The Observer (UK)'s Scores

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For 1,640 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 51% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 Enys Men
Lowest review score: 20 Book Club: The Next Chapter
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 893 out of 1640
  2. Mixed: 714 out of 1640
  3. Negative: 33 out of 1640
1640 movie reviews
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  1. Palm Springs
    Surface similarities to Groundhog Day are relegated to background noise, thanks to the crisp writing and the nihilistic bite of the humour.
  2. Dora and the Lost City of Gold
    The result is goofily charming and a rare, age-appropriate children’s film in which the adults are silly and the kids, especially the girls, are smart.
  3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Classic rock needle drops and showy, snaking, single-shot action sequences – both GOTG trademarks – abound in a picture that balances a slightly overstuffed storyline with mischief, humour and the biggest of hearts.
  4. Sweat
    Von Horn understands the gap between Sylwia’s authenticity online – mediated through the safety of a screen – and the intimacy her followers feel entitled to in real life.
  5. Beats
    It’s a terrific little film that combines the earthy humour and honesty of a Shane Meadows movie with an unexpected expressionistic section – flooded with colour – that channels the boys’ joyful dancefloor abandon.
  6. Dirty God
    This is full-blooded (and arrestingly tactile) fare, which gets right under the skin of its central character, in appropriately unruly and unflinching fashion.
  7. Collective
    At a time when the press is routinely denigrated, an account of investigative journalism as a force for good makes for inspiring viewing.
  8. Harka
    While the symbolism can land a little heavily at times, Bessa’s fiercely committed performance and the palpable anger in the storytelling are the picture’s driving force.
  9. Pamfir
    It’s a bold, arresting debut from writer-director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, who balances muscular, crime-thriller tropes against moments of striking, unsettling beauty, tension and urgency against knottily complex character development. Highly recommended.
  10. Dream Scenario
    It’s a savagely funny showcase for Cage at his very best. But the picture sours somewhat in a third act that departs from crisp character study to target cancel culture, losing some of its biting humour in the process.
  11. The Kid Detective
    Writer-director Evan Morgan’s deft screenplay balances a taut crime story against a textured character study.
  12. i'm thinking of ending things
    This is not cinema that leaves you feeling good about things. Nor does it tread a familiar path. But I’m Thinking of Ending Things is one of the most daringly unexpected films of the year, a sinewy, unsettling psychological horror, saturated with a squirming dream logic that tips over into the domain of nightmares.
  13. My Little Sister
    A collision is inevitable, but even so, the film’s climax is unexpectedly devastating.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Some Came Running
    A quite brilliant look at the hypocrisy and conformity of small-town life in the Midwest and those who challenge it.
  15. The Painter and the Thief
    Fascinating, confounding and continually surprising.
  16. The Blue Caftan
    It’s a gentle piece of Arabic-language storytelling, one that softly, slowly enfolds the audience rather than propels them on a journey.
  17. The Substance
    The Substance not only offers a female perspective on women’s bodies, but also argues that things only start to get properly messy once fertility is a dim memory.
  18. The Phantom of the Open
    Despite the inherent silliness, the actors play it straight. There’s an earnestness to Rylance’s performance, which encourages us to find inspiration in the underdog.
  19. Other People's Children
    Deftly written, directed with a light hand and acted with honesty and heart, the picture captures moments of acute sadness without ever sinking into sentimentality.
  20. Happiest Season
    Stewart is low key and likable, creating real emotional stakes and strategically using her signature shoulders-down shuffle. A pity, then, that she and Davis don’t quite have the romcom chemistry needed to secure the film’s place in the Christmas movie canon.
  21. Cottontail
    A delicate gem of a film, with a powerhouse turn from Franky.
  22. Return to Seoul
    Park’s portrayal of Freddie never misses a beat – an astonishing transformative feat for a first-time actor who seems to arrive on screen as a fully formed, multifaceted performer, inhabiting the film’s kaleidoscopic central character.
  23. Rye Lane
    The result will leave you with a smile on your face, a spring in your step and (hopefully) a renewed confidence in next-wave British film-making.
  24. The Last Tree
    Akinola (best known to some for his work on Doctor Who) is clearly completely in tune with the director, getting under the skin of his story and striking just the right note of internalised anguish and ecstasy that defines this tender, heartfelt and clearly very personal movie.
  25. The Road to Mandalay
    A combination of tender details – the way Guo carefully picks the fibres from his girlfriend’s skin after a gruelling shift at the factory – and a strikingly surreal approach to a scene in which Lianqing prostitutes herself for the first time makes this unflinching picture a notable addition to the ever-swelling list of films that deal with migration.
  26. Beginning
    Sukhitashvili’s subtle performance brings interiority to a character who might otherwise be defined entirely by her suffering.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Sacrifice
    This humourless, portentous, beautifully made and exquisitely acted movie won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, though when the men in white coats came to take Josephson away, some sardonic observers thought they'd come for Tarkovsky. [12 Jan 2003, p.8]
    • The Observer (UK)
  28. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
    Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’s generous documentary is a fitting tribute to the late, great author.
  29. A Simple Favor
    The lip-smacking, acid drops of malice in the latest film from Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) makes this unexpectedly cruel comedy as intoxicating as the mid-afternoon martinis swilled by the two central characters.
  30. Mayor
    Deft editing and unexpectedly affecting music choices make for an engaging portrait of the kind of impassioned and dedicated politician who seems in short supply right now.
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