The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 10,410 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 2.7 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: 5,569 out of 10410
  2. Mixed: 3,735 out of 10410
  3. Negative: 1,106 out of 10410
10410 movie reviews
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  1. The Devil's Bath
    Mileage will vary, dictated by your appreciation for methodical avalanches of sorrow driven by puritanical pressures. Everything is minimalistic, punctuated by the devastating context found in the research that helped shape Franz and Fiala’s screenplay. Some viewers will recognize dedication, others will have their patience tested.
  2. A Quiet Place: Day One
    Nyong’o, a prestige actress who moonlights as the world’s most expressive scream queen, does wonders with the nuances of Sam’s sorrow, the tug of war between acceptance and fighting for her life.
  3. Daddio
    There’s candor and insight here. But, much like Girlie and Clark, Daddio remains stuck despite the appearance of movement.
  4. Green Border
    What’s most marvelous about Green Border—aside from its resounding commitment to humanization, buttressed by a thrilling and harrowing narrative—is that it doesn’t let anyone off the hook.
  5. I Am: Celine Dion
    The documentary, taking its cue from Dion, is not merely looking backward; there’s a path ahead. What exactly that looks like is, as it turns out, being negotiated as the documentary unfolds.
  6. Trigger Warning
    The filmmakers frustratingly fail to dig into the familiar territory they’re traversing. What should serve as a warm welcome for Mouly Surya (helming her first English-language picture) and a kick-ass welcome back to lead roles for star Jessica Alba turns into a congealed mess of squandered potential.
  7. Firebrand
    The screenplay fails to bring any ingenuity in structure or dialogue, thus diminishing the power of Aïnouz’s characteristically operatic filmmaking.
  8. The Imaginary
    The Imaginary is an enchanting tale in which reality clashes with imagination in a battle to determine which is more powerful
  9. The Bikeriders
    It is too conventional to be an outlaw, but Nichols and the cast have a blast pretending.
  10. Thelma
    How often does a film come along that you can comfortably recommend to literally everyone in your life? Not often enough. For that reason alone, Thelma deserves to be celebrated.
  11. Janet Planet
    Few artists can so seamlessly transcend artistic labels, but Annie Baker has proven that she possesses the natural knack for quiet storytelling across mediums.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Fancy Dance
    While the grounded presentation is one of the movie’s greatest strengths, there are some chunks in the middle where things nod off.
  13. Chestnut
    Despite the actors’ best efforts, they can never quite overcome a script that simply doesn’t have anything new to add to the conversation.
  14. The Exorcism
    By the climax, The Exorcism is buried in plot points that obscure whatever the power of Christ is compelling us to do.
  15. Tiger Stripes
    Where it feels uninspired gore-wise, it similarly feels muddled in its message.
  16. Ghostlight
    While it connects as authentic and heartfelt, there’s also a sneaky profundity to match. Experiencing that in a theater alongside strangers is a very good thing.
  17. Inside Out 2
    You want to connect to these characters on a deeper level, but it never really lets you get fully invested in them.
  18. 20,000 Species of Bees
    Despite its limitations, 20,000 Species of Bees is crafted from a place of empathy so often lacking in conversations about trans childhood.
  19. Cora Bora
    On its own, Cora Bora doesn’t offer anything new. But as an audition tape for Stalter’s future, it’s one of the more exciting things to come out of the comedy world this year.
  20. Handling the Undead
    There’s a genuine sense of lived-in sadness here, but it isn’t enough to elevate the proceedings into something special or compelling.
  21. Tuesday
    Tuesday is a tonal mess, flitting between horror, humor, absurdity, and at least one candidate for this year’s most gag-inducing visual as quickly as a parrot traversing the oceans to deliver death to all the world.
  22. Hit Man
    While Hit Man satiates as a slick, sexy comedy-noir that will actually get at-home viewers to engage with media outside of the dreaded algorithm, it’s worth hoping that Linklater’s forthcoming big swings are met with similar zeal.
  23. The Watchers
    The Watchers isn’t terrible: Shyamalan’s direction is legible, and the whole thing makes sense on a thematic level. (Maybe a little too much sense, actually.) But it lacks the creativity and confidence to go beyond “competent” and into “inspired”—probably because this one is just for practice.
  24. How to Rob a Bank
    Where visuals of certain events are unavailable, like Scurlock writing in his journal at night, fully colored and animated storyboards fill in the gaps. It’s an odd semi-glorification, even as How To Rob A Bank throws in a few token mentions of robbery survivors with PTSD at the end, and offers a sense that Scurlock fell into the Butch Cassidy trap of being so hooked on robberies he never knew when to quit.
  25. I Used to Be Funny
    While the writing is mostly good, none of these highs would have been nearly as high without Sennott, who makes a real bid for future dramatic roles here.
  26. Bad Boys: Ride or Die
    Bad Boys: Ride Or Die has clearly glommed onto a more Fast & Furious sensibility in its middle age, albeit with hard-R violence and swears. It’s equally calculated and sweet (well, maybe somewhat more calculated) that Smith and Lawrence no longer assume they can get away with Bad Boys II-level nastiness.
  27. Flipside
    Flipside is Wilcha’s attempt to bring his life’s work full circle, a return to the personal self-reflection of The Target Shoots First, with the distance and hindsight that 25 years of life experiences will give you.
  28. Robot Dreams
    With Robot Dreams, Pablo Berger has crafted an aesthetically gentle but emotionally hardened New York City. Operating under the belief that there is little one can control in a city of that size, Berger allows his film to take flights of fancy that loop around back to companionship.
  29. Ezra
    While all of the grown-ups turn in admirable performances, the heart of the movie lies in a staggering debut from newcomer William A. Fitzgerald, a preteen diagnosed with autism and ADHD himself.
  30. Solo
    Solo is most intriguing when its romantic rivalry takes center stage.
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