The Globe and Mail (Toronto)'s Scores

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For 7,291 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 48% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 The Red Turtle
Lowest review score: 0 The Mod Squad
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,349 out of 7291
  2. Mixed: 1,826 out of 7291
  3. Negative: 1,116 out of 7291
7291 movie reviews
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  1. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
    Alas, around about the third act, the idea grows tired and the whole thing gets derailed. Too bad, because it's a good ride until it isn't.
  2. War of the Worlds
    This is B-movie material all the way, yet it's not only watchable, it's engrossing. That's because the material is in the hands of an A-talent director, who knows, as few of his contemporaries do, how to manipulate the plastic qualities of a film: the lighting, editing, composition, camera movement and production values.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Thelma
    Exploring themes such as control, connection, isolation, becoming and the effects of environment on a person's sense of self, Thelma poses more questions than it answers – suggesting Trier isn't in search of what can be known. Instead, Thelma, similar to the director's other films, portrays uncertainty as the ultimate suspense.
  4. The School of Flesh
    This is a great film for those who share the disabused French view of grownup life, but more particularly for those who want to see one of the great actresses of her generation at the height of her powers.
  5. Hot Fuzz
    With Hot Fuzz, you'll just have to settle for semi-hilarity.
  6. Happy Death Day 2U
    Writer-director Christopher Landon’s quick-turnaround sequel is pure self-knowing nonsense – a smoothly executed, briskly paced mash-up of horror tropes, time-travel paradoxes and silly campus slapstick.
  7. Doubt
    This movie sticks.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    This Is Not a Movie
    If Yung, who made the Genie Award-winning Up the Yangtze, comes off as too deferential toward Fisk, he does acknowledge the controversial nature of his subject, noting how Fisk is regularly proclaimed to be a pawn of the different sides of whatever conflict he is covering.
  9. Patti Smith: Dream of Life
    This intimate portrait of the so-called godmother of punk is aimed at viewers who are keenly fascinated by Smith.
  10. Cadillac Records
    Anyone who likes pop music or wonders how bands like the Rolling Stones got rolling will enjoy the ride.
  11. Valkyrie
    The result is a fairly co-ordinated effort that, despite a few miscues, yields a consistently watchable film.
  12. The Rage in Placid Lake
    A welcome rarity: an amiable film comedy that leaves you feeling good as opposed to feeling for your wallet.
  13. A Serious Man
    A seriously black comedy. Black, because affliction and angst abound. Comic, because this rampant bleakness is presented as nothing more than an amusing bauble.
  14. Senna
    The crash, lethal in an eye-blink, was hard to watch when I saw it live on television, and it's not any easier here. The day was clear – no rain in sight.
  15. Cloverfield
    Cloverfield is an exercise in realism that lacks reality's broader and richer context. Or, put another way, the experiment is artful, but it ain't art.
  16. Rango
    Though its level of execution is consistently high, Rango is a non-pandering comedy that takes its message of western individualism seriously: It's here for you and your children to enjoy – or not – as you please.
  17. Ammonite
    Which is why when Mary and Charlotte’s first big sex scene arrives – a moment destined to become a meme unto itself – its explosive energy feels undercut by a lack of genuine connection between the two women. Both performers are throwing the entirety of themselves into Lee’s world, but only one is offered much of anything to grab hold of.
  18. When Harry Met Sally...
    The comedy is warm and witty and wafer-thin, as easy on the palate as a raspberry sorbet on a summer afternoon.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Parenthood
    Parenthood is a charming, amusing piece of work. It doesn't say anything new - Howard clings as tightly to tradition as Norman Rockwell - but it says the old things with enough wit and eloquence to keep them going for another generation. [2 Aug 1989, p.C7]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  20. Red Heat
    Red Heat, a terrifically funny and always frantic flick that hides a fascinating subtext beneath its commercial veneer. Very commercial - this should be a boffo hit; and very fascinating - the premise that props up the hit speaks volumes about America in the twilight of Reagan. [17 Jun 1988, p.C1]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  21. Reel Injun
    Entertaining and informative documentary on how native people have been portrayed on-screen over the years and how these portrayals have shaped native self-perception and non-native prejudice.
  22. Happy Times
    Happy Times may be the last of the "little" films from this remarkable director for some time.
  23. The LEGO Ninjago Movie
    The result is an irreverent, kinetic presentation with snappy dialogue and a hammered-home message that is graspable to even those with cup-shaped hands: One's true powers are internal, not external devices.
