Empire's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
For 6,818 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:
6818 movie reviews
  1. The Canadian horror maestro scrapes away the surface of Hollywood to discover a magnificently Cronenbergian outbreak of tortured families, reprehensible behaviour and extreme violence.
  2. The players are a colourful bunch, the film referencing is smart, the football satire sharp and there are delightful moments of visual imagination in the appealing animation.
  3. Stylish, twisted and daring, Gone Girl is a David Fincher date movie: dark, smart and dangerous. If it doesn’t deliver in its finale, its twist, turns and commitment to moral repugnance will leave you reeling.
  4. Some inspired grace notes elevate a thriller that's more De Palma than Hitchcock.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It may not be an access-all-areas portrayal of one of rock's most enigmatic characters, but then, where would be the fun in that?
  5. Well played across the board, The Riot Club is an entertaining glimpse into the dark side of privilege. Yet it lacks the richness and insight to be anything more.
  6. Weightless, but not without its enchantments, this is Woody Allen coasting. But where better to coast than the loveliest coast of all?
  7. Like a good butcher’s cleaver, it’s weighty, solid and sharp — an effective matching of director and star in what is hopefully the first of a new film series.
  8. Where The Hole really scores — and this is rare in modern horror — is in its lead characters.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    A well-meaning but corny football fable.
  9. At the venerable age of 84, documentary maven Wiseman hasn't lost his touch.
  10. For all its chilled intelligence and topical ambition this is a bloodless adaptation, but worth seeing for Hoffman’s deft and ghostly presence.
  11. A clear winner that makes you laugh, cry, and generally want to party and parade like it’s 1984.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    There’s slapstick and silliness to entertain small children and nefarious plots for the adult audience to untangle, making this a far more handsome prospect than any of its characters could imagine.
  12. A curious mix of Britpop music cues and moppet-bait storytelling makes for a diverting, if derivative kids' animation.
  13. Beautiful to look at but lacking a strong point.
  14. Reinforcing the very rom-com tropes it's sending up, this is a little too postmodern for its own good. Happily, Poehler and Rudd are as irresistible as ever.
  15. It may share a narrator with "March Of The Penguins" but this short documentary is happily more sturdily scientific.
  16. Missing the punchy plotting of the Coens thriller it resembles, the early chuckles don't quite translate into a satisfying whole.
  17. Mainstream audiences may find this too oddball to appreciate as a straight thriller. But tune into its strange frequency and there is much to enjoy — perhaps even adore.
  18. Strong performances keep the viewer guessing as much as our heroine, but the character drama recedes as the thriller element builds, to its detriment.
  19. The Fannytastic Four leave us on a poo-flecked, piss-soaked, sun-burned high that more than overcomes its familiar flaws to become a real contender for the year’s funniest film.
  20. Some nice comic beats and a sinister Andy Garcia turn make this far more watchable that the fratty conceit might suggest.
  21. Too many false notes add up to a Nicholas Sparks-lite teen romance.
  22. Sharp, funny and feeling, this isn't just Juno-meets-Girls but a smart film that tackles real-life issues with rare frankness.
  23. Gripping, smart and well-tooled, this greenies-on-a-mission movie gives terrific build-up and a riveting central set-piece, with only a slight dip at the end. If she is looking for another genre to subvert, a Reichardt superhero movie would be a sight to behold.
  24. Very funny underdog comedy that’s genuinely heartwarming and full of charm.
  25. Intimate, delicate and delightful.
  26. A Dame To Kill For shares some of the downsides of the first, particularly dubious female characterisation. But this retains the gritty, gruelling vice-grip on graphic-novel noir that made Sin City so enjoyable.
  27. Filmmaker Sean Ellis does terrific work balancing the disparate elements of his crime-laced drama.

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