Salon's Scores

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For 3,130 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 The Wolf of Wall Street
Lowest review score: 0 Event Horizon
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,748 out of 3130
  2. Mixed: 1,003 out of 3130
  3. Negative: 379 out of 3130
3130 movie reviews
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  1. Together
    Together is the kind of picture that makes you feel that there are many good reasons to actually LIKE mankind.
  2. Ghosts of Mars
    It might be nice if Ghosts of Mars had more to offer than snappy repartee and shameless gore, or if it could borrow a little narrative tension from its Alien Chain Saw forebears.
  3. Maybe Baby
    Sabotages itself by trying too hard. The worst of it is that Maybe Baby feels very much like an Englishman's attempt to make a Nora Ephron movie, all warm and squishy in a decidedly American way.
  4. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
    At times fun but mostly maddeningly uneven, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back feels less like a full-fledged movie than a side project Smith took on to amuse himself and his buddies.
  5. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
    Nothing but plot and production values, and there's barely a laugh in it that isn't quashed.
  6. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
    Sells ignorance as a refined evening's entertainment.
  7. American Outlaws
    No drama, no lyricism, just cornpone. It's too bad, because outlaws are, by their very nature, glamorous movie subjects.
  8. American Pie 2
    Of all the characters in American Pie 2, male or female, Michelle is the only one who feels completely rounded and whole. She moves with unerring grace and subtlety through this feeble minefield of a movie, unharmed by the tepid jokes that flop and fizzle around her.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Osmosis Jones
    Remains stubbornly one-dimensional. The gags are so resoundingly and innocently pre-adolescent that it's really hard to see how the film managed a PG rating.
  10. The Others
    An elegantly crafted entertainment, balanced between the psychological and the supernatural, that gets extra credit for not relying on computer effects.
  11. The Deep End
    The Deep End doesn't have a knotty message, but it's a much more meaningful picture than "Suture."
  12. Rush Hour 2
    Chan is still one of the most amazing -- and one of the most charming -- physical performers the movies have given us.
  13. The Princess Diaries
    Such weak medicine. Sure enough, it goes down. Keeping it down is another matter.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Apocalypse Now Redux
    I think Apocalypse Now Redux works better at the end now because it spells out the tension within Willard far more clearly than earlier versions did.
  15. Planet of the Apes
    Past the first third, Planet of the Apes is entertaining enough, but it stops far too short of being completely seductive.
  16. Wet Hot American Summer
    A thoroughly inept piece of moviemaking. You're more likely to find a ham sandwich at a Passover seder than to find a laugh in this picture.
  17. Greenfingers
    Certainly pleasant enough, and if you can put the preachiness out of mind it's entertaining, in its square, conventional way.
  18. America's Sweethearts
    It's mostly terrible. The movie has no sparkle, no charm, nothing to sweep us off our feet.
  19. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
    The sight of Hedwig and his band transforming a trashy trailer into a glitter-rock stage during "Wig in a Box" was so exhilarating I almost leapt out of my seat. The movie is pure theater, as it should be.
  20. Ghost World
    Offers an exquisite tour of the twilight zone between high school and the so-called real world, as well as between bohemian subculture and the even stranger culture of America at large.
  21. Jurassic Park III
    Fast and funny and brings back some of the wonder to the series.
  22. The Score
    A weaker actor, one more naked than De Niro is now capable of being, might have revealed some inner compulsion in the character. But De Niro's steadiness becomes part of the movie's rugged stolidity.
  23. Made
    Fans of "Swingers" may be disappointed. Made doesn't give us as many jazzy catchphrases to latch onto, or figuratively hoist us aloft on a giant martini glass of prolonged adolescence. But then that's precisely why it's the better movie.
  24. Legally Blonde
    Witherspoon's sophisticated-pixie brilliance practically makes the movie, and her easy, confident, curvaceous carriage doesn't hurt, either -- she's the thinking guy's cupcake, maybe because her mind is just as supple as her curves.
  25. Bully
    If you stick with Bully through its seemingly endless repetition of themes and its hurl-inducing hand-held camerawork, it does build a crude, indefinable power.
  26. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
    An offshoot of a popular computer game, is really all about inducing visual awe. And for the first few minutes, it does.
  27. Kiss of the Dragon
    The most dispiriting thing about Kiss of the Dragon, is that it's another example of how Western filmmakers fall on their faces when they try to evoke the feel of Hong Kong action films.
  28. Cats & Dogs
    An hour and a half of giddy, ridiculous fun.
  29. Scary Movie 2
    Shows about a third less craft than its all-too-lame predecessor, and it's only half as funny. If those are figures you can deal with, enter the theater at your own peril.
  30. Crazy/Beautiful
    Even after losing its sexiest, tawdriest moments, this teen romance is still hotter, smarter and more fearless than its Hollywood contemporaries.
  31. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
    For everything wrong with it, A.I. is not a dismissible film. It's too richly imagined, too accomplished. Even as he botches the emotions and the issues he raises, Spielberg goes headlong into them, wrestles with the picture's conflicting impulses. It's the kind of screw-up you get only from a master filmmaker.
