The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 10,412 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: 5,570 out of 10412
  2. Mixed: 3,735 out of 10412
  3. Negative: 1,107 out of 10412
10412 movie reviews
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  1. 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?
  2. 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.
  3. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
    The value of Shake Hands With The Devil is in Dallaire's detailed recollections of what he observed: the anatomy of a mass murder.
  4. Mindhunters
    Trashy and indefensible in most respects, Mindhunters may be a good-bad movie, but entertainment is entertainment, however it comes.
  5. Kicking & Screaming
    A sweet, inoffensive, achingly laughless comedy.
  6. Monster-in-Law
    It's not hard to imagine the militant Jane Fonda of 1972 angrily denouncing Monster-In-Law as insulting Hollywood claptrap trafficking in regressive, reactionary, blatantly sexist gender codes. And she'd be right.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Kings & Queen
    Though frequently dazzling, Kings And Queen proves that a bunch of punchy singles don't necessarily make an album.
  11. Tell Them Who You Are
    Tell Them Who You Are is indulgent by design, and the elder Wexler may be right about his son's aesthetic failings.
  12. Crash
    Haggis, who wrote the fine adapted screenplay for "Million Dollar Baby," embeds Crash's script so deeply in allegory that every revelation feels manipulative and programmatic, in spite of some terrific individual scenes and performances.
  13. House of Wax
    Like too many horror movies these days, House of Wax goes for scares, but settles for being gory and deeply unpleasant.
  14. 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.
  15. Jiminy Glick in Lalawood
    A film this slipshod needs much more star-power than it's able to muster.
  16. Mysterious Skin
    Only half a great movie, because the other half follows a separate but related thread that isn't nearly as compelling.
  17. The Great Role
    A short and soppy story that Coyote lends some dignity, but not much power.
  18. 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.
  19. A Hole in One
    Looks and sounds better than the average indie film debut.
  20. Writer of O
    More speculative than deeply felt.
  21. 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.
  22. xXx: State of the Union
    Thankfully, State Of The Union's pulpy, adrenalized blaxploitation spin on the secret-agent genre provides the dumb fun its predecessor should have dished out.
  23. 3-Iron
    3-Iron gains its hypnotic power by observing these characters through a slight remove. With total command of his effects, Kim transforms an already peculiar romance into something as otherworldly as a ghost story.
  24. 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.
  25. Funny Ha Ha
    Like a lot of scenes in Funny Ha Ha, the commonplace somehow seems invigoratingly original.
  26. The Holy Girl
    Adjusting to Martel's style requires patience, but her indirection pays dividends, culminating in an unforgettable final shot that flies in the face of narrative expectations.
  27. Ladies in Lavender.
    It's important to go in knowing the central secret of the movie: Nothing exciting is going to happen. Ever. Armed with that knowledge, viewers should be able to settle down and enjoy the extremely low-key, melancholy character study that plays out between a handful of excellent actors.
  28. The Tunnel
    The Tunnel boasts the kind of plot that would seem ridiculously implausible if it weren't based on a true story.
  29. Stalin's Wife
    Though serviceable as a primer on Soviet history under Stalin, the film's sloppy assemblage of dull interviews and stock footage never comes close to illuminating a life that the Russian people have long cherished as a precious enigma.
  30. Another Road Home
    Unforgettably documents the kind of journey that leads not to easy answers, but rather to an even thornier knot of questions.
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