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For 4,670 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 61% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1 point lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 Fruitvale Station
Lowest review score: 0 Amos & Andrew
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,963 out of 4670
  2. Mixed: 1,021 out of 4670
  3. Negative: 686 out of 4670
4670 movie reviews
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  1. Just Mercy
    A solid courtroom drama that most fans of the genre have seen before. But great acting, an engaging real-life tale and moments of heartfelt honesty – with a fair bit of rousing satisfaction – elevate director Destin Daniel Cretton’s true-life story.
  2. Cats
    Cats isn’t for everyone – much of it is a cheesy, B-grade affair seemingly crafted solely to take over midnight-movie slots from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Those with an open mind, though, as well as little kids and the T-Swift posse, might find it somewhat pawesome.
  3. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
    It's impressively ambitious, though great new personalities and fresh storytelling suffer for the sake of fan service.
  4. 1917
    What makes the vivid film such an astounding effort – and one of the year's best movies – is that it’s edited seamlessly as one continuous real-time take, following a couple of Brits through rat-infested trenches, sniper-filled towns and even empty battlefields where the Grim Reaper’s been busy yet danger still looms.
  5. Bombshell
    It’s another complete and uncanny transformation for Theron, who dazzles as anchor Megyn Kelly in the all-star drama Bombshell.
  6. Knives Out
    Wickedly hilarious.
  7. The Two Popes
    Hopkins and Pryce have sensational chemistry and are rather heavenly inhabiting their character arcs, which power this pious take on “Frost/Nixon.”
  8. Little Women
    The acting performances are stellar across the board, though the biggest joy of Little Women is Gerwig’s magnificent screenplay.
  9. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
    It mostly works – Hanks is ostensibly a supporting player and noticeably missed when not onscreen – and Heller’s creativity proves just as key as her star. “A Beautiful Day” acts as a two-hour episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” for grown-ups, a meta-narrative showing the real world through a kids' show lens and Hanks’ Rogers sitting us all down for an educational experience.
  10. Charlie's Angels
    This heavenly action-comedy takes on familiar elements of John Wick and James Bond but is sufficiently empowering – “Women can do anything” is literally the first line in the movie. There's also an unexpectedly dark edge throughout for the new "Angels," from gallows humor to actual dangerous stakes for our butt-kicking crew.
  11. Frozen II
    If you were holding out hope that Frozen 2 could equal or surpass the original phenomenon, it’s time to let it go.
  12. Ford v Ferrari
    While there are plenty of obstacles and things going vroom, the two reasons "Ford" works so very well are named Damon and Bale: They're endlessly entertaining as loyal dudes who work out their differences through brotherly roughhousing.
  13. Marriage Story
    A highlight reel for everyone involved: career-defining work from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, astounding supporting turns courtesy of Laura Dern and Alan Alda, and a masterclass from Baumbach.
  14. Terminator: Dark Fate
    Dark Fate ultimately blows up any chance for innovative storytelling with rehashed plot points and reheated signature moments.
  15. Doctor Sleep
    The Overlook Hotel is still plenty creepy, as is the crusty naked ghost lady in Room 217. But the adaptation of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep is more likely to keep you awake at night with the fresher stuff than the retreads.
  16. The Irishman
    What's wonderfully explored here, though, isn't the killer streak, but instead the gravity of taking a darker path and being left at the end with nothing but bloody memories.
  17. The Current War: Director's Cut
    It's all mind-numbingly dull, and critics have exhausted every electrical pun known to man in saying that "Current War" "lacks spark."
  18. Jojo Rabbit
    Jojo Rabbit succeeds even with a high degree of difficulty, given the sensitivities of the subject matter, the emotional undercurrent of a mother’s devotion to her son and the breaking down of artificial walls to let love in. As much as it makes you laugh, Waititi’s must-watch effort is a warm hug of a movie that just so happens to have a lot of important things to say.
  19. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
    Jolie’s magnetism, plus the way she toes the line between being a fairy version of Batman and a menacing mistress of not-quite-evil-but-pretty-close, is why these “Maleficent” movies work. She fits the character as well as her endless cycle of evolving costumes.
  20. Gemini Man
    The movie shoots for the moon with an intriguing dual-role conceit but wildly misses the mark. Hackneyed dialogue, a thin and silly plot fumbling the ambition of the concept, and a mixed bag of visual effects all leave this one just for the Smith completists.
  21. Parasite
    The latest excellent effort for writer/director Bong Joon-ho (“The Host,” “Okja”) is a more entertaining version of “Roma,” an Oscar-ready, slice-of-life foreign film that challenges its audience to look inward.
  22. Lucy in the Sky
    Instead of being an intriguing look at an emotional breakdown, “Lucy” is more interested in being a sporadically trippy (and ultimately forgettable) soap opera that by the end has the camp factor of your average Lifetime revenge thriller.
  23. Joker
    Joker is at times predictable and too familiar given the source material, yet it splendidly captures the essence of the iconic bad guy as a frighteningly unreliable narrator in the movie’s best moments.
  24. Judy
    Without Zellweger’s remarkable Oscar-worthy performance, it’s standard-issue biopic fare – with her, the cultural icon comes to life again, warts and all.
  25. Ad Astra
    Pitt is undoubtedly luminous as the brightest star of Ad Astra, an engaging and even hopeful exploration about the consistency of human feelings, no matter where you are in the galaxy.
  26. Hustlers
    Hustlers is empathetic and understanding in the way it looks at sex workers as also single moms and women just trying to get by in a world where the rich seemingly only get richer. It also works as an enjoyable, empowering extravaganza of physical humor, clever script writing, exquisite fashion and scantily clad underdogs.
  27. The Goldfinch
    It’s a lot of soapy melodrama and underdeveloped characters that never really go anywhere.
  28. It: Chapter Two
    However solid the grown-ups are, the youngsters together – whether in the first film or the sequel – make “It” shine.
  29. Blinded by the Light
    In one of the movie's most memorable scenes, Javed and his activist love interest Eliza (Nell Williams) embark on a glorious, mischievous romp out of school and through Luton, singing “Born to Run” and dancing with literally everyone who’ll join them.
  30. The Kitchen
    They’re made women in an underworld that doesn’t want them, and while that theme is sufficiently explored, The Kitchen disappointingly fails to explore the racial politics it hints at and, aside from the main trio, is full of characters who feel paper thin. The results aren’t criminal, per se, but the movie more often finds mediocrity instead of real nuance.
  31. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
    But in trying to break free from being Fast and Furious, “Hobbs & Shaw” forgets to maintain the balance of insanity and heart that makes the series special.
  32. Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
    His [Tarantino's] vision of 1969 Hollywood feels authentic and alive, with a lot of that electricity running through leads Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, plus an inspired, understated performance by Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate.
  33. The Lion King
    This Lion King is akin to a revival of an iconic Broadway musical, with an all-star cast and a few welcome improvements but lacking a certain magic and originality.
  34. Midsommar
    It’s not really a horror movie, although it is plenty horrifying. It’s a love story that’s devoid of sentimentality and romance. And it’s also quite funny at times, though you’re never quite sure the laughs are because of the gallows humor or simply a defense mechanism to keep one’s sanity.
  35. Spider-Man: Far from Home
    Serving as an “Endgame” epilogue, director Jon Watts’ sequel isn’t as tightly focused or effortlessly charming as 2017’s “Homecoming,” yet it continues Holland’s amazing Spidey run and introduces Jake Gyllenhaal in his top-notch first comic-book role.
  36. Yesterday
    Introduces an endearing, guitar-strumming new star in British actor Himesh Patel.
  37. Toy Story 4
    The animation is also top-notch: Bo has a bunch of dazzling scenes as a porcelain warrior, and human characters look better than ever. With the emphasis on Woody’s tale, Buzz and the other returning toys spend much of the movie as side characters, but it turns into a true romp when everyone's plots coincide.
  38. Late Night
    Unlike the corner of the entertainment industry it tackles, Mindy Kaling’s quick-witted screenplay for “Late Night” doesn’t go for cheap laughs, but instead wields incisive barbs to successfully make its point.
  39. Dark Phoenix
    If this is indeed the end, Dark Phoenix finishes off the X-Men movie saga in frustratingly middling fashion, however fitting for a superhero franchise that only just a few times actually reached its cinematic potential.
  40. Rocketman
    John’s gifts are his songs, and with Rocketman, his wonderful life gets a worthy, refreshing big-screen treatment.
  41. Aladdin
    The memorable songs return (with some new additions), the movie razzles and dazzles with huge dance sequences and impressive production design, but it’s definitely a more grown-up tale than the original 1992 animated classic.
  42. Booksmart
    The worst thing you can say about the brilliantly zany teen comedy Booksmart is that you get only an hour and 45 minutes with its quirky student body.
  43. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
    A pretty good “Chapter 3” still equals insanely explosive, two-fisted exhilaration.
  44. Pokémon Detective Pikachu
    Has ambition and style in spades – and thankfully, a plenty sassy Ryan Reynolds in the form of a little yellow rabbit-y dude – even if the quasi-noir private-eye tale is rather uninspired on the whole.
  45. Long Shot
    The truly excellent Long Shot is both clever comedy and modern fairy tale that owes a lot to “Pretty Woman” and “The American President,” though it swaps gender stereotypes.
  46. Avengers: Endgame
    If the Marvel superhero movies on the whole are your favorite band’s individual albums, Avengers: Endgame is the triple-disc greatest-hits package with the really awesome cover and a slew of familiar, comforting gems inside.
  47. Hellboy
    This Hellboy leans more into super-gory horror comedy than its predecessors, trading nuance for ripped-off limbs and boasting as much subtlety as a stone fist to the face.
  48. The Beach Bum
    It isn't good and it isn't bad – it is, to borrow a fitting adjective, "all right." But the film might as well be called “Matthew McConaughey: The Movie,” as it casts McConaughey in a role seemingly tailor-made for his famous style and yet, like the actor himself, also upends those same expectations.
  49. Dumbo
    A visually sumptuous effort with wondrous sights, though its character development falls short of those same heights.
  50. Shazam!
    While genre tropes are very much in play, there's a certain magic in this “Big”-meets-Superman affair where an ancient wizard transforms a troubled teenager into a buff, god-like guy with a light-up suit.
  51. Us
    Peele is this generation’s Hitchcock, for sure, but also a true American original with introspective themes in hand and suspense to spare.
  52. Gloria Bell
    Julianne Moore shoots and scores – as well as laughs, cries, smokes, drinks, flies and sings – in the quirky Gloria Bell, which minds a fine line between in-depth character study and offbeat romantic comedy.
  53. Captain Marvel
    It took three “Thor” films for Chris Hemsworth’s thunder god to find his groove. Although Larson’s heroine is still a work in progress, Captain Marvel lays a solid foundation to follow her wherever she flies next.
  54. Climax
    You won’t be able to tear your eyes off the screen, both because of the physically magnetic performances and also because it’s hard to fathom what madness exactly is going on at times.
  55. Alita: Battle Angel
    For all its whiz-bang goodness, “Alita” is almost completely undone by its flawed script.
  56. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
    The message here is everything might not be as awesome as it used to be, but that’s OK. It's a grounded, modern sentiment – and a self-reflective one – wrapped in a hyperactively bonkers, extremely enjoyable package.
  57. Miss Bala
    What keeps it all watchable is Rodriguez’s magnetism.
  58. The Kid Who Would Be King
    Director Joe Cornish grounded the alien-invasion genre with clever plotting and entertaining English youngsters with 2011's “Attack the Block” and does the same with epic fantasy with this clever “Kid.”
  59. Glass
    A befuddling mélange of superpowered showdowns, psychological gaslighting and self-important comic meanderings, it's a finale that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
  60. Destroyer
    While its narrative is unnecessarily complex and its story influences obvious, director Karyn Kusama (“The Invitation”) is mostly successful juggling a noir style, shifty denizens and shadowy dealings under L.A.’s bright sun.
  61. Vice
    Exquisitely crafted...It’s a strange little amalgamation that totally works: a vicious Shakespearean satire about power-hungry mind-sets, stealth corruption, American ambition and the current state of divided affairs in our country, but also a quasi-fictional go-for-broke biopic about a political leader we really don't know at all.
  62. If Beale Street Could Talk
    The cast is superb, especially King.
  63. Mary Poppins Returns
    Whether together or solo, Blunt and Miranda are endlessly charming.
  64. Aquaman
    Even with its flaws and struggles with originality, Aquaman is reminiscent of the early Marvel movies in its storytelling, best when taking wild swings instead of being an earnest superhero jam.
  65. Mortal Engines
    Unfortunately, there’s not much room left for fleshed-out personalities or narrative depth, making the whiz-bang wonder often feel too empty.
  66. Roma
    Roma is an elegiac and moving work driven by Aparicio’s understated and nuanced performance.
  67. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
    It’s a slightly insane, hilariously daring and often touching mashup of everything that makes super-flicks so darn popular with the introduction of a Spider-Man who's ready-made for today’s generation of kids.
  68. The Favourite
    As hilarious as it is, The Favourite doesn’t skimp on impressive costuming and production design, and the film gamely tackles class and gender themes, as well as partisan politics, in its tale of women behaving badly and men being nitwits.
  69. Creed II
    If the original “Creed” was a straight-up knockout from bell to bell, the sequel takes its time with body blows – from all directions – to ultimately get you right in the feels.
  70. Ralph Breaks the Internet
    While the new “Ralph” falls short of the original’s brilliance, any adventure with the big oaf and his glitchy BFF is #winning.
  71. Widows
    It’s easy to fall for these “Widows” when themes of class, religion, grief, gender, injustice and race are married to terrific action sequences and a gang of looting ladies stealing the show.
  72. Green Book
    It’s the master class put on by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali that powers this moving and often hilarious work and gives it mass appeal.
  73. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
    Old-school Potterheads will rejoice, though fans of the charmingly quirky group of heroes from the first “Beasts” may lament their do-gooders getting lost in a growing magical landscape.
  74. The Girl in the Spider's Web
    At least we have a winning Lisbeth. Now let’s put her in a situation that’s all her own and not just a placemark for a caped crusader or a dapper secret agent.
  75. The Front Runner
    You’ve heard of an October surprise. This is a November disappointment.
  76. Boy Erased
    The 21-year-old actor holds his own in the emotional project opposite a couple of heavyweights, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Just as deft in his work is writer/director/co-star Joel Edgerton, who's crafted a touching look at the darker sides of evangelical belief and parental judgment.
  77. Suspiria
    An ambitious love letter to the original. It's also as polarizing a picture as last year’s “mother!” – which shares a commitment to blood and insanely audacious climaxes – and thoughtfully explores feminine strength amid the proudly self-possessed carnage.
  78. Bohemian Rhapsody
    As it turns out, “Bohemian Rhapsody” the song is a sonic masterpiece and Bohemian Rhapsody the movie is just a conventional rock flick, one all too ordinary for a man and a band that exemplified the extraordinary.
  79. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Splendidly directed by Marielle Heller, Can You Ever Forgive Me? feels worn and lived in – in a good way – with a world of musty vintage tones and bar-room desperation given emotional life through McCarthy and a super supporting turn from Richard E. Grant.
  80. Halloween
    By staying true only to the initial narrative, this Halloween solidly ranks as the best chapter since the first – not exactly the highest bar – mostly by making Laurie (a remarkable Jamie Lee Curtis, whose last appearance in the series was 2002's "Halloween: Resurrection") anything but a victim.
  81. First Man
    In his previous works, Chazelle mined the flawed soul of artists in tales that were notably personal, while First Man is a story of an introvert that too often feels distant.
  82. The Hate U Give
    One of the rare important teen films that needs to be seen by everybody.
  83. A Star Is Born
    Simultaneously an immersive concert film, enchanting romance and tear-jerking rock fantasy, A Star Is Born is a dynamic multifaceted showcase for Gaga and Cooper, who makes his directing debut a thing of melodic, masterful beauty. Together, they form an electrifying duo in one of the best movies of 2018 and the finest musical since 2002’s “Chicago.”
  84. Night School
    Night School surprises by being an unexpectedly empathetic look at learning disabilities.
  85. Life Itself
    Life Itself is a real downer when it comes to death: A few are so out-of-nowhere that it’s like the hipster version of the “Game of Thrones” Red Wedding.
  86. The Predator
    A B-movie at its heart with big-budget ambitions. Full of rampant goofiness, extreme gore, a jumbled narrative and hyperactive pacing, The Predator is also funnier and more clever than you would expect, though at the same time it’s an '80s film that doesn’t realize it’s 2018 in terms of political correctness.
  87. White Boy Rick
    White Boy Rick works better as a working-class father/son drama than a cautionary tale about the American judicial system, though it never comes together satisfactorily as either.
  88. The Nun
    A mix of slow-burn religious mystery and old-school adventure that egregiously fails to utilize its greatest hit: Bonnie Aarons’ terrifyingly freaky villainess of the cloth.
  89. The Happytime Murders
    Stuffed full of rampant badness, the scattershot comedy isn’t nearly as clever or subversive as it thinks it is.
  90. Crazy Rich Asians
    It’s breezy and hilarious yet offers enough heartfelt gravitas to give the feel-good date movie needed emotional heft.
  91. BlacKkKlansman
    Washington (son of Denzel) has an impressive Afro and winning charisma as the first black cop in town.
  92. Christopher Robin
    There’s no end to the schmaltz in Winnie the Pooh’s honey pot, yet Disney’s live-action Christopher Robin also tosses in enough charm and tomfoolery for a sufficiently delightful hang with the iconic bear.
  93. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
    While the movie on the whole isn’t quite the caliber of the last two missions (“Ghost Protocol” and “Rogue Nation”), director Christopher McQuarrie’s action-packed “Fallout” set pieces are outstanding, finding great character moments in the middle of the explosiveness
  94. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
    The superior yet still extraordinarily cheesy "Here We Go Again" suffers from many of the same fundamental problems, though the film exudes an infectious energy and hearty spirit that’ll put you in a powerful Swedish super-pop headlock until you submit.
  95. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
    Between the goofy humor, Adam Sandler’s hallmark gibberish and an unfortunate return of "The Macarena," Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation houses an unexpectedly affecting story of modern love with a creaky vampire dad.
  96. Sicario: Day of the Soldado
    There’s also a relentless darkness in "Soldado" that some fans of the original will love, but the inherent idealism of Blunt’s Macer is missed: When everybody's a shade of bad, it begs for any sort of normal protagonist.
  97. Ant-Man and the Wasp
    While Ant-Man's technically “the star,” this is most definitely the Wasp’s movie to own, and the smirking, enjoyably no-nonsense role fits Lilly well.
  98. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
    Has all the requisite rampaging dinos, dizzying action scenes and, sure, a few flesh-and-blood heroes running around saving the day. But there’s just not enough underneath that well-trod surface — an intriguing ethical conundrum bears heady fruit at times, yet is just as quickly shelved in favor of roaring lava or unleashed reptiles.
  99. SuperFly
    Somewhere between ridiculously stylish and stylishly ridiculous lies "Superfly," a modern so-bad-it’s-kinda-good remake of the 1970s blaxploitation classic that offers as much close-up twerking as kung fu fighting.
  100. Incredibles 2
    Pixar doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to sequels, but this follow-up surpasses most everything without Toy Story in the title. The animation is stellar and detailed in excellent action sequences, Michael Giacchino’s score swings harder than ever, and the first film’s family-friendly warmth is just as appealing now as it was then, even if Incredibles 2 isn’t totally incredible itself.
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