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. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
    While a lot of geography is covered, as a concert film, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is decidedly thin entertainment.
  2. American Dreamz
    Hugh Grant's Martin Tweed is nowhere as menacing (or interesting) as the callous bruiser who makes every episode of American Idol a chilling psychotic adventure.
  3. I Capture the Castle
    It is, alas, très twee. A muchness of silliness. Beautifully filmed silliness, and fetchingly acted tweeness. But give me Cruella de Vil any time.
  4. Deadfall
    Solid performances from veterans Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson as Jay's parents, and Treat Williams as the sheriff, anchor the older generation, but the characters do tend to conform to stereotypes of hard, unforgiving men and loving, patient women.
  5. The Door in the Floor
    Single-handedly, Bridges gives the film what it otherwise lacks -- energy and emotion invested in this damaged man, naked beneath his ballooning caftan, at once sadly ridiculous and ridiculously sad.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Son of the Bride
    What starts off as a possible Argentine "American Beauty" reeks like a room stacked with pungent flowers.
  7. Serial Mom
    Water's kinky view of the world has simply been overtaken (hell, swallowed up) by the sheer warp of reality. [13 Apr 1994]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  8. Munich
    Bouncing about from one flawed movie to another, Steven Spielberg has lost his way of late, and Munich finds him more disoriented than ever.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
    On a thematic level, it remains wholly reprehensible and a fraudulent piece of entertainment. But at least it rips off some better films (Mad Max, Day of the Dead, The Matrix) with a good deal of energy.
  10. The Skin I Live In
    Though beautiful to look at and graced with moments of ticklish camp, The Skin I Live In is also sluggish, arbitrarily conceived and, especially in its sagging middle, unaccountably dull.
  11. The Oranges
    A comedy about a middle-aged dad who has an affair with his neighbour's daughter, The Oranges does not taste freshly squeezed.
  12. Hitman
    It's all meant, I suppose, to conjure up cold visions of Terminators and Robocops past, or, in this post-9/11 world, of bin Ladens and Bushes present. If so, conjure at will.
  13. Dummy
    A contrived little comedy, Dummy definitely lives down to its name -- you can see the lips moving on this wooden thing.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Scary Movie 3
    The decision to overhaul the Scary Movie franchise by sending up such non-horror titles as "8 Mile" and "The Matrix Reloaded" also pays dividends.
  15. What to Expect When You're Expecting
    It's a sitcom-y ensemble film (complete with product placement) that feels like you're flipping around the TV dial.
  16. Indignation
    And therein lies the difficulty of adapting Indignation for the screen; remove Roth’s prose from the equation and you don’t have much left. Writer and director James Schamus turns Indignation into a minor period piece, a precise but seemingly pointless evocation of the stultifying conventionalism of an American university campus in the 1950s.
  17. Outlaw King
    Director David Mackenzie (Pine's collaborator on Hell or High Water) dabbles in some interesting aesthetic experiments – including a doozy of a single-take scene in the film's opening minutes – but the narrative is cut, dried and left to rot under the soggy Scottish skies.
  18. Factotum
    Embracing such depths, Bukowski somehow made his art. Simulating them, Factotum just makes us queasy.
  19. Devil in a Blue Dress
    A bland, workaday detective flick that should have been much better than it is.
  20. Dangerous Liaisons (2012)
    With its exotic setting and its beautiful cast, this Dangerous Liaisons is lovely rather than wicked.
  21. Semi-Pro
    Come to think of it, Ferrell is to the sports comedy what the Toronto Maple Leafs are to the hockey biz: Hard-core fans are sure to show up and find reasons to be amused. The rest of us can only hope for better days.
  22. Alexander
    Call it "Alexander the Grate," because, over the marathon of its three-hour running time, this wonky epic really does get on your nerves.
  23. Jason Bourne
    While Jason Bourne isn’t half-bad as an action movie, it is a nakedly hollow exercise in resuscitating brand loyalty.
  24. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
    It’s less startling than it was when the first Sin City was released in 2005, maybe even quaint, like a black-light Jimi Hendrix poster from the ’60s.
  25. Miracle at St. Anna
    Throughout, Terence Blanchard's score swells and sweeps, reminding us, at every moment, what we're supposed to feel. If only we knew what we were supposed to think of this trite mess.
  26. The Newton Boys
    On the flimsy wings of this familiar fairy tale, Linklater tries to fly himself a movie, dressing up the quartet (and the strapping he-men cast to portray them) in the audience-friendly vestments of picaresque charm.
  27. Fast Five
    The 131-minute, car-racing film is adolescent guy date histrionics – screaming tires, snappy putdowns and, because we're in Rio, an occasional influx of bodies beautiful in Band-Aid bikinis.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Battleship
    Battleship has its moments, like the rare occasions when it nods to its origin: There's a nice eureka when we learn that evil alien ships can be outwitted, improbably, by plotting co-ordinates on a grid, à la your granddad's board game.
  29. How He Fell in Love
    Although its two lead actors are strong – and Meyers affords them a generous number of scenes where they can bare raw emotion – the film stumbles toward the end, and the central duo don’t develop all that much.
  30. My Girl
    As box-office packages go, My Girl may well become a big hit. The wrapping is colourful, even charming in spots, and that circle of black ribbon is a gravely clever touch. Get closer, though, and it's like those Christmas presents stacked around the department store tree - apparently real but really empty. [28 Nov 1991]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  31. Shortbus
    For all the carnality on offer here, Mitchell and his cast seem ambivalent about sex.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Escape Artist
    The Escape Artist looks as if it may be intended for children, but it's so fuzzy in detail and character that it fails in its premise as either adventure or fantasy. [29 May 1982]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  33. Trail of the Pink Panther
    The plot creaks along reasonably effectively and Sellers' solo sequences - the disguises, the pratfalls and the speech mannerisms - are familiar, but fun. [18 Dec 1982]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Brewster's Millions
    Brewster's Millions never gets breathless, as it absolutely must. [22 May 1985]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  35. Observe and Report
    One of those comedies that is more peculiar than actually funny.
  36. A Dog's Journey
    Heartstrings are pulled like a puppy’s leash; nothing much unpredictable happens.
  37. Prom
    More interestingly, it's also kind of sweet in a contrived and fumbling first-kiss sort of way.
  38. The Samaritan
    About a third of the way along, there's a shocking revelation that definitely packs a punch. Problem is, it's followed by a near-immediate return to familiar narrative convention, where the noir ante rises exponentially toward a climax that arrives too hastily and ends too neatly.
  39. Changing Lanes
    Definitely erratic, this thing -- all in all, it's the sort of commercial vehicle you might want to stay well back of.
  40. Cutthroat Island
    A swashbuckler that plays like an over-dressed serial on a slow Saturday afternoon. [22 Dec 1995]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  41. 20 Dates
    It doesn't take a foolish romantic to hope that Myles and Elisabeth live happily ever after. The world just isn't ready for 20 More Dates.
  42. Holmes & Watson
    There are moments, however fleeting, that suggest there’s a decent Mel Brooks-ian farce hiding amidst the wreckage. Deeply, profoundly hidden moments, but peeking through every now and then, an annoyingly sporadic Christmas miracle.
  43. The Day the Earth Stood Still
    As a message movie, it's preachy without being serious; for an action movie, there's a lot of racket but not much fun.
  44. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
    There are many plot lines here, but little tension.
  45. It's Complicated
    This is wish-fulfilment fantasy, where the laughs lie in sorting out an embarrassment of riches.
  46. After the Sunset
    Though there are a few annoying moments when the actors get in the way of the scenery, mostly it succeeds.
  47. Virginia
    It's all rather wacky and hard to follow or fathom, although maybe that's attributable to Virginia's schizophrenia veering off on its delusional phase.
  48. Big Bad Love
    The cast is so oddly interesting you wish you could see them doing something less wasteful
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    If I Stay
    If I Stay is true to principle in one significant regard: It makes no concessions to anyone outside its teenage female cohort.
  50. Cairo Time
    One disappointment here is that Patricia Clarkson, the queen of indie film, is missing much of her usual spark. Her performance may be aiming for sensual, but too often it comes across more as listless.
  51. Alvin and the Chipmunks
    As for children's entertainment needs, well, having seen both "The Golden Compass" and Alvin and the Chipmunks with a full theatre of four- to 12-year-olds, this reviewer is honour-bound to report that Alvin wins the kids' vote, paws down.
  52. Dragged Across Concrete
    Nearly everyone in this movie, and nearly everything that happens in it, is awful. Vile. Nasty. But it is a nastiness that sticks.
  53. Need For Speed
    Every stage of the race and chase is announced on a webcast conducted by the secret impresario of the illegal De Leon race, a billionaire car enthusiast known as the Monarch, who “nobody knows.” Actually, the Monarch is clearly visible in a corner of the computer screen and he’s played, with jive-spouting brio by Michael Keaton. Hey, the movie isn’t called Need for Logic.
  54. Savages
    So why does Savages feel so calculated, cutesy, free of suspense and trashy only in the uninteresting sense? No doubt, Stone is trying... but it all feels more like flexing atrophied muscles rather than creating a believable experience.
  55. Assassination Nation
    Levinson displays some amazing technical chops – most of which can be traced back to Joseph Kahn, but never mind – and there’s one standout home-invasion sequence toward the end. But some warnings are best heeded.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Doogal
    The slapdash dialogue and smug vocal talent -- even the presence of the much-loved host of "The Daily Show" is wearying -- detract from the visual appeal of the most energetic sequences (like a raucous train chase) and what's left of Danot's designs.
  57. Anonymous
    The less you know about Shakespeare, the more you're likely to enjoy Anonymous.
  58. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
    Some might find it stimulating. Others will find it bonkers. Watching Jude Law do a slow-motion howl, for example, is certainly … something.
  59. Youth in Revolt
    In Youth in Revolt , Cera bellies up to the same table once too often. His fresh-faced act is starting to look really stale.
  60. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
    A superior entertainment to both "RE 1" and "Alien vs. Predator."
  61. I Used to Go Here
    The characters aren’t compelling, the comedy isn’t energetic, and the narrative surprises that Rey throws at the screen will be obvious to anyone who has ever heard the word “Sundance.”
  62. The Conspirator
    Redford hasn't moved too far here from an earlier political-thriller template: With its skulduggery, late-night meetings and the contemptuous political cabal out to thwart justice, The Conspirator can be thought of as "All the President's Men – The Lincoln Edition."
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Mary Shelley
    The film is somewhat amusing – especially Tom Sturridge, who turns Lord Byron into poetry’s version of Jack Sparrow – but immediately forgettable.
  64. Misbehaviour
    Each performer tries their best to inject the material with energy and wit and verve, but Rebecca Frayn and Gaby Chiappe’s script has too many threads to weave together, leaving everyone looking a bit stranded.
  65. No Escape
    Whatever seeds of social justice and emotional nuance No Escape may be attempting to sow are undercut by the film’s melodramatic valorization of family values.
  66. The One I Love
    Here’s a date movie that will neither cozily cheer you nor satisfyingly thrill you, but instead leave you scratching your head.
  67. The Cloverfield Paradox
    Uziel's screenplay has some clever geopolitical ideas – though it's hard to tell how many of those came before or after it was Cloververse-ified via a tour through Abrams's magical mystery factory – but its twists feel routine, its narrative spine limp and its conclusion especially rushed.
  68. Dirty Grandpa
    It’s the direction, not the script, that really kills the picture, as Mazer limps along from the chugging contest to the half-naked conga line to the car chase without ever raising the laughs he needs from the comic set pieces or the tension he needs from the dramatic developments.
  69. Snatched
    Snatched piles bad ideas on good ideas and lame bits of gross-out humour on genuinely funny bits of character work, without ever building enough dramatic force or comic energy to craft a full movie from the results.
  70. Viva
    An unlikely Irish-Cuban co-production, Viva is, like its central subject, beautiful to look at but ultimately lacking depth.
  71. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
    Too much diary, not enough movie.
  72. Angel Has Fallen
    There’s no thrill to this thriller. Nor is there nuance to the characters.
  73. Krull
    Krull is only half bad, which makes it half good, which puts it a broadsword ahead of most films set in the land of the mightily mythic. [30 July 1983]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  74. The Viral Factor
    The Viral Factor is deliriously far-fetched. And one wishes director Dante Lam (The Beast Stalker) could have at least had some giddy fun smashing all his toys around. But his new film is tediously overwrought and drably made, with scenes punctuated by synthesized drums out of eighties American TV drama.
  75. Brooklyn's Finest
    Each of the actors has strong moments but the relentless intensity becomes monotonous.
  76. The Secret Garden
    The latest adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel is not necessarily a bad film, just an unnecessary one. Given that we’ve already been treated to about a dozen film and TV (and anime!) adaptations, there is little that Munden and his creative team offer that is essential.
  77. Volcano
    In a few sound bites, we get the picture and the picture's motto: the smug and selfish coast is an order of disaster-flick toast waiting to burn.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Critters
    Critters mounts a moment or two of suspense, but director Herek has as much wit and even less visual imagination than the people who created Night of the Comet. [16 Apr 1986, p.C6]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  79. When the Game Stands Tall
    Jim Caviezel, as coach Ladouceur, doesn’t get much to work with, the script reducing the man to a two-dimensional motivational speaker awash in “there’s no I in Team” platitudes.
  80. The Pursuit of Happyness
    Both Smith and his son are appealing presences, but The Pursuit of Happyness seems to take place in a sociological vacuum. Gardner's insight into his difficulties begins and ends with the thought that, in the pursuit of happiness, there's a lot more pursuit involved than happiness, and unasked political questions seem to dangle ominously over the entire movie.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Switch
    Blake Edwards' latest comedy about a man who comes back in a woman's body has some laughs, but it lacks his usual style, wit and humanity. Switch suffers from glitch. [16 May 1991]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  82. You Kill Me
    You Kill Me is not so much a bad film as one filled with missed potential and marked by the seams of compromise.
  83. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
    The bargain-basement knock-off of this movie, minus Manville and Dior, would not look out of place on Lifetime or Hallmark.
  84. Man on a Ledge
    None of it rings true, except perhaps the presence of an ambitious local TV news reporter (Kyra Sedgwick) who begins recording every macabre moment with relish.
  85. Brightburn
    The film is not nearly as strong as its villain. It is, however, just as immature.
  86. Instinct
    Pardon my pulling anthropological rank, but Instinct -- a movie about an ape-man savant -- seems a quart low on common sense.
  87. Guidance
    The film is not significant, but it is principled and sweetly subversive. And, like high school, if you’re not careful, you might just learn something from it.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Red Lights
    It works best when it doesn't take itself seriously, and some of the ways in which ESP is faked are briefly engaging, like short con games or magic tricks revealed. But, finally, the film doesn't offer the sense of release, or of surprise, that it seems to take for granted.
  89. Girl Model
    It is hard to know whether to applaud directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin for exposing the underside of the fashion business – or demand they abandon their documentarian stance and rescue young Nadya on the spot.
  90. Paranormal Activity 3
    The first 45 minutes of this film feel like far too much normal and not nearly enough para.
  91. The X Files
    What we have here is a pretty good TV show huffed and puffed into a rather mediocre film.
  92. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
    Like almost every other major studio film this summer, Fallen Kingdom plays dumb, and happily.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Best Man Holiday
    Traditionally, Christmas movies are about the power of the holiday spirit to conquer all in the name of seasonal detente, and The Best Man Holiday, although sprinkled with bad behaviour and salty bon mots, is traditional right to the twinkly-tipped top of the tree.
  94. Bad Santa
    Perhaps for Zwigoff, directing someone else's script, this was just a job of work. If not, the talent who made "Crumb" and "Ghost World "has now made his first movie mistake.
  95. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
    The less-than-original theme is illuminated with grace and insight, with sensuality and spirituality, and Oshima stumbles only twice. Unfortunately, the missteps are major. [16 Sep 1983]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  96. The Tale of Despereaux
    The movie is a freakish creature, with lush, painterly animation inspired by Dutch and Flemish masters, attached to a convoluted, gloomy narrative punctuated with scenes of sadism that rival "The Dark Knight."
  97. Where the Wild Things Are
    Less an adaptation of its source material than a therapeutic response to it.
  98. Urban Hymn
    Handled by veteran Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones, Urban Hymn is an unimaginative drama, carried by solid acting – Isabella Laughland is chilling as the possessive, menacing Leanne – but let down by an unspectacular script.
  99. Mother's Day
    Mother’s Day is a concocted market-driven holiday, and so is this M&M’s-obsessed movie – candy for the sweet-toothed among us.
  100. Oh Heavenly Dog
    As a risque children's entertainment, it's better than a street-corner dirty joke, but it's no place for adults to hang around. [17 July 1980]
    • The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
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