  32. Baby Boy
    Singleton's words are no fitting match for his visuals, and his metaphors are so heavy-handed -- they undermine the smart subtlety of the direction.
  33. The Princess and the Warrior
    Promising in its first third, only to end up shambling too aimlessly in the last. But as flawed as this picture is, there's one sequence in it that has already burrowed deep in my memory, and of everything in the movie, it's the one element that convinces me that Tykwer has it in him to one day make a truly great picture.
  34. The Fast and the Furious
    Loud, trashy, implausible and exciting, The Fast and the Furious may not have much of a brain, but it's definitely got a pulse.
  35. Dr. Dolittle 2
    The good-natured silliness of it all kept me laughing.
  36. Songcatcher
    Songcatcher is like an "All Things Considered" report on "a vibrant and lasting folk tradition" that goes on for two hours. It's so relentlessly, goddamn worthy that you long for some cheapness and dirt, some energetic pop trash to liven it up.
  37. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
    Such an inept bundle of work -- crying out for the filmmaking equivalent of Ritalin, but still sluggish as syrup -- that it doesn't even provide an opportunity to ogle properly.
  38. Une journée d'Andrei Arsenevitch
    It's such a lovely piece of work -- and, especially for a filmmaker whose name is barely known outside of art-house circles, so pleasingly accessible -- that it's troubling to think that few people outside of major cities will be able to see it.
  39. Sexy Beast
    An extraordinary and original creation. It belongs alongside "Amores Perros" and "Memento" on a shortlist of 2001's most exciting revelations.
  40. Swordfish
    Feels like every other action thriller we've seen in the past three years, only it's more annoying -- and, in some cases, more appalling -- because it's trying so hard to distinguish itself.
  41. Evolution
    Proceeds at such an amiable pace and features enough creepy-crawly effects that many viewers won't quite notice or care how rickety and second-rate it is.
  42. The Anniversary Party
    I can't recall the last time a picture left me feeling so caffeinated.
  43. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
    Doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring.
  44. The Animal
    If The Animal -- co-written by Schneider and Tom Brady -- never quite gets fired up, at least it chugs along efficiently on its mildly inspired ridiculousness.
  45. What's the Worst That Could Happen?
    I don't know when a bad movie has made me laugh as much as this one. Most of the gags are vintage silliness: foreign double talk, characters donning funny costumes, well-timed profanities.
  46. Rape Me
    Didactic, clumsily directed and abysmally acted, never lets go of its intellectualized approach long enough to deliver any real kinetic thrills.
  47. Pearl Harbor
    "Pearl Harbor" is exactly the kind of prestige project you'd expect from a director like Bay, hitting all its targets with plodding precision and never once achieving surprise.
  48. Our Song
    One of those movies that you continue to pull for even after it becomes clear that it isn't very good.
  49. Angel Eyes
    Doesn't work at any level, but the total lack of chemistry between its central couple is fatal.
  50. Shrek
    Am I alone in thinking that computer animation is the work of the antichrist?
  51. Moulin Rouge!
    It's a mishmash of decoration, drapery and debauchery that's both deeply pleasurable and kitschy.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Startup.com
    A story about risk, about hubris, about youth, about the old way and the new way, and about what happens when you trade everything for something that really isn't there.
  53. A Knight's Tale
    Works neither as an exuberant rock 'n' roll picture nor as a heroic fable. It will rock you --straight to sleep.
  54. Eureka
    You may find yourself spellbound or colossally irritated; it's a close call either way.
  55. The Mummy Returns
    Everything the first "Mummy" was fun for not being. It's loud and chaotic, jammed with effects that don't wow us precisely because they are trying so hard to wow us.
  56. Deuces Wild
    It's so uncomplicated you could go out for spaghetti after the first 10 minutes and slip back into your seat just in time for the last 10, and you wouldn't feel you'd missed a thing, save a rumble or two.
  57. One Night at McCool's
    Should have been a quick and dirty pulp tall tale. But it pokes along instead of accelerating, and though it isn't exactly smug it's rather too pleased with its own manufactured outrageousness.
  58. Town & Country
    It may be a haphazard mess, but it's actually pretty funny.
  59. Freddy Got Fingered
    It's a performance that screams "Look at me!" louder and bigger than an elephant dick. And every bit as subtle.
  60. Bridget Jones's Diary
    The script is teasingly, pleasingly raunchy in places.
  61. The Circle
    The picture is so dramatically textured that you feel something's happening every minute.
  62. Joe Dirt
    What makes it so disappointing is that the movie is just another sub-Farrelly-brothers collection of miscellaneous gags.
  63. Josie and the Pussycats
    Would be more fun if it were either more shameless or more principled in the bad-girl way, taking a stance on the value of artistry and attitude over commerce.
  64. Blow
    Depp aside, the movie is higher on style than it is on substance.
  65. Along Came a Spider
    A dreary, ludicrous thriller.
