Entertainment Weekly's Scores

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For 7,797 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 68% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 30% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 13th
Lowest review score: 0 Wide Awake
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,958 out of 7797
  2. Mixed: 2,079 out of 7797
  3. Negative: 760 out of 7797
7797 movie reviews
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  1. Camp X-Ray
    The depiction of Guantánamo Bay as a banal, ugly hole of a place waiting to be condemned makes for a compelling first half hour in this military drama.
  2. Rudderless
    An ill-judged twist pitches the story sideways, but Crudup's performance holds the center. His pain isn't soggy or showy; it just feels true.
  3. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
    Glacially told gem from animator Isao Takahata, the 78-year-old cofounder with Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli.
  4. Watchers of the Sky
    Tough to watch, but essential.
  5. Fury
    Pitt, for instance, could've used a scene like Tom Hanks' in "Saving Private Ryan," where we learn something — anything — about his life back home and what he's fighting for besides the Stars and Stripes. Instead, Fury (the title comes from the name of the tank) just plods from one brutal, bloody combat scene to the next.
  6. Listen Up Philip
    I can't think of anyone under 40 who plays arrogant, self-absorbed jerks more convincingly than Jason Schwartzman. I have no clue what the actor's like in real life, but if he's not a complete prick, he deserves an Oscar.
  7. The Book of Life
    Overflowing with hyperactive charm and a spectacular sea of colors, it showcases some of the most breathtaking animation we've seen this decade.
  8. Dear White People
    The movie finds real power in its climax, a party that turns into a nightmarish orgy of leering white kids in blackface. And the end-credit photos of real parties just like it at schools across the country are a stark reminder of the ugliness that Dear White People, flawed as it is, wants to confront.
  9. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
    Birdman is a scalpel-sharp dissection of Hollywood, Broadway, and fame in the 21st century. But more than that, it's a testament to Keaton's enduring charisma and power as an actor. He soars.
  10. Whiplash
    If you can appreciate the sight of two totally dialed-in performers simmering until they boil over, that's enough. And P.S., that's pretty much the definition of jazz.
  11. The Judge
    What makes the film more than just a dusty Grisham retread is that the case (as compelling as it is) is merely the backdrop for a more emotionally engaging story about fathers and sons played, like a duet, by two virtuoso actors who give the film not only all they have but probably more than it requires.
  12. St. Vincent
    Murray, of course, can play a redeemable misanthrope with one hand tied behind his back. Unfortunately, that's exactly what he has to do here because writer-director Theodore Melfi reins in his leading man with a script that doesn't know when to stop troweling on the sap.
  13. Kill the Messenger
    Director Michael Cuesta (Homeland) includes just enough real news footage among the heavily scripted scenes to make you crave a documentary on Webb instead.
  14. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
    Alexander is pleasantly devoid of the vulgarity and too-current pop culture references that are the default mode for many contemporary live-action kids' pics, and its earnest celebration of family gives the movie a comforting throwback vibe.
  15. Dracula Untold
    It works neither as a sweeping historical epic nor as an action-horror hybrid.
  16. Annabelle
    For a superior experience, go buy a disturbing-looking doll that says ''Don't go see Annabelle'' when you pull its string.
  17. Left Behind
    At best, Left Behind is shoddily made sensationalist propaganda — with atrocious acting — that barely registers as entertainment. At worst, it's profoundly moronic.
  18. The Good Lie
    It's a deeply touching story about survival, perseverance, and hope.
  19. Men, Women & Children
    The problem isn't so much what the film is saying but its shrill, alarmist tone. You don't have to be a sociological genius to look at all of us walking down the street like zombies, obliviously staring at our smartphones, and know that something's wrong.
  20. The Boxtrolls
    The script lacks the wit of "Wallace & Gromit."
  21. The Equalizer
    It's the sign of an empty, depressing experience when the only tension is over Bob's choice to use a power drill or a weed whacker for his next kill.
  22. Jimi: All Is by My Side
    The film's lack of such signature Hendrix tunes as ''Purple Haze'' may put off some — the filmmakers couldn't get the rights — but I'd argue that this obstacle forced Ridley to zig where most biopics zag. Which, when you think about it, is fitting for the story of a lefty who played his guitar upside down.
  23. Pride
    Celebrated theater director Mathew Warchus (Matilda, The Norman Conquests) unstiffens many of the script's clichés by affecting a sparkling, musical tone — producers have stated their intentions to bring Pride to Broadway, à la fellow miners-strike movie "Billy Elliot."
