St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Scores

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For 1,847 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 66% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 32% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.6 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 Asteroid City
Lowest review score: 0 The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,361 out of 1847
  2. Mixed: 317 out of 1847
  3. Negative: 169 out of 1847
1847 movie reviews
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  1. About Time
    There’s a lot of comic and fantasy potential here, but much of it gets squandered.
  2. Thor: The Dark World
    Compared to other Marvel characters, Thor is a difficult sell.
  3. Ender's Game
    Ender’s Game is a blandly sanitized spectacle.
  4. Last Vegas
    In trying to lift this lame schtick, De Niro, Douglas, Freeman and Kline are stand-up guys, but Last Vegas is a case of erectile dysfunction.
  5. 12 Years a Slave
    Ultimately hopeful, but uncompromising in its commitment to exposing a tragic chapter in history.
  6. Mother of George
    Iowa-native Gurira has had roles in TV’s “Treme” and “The Walking Dead,” but Mother of George should be the birth of a brilliant film career.
  7. Muscle Shoals
    After we hear the hit parade that poured from rural Alabama and meet the men who led it to the top of the charts, we realize that Muscle Shoals could call itself Hitsville, USA.
  8. The Counselor
    In its cross-cultural breadth, director Ridley Scott’s smart and violent film merits comparison to Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic,” but the dialogue delivered by the stellar cast is incomparably McCarthy’s.
  9. Carrie
    Long before the blood starts spilling, it’s clear the new team has mostly nailed it. The reboot is as good a Carrie remake as possible, though it’s not truly a scary movie; the film takes its time living up to its R rating.
  10. The Fifth Estate
    This thriller about the game-changing website Wikileaks is as smart about cyberspace as “The Social Network,” but there’s a glitch when it shifts the focus from felonious leaders to the misdemeanors of the man who exposed them.
  11. Machete Kills
    When a celebrity chef like Rodriguez is just going through the motions, we can smell that the grindhouse fad is way past its expiration date. It's time to put a fork in it.
  12. Romeo & Juliet
    Shakespeare’s play evokes the poetry of undying love, but this Romeo and Juliet is prosaic.
  13. Captain Phillips
    Despite the obvious mismatches involved, this isn’t a simplistic smackdown. Freighted with weighty issues, Captain Phillips is a film worth debating.
  14. The Summit
    It’s a measure of the movie’s success that we never stop to question how or when the trickery is employed.
  15. Parkland
    The most grievous sins here are sins of omission.
  16. The Patience Stone
    Afghanistan-born Atiq Rahimi has powerfully adapted his own acclaimed novel, but the film is unlikely to play in the Middle Eastern countries to which this plea for sexual equality seems directed.
  17. Gravity
    Even as it looks to the heavens, Gravity is bound to earth, where the beauty is in the details.
  18. Drinking Buddies
    Here’s a toast to the cast and crew: Drinking Buddies is a three-dimensional movie that doesn’t require beer goggles.
  19. Don Jon
    Gordon-Levitt is a victim of his own success here. He plays such a convincing cad that we don’t believe or invest in his redemption.
  20. Salinger
    This documentary reconstructing the life of the ultimate cult author is like a three-act thriller, and the character at the center of the story is a mute man of mystery. Salinger would have recognized the irony, even as he hated the film for invading his privacy.
  21. Thanks for Sharing
    Although the characters are three-dimensional, the simultaneous crises and last-act resolutions are a little too neat for a movie about the messiness of life.
  22. Prisoners
    It’s preposterous schlock masquerading as art.
  23. Short Term 12
    Because Short Term 12 is a small movie about a challenging subject, you may have to accept my word that actress Brie Larson and director Destin Cretton are bright discoveries, but it shouldn’t be long before the wider world can see these talents with the naked eye.
  24. Austenland
    Austenland is as frustrating as a blind date with Almost Mr. Right. It’s impossible not to fixate on how close this was to being a lot of fun.
