Philadelphia Inquirer's Scores

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For 4,176 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 70% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 27% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 Hell or High Water
Lowest review score: 0 The Mangler
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,145 out of 4176
  2. Mixed: 682 out of 4176
  3. Negative: 349 out of 4176
4176 movie reviews
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  1. WALL-E
    With rich, detailed, cinematic animation and terrific sound effects, WALLE pulls this unlikely love story off.
  2. King Georges
    The relationship between the young American and the old Frenchman is as rich as one of Perrier's sauces: the pupil and the teacher, the son and the father, the keen protégé and the stubborn classicist.
  3. Trumbo
    It's a period piece full of colorful characters, natty costumes, jaunty music.
  4. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
    This sweet, yet unsentimental film is about growing up, losing innocence, and longing for a place, and people, to call home.
  5. Waking Sleeping Beauty
    A fascinating, albeit self-congratulatory, account of how Disney's fabled animation department was reenergized and reimagined between 1984 and 1994.
  6. Guess Who
    A comedy as likable as its stars.
  7. Recess: School's Out
    Refreshingly subversive.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  8. City Hall
    The more Pacino overplays, the more Cusack underplays, which makes for a fascinating contrast in acting styles. True, Cusack's dialect is more "Louie, Louie" than Louisiana, but he projects such moral spotlessness that none of the film's cynicism can soil him. That's acting. [16 Feb 1996, p.03]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  9. Reality Bites
    Sneakily funny and hopelessly romantic, Reality Bites speaks with the distinctive, ironic voice that marks it as The Graduate of Generation X. [18 Feb 1994, p.03]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  10. Garden State
    The best performances are those of Portman and the resourceful Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass) as Mark.
  11. Exporting Raymond
    I mean no disrespect to Rosenthal when I say I laughed louder during the movie than during any episode of his hit TV show.
  12. A Little Help
    This is one of the smarter, more honest scripts to be filmed in quite some time. And Jenna Fischer, star of "The Office," gives one of the smarter, more honest - and vulnerable, and tough - performances by an actress on the big screen in an even longer stretch.
  13. El cantante
    It's a soaring, crashing, blazing affair with pyrotechnic performances by real-life spouses Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez as Lavoe and his wife, Puchi. Like a plane disaster, it holds you in thrall of ¡ay, Dios mio! drama.
  14. Secretariat
    The result, if occasionally forced, is also irresistible.
  15. I Served the King of England
    Delicious confection about the resilient Czech character, tastes like a bittersweet chocolate souffle, it's much more substantial than dessert.
  16. Every Little Step
    Do you need to have seen A Chorus Line to understand or enjoy Every Little Step? I think not. This companion piece to one of America's most beloved musicals is about human longings and shortfalls.
  17. Adorenarin doraibu
    A high-energy chase, but in this spirited action comedy Yaguchi still finds time to allow the romance between lovers on the run to blossom at its own pace.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  18. Inside Deep Throat
    Offers a diverting tale of erstwhile indie filmmaking and the power of porn to generate change - both at the box office and in the bedroom.
  19. Another Earth
    Another Earth has heft - emotionally, intellectually.
  20. Mission: Impossible III
    Unlike the previous two films in this series, Abrams is more concerned with his hero's heart than with his hardware. The result is a pulse-racing thriller that restores the human factor to the franchise, and to its producer-star.
  21. Harsh Times
    Bale brings intense energy (and a convincing American accent) to the proceedings, and the film manages to make this borderline Travis Bickle into a sympathetic character - with a sweetheart, and a sweeter life, beckoning from south of the border. Strong stuff.
  22. Crazy/Beautiful
    An intelligent romance that cuts against the grain of the youth-pic genre, crazy/beautiful boasts a scarily good performance from Dunst.
  23. Legally Blonde
    Smart screwball comedy that upends the stereotype of the airhead towhead.
  24. Shall We Dance
    The new film compensates with Gere's wry performance as a man who lacks for nothing material but hungers for something spiritual. Even better is Stanley Tucci's delirious turn as Gere's balding, button-down colleague.
  25. Lebanon, Pa.
    Hickernell's film aesthetic is straightforward, narrative-driven.
  26. X-Men: Days of Future Past
    Ambitious, even audacious, the movie's mix of action and for-devotees-only intrigue can overwhelm, but there are moments of sheer virtuosity, too.
  27. Safety Not Guaranteed
    It's about time: Aubrey Plaza gets her own movie!
  28. Price of Glory
    Hollywood keeps turning out boxing movies. Price of Glory is the latest to step into the ring and face an increasingly no-win situation
  29. Sarah's Key
    Excellent performances make the movie effective. Yet the flashbacks have a depth and resonance largely absent from the modern scenes.
  30. The Closet
    It's a bright and breezy piece, and a refreshing alternative to the gross-out Hollywood comedies.
  31. Sisters
    It's a sweet, funny comedy starring two of the best and brightest in the game.
  32. The Adventures of Tintin
    And if there's a problem with Tintin, it's that it's too big and booming.