  24. Gone Girl
    Anyone who loved Gone Girl the book will walk out of Gone Girl the movie with a sick grin on their face. You can stop being nervous.
  25. The Maze Runner
    The first two-thirds of The Maze Runner are a clever feat of fantasy world building. It's thrilling, twisty, and as mysterious as the mammoth Skinner Box environment the film takes place in. But the promising set-up raises so many puzzle-piece questions that when it's all finally explained in the final reel, you can't help feeling a bit gypped.
  26. A Walk Among the Tombstones
    As a throwback to a type of nasty, ugly crime film of yesteryear, A Walk Among the Tombstones cleans up.
  27. Tusk
    Tusk lands close to Human Centipede territory in gross-out-ness — a warning, not a complaint — but it also has a genuinely haunting quality as Long's ties to humanity become ever more tenuous.
  28. The Guest
    The coat of irony helps when the film takes a major pivot in tone, and Stevens is unnervingly placid as the corn-fed terminator.
  29. This Is Where I Leave You
    All of which leaves you wondering: Why cast such talented, interesting, and edgy performers if you're only going to ask them play it safe?
  30. Dolphin Tale 2
    This is innocuous, heart-in-the-right-place family fare, but its well-earned points about animal rights and preservation would be better taken if the relentless sentimentality didn't force viewers into flippers-in-the-air submission.
  31. No Good Deed
    There's an intriguing premise buried in there that could have resulted in a smart look inside the mind of a malignant narcissist (which, the movie reminds us over and over again, was Jeffrey Dahmer's diagnosis too).
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Drop
    While Gandolfini fills in the gaps and silences, Rapace never colors in her underwritten character, making her a glorified MacGuffin who hangs around far too long.
  33. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
    Disappearance is worth watching for Chastain's fierce performance as a woman swallowed up by bone-deep grief. If we can feel exactly what Eleanor is feeling, maybe we're not so alone after all.
  34. Tracks
    What's on screen will leave you in a state of wonder. The sweeping cinematography surveys the cracked earth and Davidson's chapped skin with equal intensity, as if to remind us how vulnerable we puny mortals are.
  35. No No: A Dockumentary
    The fact is, Dock Ellis was...complicated. Probably a lot more so than No No makes him out to be.
  36. Kelly & Cal
    The biggest takeaway from Kelly & Cal, a wonderfully honest and tender film about the bitter pill of adulthood, is Hollywood's criminal underuse of Juliette Lewis.
  37. The Skeleton Twins
    It's a shockingly vulnerable performance (Hader), one of the best I've seen all year.
  38. As Above, So Below
    Like other movies of its ilk, it's missing a very simple bit of next-level Hollywood technology: a tripod.
  39. The Calling
    The Calling shares a little too much with atmospheric TV mysteries like "The Killing" and "Broadchurch": the hard-living female detective, the cloudy weather, the small-town existentialism.
  40. The Congress
    Ari Folman's meta-commentary on Hollywood in the soulless digital age starts off promisingly, like a Charlie Kaufman mind scrambler. But then it spirals into logy animated nonsense.
  41. Starred Up
    Like Eric Bana's menacingly raw breakout in 2000's "Chopper" or Tom Hardy's in 2008's "Bronson," O'Connell bristles with terrifying hair-trigger unpredictability. Watching him, you feel like you're witnessing the arrival of a new movie star.
  42. The November Man
    The utter lack of originality eventually sinks the movie.
  43. If I Stay
    If I Stay never bothers to go after authenticity when there's a cliché hovering nearby. That may not be enough of a drawback to prevent teenage audiences from lapping up the movie with a spoon, but they certainly deserve better.
  44. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
    The overall effect is less titillating than numbing.
  45. Abuse of Weakness
    Huppert is a wonder, inhabiting every iota of rage and froideur and helplessness; if only the movie's motives were as lucid as her performance.
  46. The One I Love
    Charlie McDowell's romantic brainteaser is disarmingly clever — too clever to spoil. But it's also repetitive and a bit too Spike Jonze lite.
  47. Coldwater
    The best thing about it is its star, P.J. Boudousqué, who locates a sense of terror and betrayal that the script lacks.
  48. Let's Be Cops
    If Let's Be Cops were content to be simply an unfunny genre exercise, it would be easy to dismiss it and move on. But the sting of astoundingly ill-advised sexism and homophobia is harder to shake.
