Philadelphia Inquirer's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Select another publication »
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 3.3 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
view
per page
  1. Red Planet
    It stars the striking Moss, that fierce beauty from "The Matrix," as the sternest, sexiest babe in space since Sigourney Weaver's Lieutenant Ripley.
  2. Men of Honor
    A stalwart military inspirational.
  3. The Legend of Bagger Vance
    A knuckleheaded period piece.
  4. Boesman and Lena
    Fugard’s classic minimalist drama comes eloquently to film.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  5. Charlie's Angels
    What's on screen is a hash, though it may very well be the most comprehensive catalog of male erotic fantasies in one single film.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  6. George Washington
    Although rough, it's a gem.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  7. Vénus beauté (institut)
    A pink-collar "Sex and the City" made urgent by the performance of Nathalie Baye.
  8. The Sculptress
    Awesomely ridiculous thriller.
  9. What's Cooking?
    Her (Chadha) film tastily demonstrates that variety is the spice of not only American life, but of American cuisine.
  10. Lucky Numbers
    This invitation to look down upon the stupidity of numskulls is one that should be declined as swiftly as a call to poke fun at Special Olympians.
  11. A Time for Drunken Horses
    A disturbing and forceful drama.
  12. Stardom
    A naughtily funny, skin-deep satire.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  13. The Little Vampire
    The obstacles are many, most notably Rookery, a local vampire hunter who looks like a rejected extra from "Mad Max."
  14. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
    Has the incoherent look of a movie thrown together by a committee whose members weren't on the same page.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  15. Bedazzled
    A temptation that can be easily and safely resisted.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  16. Calle 54
    Trueba's movie is nearly undone by its shapelessness. Because the filmmaker imposes little in the way of form (or drama) on his subject, his film is a good listen without being a particularly good watch.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  17. The Legend of Drunken Master
    He (Lee) combines the daredeviltry of Buster Keaton with the devil-may-care of Errol Flynn.
  18. The Yards
    Instead of the usual contrast of black and white, The Yards offers a vivid palette of grays, and it's a far more rewarding color scheme for a movie.
  19. Pay It Forward
    It's a pretty nice movie until, like a Ponzi plan, it collapses.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  20. Dr T and the Women
    The movie that pretends to celebrate women devolves into the complaint of a wronged man.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  21. The Ladies Man
    A collection of double entendres that would make a stevedore blush.
  22. Cleopatra's Second Husband
    Laced with a venomous wit, and turning progressively creepier as it unfolds, writer-director Jon Reiss' movie offers a black-humored study of suppressed rage, sexual gamesmanship, domination and subordination.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  23. Billy Elliot
    One of those movies where it's impossible not to find yourself cheering for the scruffy underdog hero.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  24. Just Looking
    A coming-of-age film that has the jaunty mood and egg-cream flavor of a Philip Roth memoir.
  25. Lost Souls
    Dark and murky, grainy and grim.
  26. Ratcatcher
    Ramsay's child actors are nonprofessionals who can only express what they feel — which gives her film an unusual degree of emotional authenticity.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  27. One
    A worthy subject is poorly executed.
  28. The Contender
    A sharp, intricate political drama.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  29. Get Carter
    A thuddingly dull remake of the 1971 crime drama starring Michael Caine.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  30. Two Family House
    Sweet-natured but overdone, over-long film.
  31. CyberWorld
    More about future potential than present achievement.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  32. Yi Yi
    It may be the first meditative action movie.
  33. Taboo
    Ripe with homoeroticism, but also with what the director — who made the film after recovering from a stroke a few years back — calls "the scent of murder."
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  34. Bamboozled
    It's a film about dumbing down that has the effect of wising up its audience.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  35. Meet the Parents
    Blithely funny and on-the-money movie.
  36. Requiem for a Dream
    Aronofsky has fashioned a chilling vision that lives up to the caustic irony of its title and gives us a nightmare that is not lightly forgotten.
  37. Girlfight
    Rodriguez is riveting, with a drop-dead cynical charm.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  38. The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
    An undemanding and reassuring amiability that made it a crowd-pleaser at Sundance.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Barenaked in America
    Provide more than you ever wanted to know about the reigning kings of geekpop, but he (Priestly) does so without giving you much reason to care.
  40. Remember the Titans
    A conventional, button-pushing but emotionally affecting tale.
  41. Beautiful
    To do this kind of satire successfully, you need the kind of merciless and unrelenting wit of films such as Gus Van Sant's "To Die For" or John Huston's "Prizzi's Honor."
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  42. Best in Show
    A droll piece of deadpan played with mostly unerring pitch by a talented cast.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  43. Urban Legends: Final Cut
    Has a dark, low-budget feel and an incongruous combination of self-consciously jokey patter and gross-out gore.
  44. Woman on Top
    Tries too hard to be playful and sensual, wacky and romantic, and comes away feeling fake and prefabricated instead.
  45. Dancer in the Dark
    A movie that by turns is wincingly awful and heartbreakingly fine. It boasts an unforgettable performance by Björk.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  46. Left Luggage
    An exceptional film -- unpacks long-buried suitcases, both figuratively and literally.
  47. Human Resources
    A fresh, striking and rewarding piece of work.
  48. Goya in Bordeaux
    Triumphs by taking an elliptical approach that still reaches directly into the very core of genius.
  49. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
    A powerful and moving contribution to the cinema of the Holocaust.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  50. Urbania
    An edgy, disturbing drama.
