St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
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:
1847 movie reviews
  1. Beirut is a solid political thriller that makes the most of St. Louis native Hamm, who is still best known for his starring role in TV’s “Mad Men.”
  2. This film might give you the urge to check out a comic-book movie.
  3. Clearly, this is a star vehicle — and the eminently likable Johnson is unquestionably a star. Through sheer force of personality, he elevates Rampage into something reasonably entertaining.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Brightly narrated by Kristen Bell, the documentary illustrates the challenges of saving the endangered animals with the story of one bear born in the captive breeding program at Chengdu Panda Base in China.
  4. It takes a while to rev up, but Blockers is often laugh-out-loud funny, thanks to the cast — you just wish they all had a little more to work with.
  5. If you’re looking for a film that will keep you thrillingly off-balance, this is the place.
  6. It’s downright depressing to see Oscar winners Hunt and Hurt struggling to make something meaningful out of their superficially written characters.
  7. The film is not only hilariously entertaining, but also firmly in the tradition of such political parables as George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
  8. Particularly impressive is Ashkenazi (“7 Days in Entebbe”), who brings to Michael a soulful but volatile insecurity. It’s a hauntingly realized performance. This is a different kind of war film — and a brilliant one.
  9. Although Ready Player One is nowhere near as memorable as “Jaws” or “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” it demonstrates that the director is fully capable of adapting to the times. What the film lacks in substance, it makes up for in style.
  10. Although the film is frequently brilliant, it’s not quite as clever as it thinks it is. The cast, however, is terrific. Particularly good is Buscemi, who’s engagingly cranky as Khrushchev.
  11. Tickets to Pacific Rim Uprising should come with a package of aspirin.
  12. Director Roar Uthaug (“The Wave”) delivers a state-of-the-art popcorn flick that’s at its best when the focus is on the spunky Lara rather than the special effects.
  13. Based on true events, 7 Days in Entebbe pulls off the difficult trick of making terrorism boring.
  14. It’s hard to understand what went wrong — the cast couldn’t be more appealing, and the film is bursting with special effects. But as an emotionally satisfying experience, it’s a bust.
  15. These days, every other film seems to be an audition to make a Marvel movie — but not Loveless. This is cinema of the first order.
  16. Cooke is particularly impressive, imbuing Amanda with a chilling misanthropy. Taylor-Joy plays Lily as a bit too sympathetic, but she nails the character’s cluelessness. And Yelchin, who died in 2016 at the age of 27, turns in a performance that’s as quirky as it is memorable.
  17. Working from a screenplay by Justin Haythe (“Revolutionary Road”), director Francis Lawrence — who worked with Lawrence on three of the “Hunger Games” films — fails to establish much of a momentum.
  18. Portman is eminently watchable as Lena, who slowly realizes that she’s in way over her head. And “Ex Machina” star Isaac virtually redefines creepiness.
  19. In our increasingly polarized time, A Fantastic Woman bridges the gap between ignorance and understanding through the transcendent power of art.
  20. An art film in the classic sense — ambitious, provocative and hard to shake off.
  21. Believe the hype: Black Panther transcends its comic-book origins, achieving a mythic grandeur that’s nothing short of exhilarating.
  22. A wonderfully acted and stylishly mounted tribute to a screen legend in danger of being forgotten. Unfortunately, the film focuses too much on Grahame’s illness and eventually succumbs to melodrama.
  23. If you’ve got a hankering for a Western, Hostiles is must-viewing.
  24. The film will be of particular interest to foreign-policy wonks, but it also plays well as a drama about the limited ability of any president to have a lasting impact.
  25. Director Nicolai Fuglsig delivers an action drama that gets the job done without ever catching fire. But the well-chosen, charismatic cast makes the most out of the material.
  26. A timely docudrama about the role of the press in holding politicians accountable. But in the hands of director Steven Spielberg, the film plays more like a thriller than a history lesson.
  27. Acting opposite Day-Lewis must give even the most confident actor pause, but Krieps proves to be up to the challenge. And Manville, perhaps best known for her work with director Mike Leigh, is spellbinding. This film will haunt you.
  28. It’s just sad to see the always interesting Farmiga wasted in such a hackneyed role.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The sequel has the same tone as the original but is livelier and funnier, mostly due to Hugh Grant, who gleams as the bad guy.

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