The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 10,411 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 2.6 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 10411
  2. Mixed: 3,735 out of 10411
  3. Negative: 1,106 out of 10411
10411 movie reviews
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  1. Ever After
    It's... directed by Andy Tennant ("It Takes Two") with all the flair of an episode of "7th Heaven", making it that much more worth avoiding.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Negotiator
    One of the best by-the-numbers thrillers you'll see this year, thanks to a hot-shot cast.
  3. Saving Private Ryan
    An excellent movie, as effective in battle scenes as it is in that of soldiers ruminating on an Edith Piaf song.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Western
    The film toys with the idea that your identity is determined not by where you're from but where you find love. It's an intriguing theory that makes the otherwise simple movie seem more complex and frequently affecting.
  5. Lolita
    Lyne doesn't seem to get the novel, failing to incorporate any of Nabokov's black comedy -- which is to say, Lolita's heart and soul.
  6. The Mask of Zorro
    The Mask Of Zorro is disarming for the same reasons, coasting on the charisma of its stars and a few exciting action setpieces.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    There's Something About Mary
    One of the funniest movies of the year, but you may need to shower afterwards.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Pi
    Aronofsky's ability to capture the rush and confusion of racing down a timeline toward infinity, only to suddenly slam into a dead end, makes for impressive and occasionally disturbing stuff.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Lethal Weapon 4
    It's a dead end to a franchise that should have been put to rest two movies ago.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary
    The camaraderie among these strangers tossed together by fate is inspiring, as the competition gives way to good sportsmanship and, ultimately, good will.
  11. Armageddon
    Bay directs Armageddon in a way that seems more concerned with constantly assaulting the senses than anything else, hoping perhaps that the quick cuts and constant explosions will distract from his film's many flaws.
  12. Out of Sight
    Works both as a great romance and a great, unconventional crime thriller. But step back from such distinctions, and it just looks like a great movie.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Smoke Signals
    What's truly remarkable about Smoke Signals is the depth of the narrative, a touching tale of self-discovery.
  14. Buffalo '66
    While watching Gazzara, Huston, Kevin Corrigan, Rosanna Arquette, and others take things two steps beyond over-the-top is inherently compelling, it becomes embarrassing before long.
  15. Dr. Dolittle
    Isn't as sharp or consistent as Murphy's "The Nutty Professor," but it's an amusing, lightweight diversion.
  16. The X Files
    It's a smart, exciting, involving film that's true to its source, which is all it really needs to be.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mulan
    Though Disney's animation department does deserve credit for shaking up its formula and delving into relatively mature drama, the movie is flawed in numerous aggravating ways.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Edge of Seventeen
    While Edge Of Seventeen was marketed largely toward gay audiences, it’ll resonate with anyone who remembers the awkwardness and elation of their first sexual experiences, because it captures those experiences better and more honestly than practically any other film.
  19. High Art
    Though High Art has more than a few awkward touches--all the male characters take up less than one dimension, for example--it's otherwise a nicely underplayed, memorable, beautifully filmed movie.
  20. Six Days Seven Nights
    Not especially funny, romantic, or exciting.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Can't Hardly Wait
    But the film deserves credit, both for its breezy pacing and its uncommon tendency to make its characters smarter and geekier than they might have been.
  22. Dirty Work
    If a great movie is one with two great scenes and no bad ones, then Dirty Work is half a great movie. It contains more than its share of bad scenes, but it does have two brilliant ones.
  23. A Perfect Murder
    Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive," "Steal Big Steal Little") has made a technically competent thriller that's not only thrill-less, but dull.
  24. The Truman Show
    The film is unfortunately about little more than its potentially mind-boggling plot and structure.
  25. The Last Days of Disco
    Stillman's arch, clever dialogue is as strong as ever, and he conveys in every frame a genuine affection for his characters, however insipid their actions may be at times. These gifts make it easy to forgive Stillman's tendency to let his story meander, especially in Disco's second half.
  26. Hope Floats
    If there's one thing more heartbreaking than a crying child, it's a crying child wearing thick glasses, an image exploited numerous times throughout the course of the dull, uninvolving, tissue-thin Hope Floats.
  27. The Opposite of Sex
    Consistently clever without ever being funny. The film is so in love with its own carefully calibrated outrageousness that it doesn't bother to give its characters any depth beyond sitcom-level stereotypes.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
    Gilliam captures the chaotic visions of debauchery with his trademark aplomb, bringing to life the already trippy patterns of hotel carpets and populating the dark bars of Vegas with genuinely reptilian lounge lizards.
  29. Godzilla
    While the special effects are impressive, countless films have already proven that if you sink enough money into a project, you can at least make it look good. Unfortunately, good looks are all Godzilla has going for it.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Horse Whisperer
    With solid, stately acting, and landscapes that could convert atheists, The Horse Whisperer tugs heartstrings without seeming self-conscious.
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