The Guardian's Scores

For 6,554 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 41% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 London Road
Lowest review score: 0 Melania
Score distribution:
6554 movie reviews
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Next to Gump, the film has the moral force of a George Steiner essay, but what lends it that force are not the carefully calibrated moral ambiguities of the script, but the bruised, defiant soul that appears to us in the form of Denzel Washington.
  1. Weird and wonderful, rich and strange – barking mad, in fact. It is wayward, kaleidoscopic, black comic and bizarre; there is in it a batsqueak of genius, dishevelment and derangement; it is captivating and compelling.
  2. All of which works terrifically well up to a point.
  3. It's a likable film, though not a sensational development in Tim Burton's career.
  4. Comedy gothic isn't exactly novel, and frankly there is a sense here of a movie coasting along on Halloween hype-marketing, without providing as many laughs and ideas as it really could have done.
  5. Kazan brings to the role a sweet and dignified vulnerability, keeping rigorously to plausible human behaviour.
  6. The direction from Eric Lartigau keeps things moving along fast and furious: preposterous it may be, the movie is carried off with some style.
  7. What a strange and intriguing film.
  8. The snuff-porn aesthetic might suggest a realist drama, but a supernatural dimension is brought into play, making the plot directionless. There isn't an ounce of ingenuity in the way the movie is concluded, but some generic expertise in the way it is put together.
  9. The premise is looking pretty tired.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hollywood has been waiting for this movie. Get ready for the year of the Tiger.
  10. Nicole Kidman gives her best performance since "To Die For."
  11. Perhaps above everything else, Arnold returns us to the most potent fact about the Cathy and Heathcliff love affair: it is a love affair between equals, not between a woman with coquettish "erotic capital" and a man with property and status.
  12. The pick-and-mix approach is limiting, but there's no denying these are gorgeous amuse-bouches, likely to be devoured by older, more discerning children and dyed-in-the-wool stoners alike.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There's plenty that's good here: a serious tone, steady ­pacing, muddy and bloody scenery and a convincing turn by Purefoy in his own west country accent. But Kane is an ill fit into the ­origins tale template; it's a story with few ­surprises.
  13. She's entertaining enough, and like most fashion documentaries, it's a mine of pop-cultural history, but the unswervingly generous assessment of her achievements and permanently arch vocal style become a little wearying.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Gyllenhaal rises above the tedium; sadly, not far enough. Great English accent, though.
  14. Sadly, Savages plays up to Stone's worst tendencies: machismo, bombast and self-indulgence, and the factor that could conceivably have made this movie tolerable – humour – is off the menu.
  15. There's something about this film's churn of goo and grit that lingers ambivalently, difficult to digest.
  16. The comedy is at odds, perhaps even at war, with the gravitational downward pull of bittersweet seriousness, and the sucrose content is pretty high by the end. But it's an entertaining film.
  17. As the couple try to rekindle the bedroom flame the note of cutesy comedy kicks in and the movie gets phonier and phonier.
  18. It's a likable scary story – with hints of Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg.
  19. Baldwin has some brilliant moments as he icily dismisses Monica's posturing: his final closeup – heavy-lidded, undeceived – is fascinating and rather chilling.
  20. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a perfect fit for its target audience – the Harry Potter kids who are following Emma Watson through her baby steps towards the stronger stuff.
  21. Sometimes a film takes your breath away by dint of its brilliance. Sometimes it's on account of its ineptitude. And just occasionally, it's for its shamelessness. Hyde Park on Hudson, for all its captivating shots of cornfields and estimable performances, is the latter.
  22. Part of the appeal of this affecting and powerful drama is that it puts the viewer right in the moment at every stage, using authentic locations and tsunami survivors to hammer home the reality of this tragedy.
  23. What could have been simply bizarre, sentimental or contrived here becomes an utterly absorbing love story.
  24. Despite the violence and procedural detail, this is about as gritty as Dixon of Dock Green.
  25. There are scenes of complete brilliance, Walken is better than he's been in years, cute plot loops and grace notes.
  26. Tykwer and the Wachowskis' other twist on this karmic hokum - to cast each of their actors in multiple roles across the stories, regardless of age or race - is less successful.

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