The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 10,436 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 51% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 46% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.5 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Badlands
Lowest review score: 0 A Life Less Ordinary
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5,578 out of 10436
  2. Mixed: 3,746 out of 10436
  3. Negative: 1,112 out of 10436
10436 movie reviews
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  1. Black Mass
    Without an emotional core, a stronger sociological angle, or many visceral thrills, Black Mass more or less limits itself to procedural status. Within those aims, it’s a pretty good one, absorbing and well-made.
  2. The Wave
    The movie isn’t afraid to go to some dark places.
  3. The Edukators
    The film's daring, honest ending helps redeem the uneven drama, but the road there may occasionally try the patience of even the most sympathetic armchair revolutionaries.
  4. Mule Skinner Blues
    Comes uncomfortably close to mocking these unlikely filmmakers, raising questions about its director's intentions and his respect for the subjects' humanity.
  5. Babí léto
    A mud bath of sentiment, strained speechifying, and gloppy music.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Slums of Beverly Hills
    Beneath the sitcom-like surface of Slums lies a realistic coming-of-age story, perfectly cast and effectively acted with just a hint of tragedy.
  7. Shaolin Soccer
    The ridiculously entertaining Shaolin Soccer pulls out all the stops to make sure viewers stay happy.
  8. Hearts and Minds (re-release)
    During his clumsiest moments, Davis' fondness for provocation rises to the surface, which is unfortunate, since it weakens the impact of his many salient points about how American men are socialized to be warriors.
  9. Noi the Albino
    Only in the final minutes, when Kári overreaches for ironic effect, does the film plumb too far into the darkness.
  10. Goodbye Lenin!
    Surprisingly successful blend of goofy political farce and sober family drama.
  11. Valley of Tears
    Not everything Perry's voices say seems relevant to his central thesis, but they speak fervently and colorfully, and their intensity is compelling even when their message is lacking.
  12. My Name Is Nobody
    The definitive spaghetti Western parody.
  13. The Hateful Eight
    This is the writer-director’s take on the betrayed promise of America: a perverse vision of sadistic men comforted by false causes.
  14. If You Don't, I Will
    For the most part, writer-director Sophie Fillières’ If You Don’t, I Will strikes an engaging tone of melancholic humor through its portrait of a French marriage slowly falling to pieces.
  15. The Blackcoat's Daughter
    The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a clammy hand on the back of the neck, a chill running down the spine, a shot of ice water straight to the veins. Every moment, almost every shot, has been carefully calibrated to stand hairs on end.
  16. Deerskin
    Deerskin is more of a twisted lark than anything else, but it hits on something meaningful—a first for a director who’s shown almost no prior interest in reality, even within a film called Reality.
  17. Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
    Downfall is effectively enraging—especially in its middle section, where the picture really packs the most punch.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Harvest
    Harvest is a film about capitalism, at first quietly and then like a blunt object to the skull. Simmering beneath that ultimate disruption, though, is a sense of communal collapse that is already creeping under everything.
  19. The Illusionist
    The results are reasonably clever and impeccably executed, but one of these days, Burger is going to have to pull more from his hat than just the rabbit.
  20. Pulse
    Storytelling clarity has never been a Kurosawa strong suit, yet Pulse baffles even under those standards, so it's best to just get on his abstract wavelength and ride the thing out.
  21. Homeroom
    While Homeroom is far more contained in length and scope than a Frederick Wiseman opus, the way editors Rebecca Adorno and Kristina Motwani construct a narrative from a seemingly free-flowing assembly produces a similarly immersive viewing experience, as if one was wandering the school shrouded in an invisibility cloak.
  22. Una Noche
    Throughout, Una Noche’s details — an old man singing as he staggers down the street, young boys wasting away their days playfully leaping into the water — feel authentic.
  23. Spring Blossom
    In creating material so close to her lived experience, Lindon is able to avoid the common clichés of teenage stories.
  24. Queen and Country
    As a sequel, Queen & Country doesn’t work at all, primarily because Boorman waited far too long.
  25. Charlotte's Web
    This take on Charlotte's Web has its tacky side, but when dealing with a book this simply sweet and this revered--and given what was done with White's similarly gentle "Stuart Little" only a few years ago--"It could have been worse" practically counts as high praise.
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