  51. Duets
    Duets is to movies what karaoke is to pop: a spirited attempt by non-pros.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  52. Almost Famous
    Crowe is so good on mood and milieu that when Elton John's bubblegum ballad "Tiny Dancer" swells on the soundtrack, in this context it sounds like a hymn.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  53. The Way of the Gun
    So many characters to keep track of, so little time!
  54. Pola X
    Long and lugubrious.
  55. The Watcher
    Has its compelling moments, and its playfully inventive ones, too.
  56. Whipped
    Lewd, crude, blessedly brief.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  57. Titanic Town
    Violence ignites her passion, dividing her Belfast family.
  58. Madadayo
    A profound and deeply moving exploration of facing death with dignity.
  59. Dark Days
    Isn't as strong a film as it could have been: Only teasing slices of these people's lives are offered.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  60. Bring It On
    A likable, low-budget high school comedy.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  61. Solomon & Gaenor
    Nicely filmed and acted.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Bittersweet Motel
    It falls short of its tie-dye target.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  63. Love & Sex
    Feels thoroughly canned.
  64. The Crew
    The "Golden Girls" with gats.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  65. Place Vendôme
    A slow and knotted-up film, but one imbued with a keen sense of what motivates people beyond mere avarice.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack
    What gives the story added insight - and detracts from it - is the personal quest of the filmmaker who bears the scars of having an itinerant rogue who was never around as a father.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  67. The Original Kings of Comedy
    Side-splitting concert film.
  68. The Cell
    Has its effectively nasty, chilling moments -- and it also brings body piercing to new heights of ickiness.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  69. Godzilla 2000
    An enjoyable throwback to the way monster movies used to be made.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  70. Bless the Child
    The unintentional effect of movies like Bless the Child is that they are enough to make agnostics out of true believers.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  71. Cecil B. DeMented
    Maybe Waters set out to prove Karl Marx's observation that all great events happen twice, first as tragedy and the second time as farce.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  72. The Replacements
    Harmless, mindless and shameless.
  73. The Opportunists
    It's a character study, nicely realized.
  74. An Affair of Love
    An extraordinarily perfect little film: A bittersweet drama that explores sexuality and love, and their reverberations across the landscape of human emotions.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  75. Autumn in New York
    Not only do they (Gere and Ryder) lack chemistry, they lack physics, zoology, botany and geology.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  76. Aimee & Jaguar
    A standout.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  77. The Tao of Steve
    Loose, eminently likable stuff.
  78. Saving Grace
    A comedy of the old school. Depending on your view of the current state of screen humor, that's either a promise or a warning.
  79. The Tic Code
    An honest, plainspoken and unsentimental movie.
  80. Space Cowboys
    An amiable mix of "Grumpy Old Men" comedy and "Apollo 13" can-we-fix-this-jalopy-before-we-die? Drama.
  81. Hollow Man
    Verhoeven's most deeply disturbing film yet.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  82. Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
    Yes, bestiality in a PG-13 movie. It's the end of life as we know it.
  83. Girl on the Bridge
    Girl on the Bridge, with its doomed art-house romanticism and echoes of Fellini, may not be the deepest piece of filmmaking out there now, but it is easily the most intoxicating. Take the leap.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  84. Wonderland
    A crushingly sad, beautiful film.
  85. Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
    Serves up a dramatic comedy piquant as its title.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  86. The Wind Will Carry Us
    If you've had enough of the loony tunes coming from Florida, this piece of absurdist serio-comedy is the perfect picture.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  87. Loser
    She may not be the most cinematic of film artists, but Heckerling will make you smile.
  88. The Eyes of Tammy Faye
    It's a tale of survival and kitsch that will win you over.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  89. What Lies Beneath
    Dumb, dumb, dumb - borrowing scare tactics from Hitchcock and other suspense masters, but forgetting basic story.telling essentials such as character development and logical exposition.
  90. Rififi (re-release)
    The new print does justice to Philippe Agostini's splendidly atmospheric cinematography.
  91. Les amants criminels
    Both the leads are scarily good, and Ozon imbues his troubling tale with jarring blasts of light and the sun-dappled beauty of the natural world.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  92. Pokémon: The Movie 2000
    I could make a joke here about the new Pokemon movie.
  93. The Five Senses
    Thoughtfulness and artistry ...raise this small, quiet picture to moments of pure epiphany.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  94. Shadow Hours
    A pointless modern morality play set in various sleazy locales that offer sex, drugs, assorted perversions, bare-knuckle fights, and even Russian roulette where lives are wagered for money.
  95. X-Men
    Doesn't match up against the new millennium martial artistry of "The Matrix," nor do the special effects - but he knows how to establish characters and relationships.
  96. Water Drops on Burning Rocks
    You can feel the world closing in, which, I would venture, is exactly how Fassbinder wanted you to feel.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  97. The Kid
    There's nothing Disneyesque about this bomb except the forced levity of its musical score.
  98. I'm the One That I Want
    (Director Lionel Coleman) wisely opts for a straightforward approach with long takes that capture Cho's kinetic rhythm and rely on her talent and honed timing to carry the evening.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  99. Shower
    Told in a leisurely though concise 92 minutes, Shower is a purifying and refreshing spray of hope that family and lifestyle differences can be reconciled. Lovely.
  100. But I'm a Cheerleader
    Repetitive and tedious.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »