Film Journal International's Scores

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For 225 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 56% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 42% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Alien
Lowest review score: 10 The Happytime Murders
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 151 out of 225
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 225
  3. Negative: 31 out of 225
225 movie reviews
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  1. Do You Trust this Computer?
    With its star-studded cast of experts, from Ray Kurzweil and Elon Musk to automated warfare experts like Peter Singer, and a brief that is nothing short of the survival of humanity, Do You Trust This Computer? is a more sprawling and diffuse piece of work. It has a larger frame of reference than Paine’s battery-car docs but never hammers it into shape.
  2. Cielo
    There’s a “Let it be” sense to McAlpine’s soft exhortations, which struck me as a little ironic, since her Cielo might have garnered more of the appreciation it deserves if she herself had quieted and simply let it, the sky, be, in all the reverent glory she with the silent poetry of her camera was already showing us.
  3. Crazy Rich Asians
    Chu is definitely not an actor’s director, being far more concerned with splashy spectacle than intimate human emotions, and often you can feel scenes go slightly dead, with his performers likely called upon to improv their lines and motivation as best they can.
  4. The Swan
    The simplicity and wonder of Sól’s quest for identity is muddled by pretense, and by circumstances and subplots that are tangential to her.
  5. Elizabeth Harvest
    The film isn’t a genre changer, but it’s elegant and admirably remorseless—and when it breaks bad, it breaks very bad indeed.
  6. Skate Kitchen
    In the end, Skate Kitchen is a frustrating film that’s supposed to elicit a heady sense of freedom, girl power and a rush of sisterhood. It doesn’t. Instead, one is left feeling vaguely hollow.
  7. The Island
    Bo’s secret weapon in The Island is Shu Qi, an effortlessly magnetic star who enlivens even the dullest material. Kept in the background for a lot of the story, she still brings a welcome human touch to a plot that keeps threatening to turn into a lecture.
  8. A Prayer Before Dawn
    Credit director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and Cole for an impressive achievement that takes viewers on an intense journey.
  9. The Meg
    Is it a particularly great movie? No. Does it have some pretty major structural problems? Yes. Does Jason Statham fight a giant, prehistoric shark in it? Yes. Verdict: See The Meg. The Meg will cleanse your soul.
  10. Dog Days
    No spoiler here that all unfolds with twists and complications but lands in a colorful kibble bowl of happy endings. Surprise does lie in the fact that such familiar material can deliver some unexpected pleasures.
  11. BlacKkKlansman
    The seams definitely show in the film’s effort to contain all the comment, comedy, horror, romance and drama, but Lee handily orchestrates the layout of the period and players.
  12. Madeline's Madeline
    In the end, the fine acting cannot salvage the uninspired material that fancies itself cutting-edge yet is paradoxically dated. Madeline’s Madeline might have been innovative in the mid-’60s, but its novelty has long expired.
  13. McQueen
    McQueen, the exhilarating, heartbreaking documentary by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, presents an almost excruciatingly intimate portrait of this genius.
  14. Cocote
    Cocote’s narrative structure exhibits a tidy symmetry, strongly suggesting that what ultimately transpires has a certain inevitability to it, that cycles of retribution and vendetta all too easily devolve into vicious circles.
  15. The Darkest Minds
    The Darkest Minds isn’t atrocious so much as it’s just plain dull, which is a worse kind of bad to be.
  16. 40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie
    There is magic in this film's ode to growing old and being with the people who knew us young.
  17. Hot Summer Nights
    It’s a flashy film, but also rather derivative. In the end, Hot Summer Nights is a study in the power of talented actors to elevate material.
  18. The Captain
    Schwentke’s delectable drama is ultimately a keen indictment of the stereotypical German affinity for efficiency and the sense of community born of bonding together in the hurting of others.
  19. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
    It’s a raunchy, rollicking story of movie legends off the set and between the sheets.
  20. Killer Bees
    It’s a movie made with an insider’s knowledge (directors Ben and Orson Cummings are both proud graduates of the school) and affection (Shaquille O’Neal is one of the producers, as is art-world titan Larry Gagosian). And yet, while it has heartwarming moments, it’s not a predictable, eager-to-please entertainment.
  21. Never Goin' Back
    Marking her feature debut, Frizzell’s direction is competent, but her screenplay, which is semi-autobiographical, is a series of vignettes that narrowly add up to a narrative.
  22. Searching
    Searching is so smart about how we interact with computers that it's surprising how lame it is about moviemaking basics like characters and plot.
  23. The Miseducation of Cameron Post
    The unrelenting gloom and oppressive atmosphere verge on the exploitative.
  24. Gavagai
    Gavagai is a curiosity and nonetheless remarkable in its own way. Slow (very slow) paced, it’s a meditative, haunting and lyrical film that explores the many layers of love and grief.
  25. Nico, 1988
    Dyrholm fully immerses herself in the iconic legend that was Nico, at the same time investing her with so much desperately pulsing life—a true artist portraying another—that it uplifts what could have been a very dreary slog of a movie.
  26. The Spy Who Dumped Me
    It’s a deliriously silly, often preposterous movie...but director Susanna Fogel keeps things moving too quickly to leave much time for complaints.
  27. Puzzle
    Puzzle proudly wears its unfussy metaphors on its sleeve, while sidestepping trite clichés of stories about self-discovery. Its premise might sound dull, but this charming crowd-pleaser is thankfully anything but—so much that Puzzle might even restore your faith in remakes.
  28. The Bleeding Edge
    Sharply argued, indignantly one-sided and stylistically monotonous The Bleeding Edge sometimes seems closer to angry PSA than documentary. But that may not be a distinction that matters.
  29. 14 Cameras
    What makes it play is Archambault, who gives a strikingly unpleasant performance as Gerald.
  30. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
    Ultimately, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is fun enough, if unmemorable. If you’re not already invested in the property, you probably won’t find enough in it to make it worth your time.
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