The Globe and Mail (Toronto)'s Scores

Select another publication »
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
view
per page
  1. Gracie
    Falls into the category of heart-warming sports yarns, and, if television still made movies-of-the-week, it would enjoy a rightful home.
  2. Muriel's Wedding
    Watching this is a feature-length exercise in frustration - comedy that promises to be amusingly black stays uniformly grey; sentiment that looks to be credibly bittersweet winds up badly soured. We're constantly tantalized and perpetually disappointed, but don't despair - there's one terrific bonus...Toni Collette.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A Ballerina's Tale
    It’s a complicated story that requires digging deep into uncomfortable questions about ballet’s rigid aesthetic standards and the economics and availability of training. George doesn’t give it the depth or analysis it requires.
  4. What Men Want
    The concept of a woman being a “winner” and of being the best version of herself because she has a better understanding of “what men want”? That ain’t it. Say what you will about Nancy Meyers, but at least she knew that.
  5. Chasing Liberty
    It can be accurately described as a loud soundtrack occasionally punctuated by the faint vestige of a plot. Or as a lush travelogue that sometimes gives way to sporadic bursts of chirping dialogue.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Celine: Through the Eyes of the World
    It’s probably accurate in its portrayal of her general good humour. Detractors would be surprised at how genuinely funny she can be.
  7. The Beaver
    Clearly, the screenplay is looking for some black comedy here, but Foster's direction is too earnest to locate it.
  8. Gunner Palace
    Sorry, but this level of insight is readily available from daily news reports.
  9. Bombshell
    Ambivalent and tepid as it attempts to fashion a tick-tock thriller from Ailes’s downfall.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Angels' Share
    There might be a pretty good film lurking in this latest dramedy from the veteran Scottish directing-writing team of Ken Loach and Paul Laverty. I use the conditional because at least half the dialogue is delivered in a Glaswegian Scots so thick, it might as well have been Urdu.
  11. The Secrets We Keep
    A solid, well-acted, and slightly predictable drama of morals whose novelty evaporates once you realize that the general beats of the story itself have been presented before, to far more haunting effect.
  12. Stomp the Yard
    The plot is stale though some of the moves are fresh.
  13. TMNT
    With your sharper minds, you'll probably figure it out. I hope so. Hope you'll like the movie too. But here's a bit of advice: Don't bet your allowance on it. Make Daddy pay.
  14. Awake
    With a couple of more drafts to mend the plot holes and restructure the middle act, Awake could have been saved.
  15. Anomalisa
    Yes, the filmmaker and co-director Duke Johnson laboured for years over this project, and their set design is often astonishing. But that doesn’t mean the film is a masterpiece, or even half a masterpiece.
  16. Down in the Delta
    The juxtaposition of Loretta learning how to be a good capitalist and the historical flashbacks to her ancestor on the block at a slave auction rings unintentionally awkward. The good intentions, though, aren't in doubt: For the sake of the generations who have made sacrifices before her, Loretta has an obligation not to waste her life. [24 Dec 1998, p.D6]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  17. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    The sequel is often loud, occasionally obnoxious and so consistently convinced of its own awesomeness that it will not, it cannot, stop pointing out everything that makes it so utterly wonderful.
  18. 3 Days to Kill
    3 Days to Kill is a comic variation on the "Taken" movies, which Besson also co-wrote and produced, starring Liam Neeson as a daughter-rescuing spy.
  19. The Assassin
    Every scene is perfectly framed, every symbol lovingly shot, but the story and the characters remain opaque.
  20. Zootopia
    Zootopia takes the cultural practice of posing animals as human characters to queasy new heights.
  21. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
    The Lost Skeleton also reminds you that real filmmaking -- the illusion of one event following another -- is actually a skill.
  22. Twisted
    It's always rather sad to watch gifted performers stranded in a tepid thriller. You can see them, as professional pretenders, trying to believe that they're creating a character, but the lie is transparent -- all they're really doing is advancing a retarded plot.
  23. Pompeii
    No doubt the audiences in the Coliseum would offer a thumbs-up to the scale of the destruction, though even they might have had some quibbles about the special effects, which, too often, resemble a very large pile of melting crayons.
  24. Psycho
    In the shock department, the ante has been upped, way up, and a mere kitchen knife through a shower curtain just doesn't cut it any more.