  24. Rough Cut
    Under Don Siegel's flag, no new territory is surveyed and the destination is familiar, but the journey proves to be a comfortable one and the victory waiting at the end is far from Pyrrhic. [19 June 1980]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    • 57 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    High School Musical 3: Senior Year
    Disney raised the stakes by turning its hit TV-movie franchise into a feature film – and the bet has paid off.
  26. The Illusionist
    Though something less than a masterpiece, The Illusionist is a rare animated film of fleeting charms rather than loud noises, aimed more at wistful adults than thrill-hungry kids.
  27. Safety Not Guaranteed
    Call me biased, but I'm quick to put out the welcome mat for any movie – good, bad or indifferent – that resists easy categorizing. That's certainly the charm of Safety NotGuaranteed, which flirts with two very different genres yet never goes steady with either.
  28. Bugs
    Though it might initially look like a wacky foodie adventure show, Bugs has a conscience.
  29. Poltergeist
    For Steven Spielberg, who confines his Midas touch here to the roles of co-writer and producer, has refreshingly set out to reverse the standard ratio of the standard scare flick - that is, to frighten us a little and charm us a lot. Even more refreshingly, he succeeds. [4 June 1982]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  30. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
    So, the safely scary and often amusing formula holds. Meanwhile, the movie’s conclusion includes enough plot about Stine’s fate to suggest Goosebumps 3 will feature more of the elusive Black and that can only be a good thing.
  31. You Don't Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantanamo
    Everyone should be thankful, if not for the doc's content, then certainly for its tone – there is no fulminating here. Instead, courtesy of Canadian co-directors Luc Côté and Patricio Henriquez, witnesses are quietly gathered and arguments are quietly made. For once, no one rants, and, in the relative calm, the tone can be heard, so muted and sad.
  32. Force Majeure
    There are those trying to position "Gone Girl" as the date-and-debate movie of the season, but it isn’t half the unsettling thriller Force Majeure is.
  33. The Simpsons Movie
    On the positive side, it's still four back-to-back Simpsons episodes, which is still better than most of what either television or the movies have to offer.
  34. Insomnia
    In the ongoing case of the fan versus the movies, the evidence suggests that a good policier is damn hard to find. So when you come across one that can boast a decent script, taut direction and a single superb performance, there's no need for prolonged deliberation.
  35. La Bamba
    La Bamba may in many ways be a catalogue of cliches, but they are cliches that Valens was able to live for his people for the first time, and they are cliches that Luis Valdez has been able to film for his people (for all people) for the first time.
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  36. X-Men: First Class
    That's partly why X-Men: First Class is such fanboy fun, as the script departs from official Marvel lore to invent a whole new "origin story" for the mutant ensemble.
  37. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present
    Abramovic is a sensationally attractive narcissist and the filmmakers are clearly smitten with her, but the film goes a long way to establish the intellectual seriousness and dedication involved in her ambitious series of art stunts.
  38. Juliet, Naked
    Open-hearted and sure to resonate with more than a few viewers, Juliet, Naked roms and coms in the most charmingly honest ways.
  39. All About Nina
    All About Nina is a compelling, honest and occasionally messy middle finger to the expectations placed on female entertainers – or just simply women at all.
  40. Journey from Zanskar
    More heart-breaking and action-packed than one imagines from a monastery travelogue film.
  41. Anna and the Apocalypse
    Show tunes meet "Shaun of the Dead" in the delightfully gruesome Scottish horror-musical Anna and the Apocalypse.
  42. Into the Abyss
    By Herzog's lofty standards, the result is mildly disappointing. The film lacks the sociological depth of "The Executioner's Song" or the emotional wallop of "In Cold Blood." But it sure is a surpassingly, and compellingly, strange tale.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Smurfs: The Lost Village
    It’s all in good fun, but it also wants to engage with children beyond hollow gags and pop songs, which are there, but kept to a tasteful minimum.
  44. Avatar
    Avatar is a king's ransom fairly well spent, not least because Cameron's invitation into his superbly crafted universe comes with an unexpected price: He makes it easy to gaze fondly on all this movie magic, but only in exchange for a hard look at ourselves.
  45. The Runaways
    The Runaways captures the sleaze and innocence of the era and has some still-relevant things to say about the conflict between girl-rocker empowerment and exploitation.
  46. The Eyes of Tammy Faye
    The director, Michael Showalter (The Big Sick), and the screenwriters Abe Sylvia, along with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato who made the 2000 documentary of the same name, either can’t or don’t want to confine themselves to a consistent tone.
  47. Robots
    Sure, it's a bit mechanical, but what did you expect? The important thing is that the characters and jokes don't prevent you from grooving on the pleasures of the moving parts.
  48. Blancanieves
    While the story, shorn of its supernatural elements, is mired in abuse and tragedy, its effect is sensual and superficial.
  49. Midnight in Paris
    Certainly, his (Allen) work here feels effortless, and that feather-light touch gives the picture its charm – modest but real.
  50. Searching
    A clever twist-and-turn thriller.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Guest
    A film as lithe and seductive as its lethal main character.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Balls of Fury
    Stupendously silly but viciously funny.
  53. Prodigal Sons
    Kimberly Reed’s debut documentary, Prodigal Sons, would make a terribly contrived novel, but is a compelling and sensational real-life story.
  54. The Princess of Montpensier
    Swords cross, blood spurts and bosoms heave in The Princess of Montpensier, French director Bertrand Tavernier's thoroughly ravishing drama.
  55. Ten
    Ten may strain your patience but that's the high-stakes gamble of this provocative project.
  56. The Golden Compass
    A demanding blend of spectacle, drama and exposition of ideas.
  57. Sleeping Beauty
    At its simple core, Sleeping Beauty is a perfectly pitched chamber piece about the menace of voluntary oblivion.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Babysitters
    If Leguizamo imports a hint of pathos into his performance, Waterston adds a dollop of menace to hers, delivering another of Ross's attacks on what separates girls from men. In this world, women are their own worst enemy.
  59. The Mad Women's Ball
    Laurent is determined in mapping the depiction of the patriarchal violence endured under both the supposition of scientific method as well as the social order of the world outside of the institution; however, the film struggles to keep a similar pace and substance within its story world.
  60. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
    With the bigger story and more fully developed relationships than the previous films, this is the first Twilight film that feels like a real movie in its own right.
  61. The Guilty
    Cedergren excels at balancing Asger’s cynical cool with his desire to help (or perhaps simply help himself), and the entire endeavour will leave you with a new-found respect for 911 operators.
  62. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
    The nostalgia quotient might be indulgent overload for some, though catnip for others.
  63. Keep On Keepin' On
    Terry produced some of the happiest sounds in the history of jazz; Keep on Keepin’ On keeps the smiles coming.
  64. Lemon Tree
    Often refuses to adhere to the formula, sometimes offering a tantalizing ambiguity, other times aspiring to a more complex drama it cannot entirely deliver.
  65. Soul Power
    Pretty much a non-stop head-bobbing knee-bouncer.
  66. Footnote
    A father-son academic rivalry provides fodder for this caustic comedy set in the Talmud Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  67. Barfly
    To have a great time with Barfly's funny funkiness, you don't have to share Bukowski's soused attitude toward alcoholism, however; Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway, whose wonderful performances transcend Bukowski's conceit, certainly don't. [13 Nov 1987]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  68. Fatal Attraction
    Fatal Attraction becomes as seductive as the seduction it depicts. In the always stylish, sometimes careless hands of director Adrian Lyne, the film lures us in with an artful blend of stately pacing and caressing close-ups and brooding silences. [23 Sep 1987 p.C7]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  69. Watchers of the Sky
    The title comes from prosecutor Ferencz, who compares his work to that of the 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe, who said he watched the sky so future generations could use him as their foundation.
  70. River
    In a demanding role light on dialogue, Sutherland’s rangy, loping physicality serves both the character and the action well – camera and fugitive are seldom at rest, and on the move in tense, extended bursts whenever an opportunity presents itself.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The 40 Year Old Virgin
    While "Wedding Crashers" ultimately succumbs to endorsing the mushy romantic clichés that it spends the rest of the time ridiculing, The 40-Year-Old Virgin offers a wiser take on the anxieties, negotiations and expectations that surround love and sex, particularly for people who've been burned before.
  72. The Trip
    Ambitious and brooding, Coogan has the darker nature; lighthearted and affable, Brydon is all sunny-side up. Happily, both possess a devilishly quick wit and the need to go beyond self-impersonation to the more celebrated variety.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Crumb
    How refreshing then to find a movie with an honest-to-gosh dysfunctional family at its core, a family utterly Tolstoyan in its unhappiness, utterly Dostoevskyan in its despair. [16 Jun 1995]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  74. The Better Angels
    Sandburg’s "The Prairie Years" is a source behind The Better Angels, a gorgeous look at the raw, wooded Indiana of the early 1800s and a dreamy study of the boy Lincoln who was destined to leave it behind.
  75. Waste Land
    No matter who you side with here, Waste Land – the title should come with a question mark – is a fascinating adventure, populated by memorable characters.
  76. Big River Man
    An odd and irresistible documentary.
  77. The Aristocrats
    The structure of the film mirrors the changes in the joke which in turn reflect the moral of the story -- hey, it's all a matter of perspective.
  78. The Spectacular Now
    By the end of the The Spectacular Now, you’re not quite ready to let these characters go. Instead, like director François Truffaut did with his character Antoine Doinel in a series of films, you want to check back with them every few years, to see how how they’re getting on.
  79. My Architect
    A twofold story of heroic achievements and personal failings.
  80. Prick Up Your Ears
    Absurd fun with a tortured relationship, Prick Up Your Ears follows facts with farcical fidelity. [01 May 1987]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  81. Baadasssss!
    Both an homage to his dad and a backstage story rich in Hollywood lore.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    A Drummer's Dream
    It's pure emotion. Drumming, for these masters of the instrument, is about communication, acceptance and, above all, deep love.
  83. Benediction
    The dialogue is quietly scathing, and the production values are sumptuous. But Davies seems most interested in Sassoon as a symbol of hemmed-in Englishness. As a character, he remains poetically opaque.
  84. My Date with Drew
    The documentary My Date with Drew is "Don Quixote" meets "Bowfinger" meets "Swingers" for the reality-TV generation.
  85. Blue Miracle
    While the film has all the makings of something that could easily be overly saccharine because it’s so predictable, Blue Miracle manages to be a rather charming family-friendly affair.
  86. G.I. Jane
    Director Scott, flashy, fluid and at his best in the steely-blue claustrophic battle-training scenes, immerses the viewer in the process.
  87. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
    The story is running a bit thin by the end, yet the almost comic character of the investigative detective is underused. Still, the unlikely presence of Guangzhou, steamy by day, gritty by night, and the shifting viewpoints on the accident add an engaging originality.
  88. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
    The look is fine, the effects are special, the cast is solid, and Jordan (in company with Rice) makes a commendable effort to add a cerebral dimension to a visceral genre.
  89. Frankenweenie
    You have to feel pleased just for the existence of a film like Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. A 3-D, black-and-white, stop-motion animated film, it's a one-man blow for cinematic biodiversity.
  90. Silver Screamers
    The resulting drama, while perhaps predictable in an American Movie meets Cocoon kind of way, is still awfully sweet and warmhearted.
  91. Logan
    Mangold mostly lets Logan stand as a showcase for Jackman, that rare performer who can take an already-iconic figure and own him completely, to the point where it’s hard to divorce the two.
  92. Over the Edge
    Over The Edge is a good, dangerous film, and it's good in part because it is dangerous - it puts you in touch with these kids' frustrations, and it allows you to feel the relief an explosion brings. [25 June 1982]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  93. Biutiful
    In this vast balloon of a film, Bardem is the ballast – that Manichean face is a movie onto itself.
  94. Enchanted April
    Thanks to a superb cast it's great fun indeed. [7 Aug 1992]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    • 36 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Æon Flux
    It's all so geekily gorgeous, it hardly matters that the narrative lapses in and out of incoherence and the dialogue is functional at best.
  96. Alps
    Alps, in spite of its title, is a very flat film, from the shallow focus photography, to the actors' monotone delivery.
  97. Beanpole
    Balagov displays the cinematic skills of an auteur at least twice his age, and both lead actresses are captivating – an especially remarkable feat given that neither had acted on-screen before. Yet as Balagov peels back the layers of Iya and Masha’s stories, Beanpole feels less like a deep cut and more like a scratch.
  98. Tito and the Birds
    The animation is equal parts digital, graphic and oil-painting-based, creating a surreal and hypnotizing landscape, while the main narrative thread offers plenty of real-world metaphors without condescending to kiddie sentimentality.
  99. The Wrestler
    The excesses are easy to forgive, both for the humour and charisma of Rourke's outsized performance and Aronofsky's canny low-key direction, which make for a combination that is irresistible.
  100. Knafayim Shvurot
    A believable, tender story of how a terrible crisis can turn out to have a positive, transforming effect on a family as long as there is love.
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