  25. The Grandmaster
    Whereas many kung-fu movies are a feast that leaves us weary with sensations, the tastefully bittersweet “Grandmaster” puts us in the mood for more.
  26. One Direction: This Is Us
    Spurlock teases the baby sitter contingent with a brief scene where a scientist discusses the neuro-chemical appeal of pop music, but thereafter the film is aimed squarely at face-value fans of the Pre-Fab Five.
  27. Ain't Them Bodies Saints
    With his actors and crew hewing to the script, the director’s craft is impeccable. His low-light images are suitable for framing, and there’s scarcely a moment of modernity, let alone humor or loose ends, to disrupt the tragic trajectory.
  28. Closed Circuit
    Closed Circuit is not a tense thriller about the new era of surveillance — it's a tepid thriller about the old notion that no leader can be trusted.
  29. You're Next
    Targeted toward horror-film junkies looking for a terror throwback, You’re Next mixes gore and dark humor with yet another home invasion plot line.
  30. In a World...
    It’s not only a fresh and funny spoof of the movie business, it represents a real-life triumph within it.
  31. The Spectacular Now
    There’s much to appreciate here. Like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” which had a stronger sense of its place in the world, this coming-of-age movie should appeal to smart, sensitive young people who haven’t been exposed to the better examples of the genre.
  32. The World's End
    Until the sci-fi switcheroo, the versatile supporting cast puts Gary in such a ridiculous light that we can’t help laughing at him. Then suddenly this subversive movie challenges us to laugh at our own assumptions.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
    That can’t disguise the script’s complete lack of wit or originality, though, or the generally wooden acting.
  34. Prince Avalanche
    Cue the folky music and the two eccentric locals who are the only other characters, and Prince Avalanche is a molehill that dreams it’s a mountain when it’s really, really stoned.
  35. Lee Daniels' The Butler
    With Whitaker, Daniels and screenwriter Danny Strong pulling the strings, The Butler can take a bow.
  36. Kick-Ass 2
    To stand out in a crowded marketplace, a sequel can’t just kick ass — it has to blow minds.
  37. Blue Jasmine
    As the wife to a wolf of Wall Street, Blanchett shows us a lost sheep both before and after the slaughter. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s twitching with life.
  38. Elysium
    This vision of a violent future makes Elysium well worth seeing, even as the conventional violence of the thriller finale makes it a missed opportunity.
  39. We're the Millers
    We're the Millers is nothing but stems and seeds, with less buzz than a bag of oregano.
  40. Hannah Arendt
    The rare film that flows from a wellspring of ideas.
  41. 2 Guns
    Savvy filmgoers will know they are getting a stale product as soon as they see the wrapper: one of those vintage muscle cars that screams “stakeout.”
  42. I'm So Excited
    It’s amusing fluff, but from an Oscar-winning dramatist, this return to comedy is a bit of a letdown.
  43. Fruitvale Station
    Fruitvale Station has all the impact of a thoroughly researched, well-argued documentary. But Coogler made the right choice in going with drama.
  44. The To Do List
    There’s plenty of talk about sex — even from Brandy’s supportive mom (Connie Britton), who offers her lubricant — but not much nudity or consequence. In The To Do List, sex is just another dubious achievement to outgrow.
  45. The Wolverine
    The mediocre mushy stuff isn’t alleviated by enough action.
  46. Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus
    A minor revelation.
  47. RED 2
    Red 2 is not just a bad movie, it’s bad karma. And the target audience of adult moviegoers who respect the names in its once-vital cast have a bull’s-eye on their collective cranium.
  48. The Conjuring
    With its forked tongue planted loosely in cheek, this haunted-house flick is enjoyably retro in both style and substance.
  49. The Way, Way Back
    Aiming for a middle path between drama and comedy, The Way Way Back is so overloaded with jokes that it could sink in the water hazard, but on the final scorecard, sure enough, it’s in the hole.
  50. A Hijacking
    Director Lindholm is a graduate of the Dogma school, and he is able to maintain tension with a documentary camera technique, virtually no music and minimal on-screen theatrics.
