TV Guide Magazine's Scores

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For 7,979 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 5.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 60
Highest review score: 100 Badlands
Lowest review score: 0 Terror Firmer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,504 out of 7979
  2. Mixed: 3,561 out of 7979
  3. Negative: 914 out of 7979
7979 movie reviews
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  1. The Matrix Revolutions
    It neither works as a stand-alone film nor captures the thrilling sense of somber, pulpy mystery that made "The Matrix" so compelling. Nevertheless, It brings the saga to a satisfying close, and relies less on the clumps of pop-mystical cyber gobbledy-gook that gummed up the gears of "Reloaded" and more on the powerful emotional bonds that bind Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Niobe, Link and Zee.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    Both farcical and deeply troubling, it unfolds with the kind of breathless, minute-by-minute immediacy that only eyewitness reportage can bring.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Human Stain
    There's so much less to the film than the novel: Nicholas Meyer's screenplay fails to capture the intricate subtleties of its subject and replaces Roth's moral scope with a moralizing tone.
  4. Suspended Animation
    An uneasy mix of B-movie scares.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eyes Without a Face [re-release]
    A blood-curdling picture directed by Georges Franju at an even, distant pace that builds tension to an almost unbearable level.
  6. Die, Mommie, Die!
    But fabulous though the allusions, sets and costumes are, Busch's performance is the movie's heart, and like the screen idols whose every gesture he's lovingly absorbed, Busch can pack a world of meaning into an arched eyebrow and a slight crack of the voice.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Shattered Glass
    It's almost inconceivable how Glass could have gotten away with so much, but the movie makes a convincing case for how Glass used office politics, the good faith of his editors and his own personal charisma to get away with the worst offenses a journalist could commit.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Girlhood
    At heart an emotionally rich look at mothers and their daughters.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 40 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Beyond Borders
    A cheesy romance tricked up in cheap sanctimony.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Radio
    The heavy-handed score by notoriously heavy-handed James Horner is often the only indication that there's supposed to be a point to this showcase for Gooding's relentlessly adorable mugging.
  11. Scary Movie 3
    Films like this are the definition of "critic proof"; if the casting, synopsis and very concept don't deter you, you'll probably find it very funny.
  12. Brother Bear
    While the hand-drawn animation is visually appealing, the story is completely predictable and Phil Collins's music lacks the impact of his Oscar-winning "Tarzan" tunes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Elephant
    Like the violence in Alan Clarke's Elephant, the BBC documentary about Northern Ireland from which the film takes its name, Van Sant offers no straightforward reasons for what happens at this particular school. The explosion of violence is far from unmotivated, but its roots are presented as deeply personal and, even more troubling, ultimately inexplicable.
  14. Last Party 2000
    The sequence in which the crew acquires press credentials to the Republican National Convention by helping organizers desperate to book a rock band (they deliver Leitch's scruffy pals the Interpreters USSA) is priceless.
  15. The Singing Detective
    A failure on every level.
  16. Sister Helen
    The unspoken question that underlies their struggles is whether a facility run by sheer force of personality can survive when that personality is gone; the film ends on a cautiously hopeful note.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    In the Cut
    Ryan is raw and remarkably good, but the film's real star is New York. Draped in post-9/11 anxiety and brimming with a free-floating fear, the city hasn't appeared this threatening since the '70s.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Morning Sun
    Informative and richly illustrated documentary.
  19. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
    This new SAW film is so utterly unimaginative it doesn't even count as hommage; it's just a smudgy copy of a still chilling original.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Runaway Jury
    It's a clever legal thriller, one that thankfully doesn't twist itself into a knots trying to keep audiences off guard.
  21. 9 Dead Gay Guys
    Walks a thin line between refreshing irreverence and shameless exploitation of offensive gay stereotypes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Pieces of April
    This gentle comedy marks the feature directing debut of writer Peter Hedges, a gifted writer who's perhaps best known for the screenplay based on his novel "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
  23. Returner
    Mines familiar territory and does nothing especially new with it. On the plus side, Kishitani is a spectacular villain.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Sylvia
    While there's plenty of Shakespeare, Lawrence and Yeats scattered throughout John Brownlow's screenplay, there's precious little Plath -- no doubt the unfortunate result of the stranglehold the Hughes estate still maintains over her work.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Hired Hand (re-release)
    Zsigmond's superb photography conveys much of the lyrical quality of the story but the screenplay by Sharp ("Night Moves") falls short by comparison.
  26. Veronica Guerin
    Blanchett's insouciant but steely performance alone makes the film worth watching, but it's Brenda Fricker's quietly underplayed turn as Guerin's mother that makes your throat tighten.
  27. Good Boy!
    While Aiken couldn't be cuter or more-well suited for his earnest role, the script is utterly predictable and often falls into the saccharine trap. The pooches add a little life to this otherwise lackluster effort.
  28. Intolerable Cruelty
    A collaboration between the notoriously offbeat Coen brothers and thoroughly mainstream screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, this piquant romantic comedy is both resolutely generic and bristling with barbs that go down with a delicious fizz and leave behind a refreshing blast of tartness.
  29. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
    His epic reworking of their lurid conventions proved so long that it was divided into two parts, and this one ends on a hell of a cliff-hanger.
    • 15 Metascore
    • 30 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    House of the Dead
    Dull and unimaginative.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Flower of Evil
    No one can quite capture that decay -- the guilty conscience that can freeze the blood of even the most reputable of France's bourgeois families -- better than Chabrol, and this the master at his best.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Dopamine
    An uncommonly smart and bittersweet romantic comedy.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 20 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Flesh for the Beast
    Derivative, indifferently acted, artlessly photographed and awash in nudity and rudimentary gore effects, this direct-to-DVD feature mars the producing debut of longtime horror and exploitation distributor Media Blasters.
  34. Small Voices
    The end is hardly in doubt, since this sweet-natured film treads a path worn smooth and hard by countless other tiny feet. Its message is as unimpeachable as it is familiar, differentiated from countless similar tales only by the Filipino setting.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Porn Theater
    The detatched, fly-on-the-wall perspective, however, offers little insight into the strange gender game that's played out in the dark safety of the porn theater.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Girls Will Be Girls
    A hoot and a half.
  37. Mystic River
    If he were a more subtle director, it would be a great film; as it is, it's an extremely good one, anchored by the subtly devastating performances of Penn, Robbins and Bacon. The supporting cast is equally good, and blue collar Boston's mean streets take on a beaten-down life of their own.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Bus 174
    Alternating between the sad facts of Nascimento life -- which included a stretch at one of Rio's notorious prisons -- with the events unfolding outside the botanical garden, the film is a pulse-pounding piece of documentary reportage, and a terribly important account of a social problem in developing countries that won't be going away anytime soon.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Event
    There's a lot of talent on display here: Dukakis has never been better and once again Fitzgerald proves himself to be a filmmaker of unfailing sensitivity, capable of transforming what could have been distastefully flip or overly lachrymose into something humorous but deeply heartfelt.
  40. Out of Time
    Dave Collard's preposterous script relies heavily on fortuitous coincidence... and thoroughly stupid behavior.
  41. School of Rock
    The kids -- most of them first-timers cast for natural charisma and musical ability -- steal the show, and a talented supporting cast helps take the edge off Black's manic antics.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Baunsu ko gaurusu
    Rather than portraying these girls as one-dimensional victims, Harada offers a complex portrait of teenagers who've learned to make their exploitation work for them.
  43. Concert for George
    Anyone who remembers Harrison fondly will enjoy this musical tribute, though it assumes a level of familiarity with Harrison's associates that not all viewers will have.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Station Agent
    With its quiet pacing and dry-as-a-bone wit, the film strongly recalls the deadpan comedies of Jim Jarmusch or early Hal Hartley, but it gradually reveals a welcome new sensibility, one that's entirely McCarthy's own.
  45. Wonderland
    F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong: there are second acts in American lives. But all too many of them are sad, sordid or both, as this fact-based story of sex, drugs and murder featuring adult-movie superstar John Holmes aptly demonstrates.
  46. Bollywood/Hollywood
    Though occasional flashes of the radiantly bi-cultural romp that might have been peek through, writer-director Deepa Mehta's hybrid is strangely clumsy, given that she's an experienced filmmaker familiar with both Hollywood and Bollywood conventions.
  47. Bubba Ho-tep
    Based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, this low-key oddity stresses character over broad laughs and shock effects, allowing Campbell and Davis to develop a quirky rapport that's a real pleasure to watch.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Duplex
    Playing straight man isn't really Barrymore's strength, but former "Simpson's" writer Larry Doyle's script is funny and Stiller is even funnier; he turns even the more juvenile moments in something to laugh at.
  49. The Rundown
    For a mountain of muscle [The Rock]'s a surprisingly charming screen presence. And his low-key appeal helps nudge Peter Berg's derivative but good-natured light action picture in the direction of breezy entertainment, rather than painfully noisy macho posturing.
  50. Under the Tuscan Sun
    Rather than converting messy, real-life experience into slick, formulaic entertainment, Well's script transforms it into a shapeless, internally inconsistent mess of artificial contrivances.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Luther
    Corny and irritatingly simplistic though this fast-paced biography of 16th-century German religious reformer Martin Luther may be, it's undeniably entertaining.
  52. Prey for Rock & Roll
    The music is generally undistinguished, with the exception of the searing "Every Six Minutes."
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Southlander: Diary of a Desperate Musician
    Despite a certain loopy charm, the film's appeal ultimately hinges on the musicians.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    My Life Without Me
    Excellent performances from Sarah Polley and Deborah Harry, and a sensitive script from writer-director Isabel Coixet transform what might otherwise have been little more than a disease-of-the-week cable melodrama.
  55. 7 Year Zig Zag
    The sheer force of imagination that produced the film's unique mix of different styles, musical numbers and hipster doggerel is extraordinary.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Yossi & Jagger
    Daring, ultimately heartbreaking.
  57. Demonlover
    The harder you try to follow the narrative the more frustrating the film becomes, but its sleekly menacing images work their way into your brain like slivers of dry ice.
  58. Anything Else
    The film founders during a series of uncomfortable scenes involving Biggs and DeVito, whose performance verges on painful caricature, but Ricci is adorable and delivers Allen's sharp dialogue with real flare.
  59. Cold Creek Manor
    All of which would be fine if Figgis managed to work up any real suspense, but the film slogs towards its inevitable mano-a-mano showdown like something up to its knees in mud.
  60. The Fighting Temptations
    The filmmakers seem to have meant to offer up a spiritual message about community and faith, but it's muddled and hard to find with romance, comedy and phenomenal gospel performances all fighting for the spotlight.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Secondhand Lions
    Granted, it's unfair to compare an actor's precocious child persona with his awkward 14-year-old self, but Osment relies so often on his furrowed brow to convey emotion that you have to keep reminding yourself that the technique actually worked in "The Sixth Sense."
  62. Underworld
    So clotted with back story that the Romeo and Juliet-style romance between a warrior vampire and a reluctant werewolf never has a chance to breath, Len Wiseman's revisionist horror tale is all look and no bite.
  63. Casa de los babys
    Though ultimately something less than the sum of its parts, the film's performances are reason enough to see it.
    • 21 Metascore
    • 20 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Emerald Cowboy
    The real-life Hayata plays himself with little conviction, while the rest of the Spanish-speaking cast give the impression that they don't have the slightest idea what their English-language dialogue means.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Mambo italiano
    Beneath the heavy accents, wild gesticulating, slaps to the head and garish flocked wallpaper, there's an awful lot of heart.
  66. Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
    Rather than rage, Peosay's film radiates sadness over a singular way of life in danger of imminent obliteration.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    To Be and to Have
    Simple but deeply touching documentary.
  68. Cabin Fever
    While many films of this kind are undermined by amateurish performances, the main cast is solid and some of the supporting performances (many from non-professionals) are small gems.
  69. Matchstick Men
    The soundtrack, which relies heavily on melancholy Sinatra standards like "The Good Life," "This Town" and "Summer Wind," casts perfectly modulated warning shadows over the film's light, bright look.
  70. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    Banderas inhabits the role of the mariachi with a feral grace undimished by the seven-year gap between films.
  71. Dummy
    It's repetitive and obvious but somehow endearing, like a truly ugly dog with sweet eyes.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Lost in Translation
    It can be funny, but the humor is too often based in stereotypical perceptions of Asians (they're short, they're laughably polite, they eat weird food), and Coppola shamelessly invites us to laugh along with Murray's character, who, believe it or not, thinks it's hilarious when his hosts get their "r"s and "l"s switched.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Luster
    It's not a total shock when this gay romantic comedy suddenly veers into to heavy S&M, non-consensual sex and suicide.
  74. Millennium Actress
    Past and present, reality and fiction blend seamlessly into each other in Satoshi Kon's dream-like animated drama.
  75. So Close
    Sleek, stylish and crammed with girl-power action.
  76. Warrior of Light
    De Mello's dedication is inspiring enough to speak for itself.
  77. The Same River Twice
    Poignant documentary.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Carnage
    The film becomes a complex tissue of intersecting lives, but Gleize handles each developing story with amazing ease, and the fabulist touches are the icing on a very tasty cake.
  79. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
    The unique musical ending is worth the wait.
  80. The Order
    Ledger swirls his cassock glamorously, while Weller is clearly concealing cloven hoofs beneath his; Addy plays the fool and the one-note Sossamon is thoroughly annoying, as fey as Meg Tilly but without Tilly's redeeming faraway air.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Home Room
    Distinguishes itself from other such projects by dealing less with the event itself than its devastating aftershocks.
  82. Party Monster
    Culkin's Alig has the face of a debauched cherub, but the former child star never quite captures the charisma everyone swears was an essential component in Alig's success. Green's St. James steals the picture out from under him (poetic justice of a sort), and the supporting cast is nothing short of amazing.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Taking Sides
    Be sure to stay for the coda, a damning piece of newsreel that casts much of what went before in a whole new light.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Grisbi (re-release)
    Often confusing, especially during the first half, but Gabin and Ventura are well cast as hoods.
  85. Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?
    Spare, rough around the edges and unsentimentally melancholy.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (re-release)
    Exciting, suspenseful drama.
  87. Jeepers Creepers II
    The film delivers a few slick thrills before beaching itself on an ending that would be chilling if its depiction of unimaginable horror's lingering legacy weren't so muddled.
  88. Civil Brand
    There's way too much of the usual bonding, beatings, petty humiliation by guards, cat fights in the yard and trips to the hole.
  89. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
    The complications are predictable, as is the resolution; what keeps the film from sinking into its own inconsequentiality is the throaty-voiced Henderson, who can make the most preposterous behavior ring absolutely true.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Backyard
    Chances are you'll watch most of this documentary with both hands over your eyes, but as a window into a particular kind of insanity seizing kids in heartland America it's enthralling.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Other Side of the Bed
    Lame and inane, but a huge hit in Spain.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Suddenly
    This warm, ultimately poignant film hoes its own row, and proves once again the diversity and vitality of contemporary Argentine film.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Adventures of Robin Hood (re-release)
    Only a spirited and extravagant production could do justice to the Robin Hood legend; this film is more than equal to the task. Korngold's score won a well-deserved Oscar, as did the editing and art direction.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Babí léto
    Warm and thoughtful tale.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Dog Days
    Looks very much like a documentary: It's grainy and raw, and Seidl's actors -- a mix of actors and non-professionals -- are often unglamorously posed under what appears to be natural light.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Don't Tempt Me
    It's hard to care even just a little when you have no idea what's at stake or why, be it Heaven or Hell.
  97. Dust
    The chaotic, brutal iconography of Italian Westerns is put to novel use in this time-traveling, self-referential, hugely ambitious story of American brothers.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Rana's Wedding
    Khoury may be a few years too old to play a minor still squirming under her father's thumb, but her performance as a timid young woman who finds strength while looking for a husband is quite affecting.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Venus Boyz
    This provocative, at times languid, documentary from German experimental filmmaker Gabriel Baur is something of travelogue through this unexplored frontier, a mixed-up, shook-up borderland where nothing, especially not an individual's gender, should be ever be taken for granted.
  100. The Battle of Shaker Heights
    LaBeouf somehow manages to turn Kelly's self-centered behavior and irritating character quirks into a sympathetic lead, and the well-written script by newcomer Erica Beeney brings a lot of humor to some very touching moments.
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