Variety's Scores

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For 17,833 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 2.3 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: 9,165 out of 17833
  2. Mixed: 7,031 out of 17833
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17833
17833 movie reviews
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  1. The Sower
    The resulting film is so delicately wrought and exquisitely visualized that the harsher, eerier details of Ailhaud’s account stand out all the more strikingly, like a shot of vinegar in a pristine crème caramel.
  2. Shaft
    Directed by Gordon Parks with a subtle feel for both the grit and the humanity of the script. Excellent cast, headed by newcomer Richard Roundtree, may shock some audiences with heavy dose of candid dialog and situation.
  3. Body at Brighton Rock
    Deftly employing the power of suggestion and an emotionally potent sound design, Body at Brighton Rock is a well-crafted thriller with some crafty tricks up its sleeve.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mary, Queen of Scots
    A large cast of excellent players appears to good advantage under the direction of Charles Jarrott. Superior production details and the cast help overcome an episodic, rambling story.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    S.O.B.
    S.O.B. is one of the most vitriolic – though only occasionally hilarious – attacks on the Tinseltown mentality ever.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Willard
    Some good jump moments and at least two stomach-churning murders committed by the rats with tight direction of Daniel Mann develop pic into sound nail-chewer.
  7. Alice
    It’s one of the most daring films ever made, not so much because of anything it overtly depicts as what this controversial classic reveals about the infinitely complicated psychology of human sexuality.
  8. Come As You Are
    There’s a relaxed yet energetic comic rapport between players that suggests a good time was had by all.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lawman
    Lancaster, as usual, is a highly convincing marshal, tough and taciturn. Ryan is also excellent as the faded, weak marshal with only memories. But it’s Cobb who quietly steals the film as the local boss who, however, unlike in many such films, is no ruthless villain.
  10. The Day Shall Come
    The title suggests that the revolution Moses is praying for will someday arrive, but that shouldn’t be nearly as scary to Americans as the fact that his own government is trying to push people like him over the edge. That day is already here.
  11. Extra Ordinary
    Extra Ordinary is a kind of tea-cosy “Ghostbusters” that’s consistently funny in a pleasingly off-kilter way.
  12. Mickey and the Bear
    Straightforward but skillfully nuanced ... There’s nothing wildly original in form or content to this modest tale. But it’s never obvious or melodramatic, delivering a satisfying degree of emotional resonance while providing James Badge Dale an arresting role as the problematic dad.
  13. Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy
    Taken as a celebration, however, both of the woman herself and the food to which she has dedicated her life, “Nothing Fancy” is cinematic comfort food of the first order.
  14. Olympic Dreams
    An engagingly wistful dramedy.
  15. The Peanut Butter Falcon
    An odyssey audiences won’t soon forget.
  16. Tread
    Tread abounds in memorable images and interviews that range from darkly comical to deeply disquieting.
  17. Villains
    This black comedy thriller has a good cast to spark a scenario that’s intriguing enough to hold attention, if not quite clever enough to be a knockout.
  18. Yes, God, Yes
    Yes, God, Yes is bound to rankle some conservative Christians of every denomination ... But Dyer’s Alice generates too much rooting interest, and the movie as a whole is too nondenominationally likable, for most other viewers to cast any stones.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Star Chamber
    Getting to this point in the film, there’s a pleasure in rediscovering intelligent dialog, ably provided by Hyams and Roderick Taylor. But the talk is haunted by concern that this intellectual morass cannot be solved within the confines of cinema.
  20. Everybody's Everything
    The only perspective that’s missing here is that of Peep himself, and that hole at the center of the narrative gives the film a haunting impact.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Circus
    In clinging to a tale of logical sequence, without the expected interpolations or detached incidents, Chaplin's Circus for speed, gags and laughs has not been equalled on the sheet. But it's very broad, for Chaplin makes no attempt at subtlety in this one.
  22. Tigerland
    Kauffman has crafted an enjoyable armchair adventure that juggles the archival imagery, engaging present-day personalities and glimpses of the magnificent creatures themselves at a leisurely yet absorbing pace.
  23. Storm Boy
    This version of Storm Boy, directed by excellent Aussie small-screen helmer Shawn Seet, has the emotional heft and visual splendor to win the hearts of domestic and international family audiences.
  24. Manta Ray
    This superficially simple tale of identity, displacement and friendship is wrapped in layers of symbolism that will likely be pleasurably hypnotic for many viewers.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story
    A documentary, at once acerbic and affectionate, that tracks Sievey’s one-of-a-kind, semi-off-the-rails career.
  26. Suburban Birds
    Viewers, too, may feel at once cast adrift in the film’s amorphous quests, and languidly seduced by its disorder.
  27. Master Z: Ip Man Legacy
    Top-class fighting and fabulous production design overcome the stale plot.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Doctor Dolittle
    Leslie Bricusse’s adaptation retains the delightful aspects while taking considerable liberty with the plot. His music and lyrics, while containing no smash hits, are admirably suited to the scenario.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    To Sir, with Love
    A well-made, sometimes poignant, drama.
  30. See You Yesterday
    Eden-Smith makes the film her own, right up to the surprising, challenging and altogether sharp final note.
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