  51. Pacific Rim
    The movie is an eyeful, especially in 3-D, but even with humans at the helms of the machines, it’s a hollow exercise in homage.
  52. Unfinished Song
    The crescendo of two resonant careers makes the false notes of Unfinished Song forgivable.
  53. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain
    The film is flat and lazy, and the audio mix is so low it sounds as if the audience is barely laughing. His cable comedy specials have better production values.
  54. The Lone Ranger
    Except for the dynamite finale, The Long Ranger feels like a long, slow ride to the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump.
  55. Despicable Me 2
    This loony 'toon is dizzy with wonderments, especially in 3-D. The spindly-limbed character design owes more to Charles Addams' family than to Walt Disney's kingdom, while the story and settings evoke James Bond on laughing gas.
  56. Dirty Wars
    These wars being fought in our name may be dirty, but this courageous film reminds us that as long as we have a free press, they don’t have to be secret.
  57. White House Down
    A buddy comedy disguised as a political thriller. It’s full of malarkey, but as a campaign of shock and awe, it’s hard to resist.
  58. The Heat
    After watching the trailers, I was expecting torture, but this smart, subversive movie made me laugh. So shoot me.
  59. The Bling Ring
    Watson is a revelation here as a brand-obsessed bad girl.
  60. Much Ado About Nothing
    Whether on stage or the screen, Much Ado About Nothing is a pleasure that passes like a midsummer night’s dream.
  61. Monsters University
    Despite its brainy title, Monsters University only earns a passing grade on its looks.
  62. World War Z
    World War Z, based on a novel by Max Brooks and directed by Marc Forster ("Quantum of Solace"), has a relatively plausible perspective on mass catastrophe. It deserves comparisons to Steven Soderbergh’s brainy “Contagion.”
  63. Man of Steel
    A soulless, overblown bore.
  64. This Is the End
    A one-joke movie, but it’s a joke whose recurring rimshots grow as loud as our laughter.
  65. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
    Gibney is as dramatic a storyteller as the Hollywood directors with whom he competes for our attention, and he employs a big bag of tricks.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's
    The overall feel is less of a cohesive documentary and more of a slapdash scrapbook of facts, historical information and name-dropping.
  67. The Kings of Summer
    A bit undernourished to fit into the crown of a comedy classic. But the sharp wit, soft-focus cinematography and slow-motion lyricism lift it into the realm of this summer’s nicest surprises.
  68. The Purge
    Good but not-good-enough schlocker.
  69. The Internship
    Congratulations, visitor. You have been randomly selected to beta test an entertainment-software product called “The Internship 2.0.”
  70. Stories We Tell
    This is the kind of film that benefits from being experienced with as little prior knowledge as possible. As one watches it, certain questions may arise. But don’t worry — the answers are fascinating.
  71. After Earth
    Surprise — this bad dream is for real.
  72. Love Is All You Need
    While the underrated Brosnan is effective as the cold-hearted produce mogul, the character starts as such a sourpuss that after he softens in the Sorrento lemon groves, it’s still hard to root for his inevitable hookup with Ida.
  73. Frances Ha
    Gerwig makes us want to believe that in a city where anything is possible, Francis Ha has the last laugh.
  74. Epic
    In the roll call of visually distinctive ’toons, Epic looms large.
  75. Fast & Furious 6
    How you feel about Fast & Furious 6 is a matter of perspective. While a middle-age egghead might note that a series that started out as a harmless cars-and-girls fantasy has devolved into a full-blown assault on human intelligence.
  76. The Hangover Part III
    The good news is that Ed Helms doesn’t wake up in a Tijuana brothel with an amputated leg and a donkey in the room. The bad news is that you’ll wish he had.
  77. At Any Price
    In getting so many of the Midwestern details wrong, worldly director Bahrani (“Chop Shop”) teaches an inadvertent lesson to aspiring filmmakers who want to follow his footsteps to the festival circuit: Grow where you’re planted.
