Philadelphia Daily News' Scores

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For 363 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 52% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 The Last Days
Lowest review score: 25 The Happytime Murders
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 258 out of 363
  2. Mixed: 78 out of 363
  3. Negative: 27 out of 363
363 movie reviews
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  1. The Ghost and the Darkness
    The Ghost and the Darkness doesn't seem to know what to do with this unsettling bit of history. There is a little bit of Hemingway bullshit about manhood and courage and grace under pressure, but the movie always seems to be reaching for a philosophical/mystical edge that would have been better off in the hands of a director like Peter Weir. Instead, the job went to Stephen Hopkins, whose credits include "Nightmare on Elm Street 5" and "Predator 2," and whose taste for straightforward commercial thrills gets in the way of the stories more interesting possibilities. [11 Oct 1996, p.56]
    • Philadelphia Daily News
  2. Aladdin
    In some ways the movie’s crazy fictions suit today’s modern mash-up sensibilities, and its cast reflects the patterns of modern migration that are creating a whole new world.
  3. The Man Who Invented Christmas
    The movie is antic, bouncing frantically from one story element to another, and poor Stevens, looking electrocuted and sleep-deprived, plays Dickens like the Man Who Invented Meth.
  4. Dangerous Beauty
    Although a fact-based period drama set in 16th-century Venice, "Dangerous Beauty" is really an allegory about modern society's puritanical attitudes about sex. [27 Feb 1998, p.F7]
    • Philadelphia Daily News
  5. Roman J. Israel, Esq.
    What does work is Washington’s subtle, authentic, meticulous work as a walled-off, neurodiverse man.
  6. Atomic Blonde
    Atomic Blonde is what fans of the Clash used to call a poser.
  7. Ready Player One
    Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One is competent, occasionally rousing entertainment that nonetheless left me a little bummed.
  8. You Were Never Really Here
    It’s not very deeply felt. Phoenix gives his all, but Ramsay plops us down in the middle of Joe’s breakdown, before we can get our emotional bearings. We figure out who he was — abused child, traumatized soldier – before we get a sense of who he is.
  9. Bad Times at the El Royale
    Goddard provides ample space for his star-studded cast to play, often to great effect, thanks mostly to lesser-known stars like Erivo and Pullman. The production design is similarly engrossing, with the El Royale's endless corridors and secrets making it as much a character in the movie as any of its human players.
  10. Uncle Drew
    His script is good-natured, more genial than funny, though director (and Philadelphian) Charles Stone III does get some good work from star Irving, who proves surprisingly adept at playing low-key comedy.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist
    While I learned a lot about Westwood, it just didn’t feel like enough.
  12. It
    You almost wish the movie had jettisoned the horror elements entirely, and converted It into what it feels like it wants to be — something more like King’s Stand By Me, with a teen girl in the mix.
  13. Colette
    We're meant to thrill at Colette's emancipation, but when she breaks it off with wild Willy and finds true love (with Denise Gough) for the first time – built on respect and honest affection — it looks dreadfully dull.
  14. A Ghost Story
    Well, the movie is trippy and almost willfully opaque — all I can say for sure is I left A Ghost Story feeling full.
  15. Extreme Measures
    But as the increasingly far-fetched plot kicks in, the movie loses its personality, and plods toward a ludicrous conclusion that looks like the end result of a dozen desperate rewrites. [27 Sept 1996, p.04]
    • Philadelphia Daily News
  16. Iron Will
    It will entertain youngsters, the only people in America who have yet to see more "Rocky" movies than sunsets. [14 Jan 1994, p.50]
    • Philadelphia Daily News
  17. Puzzle
    Khan and Macdonald make it watchable.
  18. The Foreigner
    While the movie initially adheres to the Chan brand — emphasizing athleticism over violence — it turns grisly and vicious in the closing scenes.
  19. Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
    As usual, Hall is awesome. She has an effortless way of projecting ferocious female intellect, and we see why her character captivates Byrne. When Hall is on screen, the movie works.
  20. The Paper
    The Paper is helped a great deal by its appealing cast, and there are plenty of cleverly drawn supporting characters to help move things along - Randy Quaid stands out as the paper's gun-toting columnist. [25 March 1994, p.46]
    • Philadelphia Daily News
  21. Bill Nye: Science Guy
    As the movie explores Nye’s family history, we do see just how intertwined the threads of thinking and emotion can be.
  22. The Upside
    Even if you haven’t seen The Intouchables, you have a pretty good idea where the drama is headed. Still, The Upside nonetheless does an amiable job of taking you there, thanks to hard work by the two leads.
  23. Hotel Mumbai
    Hotel Mumbai sometimes surrenders to melodrama and action-genre imperatives, and it mixes actual people like Oberoi with fictional composites in a way that strays from the stringent just-the-facts discipline of a docudrama like United 93. But there is value, too, in its subjective approach.
  24. Ant-Man and the Wasp
    There’s too much convoluted plot...and the movie at times feels big and ponderous, like Ant-Man when his malfunctioning suit does the opposite of its normal effect.... There are also too few jokes, and though Rudd and Peña work like mad to get laughs, they come up well short of optimal levels achieved in Thor: Ragnarok.
  25. Glass
    There is a lot of plot in those final minutes, and don’t bother trying to outguess the magician. He pulls a rabbit out of a hat, just to distract you from the next rabbit.
  26. Home Again
    Meyers-Shyer loves movies as much as the young men in Home Again and the best scenes reflect that.
  27. Wildlife
    It's a bold and borderline eccentric performance by Mulligan.
  28. It: Chapter Two
    Your fear that the movie will never end is the most palpable fear offered by Chapter Two, which substitutes spectacle for the creeping, escalating dread the story is meant to have, and that the first movie had in modest amounts.
  29. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
    Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) has been brought in to class up the dialogue, and add some one-liners.... In addition, director Parker does some clever things visually.
  30. First Knight
    First Knight manages to fill the screen with enough swashbuckling to keep things interesting for a while. [07 Jul 1995, p.29]
    • Philadelphia Daily News
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