  49. The Expendables 3
    So let me just say that this latest rah-rah red-meat installment is the biggest and best surprise of the series. It has its flaws, but it's mostly a big, dumb, gruntingly monosyllabic hoot.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    The Giver
    It falls apart with a slapdash final act that doesn't work as drama or action and only serves to undermine Jonah's heroics.
  51. Are You Here
    In Mad Men mastermind Matthew Weiner's big-screen directorial debut, the aggressively unfunny Are You Here, all of the dark humor and delicate character shadings we're used to seeing on his TV series are conspicuously absent. He's swapped nuance for blunt-edged numskullery.
  52. The Trip to Italy
    While this sequel lacks the novelty of the first course, it's just as soulful and silly.
  53. Life After Beth
    The premise would make for a great Funny or Die video, but stretched out to feature length, it runs out of ideas pretty quickly. Still, Plaza is terrific. She commits so fully to her rabid, Romero-esque alter ego, she chews the movie up.
  54. Love Is Strange
    Sachs, Molina, and Lithgow have given adult moviegoers a perfect piece of summer counterprogramming — a warm, humane, resplendent romance to savor while our days are still long.
  55. Step Up: All In
    The space between the spectacles are just too laborious, creating the odd sensation that there's not quite enough dance in this dance movie.
  56. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    Turtles is head-and-shell better than "Transformers." Cowabunga?
  57. The Hundred-Foot Journey
    I never entirely bought the flirty détente between the two or believed in the rapturous power of a perfectly cooked sea urchin to solve the world's problems. But for two hours, at least, I swallowed it with a smile.
  58. What If
    An unctuous rom-com that runs its characters through every plastic cliché of a pre-Oscar McConaughey vehicle, ultimately causing us to root against the vacuous couple and their predetermined happy ending.
  59. Guardians of the Galaxy
    The film's a giddily subversive space opera that runs on self-aware smart-assery.
  60. Get On Up
    Get On Up too often plays it safe when it needs to be dangerous.
  61. The Killer Inside Me
    The Killer Inside Me may be the darkest film noir ever made.
  62. The Fluffy Movie
    Fluffy isn't awful, just disappointingly lightweight.
  63. And So It Goes
    The Rob Reiner of the past might have tackled a challenging topic, even in a romantic comedy. But that director, who hasn't made a good movie since the mid-1990s, is gone. So it goes.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Hercules
    When Johnson is wearing the head of the slayed Nemean lion in battle, walloping enemies with his tree-trunk sized club, and heaving charging horses to the ground with remarkable ease, he's in his Rock comfort zone. But as a tortured hero hampered by self-doubt, Johnson labors.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Lucy
    By the time the film exhausts itself—in a brisk 89 minutes — it feels like there's literally nowhere that Lucy and Besson can't go, no boundaries, no laws, no logic. Just go with it.
  66. The Purge: Anarchy
    When the situation is played totally straight, as it is for eighty percent of the running time, the message is boring: We'd all commit murder, theft and anarchy if only we could. With a narrative as depressively simplistic as that, we do find ourselves identifying with the characters in the movie—counting the minutes until the Purge is over.
  67. Magic in the Moonlight
    While it's breezy and funny and perfectly pleasant, you probably won't remember this particular gift by the time the next birthday rolls around.
  68. Sex Tape
    It's clumsy and wacky and intermittently amusing, and Rob Lowe looks like he's having a great time playing Real-Life Ned Flanders With a Deeply Weird Side once again.
  69. Wish I Was Here
    Braff, who co-wrote the film with his own brother, is clearly attached to the semiautobiographical material here and still has a knack for sweet two-person scenes.
  70. Planes: Fire & Rescue
    Despite somewhat of a direct-to-DVD plot, the perilous and elaborate rescue scenes are certainly big-screen-worthy. Canny references to '70s television and some genuinely funny moments will give grown-ups enough fuel to cross the finish line.
  71. I Origins
    It works its own sort of magic. After all, who doesn't want to believe that the soul does have a window, and that if it closes we might open it again?
  72. Mood Indigo
    A movie so stuffed with eccentricity, it rips at least a couple of seams.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    A Most Wanted Man
    Crackles with a jigsaw-puzzle intelligence and features a superbly subtle lead performance from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who single-handedly gooses the post-9/11 procedural through some of its slower patches.
