The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 10,440 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: 5,581 out of 10440
  2. Mixed: 3,746 out of 10440
  3. Negative: 1,113 out of 10440
10440 movie reviews
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  1. Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling
    Leitman gets some wonderful tall tales from her subjects, who open up like they've been waiting for years for someone to come along and ask, and she complements it with punishing footage of their exploits.
  2. Nina's Tragedies
    It's not often that good movies have a hole in the center, but Nina's Tragedies labors admirably to develop the strong feelings of longing and heartbreak that unite its damaged souls, however briefly.
  3. Look at Me
    The film satisfies in much the same way Allen's movie-a-year comedies used to satisfy.
  4. The Interpreter
    Made with an intelligence and craft that's increasingly rare in Hollywood thrillers.
  5. Palindromes
    Palindromes becomes a strangely compelling fractured fable, a grim cinematic fairy tale heightened by Nathan Larson's delicate, bittersweet score.
  6. Torremolinos 73
    Though never unpleasant, thanks largely to Cámara and Peña's warmly convincing performances, Torremolinos 73 only really takes off when it deals with the filmmaking process.
  7. A Lot Like Love
    Kutcher and Peet are a low-wattage pair, with little of the verbal riffing that counts as seduction in most romantic comedies, but they have real chemistry together, and A Lot Like Love happily indulges their silly, juvenile one-upmanship.
  8. One Missed Call
    Miike doesn't do enough to shake up the formula, but he's still expert at delivering shocks, and when the level of craftsmanship is as high as it is in the white-knuckle finale, originality doesn't seem to matter anymore.
  9. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    Not every moment works, particularly in the draggy middle section, but the spirit of the thing still carries it along.
  10. À Tout de Suite (Right Now)
    Based on true events, À Tout De Suite reveals the seductions of criminal life to be something like Stockholm Syndrome for Le Besco.
  11. Funny Ha Ha
    Like a lot of scenes in Funny Ha Ha, the commonplace somehow seems invigoratingly original.
  12. The Tunnel
    The Tunnel boasts the kind of plot that would seem ridiculously implausible if it weren't based on a true story.
  13. Kingdom of Heaven
    Massoud plays Saladin magnetically, and his arrival only illustrates how many opportunities Kingdom misses. Another, better movie would have made him the focus.
  14. Mysterious Skin
    Only half a great movie, because the other half follows a separate but related thread that isn't nearly as compelling.
  15. Brothers
    A movie so nice she made it twice, Susanne Bier's Dogme-certified feature "Open Hearts" gets a slight makeover in her follow-up Brothers, another raw melodrama about three lives recalibrated by sudden tragedy.
  16. Unleashed
    Besson doesn't need dialogue to convey his worlds' nuances, because there are none, especially in Unleashed, which achieves such a sustained pitch of hysteria that it makes past masters of melodrama like Douglas Sirk, John Woo, and Sam Fuller look positively austere by comparison.
  17. Mad Hot Ballroom
    Some of the strongest scenes are candid front-stoop sessions in which the kids swap gossip and float some hilariously pre-sexual theories on romance.
  18. Layer Cake
    The always-dependable and chameleon-like Craig has the chops and substance for that kind of film, but Vaughn prefers to keep matters brisk and superficial.
  19. Kings & Queen
    Though frequently dazzling, Kings And Queen proves that a bunch of punchy singles don't necessarily make an album.
  20. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
    Though Sith finally finds some life in the old saga, was it worth it in the end? Did we have to go through all that to get back where we began?
  21. Madagascar
    The tenor can be shrill, but there's no time to get bored. And on top of that, most of the gags actually work.
  22. Mojados: Through the Night
    Raw but riveting front-line journalism. Like any good reporter, Davis knows a fascinating story when he sees one, and he goes to impressive lengths to put himself in the middle of it, taking his viewers along for the bumpy ride.
  23. A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
    Narrows as it goes, and Browne doesn't do enough with the idea of a corporate takeover of a grassroots recreational activity, but Weber's antics and his colleagues' reactions make for fine drama all on their own.
  24. Cinderella Man
    Lacking a more specific sense of time and place, Cinderella Man leans heavily on the technically proficient Crowe to slip into Braddock's skin, but he can only do so much with a character who's ready to be mounted in bronze over Central Park.
  25. Rock School
    The kids are great, but when they graduate from Rock School, will the valedictorian be the next Jimmy Page, or the technically proficient lead guitarist of a Led Zeppelin cover band?
  26. Deep Blue
    Deep Blue is a thrilling film, but not a thoughtful one; it'd be right at home on an IMAX screen, or possibly as the pretty, polished, and vaguely empty Successories poster it closely resembles.
  27. Caterina va in città
    Teghil is a winning lead.
  28. Pure
    Pure loses a bit of its nerve in the home stretch, but Eden's unforgettable performance alone makes it a compelling portrait of a smart young boy forced to grow up way too fast.
  29. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area
    The new English track is predictably clumsy, but the story and images overcome it.
  30. The Great Water
    Had the orphanage years been the first chapter in a longer story, The Great Water might've stretched toward a finish as unforgettable as its start.
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