  66. The Tailor of Panama
    A sophisticated, subtle adult entertainment that is also a compliment to the audience.
  67. Amores Perros
    A feverish, breathtaking tour through Mexico City high and low, an explosive, mosaic-style portrait of our continent's largest city.
  68. Spy Kids
    One of those gentle surprises, a kids' picture made with enough thought and care to keep adults entertained too.
  69. Someone Like You...
    Another insulting women's comedy.
  70. Heartbreakers
    Mirkin hits just the right note between naughty and raunchy.
  71. Say It Isn't So
    The movie is like a well-intentioned designer knockoff that doesn't know when to quit.
  72. Enemy at the Gates
    This is spectacle cinema made with individual flair; maybe someone in Hollywood will notice that it's still possible.
  73. Memento
    Whenever Harris or Tobolowsky come on-screen they stop Memento dead in its clever tracks. You want to tell Nolan to stop all the po-mo deconstructive game playing and pay attention to the two human beings in front of him.
  74. Kissing Jessica Stein
    Westfeldt and Juergensen keep Kissing Jessica Stein bright and funny and loose.
  75. When Brendan Met Trudy
    It's a movie almost doomed to be called "refreshing," in the way that the word is used to excuse the game but amateurish presentation of a quirky premise.
  76. 15 Minutes
    Less a movie for intelligent moviegoers than a suggestion that we're all brainless chickens.
  77. The Gleaners & I
    Something of an odd bird, a cross between a documentary, an art film and a personal reflection on aging.
  78. The Caveman's Valentine
    It hovers somewhere in that never-never land of movies that try to do too much and don't quite live up to any of their ambitions.
  79. Series 7: The Contenders
    I felt like dropping to my knees in the theater and praying for this smug, irritating fake-reality-TV show to go away, leaving these three terrific actors (and characters) in something resembling a real movie.
  80. See Spot Run
    How do you screw up a family movie that has a cute bull mastiff, a cute 6-year-old and David Arquette playing a mailman? Apparently by unleashing half a dozen writers to gnaw it to pieces and entrusting the result to a TV director (John Whitesell of "Cosby" and "Roseanne") with little sense of how to tell a story longer than six minutes.
  81. The Mexican
    The entire movie looks as if it were processed in the toilet of a Tijuana jail cell. Shot by Dariusz Wolski in colors that are bleached out, over bright and flat, The Mexican is the ugliest-looking major studio release in recent memory.
  82. 3000 Miles to Graceland
    It's a movie barely fit for a cretin, much less a King. If you hear a door slam in the theater, you'll know that Elvis has left the building -- in disgust.
  83. Monkeybone
    A giddy madcap classic, one of the wildest and funniest American comedies in years.
  84. The Widow of Saint-Pierre
    It's not badly made, but it's a drag. Leconte's virtues can't overcome the plodding glumness that prevails.
  85. Down to Earth
    The Weitzes haven't come up with a masterpiece in Down to Earth, but they have put their stamp on a perfectly pleasant 90-minute diversion
  86. Company Man
    There's nothing worse than a bad farce -- except for this Cuban missile crisis comedy that wastes talent like Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Alan Cumming.
  87. Sweet November
    Does neither of its leads any favors. But they fill their roles admirably, and then some. Time and again, in a movie that repeatedly threatens mawkishness, you can sense them gently steering away just in the nick of time.
  88. Saving Silverman
    I was laughing myself sick over Saving Silverman, a sublimely idiotic farce in the "There's Something About Mary" tradition.
  89. Hannibal
    Hannibal, which is very likely the worst film of this year and quite possibly the next, achieves what no movie I can recall ever even attempting: It somehow manages to be both repugnant and boring.
  90. In the Mood for Love
    Smolders with more reserved passion than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
  91. The Invisible Circus
    The Invisible Circus isn't junk. It's carefully, competently made, though with no particular feeling for technique or rhythm.
  92. The Million Dollar Hotel
    There's a vacancy in The Million Dollar Hotel, and it's between Wim Wenders' ears.
  93. Valentine
    OK, so Valentine is, like, this new serial-killer movie that totally blows. But kind of in a good way. Like, it's funny.
  94. The Wedding Planner
    A chaste, lively and mildly goofy romance to dispel the winter blahs.
  95. The Pledge
    Just a bad movie, with more bits of good acting and flashes of director's invention than you get in most bad movies.
  96. Snatch.
    It takes a very clever schoolboy to make a movie as elaborately empty as Guy Ritchie's Snatch.
  97. Panic
    A small movie, to be sure, but it's also a thoroughly original one.
  98. Double Take
    You get the feeling that everyone was in a good mood and the margaritas were pouring, but neither Gallo nor anybody else ever found a bottom line for this movie or its characters.
  99. Save the Last Dance
    For all its dumb clichés it offers the basic appeal of teen movies: the pleasure of watching kids be kids, acting as they do among themselves instead of how parents and teachers expect them to act.
  100. Antitrust
    Poops out before it ever really gets going.
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