  74. A Summer's Tale
    Eric Rohmer’s sun-kissed love quadrangle remains as fresh and romantically profound as it was 18 years ago.
  75. Happy Christmas
    That doesn’t stop the movie as a whole from feeling a little slight, though, like a Christmas tree that isn’t entirely filled out.
  76. Affluenza
    The generational conflict — overly ambitious parents and their disaffected millennial children — plays so on-the-nose it almost seems like satire, but it’s really just bad writing.
  77. A Long Way Down
    With an ace troupe like that, there are affecting moments, to be sure. But the movie criminally wastes Sam Neill and Rosamund Pike in barely there supporting roles, and the picture has exactly two tones: grim and gooey. They do not coexist harmoniously.
  78. Boyhood
    Like Michael Apted in his "Seven Up!" documentary series, Linklater makes you feel as if you're watching a photograph as it develops in the darkroom.
  79. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
    A sequel that easily tops its 2011 predecessor.
  80. Life Itself
    In the end, cancer may have cruelly taken Roger Ebert's voice, but it couldn't silence his greatest gift: his ability to speak to his audience directly, honestly, and with empathy. Thumbs up.
  81. Deliver Us From Evil
    This rote exorcism-is-real claptrap.
  82. Tammy
    It's a broad, helter-skelter farce whose best bits hinge almost entirely on the considerable charms of its star.
  83. 2016: Obama's America
    Dinesh D'Souza's documentary is no mere screed: 2016: Obama's America is a nonsensically unsubstantiated act of character assassination.
  84. Transformers: Age Of Extinction
    Ultimately, Age of Extinction is an endless barrage of nonsense and noise.
  85. Yves Saint Laurent
    Scenes between YSL and rock-steady lover Pierre Bergé (Guillaume Gallienne) spark, but the film stays too reverent to truly turn heads.
  86. Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
    With minimal conspiratorial bluster, Berlinger unmasks the compliant faces of evil.
  87. The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
    Swartz’s ex-girlfriend adds heart when she tearfully recalls first seeing the ”end date” on his Wikipedia page.
  88. La Bare
    Like the guys who gyrate on La Bare’s stage every night, the movie is luggish, good-hearted, and a little bit sad.
  89. They Came Together
    Most of the jokes land bluntly – ”This is a cliché!” – but tight pacing and a killer cast, which also includes Ed Helms and Christopher Meloni, make up for the inconsistent gags.
  90. Snowpiercer
    Snowpiercer sucks you into its strange, brave new world so completely, it leaves you with the all-too-rare sensation that you've just witnessed something you've never seen before...and need to see again.
  91. Begin Again
    "Once" was a small and well-loved heirloom, its imperfections part of the charm. But Begin Again has been burnished to a shiny dullness.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Think Like a Man Too
    In several instances, you can sense that director Tim Story simply rolled the proverbial ball out to Hart on the court and called the play: Make it funny. Hart scores occasionally, but Think Like a Man Too loses by double digits.
  93. Venus in Fur
    What is surprising is how little Polanski juices the material with his usual devilish touch.
  94. Third Person
    The three main narratives cut back and forth between New York, Paris, and Rome, which is the best thing the movie has going for it: picturesque locations. Unfortunately, by the time we're done taking in the sights and Haggis finally coughs up his third-act puzzle-box twist, it comes off as a big metaphysical So What.
  95. Jersey Boys
    The biggest problem is that the film, written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, never makes a convincing case for why Valli the man or the singer matters beyond the music in the way that "Ray" and "Walk the Line" did for Ray Charles and Johnny Cash.
  96. The Rover
    A major disappointment. Bleak, brutal, and ultimately pointless.
  97. Lullaby
    A raft of fine actors – including Amy Adams, Richard Jenkins, and Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay – are wasted in a sour, callow family drama that mistakes constant yelling for emotional tension and fortune-cookie aphorisms for wisdom.
  98. Hellion
    Despair is not quiet for a broken father (Aaron Paul) and his troublemaker sons in Kat Candler’s brisk, transfixing drama, which takes place in blue-collar southeast Texas.
  99. Heli
    The film’s nihilism serves as a metaphor for the merciless death pit of Mexico’s drug war, but not much else.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Violette
    In Martin Provost’s graceful biopic, Emmanuelle Devos plays Leduc as a powder keg of a woman who used her loneliness and insecurity as the explosive fuel for her work.
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