to give the film an amateurish and at the same time realistic feel, particularly as it's based on true events. With standout performances from Lo Bianco and Stoler, this is a forgotten gem that's waiting to be rediscovered.
  15. Despite the almost caricatural Frenchness of the premise, this is a superbly acted and intricately directed drama that makes a virtue of its very human feelings and follies.
  16. Even if it needed one last push to make it truly exceptional, there’s a lot to enjoy here. And Soderbergh once again attracts a cast it’s a pleasure to spend time with.
  17. The scenario may be overly familiar, but the low-key approach and engaging performances make this an unexpected delight.
  18. Overall, a superior sequel. Some people will never get over the height discrepancy but character-wise, Never Goes Back brings Reacher closer to the books for the type of thriller that rarely gets made these days.
  19. It’s a riveting, complex film that asks one simple question: what do you do when there’s no right answer?
  20. The Town is that rare beast, a grown-up genre flick, chock-full of compelling character dynamics and a clutch of pitch-perfect performances.
  21. RRR
    It may have a tenuous relationship with nuance, but RRR is a bombastic delight. Making the Fast And Furious series look restrained by comparison, it hits the parts Hollywood actioners just can’t reach. Rise! Roar! Revelation!
  22. Billie Piper’s ambitious, darkly funny directorial debut suggests the arrival of a new filmmaker with a vision, verve and a voice.
  23. A film as sweet as it is sad, as pertinent as it is absurd, Limbo is an experience where not much seems to happen but where little things mean the world.
  24. Quietly compelling, the cerebral slice of social realism is well worth hunting down.
  25. Half mood-piece, half character study, The Last Black Man In San Francisco is a deeply moving lament on the effect of gentrification on the people on the Bay Area’s margins.
  26. Feminist scholarship this ain’t; think Showgirls if it were directed by David Cronenberg. But give yourself permission to revel in the excess and be rewarded with an uproariously good time.
  27. Big
    As a crowd-pleasing comedy it works. But it really could have been so much more.

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