  25. The Addams Family
    The humour is based entirely on inversion which worked in your cartoons, and even on the TV show, but it's not enough to hold up a movie, even with the helping hand provided by a disembodied hand. [22 Nov 1991]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    SpaceCamp
    At almost two hours, the film is a solid 20 minutes too long. [6 June 1986]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  27. The Lucky Ones
    If this is meant to look fresh while still being sensitive, it doesn't and it isn't.
  28. Angels & Demons
    Though complete redemption of Brown's fiction may not be possible, Howard's new film at least represents an upgrade from a mortal to a venal movie sin.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Son of God
    So yes, if you’ve seen "The Bible," you’ve already seen most of Son of God – but if there’s one story where spoilers just don’t apply, it’s the Greatest One Ever Told.
  30. The Bang Bang Club
    Ultimately, his (Silver) film settles for a queasy mix of high-toned intentions and commercial compromises.
  31. Him
    While HIM’s visual and cinematographic landscapes might be stylistically evocative at times, they lack in narrative substance and a discerning formal logic, reducing images and themes rife with narrative potential into a series of hollowly aestheticized surfaces that squander the film’s own potential as well as the talent of its actors.
  32. Willard
    Perhaps too much energy was spent on being stylish rather than simply low-rent horrifying. The upshot is not very stylish and not very scary.
  33. Midway
    Midway is a choppy bore, its main source of intrigue centred around whatever New Jersey-ese accent British actor Ed Skrein is attempting as dive bomber Richard Best.
  34. Baby Mama
    A painfully predictable movie.
  35. Welcome to Mooseport
    Instead of a madcap farce, the movie grinds along into a series of laboured comic bits.
  36. Vengeance
    There are occasional moments when the film is so close to feeling like it is accomplishing its goals – to be seen as a sharp and comedic critique of the cost of storytelling, with a fun little whodunnit at its core – but it never quite gets there.
  37. Darkman
    There are lively, compelling scenes, particularly in the first hour - Raimi has an indubitable talent for camp mayhem - but the picture escalates into absurdity and the last half hour, essentially a chase sequence, is marred by suprisingly cheesy special effects. [24 Aug. 1990]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Reluctant Fundamentalist
    It’s a timely narrative subject, but its treatment in The Reluctant Fundamentalist is fundamentally flawed.
  39. The Getaway
    Seeking both conventional action and quirky atmosphere, it achieves a little of each and not enough of either. [15 Feb 1994]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  40. The Artist's Wife
    Like an exhausted artist facing a blank canvas, or an underwhelmed film critic staring at a blank screen, The Artist’s Wife doesn’t have much to say but tosses something on the screen regardless, hoping it will stick.
  41. Encanto
    Encanto ends up being overwrought rather than enchanting.
  42. Nights in Rodanthe
    Although I haven't read Nights in Rodanthe, I have to assume there is material in the book that would have helped the movie make hearts thud instead of fingers tap.
  43. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
    Like the first movie, Princess Diaries 2 relies primarily on the chemistry and screen appeal of Andrews and Hathaway to elevate the storytelling above the level of mush.
  44. Frozen
    Frozen would get props for a novel plot, except that its storyline appears to be ski-lifted from the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode where Larry is stuck on a chairlift with an Orthodox Jewish woman who is terrified of being seen with a man after sunset.
  45. The Losers
    Providing expectations are kept low, there’s some fun to be had in the elaborately preposterous action set-pieces, and especially Jason Patric’s campy performance as the movie’s villain.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Iceman
    Michael Shannon is an overpowering actor, and in The Iceman, the best that he can do is wrestle the movie around him to a stalemate.
  47. Hero
    Somewhere inside Hero, there's a good movie trying awfully hard to get out, and not making it. Not even close. [03 Oct 1992]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  48. The Last Witch Hunter
    The Last Witch Hunter is redeemed through complex visual-effects work that aptly illuminates Goodman’s netherworld. Further, Diesel’s stolid performance is balanced through the supporting star power of Caine – even with criminally limited scenes – and Rose Leslie’s “dream walker,” whose earnestness makes even the world of a macho witch hunter seem entirely plausible.
  49. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
    Remember the final page of Gatsby, a real American tragedy, when the green light beckons us into an ever-receding future? Now that was a mystery. This is, well, Pittsburgh.