  78. The Iceman
    Because the sociopath at the center of this family portrait never asks for forgiveness, The Iceman is truly chilling.
  79. Star Trek Into Darkness
    Star Trek Into Darkness offers much of what the fans expect and not much of what they don't. This character-driven vehicle is a supercharged example of cinematic craftsmanship.
  80. The Great Gatsby
    The Great Gatsby is both swooningly romantic and giddily energetic.
  81. Peeples
    Comedies about privileged princesses and unsuitable suitors come in all colors, but Peeples is only palatable on a double bill with pink antacid.
  82. Starbuck
    A high-concept comedy that peddles some slapstick laughs and life lessons but little insight.
  83. The Angels' Share
    At its heart, this is a compassionate character study. Robbie’s tenderness toward his son and his remorse for a street fight are the raw ingredients of a ripening consciousness.
  84. Renoir
    Photography — and thus filmmaking — is painting with light. The connection is illuminated in the lovely Renoir, a twilight-years biography of the great French Impressionist.
  85. Iron Man 3
    Judged solely in comparison to its corporate cousins, Iron Man 3 is a defective model. It’s lightweight but slow, padded with cheap jokes to disguise how hollow it is.
  86. The Company You Keep
    Redford is an adequate director, and he keeps things moving at a moderate pace, passing up exits to more spectacular vistas or hotter issues.
  87. Mud
    A provocative mood piece. Nichols, who had an art-house hit in 2011 with “Take Shelter,” has a gift for creating characters of unusual depth, and for eliciting performances of emotional resonance. With Mud, he seems to be edging closer to the mainstream, but his skills are as sharp as ever.
  88. Pain & Gain
    In telling a true story about hapless thugs who are the embodiment of Michael Bay fans, the director has made the most fiendishly enjoyable movie of his career.
  89. The Big Wedding
    It’s nearly tragic to see America’s Greatest Living Actor on the guest list for The Big Wedding, the latest limp comedy about seniors behaving badly.
  90. To the Wonder
    To the Wonder teeters between experimentation and incoherence. Does it deserve to be seen? Absolutely. Just be aware of what you’re getting into.
  91. Oblivion
    The questions raised by Oblivion aren’t especially deep, but the movie does answer a puzzler that has troubled humankind for generations: Can Tom Cruise build a concept so big that he himself can’t lift it?
  92. Trance
    The wrinkles between reality and illusion soon become irritating.
  93. The Place Beyond the Pines
    The acting is first-rate. Gosling masterfully fills in Luke’s motivational blanks, and Cooper nicely handles Avery’s evolution from idealist to manipulator.
  94. 42
    The inspirational movie named for Robinson’s number is too dignified to throw audiences a curveball, let alone a knockdown pitch, but its solid fundamentals make it a winner.
  95. No
    The Oscar-nominated No has the gritty feel of a foreign film from the 1970s. As such, it may take a few minutes for most moviegoers to adjust to its rhythms. Ironically for a film about advertising, there’s nothing slick about it — and therein lies much of its greatness.
  96. Beyond the Hills
    It’s an enigmatic and austere film from a region where political, sexual and religious repression are as stifling as the sooty air.
  97. The Sapphires
    Draining most of the blood, sweat and tears from a true story, this music-minded movie capably covers a song we’ve heard a hundred times before.
  98. Evil Dead
    It’s ultimately everything a modern horror movie should be.
  99. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
    As long as Hollywood keeps hitting us over the head with empty spectacles like G.I. Joe: Retaliation, regular Joes will be too numb to fight back.
  100. On the Road
    Notwithstanding the characters’ spiritual camaraderie, Salles’ emphasizes the hard physical labor and loneliness in Sal’s story, including the jittery rigors of the writing process. When he reaches a crossroads choice between down-and-out Dean and his own rising career, Sal senses that except for the words on a typewritten scroll, his life on the road is gone, real gone.
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