Variety's Scores

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For 17,777 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 IMAX: Hubble 3D
Lowest review score: 0 Divorce: The Musical
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9,133 out of 17777
  2. Mixed: 7,008 out of 17777
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17777
17777 movie reviews
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  1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
    Not to disparage the f/x guys, but what's onscreen in Hellboy II is all about the seismic eruptions in del Toro's head. Comparing his work to most fantasy cinema is like comparing cave drawings to the Cathedral of Cologne.
  2. Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan
    This Central Asia-set historical epic from Russian helmer Sergei Bodrov ("Nomad") boasts breathtaking landscapes, dazzling cinematography, bloody battles and unique traditions.
  3. Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
    A mesmerizing portrait of the director as acclaimed artist and tortured human being.
  4. Katyn
    This plays almost like an academic master class, meticulously exploring the event's ramifications but only catching full fire at the end.
  5. Everlasting Moments
    Artistically on a plane with or near the vet filmmaker's best work, this period drama about a woman slowly discovering her metier is an artisanal creation par excellence.
  6. Tyson
    By getting Tyson to open up as he has, Toback has succeeded in illuminating one of the most polarizing, complex and -- the film almost forces one to admit -- misunderstood figures of our time.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Big Man Japan
    Decidedly odd, even by Japanese standards, this mockumentary about an electrically charged, skyscraper-high superhero saddled with misfortune, bad press and even worse TV ratings is tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine, jaw-dropping oddity.
  8. Easier with Practice
    Amusingly predicated on the romantic possibilities of phone sex, Easier With Practice pushes past its titillating premise to become a quietly provocative love story about emotionally stunted manhood and the risks some guys will take to connect.
  9. Taxidermia
    Taxidermia sets a benchmark for body horror in the cinema.
  10. The Town Is Quiet
    Guediguian's seemingly sprawling but in fact quite precise picture takes a while to establish itself, but is eventually rewarding viewing.
  11. The School of Flesh
    A skillful blend of fire and ice that subtly conveys the emotional extremes fraught in the relationship.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Open Hearts
    Poignant, thoughtful and utterly absorbing, Susanne Bier's Dogme film Open Hearts is a gem.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Mickey Blue Eyes
    An engaging, often very funny fish-out-of-water story that provides Hugh Grant with his best part to date.
  14. Pollock
    Distinguished by its quiet, intelligent, admirably restrained approach and by two finely wrought performances from Harris and Marcia Gay Harden in the leading roles.
  15. Before Night Falls
    A dense, emotionally satisfying portrait of a man, a time and a place.
  16. Paragraph 175
    The definitive screen chronicle to date of homosexual persecution under the Third Reich.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Minus Man
    The kind of muted, anything-but-obvious psychological thriller Hitchcock would have loved.
  18. Under the Sand
    An exquisite reflection on personal bereavement.
  19. The Cockettes
    Joyously re-creates the brief but resplendent reign of the legendary freakadelic drag troupe.
  20. The Brothers McMullen
    Good old-fashioned virtues of three-dimensional characters, fine dialogue, recognizable life situations and meat-and-potatoes content.
  21. The Last September
    Like hard-edged "Masterpiece Theater."
  22. Food of Love
    Pons has aimed for a performance-driven drama whose virtues are of the small-scale, low-key variety, with the director working within narrow dramatic limits as always but here doing so brilliantly.
  23. Eureka
    Builds steadily through a series of masterfully orchestrated modulations to a final act without shattering revelations or lofty dramatic peaks but with a quiet, formidable power.
  24. La Commune (Paris, 1871)
    Taped in stark black-and-white and clocking in 15 minutes shy of six hours, invigorating pic is big, passionate and brimming with compelling human details and broad sociopolitical idealism.
  25. The Back of the World
    A gripping, superbly constructed indictment of the way governments contribute to the destruction of their citizens' lives.
  26. ZigZag
    Evidencing savvy visual flair and compelling storytelling skill, Goyer infuses heart and vigor into material that could have come off as overly familiar at best, sappily improbable at worst.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Place Vendôme
    Taut and nuanced from start to finish, with memorable, lived-in central characters and an appealingly melancholy tone, helmer/co-scripter Nicole Garcia’s third feature has what it takes.
  28. Les Destinées
    A massive undertaking and an accomplished piece of filmmaking in a solid tradition of intelligent, meticulous literary adaptations.
  29. Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony
    Exhaustively informative and powerfully emotional.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Blue Angel
    A standout picture.
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