  50. Hot Tub Time Machine
    Funnier than any movie called Hot Tub Time Machine has a right to be. And how funny is that? Not very, but a little, occasionally – just enough.
  51. Hide and Seek
    From the base-model script to the assembly-line thrills, everything about Hide and Seek is generic except its star.
  52. Sahara
    Most of the personality work in the film is left to Steve Zahn.
  53. Hart's War
    Having seen the TV series "Hogan's Heroes," we already know that a German prisoner of war camp can be cartooned; Hart's War goes further as a cartoon that takes itself seriously.
  54. Light Sleeper
    Bolstered by a solid premise, this film starts out impressively enough - it looks to be a worthy character study. But it soon stops dead, wheels spinning badly, and then, hungry for momentum, lurches off in a completely cockeyed direction. [16 Oct 1992]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  55. Back to the Future Part III
    If nothing else (and there isn't much else), Part III rises above the wholesale clutter of its immediate predecessor, then contents itself with settling into an easy commercial groove. What remains is amiable kid's stuff, as sweetly forgettable as an orange Popsicle on a summer's day. [25 May 1990, p.C4]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  56. Inglourious Basterds
    Let's start with this certainty: No one but Quentin Tarantino could possibly have made Inglourious Basterds . Now add another: No one but his most ardent fans will be entirely glad that Quentin Tarantino did make Inglourious Basterds .
  57. Birth
    Despite its trappings, despite its style, Birth is just a tall tale with a short reach.
  58. My Way
    Adolescent boys will savour My Way's bombast and solemnity. Cringing adult audiences will more likely beat a retreat before final call.
  59. Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
    As it exists, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is strictly for the tenaciously devoted.
  60. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
    In terms of psychology, it's an abysmal failure, too real to be symbolic, too symbolic to be realistic. [25 May 1990]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  61. Bumblebee
    Stripped of its parts, Bumblebee (as annoying to type as it is to say!) is just another needless franchise extension that should’ve been junked years ago.
  62. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
    Gruesome enough; what it lacks is a distinctive revolting personality of its own.
  63. I Love You, Beth Cooper
    The movie feels like something parents want their kids to see. Harold and Kumar wouldn't want anything to do with Beth Cooper or Denis Cooverman. You're probably not going to like them much either.
  64. Stalingrad
    Overall, Stalingrad is a bizarre concoction, part Putin-era patriotic chest-thumping and part creaky war melodrama, all set in a superbly recreated ruined city.
  65. 21 Jump Street
    A try-anything, fitfully amusing muddle that wears its mocking cynicism a bit too proudly.
  66. To the Arctic
    After seven trips made over four years, the production was about to wrap when the crew, aboard an icebreaker, encountered a polar bear mom and twin cubs that decided to hang around for a week – offering a rare opportunity to film the daily life of these notoriously camera-shy creatures.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Fault in Our Stars
    Fault is at heart a full-throttle, by-the-numbers tearjerker.
  68. Between Strangers
    Great cast, too bad about the movie.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    For a Good Time, Call...
    Easily the daffiest movie you've ever seen that also references incestuous role-playing games.
  70. What's Love Got to Do with It
    With a lot more insight and a lot less hagiography, it could have been a real movie. [18 Jun 1993]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  71. Another Stakeout
    Everyone is back for Another Stakeout but, without the laughs-and-thrills mix of the original, this sequel just doesn't work. [24 July 1993]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  72. 27 Dresses
    Almost everything about this starring vehicle for Katharine Heigl feels borrowed from some previous romantic comedy.
  73. Level 16
    The look of the film is sterile and monochromatic, as is the acting and the mood. And while fans of the genre will absolutely appreciate the surreal gloom, for most others Level 16 will come in at a level below an average "Twilight Zone" episode.
  74. You Should Have Left
    You Should Have Left will, however, make you seriously rethink your next Airbnb rental. And maybe even push you to watch "Mortdecai," just to see what a real horror looks like.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Skyjacker's Tale
    Even as he cuts confusingly between talking heads and time periods, Kastner elides key details that might have given viewers a more complex portrait of both the setting and his anti-hero’s role in the drama.
  76. Batman Forever
    Alas, Schumacher doesn't ride on the momentum; worse, he's not an action director, and the film grinds to a dead stop every time it tries to speed up.
  77. In the Land of Women
    With its wry tone and mild emotional disturbances, In the Land of Women is less a chick flick than a chick flicker.
  78. Poetic Justice
    Poetic Justice is like that - so much worse than it should have been, and yet, for brief shining moments, so much better than any other 2-star film in sight. [23 July 1993]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  79. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
    Bay has attempted to carefully characterize and humanize each member of the security force, and Krasinski, Dale and Schreiber are largely successful at creating personable fighters.
  80. The Stoning of Soraya M.
    Though The Stoning of Soraya M.'s heart is in the right place, its head is lost in storm clouds of anger.
  81. Tolkien
    Stately, handsome and ferociously romantic, the new biopic of British high-fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, though there is some excellent tea drinking to be had.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Waterboy
    As a satire on the only true religion of the American South -- football -- The Waterboy is a delight.
  83. Jeff Who Lives at Home
    This little movie – it's only 83 minutes – seems so determined to if not avoid, then only caress the tropes of slacker films that it commits the worst sin for a comedy: It's boring.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Super Troopers
    When Farva sees O'Hagan in civilian wear -- a denim jacket and blue jeans -- he asks his boss, "Where'd you get the Canadian tuxedo?" Such moments may not be as exciting as the sight of Homer Simpson at the CN Tower, but they'll do.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Last Showgirl
    The sentiment of being thrown to the margins of an industry that seemed predestined to carry you is certainly an interesting point of departure, but the resulting film often feels stagnant, unable to square its romantic impulses – as a frustrated Shelly puts it in one scene, “this is breasts and rhinestones and joy!” – with the fraught realities of these characters.
  86. P.S. I Love You
    This sappy thing is a two-hour cheat that never plays fair for a nanosecond.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
    Not only does the 3-D format grant you a front row seat at this Jonas Brothers concert, but it puts sweet, sweaty Joe (he's the cute one) practically in your lap. For most JoBro fans, that alone is worth the price of admission.
  88. Mary Magdalene
    Mary Magdalene is ultimately an unnecessary cinematic resurrection.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Convoy
    One good thing B-grade trucker movies have is a quality we can call non-intellectual honesty. As a rule, they have no pretentions to do anything other than amuse the viewer. Peckinpah tries to do more and fails. [03 July 1978]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  90. Citizen Ruth
    A screwball comedy about the abortion issue? First-time writer-director Alexander Payne gives it a college try.
  91. Can't Hardly Wait
    [The soundtrack] manages to serve up new rock, eighties dance music, rap and Barry Manilow -- a combination custom-made to annoy audiences of all ages.
  92. 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
    3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy fails to live up to either its promise or title.
  93. Clockers
    This is an adaptation that must have been hard to screw up, yet screwed up it has been. If the movie is far from dreadful, it's even further from the searing experience it could have been.
  94. NASCAR: The IMAX Experience
    First a bit about the movie, which really isn't one -- more like a 48-minute press release promoting the glories of NASCAR.
  95. Taking Woodstock
    Ultimately, even Lee appears to lose interest, flashing none of his usual visual panache and, at the end, content to forego any considered conclusion for a hunk of lumpy irony.
  96. Edge of Darkness
    The larger shell game here is that Edge of Darkness is offered as a political thriller, but with real-world politics removed. What we’re left with is a familiar mechanism for delivering a vicarious, violent, wish-fulfilment fantasy, with Mel in a familiar position, in the driver’s seat, pedal to the metal.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    P.S.
    P.S.'s ending, a cautiously happy conclusion, feels like an afterthought.
  98. Jungle 2 Jungle
    For his part, Allen spends much of his time falling -- out of hammocks, off of logs, down from balconies, a geometric progression of comic ingenuity guaranteed to delight the child in all of us. Occasionally, he's joined by fellow tumbler Martin Short, who appears to be making a lucrative career of playing in the very movies he once so wickedly parodied. [07 Mar 1997, p.D6]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  99. The Heat
    If this were funny, The Heat would add up to your average buddy-cop comedy. Except that it’s not funny, at least not very and not often.
  100. Gridiron Gang
    If you like your sports movies, especially your football movies, larded with more clichés than a politician's stump speech, Gridiron Gang begs to be seen.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »