NPR's Scores

Select another publication »
For 1,073 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 60% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 37% 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 Amour
Lowest review score: 0 This Means War
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 694 out of 1073
  2. Mixed: 317 out of 1073
  3. Negative: 62 out of 1073
1073 movie reviews
view
per page
  1. A Single Man
    An exquisite, almost sensual grief suffuses every frame of A Single Man.
  2. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
    Photographed with bare-bones simplicity by longtime Herzog collaborator Peter Zeitlinger, My Son presents yet another Herzogian hero who views insanity as the only logical response to an insane world.
  3. The Blind Side
    Unlike the tale told in "Precious", however, The Blind Side's story is contrived, storybook sweet, credulity-straining and ... um, true.
  4. 2012
    Say this for Roland Emmerich's latest movie: It IS a disaster.
  5. The Messenger
    Messengers with the worst possible message, they nonetheless manage to be human and alive, humorous and lively. In a film that itself bears such sad tidings about the costs of war, that is an affirming, even an inspiring, gift.
  6. Pirate Radio
    What comes through is the freshness and innocence of a generation's passion for the infant rock 'n' roll.
  7. Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
    Its story ends up packing an emotional wallop as substantial as its title character.
  8. The Fourth Kind
    When he divides the screen into quadrants for his big finish, the effect is just laughable -- but then by that point, the movie is too.
  9. A Christmas Carol
    Gary Oldman pulls off his own hat trick, playing both noble Bob Cratchit and sickly Tiny Tim, as well as Scrooge's late partner, Marley, who haunts the miser in fluorescent green.
  10. Collapse
    If nothing else, while watching Ruppert, you'll believe he believes this stuff.
  11. Turning Green
    On balance, though, Turning Green is more fresh than stale. Gallery holds his own impressively with the better-known supporting players, and the script -- a Project Greenlight runner-up -- is solidly constructed.
  12. Amelia
    The result is verisimilitude without engagement -- a risk-taker's story told entirely without narrative risk -- and a movie that consequently never takes flight.
  13. (Untitled)
    (Untitled) does have great moments, particularly in its technical execution -- the director began his career as a musician, and his command of sound design is particularly imaginative.
  14. Antichrist
    For a hymn to panic and hostility, the movie is curiously artful. But only the most sympathetic viewers will find that its poetry outweighs its belligerence.
  15. Motherhood
    Motherhood doesn't really need a recession to call attention to its flaws. The movie's a perfect dud on its own terms.
  16. Law Abiding Citizen
    We're supposed to be awed, but a more reasonable response is to giggle. How does a Kevlar tie kill? And if it can, why hasn't the CIA sent a Kevlar scarf to Osama bin Laden?
  17. Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
    By and large, the tone is gentle, the music French, and the food shot so delectably that you can all but smell the freshly baked bread.
  18. The Maid
    In the end what drives the movie is the hip young filmmaker's struggle with himself -- his showman's need to toy with our anxieties threatening to overwhelm his desire to make amends to all the servants he took for granted growing up.
  19. New York, I Love You
    Despite Benhiby's best efforts to create one from many, the only thing the roughly 10-minute segments in New York, I Love You have in common are a general air of indifference.
  20. Couples Retreat
    First-time feature director Peter Billingsley could have enlivened the action with more vigorous editing. Everything takes too long, and the slapstick sequences are particularly lethargic.
  21. Bronson
    He's neither victim nor hero, but a man who, in every conceivable sense, belongs behind bars.
  22. The Damned United
    A dramedy laying out the dueling coaching philosophies of guys who doubtless meant a great deal to fans, but of whom I'd been blissfully unaware for decades -- is enormously engaging. Enormously.
  23. Good Hair
    Good Hair isn't selling anything but a good time.
  24. Fame
    My advice to potential audiences: Find something else to do.
  25. The Boys Are Back
    The effect is weirdly lulling. Viewers with a special connection to this story, or a weakness for little boys and single dads, may find The Boys Are Back moving. For everyone else, the movie is merely picturesque.
  26. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
    Faced with the unenviable choice between honoring his daunting inspiration and telling his own story, the director shoots straight down the middle -- and misses both targets.
  27. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
    Ends with a big action sequence, turning into Raiders of the Lost Arby's when you wish it would serve up something less conventional. But by that time, the filmmakers have also served up a little food for thought, along with a lot of laughs.
  28. Love Happens
    If that's the best Hollywood screenwriters can do, maybe they should sign up for a self-help seminar. Nothing focuses the mind like a little firewalking.
  29. Disgrace
    John Malkovich has played some odd ducks in his career, but for sheer unsavoriness, few can match the blandly monstrous Cape Town poetry professor he brings to off-putting life in Disgrace.
  30. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
    Like the decent B-movie director that he is, Hyams tosses in two gripping car chases and blows up a few more vehicles for good measure. But otherwise, there's little in this pointless rehash to distract audiences from the pleasure of watching Tamblyn.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »