USA Today's Scores

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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. Hamilton
    Would it have been better to be in the room where it happened? Sure, the magic of watching excellent musical theater happening in front of you is impossible to re-create. But as the recent “Cats” movie proved, sometimes veering too off-course from the stage production isn’t great, either, so why not embrace a filmed version of this spectacular thing?
  2. Winter's Bone
    Every so often a film gets under our skin with its haunting authenticity, reinforcing our faith in the wonderfully transporting power of cinematic storytelling. Winter's Bone is unquestionably that film.
  3. The Last Emperor
    Emperor is like Full Metal Jacket - uneven, fuzzy, imperfect, and one of the reasons the movies were invented. [20 Nov 1987, p.1D]
    • USA Today
  4. La La Land
    La La Land is both delightful confection and life-affirming food for the soul.
  5. Little Women
    Director Gillian Armstrong takes the delicate snow globe that is Little Women and gives it a bold new shake. [21 Dec 1994]
    • USA Today
  6. Shrek 2
    Just as funny, sweet and engaging as the first film starring the big galoot.
  7. Short Cuts
    This definitive "life goes on" movie does what Altman does best: juggle 22 characters, deftly switch moods, and offer a comlex warts-and-all characters whose lives seem to extend beyond the screen. Few movies attempt this; Fewer succeed. [1 Oct 1993]
    • USA Today
  8. The Prom
    The Prom is an exuberant love letter to Broadway’s “Let’s put on a show!” ethos that will earworm you till the new year and proves how a great musical – armed with a heartfelt story – unites like nothing else can.
  9. Men in Black
    The snappy sci-fi hoot Men in Black...is a kind of "Independence Day" for smart people.
  10. Beginners
    What results is a disarmingly honest tale of affection, both romantic and filial.
  11. The Last Temptation of Christ
    The crucifixion is the strongest such scene of all time. [26 Aug 1988]
    • USA Today
  12. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
    This is a great movie, but it needs a sales job because it's in Mandarin.
  13. Safety Not Guaranteed
    It's equally endearing as a sweetly funny romance between two likable oddballs and as a low-tech time-travel thriller, and has something profound to say about making the most of the present.
  14. Apocalypse Now Redux
    Director Francis Ford Coppola's revamping of his Vietnam epic, Apocalypse Now, with 49 added minutes, has significantly improved the troubled blockbuster. The film now seems both mellowed and — thanks in part to the most vibrant-looking prints in its 22-year history — revitalized.
  15. Married to the Mob
    Even in the classiest movie summer of the decade, Mob is destined to demand respect for Pfeiffer. [19 Aug 1988]
    • USA Today
  16. Toy Story 3
    This installment, the best of the three, is everything a movie should be: hilarious, touching, exciting and clever.
  17. Cinderella Man
    A premier boxing movie and a forceful Depression remembrance for the socially conscious, Cinderella Man also ices it for stargazers that Russell Crowe is the dominant screen actor working today.
  18. Your Sister's Sister
    So many movies try to capture human relationships and fail miserably. A few come close. Your Sister's Sister nails it with grace, humor and winning charm.
  19. Slumdog Millionaire
    Director Danny Boyle's riveting and kaleidoscopic tale, based on Vikas Swarup's debut novel "Q and A," is exquisitely adapted to the screen by Simon Beaufoy.
  20. The Grapes of Wrath
    As son Tom Joad, Henry Fonda gave the screen performance of his career. [09 Apr 2004, p.10E]
    • USA Today
  21. Project Hail Mary
    Funny and dramatic when it needs to be as well as exceptionally rousing throughout, the movie perfectly captures the story of human resilience and interstellar bromance that Andy Weir’s 2021 brilliant novel did so well.
  22. Insomnia
    A perfect fit between filmmaker (Memento's Christopher Nolan) and material (Norway's same-name psycho-chiller from 1997), this remake gets all there is to get out of a peculiar premise with promise.
  23. Vertigo
    Judged strictly as a movie (especially a subliminally disturbing movie), Vertigo hasn't lost a thing. You watch this guy going slowly over the brink and realize, good grief, this is Jimmy Stewart. [Restored version; Oct 1996, p.3D]
    • USA Today
  24. Like Crazy
    Doremus' elegant filmmaking is key to the appeal of the film, but it would never work as superbly without the wonderfully natural, believable performances and powerful chemistry of the lead actors.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
    The entire film offers a front-row seat to the grandeur. The staging is so massive that even the best seats in a stadium – and the King Kong-sized video screens – could provide only so much detail. But on the big screen, the close-ups are glorious.
  26. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
    Though there is plenty of gunplay, this is a wondrously contemplative and poetic saga that offers a fresh and bewitching take on a timeworn genre.
  27. All of Us Strangers
    To call it haunting might be trite but also spot on: With a terrific performance from Andrew Scott as a queer screenwriter at a crossroads, “Strangers” is the sort of cinematic balm that not only touches your soul but takes up prime real estate.
  28. Sideways
    This is a building-block movie: Its stand-out excellence becomes apparent only gradually.
  29. Crumb
    If artist R. (Robert) Crumb can dispense immediately with his resume in Terry Zwigoff's superb Crumb, we can, too. [21 Apr 1995]
    • USA Today
  30. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
    Nothing in John McNaughton's script and direction is exploitative; there isn't a frame of wasted action in what may well remain the year's most tightly constructed movie. As such, you're with this qualified classic all the way, you believe in it all the way, and you're thus forced to take its sporadic atrocities seriously. How many movies (and how long has it been since we've seen one) have really pulled this off? [20 April 1990, p.4D]
    • USA Today
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