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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    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Tupac: Resurrection
    It's a compelling piece of propaganda that argues for Shakur, whose 1996 murder in Las Vegas at age 25 remains unsolved, as a complicated individual, ambitious artist and magnetic personality by using the most persuasive weapons at its command: Tupac himself.
  2. Sunshine Superman
    Sunshine Superman, named for the Donovan song, is about more than just Boenish. It's about the power of the image, something that Strauch uses to great effect.
  3. What's Cooking?
    Her (Chadha) film tastily demonstrates that variety is the spice of not only American life, but of American cuisine.
  4. Broken English
    As a director, Cassavetes is a keen observer of character and social interaction but not yet much of a visual stylist (which might also describe the improvisational dramas made by her actor/director father, John).
  5. Frontrunners
    Sure, it's a skewed view through adolescent eyes, but it's one that still speaks to the aspirations, agendas, image-making and spin control behind a real, grown-up political election.
  6. Tetro
    The result is visually inventive, narratively edgy, and unlike anything else.
  7. Dinosaur
    An undeniable and, indeed, unprecedented technical feat that's a feast for the eye, Dinosaur is less easy on the ear.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  8. Hustle & Flow
    A weird fusion of blaxploitation and American indie, built on a template of old-style, follow-your-dream Hollywood drama. But it works - sometimes magnificently.
  9. A Man Called Ove
    A charming, warm-hearted Swedish dramedy about the redemptive power of neighborly love.
  10. Tangled
    Much as I enjoyed this diversion, I couldn't help but think that The Princess and the Frog had better songs and (hand-painted) animation, and that Mulan was a ripping adventure that didn't need tweaking to qualify as an action flick.
  11. The Men Who Stare at Goats
    Has a glorious good time satirizing the extravagant lengths to which the military and intelligence establishments will go if they think there's a payoff at the other end.
  12. Evil Dead
    Alvarez triumphs because he made one crucial decision: Avoid digital animation and use only practical in-camera special effects. He uses every trick from classic Hollywood and invents a few of his own.
  13. Spider-Man: Far from Home
    The value and uses of spectacle become part of the story in Far From Home, which can be read as a bit of playful in-house MCU criticism of CGI fatigue.
  14. Closed Circuit
    Director John Crowley trots his crew around London, working up a suitable amount of suspense. And paranoia.
  15. Dedication
    Dedication works anyway, thanks to Theroux's jumping visuals and Crudup's jumpy performance.
  16. The Hunted
    Isn't exactly fraught with psychological depth and nuance, but as a stalker-stalkee suspenser, the pic has some nice things going for it.
  17. The Paper
    Striking a balance between Howard's harum-scarum comedies such as Night Shift and Splash and his fuzzy family "dramedies" such as Cocoon and Parenthood, The Paper delivers the goods - and also babies and the news. [25 March 1994, p.03]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  18. The Meddler
    With Sarandon in the title role, Scafaria has a winner: The actress tackles Marnie headlong, with heart and soul, trolling the fancy outdoor shopping mall for products to buy and for people to intercept and hang on to.
  19. Any Given Sunday
    A turbocharged and pungently enjoyable take on the sport so many observers see - Stone, of course, included - as a reflection of the darker side of American life.
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  20. Great Expectations
    More important, Nicholls has created a rich alternative conclusion, one that poignantly sweetens the love story. It's a novel approach to Great Expectations - sharp and gritty giving way to a sentimental finish - and a satisfying one.
  21. The Cruise
    How much is shaman and how much is showman is hard to tell. Some of Levitch's staccato soliloquies have the ring of truth, and some have the ring of jive. Either way, though, The Cruise is a journey worth taking. [27 Nov 1998, p.03]
    • Philadelphia Inquirer
  22. Mid-August Lunch
    A pleasant taste of Roman life.
  23. The Insider
    Few American directors drive this wedge between mind and gut as masterfully as Michael Mann.
  24. Fracture
    A stylish thriller so highly strung it zings, gives us Hopkins, an actor at the top of his game, in material that's only middling.
  25. Vitus
    A gentle fable about how the young boy from Zurich struggles to fit in rather than stand out, Vitus is both a cautionary tale for pushy parents and an endearing, if eccentric, empowerment fantasy for precocious children.
  26. Tyrannosaur
    No walk in the park, Tyrannosaur is a character study steeped in the British (and Irish) tradition of social realism, and the experience of watching this skillfully made film is, well, exhausting.
  27. Out of Time
    Franklin has enormous fun using these varied technologies to ramp up the suspense in a movie that is the most purely entertaining thriller since "No Way Out."
  28. Gimme the Loot
    The pair are scrappy and smart and riff off each other like a no-budget, indie version of Tracy and Hepburn. It's impossible not to like them, and there's absolutely no reason not to.
  29. The Score
    A jazzy, immensely absorbing thriller.
  30. Kill the Messenger
    It hobbles its otherwise fascinating premise by descending into hagiography. Webb's story is a tragedy, to be sure, but portraying him as a saint and martyr does little to advance the truth.
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