  33. The Business of Strangers
    In The Business of Strangers the right words are hard to come by, but the truth of them -- and the lies -- cut to the quick.
  34. CQ
    CQ is a movie for movie-lovers, by a movie-lover: Roman Coppola, son of Francis Ford and a successful commercial and video director in his own right, making a witty, whimsical feature debut.
  35. The Virgin Suicides
    There's a melancholy sweetness here, a gentle humor that speaks to the angst and awkwardness of girls turning into women, and the awe of boys watching the transformation from afar.
  36. Firehouse Dog
    A touching, family-friendly entertainment
  37. The Secret Life of Bees
    The filmmakers give Latifah and Fanning room to create characters that breathe in the sweet smell of clover and breathe out the contented sigh of independence.
  38. The Invisible Woman
    Jones (Like Crazy) gives Nelly's tragic plight a palpable anguish. There is no doubt that Dickens - who was mad about theater, about acting, about inhabiting other lives onstage and in the pages of his books - was in love with Nelly.
  39. Stoker
    A beautifully twisted, slow-burning psychothriller that may or may not all be taking place inside India's head.
  40. Down from the Mountain
    If the heart of the film is Hartford, who late in his struggle with cancer conveys the luminous colors of a man at his twilight, its soul is Welch.
  41. Trees Lounge
    Buscemi has pulled off a deft feat: He doesn't romanticize his characters, but he doesn't condemn them as losers either. They're just people. [25 Oct 1996, p.12]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  42. Robot and Frank
    It's an Alzheimer's allegory, full of humanity, heart, and humor.
  43. Facing Windows
    Facing Windows is rich stuff. Maybe too rich. But thanks to fine performances and a grounded script, the pieces of this intriguing little puzzle all manage to fit.
  44. Win Win
    The same kind of keen, empathetic observations that made "The Station Agent" and "The Visitor" so illuminating are at play here, too.
  45. Head-On
    Despite all its roiling melodrama, Head-On has its moments of sharply observed humor.
  46. Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
    Silverman is wickedly fast. Her timing kills.
  47. The Other F Word
    And talk about transcendent parenting moments: When Lindberg's girls pull out their Barbies, the Pennywise singer goes and gets his Devo doll to play with them.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    Remarkable documentary.
  49. Douchebag
    Mostly, Doremus' movie rings true, as some truly jerky behavior ensues.
  50. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell.
  51. Meek's Cutoff
    I wanted to like Meek's Cutoff more than I did. Reichardt and her writer, Jonathan Raymond, bring a quiet, watchful sensibility to their work, allowing the actors room to reflect and riff. But the stilted language and rectitude of the times don't always mesh with the acting.
  52. Funny People
    Funny People turns out to be fairly predictable, and not so rough. In a thoroughly satisfying way.
  53. The Double
    Kafka-esque, Terry Gilliam-esque (Brazil), Charlie Kaufman-esque (remember Floor 71/2 in Being John Malkovich?), and David Lynch-ian, too, The Double plays like a nightmare that will leave you spooked, jittery, and confused. Well, that's how it plays for Simon, anyway. For everyone else, it should leave us simply amused.
  54. Clash of the Titans
    Clash of the Titans is ancient Greece at its cheesiest. It's a big hunk of feta comin' at ya in 3-D.
  55. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
    It wants to be "Wedding Crashers," but it's not nearly as memorable, smart, or sweet.
  56. Just Cause
    Just Cause is an entertaining if overwrought death-row thriller built on the pros and cons of the capital punishment debate, and it owes most of its appeal to the presence of Sean Connery. [17 Feb 1995, p.03]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  57. Chocolat
    Too bad Chocolat isn't as seductive as its leading lady.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  58. Lars and the Real Girl
    By movie's end, it seems like the only one giving a truly genuine performance is Bianca. Mouth-agape, steadfastly mum.
  59. Sylvia
    Despite an exceptional performance by Paltrow, whose Plath is a layer cake of infinite intelligence and bottomless need, Jeffs' film is an icy affair lacking the fever of Plath's and Hughes' poems.
  60. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
    By the time the end finally arrives, you realize you haven't laughed in quite a while and, instead, have been thinking about the chores you have to do after you leave the theater. As diversions go, that's pretty diluted.
  61. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
    In terms of character, McConaughey is the toxin and Garner the antitoxin. It's not exactly chemistry, but as pharmacology it's effective.
  62. A Knight's Tale
    A bewildering but never boring yarn.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  63. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
    Popstar gets to satirize not just music, but also celebrity culture in a way that a movie such as Spinal Tap never could - because, well, the internet and 24-hours news cycle didn't exist in 1984.
  64. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
    Mr. & Mrs. Smith kicks off with panache and star power - and quickly wears out its welcome.
  65. Scary Movie
    Its grossness knows no bounds, and you'd have to be dead not to laugh.
  66. The Boss
    It's not great, either, but it is better than mediocre.
  67. Year One
    Dopey but resourceful yukfest.
  68. The End of the Line
    What's a fish-lover to do? For starters, know where your fish comes from. Don't consume endangered species. After watching this film, you may never want to eat fish again.
  69. Executive Decision
    Baird is a highly regarded editor of action films, and his debut as a director shows a sharp eye for the tensions and angles in individual scenes. But his grasp of pace is less certain, and it exposes the movie's more outlandish developments. [15 Mar 1996, p.03]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  70. The Shadow
    Like its own hero - and so many recent films - The Shadow suffers from a split personality. At some moments, this can have a poetic impact. More often, though, it seems the result of sloppiness. [01 Jul 1994, p.05]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  71. Scooby-Doo
    Would I see it again? Not even for a Scooby snack.
  72. They
    They has a low-budget, generic feel -- but also enough sense to know that unseen menace is a lot creepier than explicit gore.
  73. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    Lost in a time warp of its own doing (or non-doing), Hitchhiker's Guide just doesn't seem terribly original.
  74. The Expendables 2
    It's like a bath of stale testosterone as these Hollywood tough guys from the '80s swap references to their most famous movie lines. Their individual entrances are the primary pleasure of The Expendables 2.
  75. Our Kind of Traitor
    Our Kind of Traitor strains credulity: The world it attempts to depict - international organized crime - is too large, too unmanageable and too easily caricatured.
  76. 5x2
    Cool, clinical and not altogether convincing.
  77. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
    While the film starring Abigail Breslin as a resourceful 10-year-old is faithful to the Kit books, it's pokey where it should be perky.
  78. Don't Come Knocking
    T Bone Burnett's soundtrack has the appropriate twang to give Wenders' Hopperesque tableaux a nice, filmic poetry. But as arresting as the images are, Shepard's clunky, soap-opera banter brings most everything, and everyone, crashing down to earth.
  79. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
    Despite the movie’s emphasis on physical action, it’s this chemistry that keeps the movie going.
  80. The Importance of Being Earnest
    Despite good taste and good will, this romp through Victorian parlors frequently falls flat on its rump.
  81. Bran Nue Dae
    Great? No. But Bran Nue Dae is great good fun.
  82. Bring It On
    A likable, low-budget high school comedy.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  83. If I Stay
    Any movie that considers the possibility of an afterlife, or the possibility that there isn't one, without first getting all postapocalyptic about it, merits some respect. Stay, Mia, stay!
  84. Footloose
    As remakes go, Footloose is fine, serving up slightly fresher batches of cheese and corn. But why? Why?
  85. The Cat's Meow
    The film is better on mood than on message, sharply etching the professional desperation behind the forced gaiety.
  86. Stardust
    Brings too much of EVERYTHING to the table: It's the cinema equivalent of a long, winding, run-on sentence.
  87. The White Ribbon
    Unlike "Caché" and "Code: Unknown," where Haneke's investigations into societal and spiritual despair resonated with poetic force, The White Ribbon doesn't resonate at all.
  88. Downfall
    Has the arc of a Shakespearean tragedy, and all the essential components therein: loyalty and betrayal, conspiracy and delusion, self-destruction.
  89. A Tale of Love and Darkness
    A Tale of Love and Darkness loses itself in dreamy imagery, in its studiously crafted aesthetic. But there are times when Portman lets the toughness, the tenacity, the emotional heart of Oz's story shine through.
  90. Life After Beth
    Featuring an awe-inspiring, stellar performance by Parks and Recreation's (and Wilmington's) Aubrey Plaza as Beth, the film opens with the high school girl's short-lived death.
  91. The Big Year
    With ambitions greater than comedy and results that fall short of character study, The Big Year is neither fish nor fowl.
  92. Bad Moms
    Kunis, rebounding from the disastrous Jupiter Ascending (an unintentional comedy if ever there was one), demonstrates an easygoing comic flair.
  93. A Good Woman
    Hunt, whose flutelike voice makes music of Wilde's dialogue, has the most difficult role. While she acquits herself honorably, she nudges her lines a little too broadly, as if she's worried that the audience will miss the double meanings and wordplay.
  94. Chi-Raq
    In-your-face polemic, with nowhere to go once the point has been made. Repeatedly.
  95. Battle for Haditha
    Lacking in subtlety and nuance, Broomfield's nerve-jangling movie nonetheless succeeds in showing the war from various vantage points. And from wherever one's standing, the view is profoundly disturbing.
  96. Back to the Future Part II
    Fans of the original should relish going back to Back to the Future, as long as they keep in mind that in movies - as in life - you can't go home again. And if you do, things aren't likely to be the same. [22 Nov 1989, p.E1]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  97. Jack the Giant Slayer
    Peter Jackson devotees may not like to hear this, but Jack the Giant Slayer is far more accomplished, visually speaking, than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Snooze, I mean, Journey.
  98. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
    Unlike the first film, which was broader and more episodic, this one has a narrative throughline.
  99. The Iron Ladies
    A goofy sports inspirational.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Get On Up
    As superb as Boseman is - moving with athletic grace, doing splits with hair curled in a sky-high pompadour, approximating Brown's rapid-fire, guttural speaking voice without descending to Eddie Murphy SNL parody - he's never quite good enough to convince you you're watching the Hardest Working Man in Show Business up on screen.
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