Variety's Scores

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For 17,835 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: 9,166 out of 17835
  2. Mixed: 7,032 out of 17835
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17835
17835 movie reviews
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  1. The Rugrats Movie
    Aimed squarely at moppets with minuscule attention spans, “The Rugrats Movie” is a fast and frenetic animated feature that should delight young aficionados of the long-running Nickelodeon TV series.
  2. The Roost
    Debuting helmer Ti West taps into the realist-horror spirit of mentor and exec producer Larry Fessenden, and makes a scarier pic than any by his master.
  3. Bleed for This
    Teller is terrific, which should come as no surprise to “Whiplash” fans, though no less significant, the film represents a significant return for writer-director Ben Younger.
  4. The Swimmers
    At a bloated 134 minutes . . . your brain may well start to prune, the way fingers do when they spend too much time in water.
  5. Alexandra's Project
    The punishment seems out of all proportion to the "crimes" committed, so that the film becomes no simplistic pro-feminist tract but is, on the contrary, more complex and disturbing.
  6. Off the Black
    Anchored by a terrific performance from Nick Nolte as a grizzled umpire who gets an unexpected second chance at fatherhood, this easygoing comedy-drama plays out slowly but assuredly, infusing a conventional story about a blossoming relationship with welcome reserves of honesty and humor.
  7. Comedian
    Gains much greater texture from the intercutting between the two performers than had it remained simply a Seinfeld promotional project.
  8. Finding Forrester
    Provides a platform for Sean Connery to deliver a definitive, career-summation performance.
  9. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
    Snicket's macabre tale of three newly orphaned siblings has been lavishly visualized. But for all its elaborate splendor, production pic lacks the feeling and imagination that have distinguished the best recent kidpics.
  10. Justifiable Homicide
    Film makes a strong case for some form of miscarriage of justice and subsequent high level cover-up in the Rosario shootings.
  11. Golda's Balcony
    Kagan's green-screen filmization, in its over-busy editing, ever-changing angles and constantly shifting backdrops, strips the play of its starkness, leaving disproportionate schmaltz and propaganda.
  12. Aftermath
    The idea of framing Holocaust atrocities in contemporary genre terms, although intriguing, is not without its perils, and the secret, when revealed, looms too large to fit within the plot’s parameters, creating strange disconnects between form and content.
  13. The Banshee Chapter
    Proving the “Paranormal Activity” formula can still work when used with canny restraint, Erickson achieves good results with long, eerie found-footage takes that end in jolts.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ms. 45
    By keeping the picture short and busy, Ferrara makes its far-fetched elements play.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Chances Are
    A potentially charming premise yields only a handful of chuckles.
  16. Permission
    Permission is a small story made with big performances from leads Stevens and Hall, and while it hasn’t gotten the promotional push for audiences to pay attention, people lucky enough to stumble across it will fall for everyone involved, and commit to keeping tabs on Crano’s career.
  17. All the Old Knives
    I’m glad to report that All the Old Knives is a minor but engrossing genre movie: tightly wound, more or less rooted in the real world, with taut dialogue and espionage gambits that fall just this side of contrived. It’s not John le Carré, but it’s not thinly patched together pulp either.
  18. Five Minutes of Heaven
    Powerhouse performances by Liam Neeson and James Nesbit make this an intense, ultimately moving tale.
  19. C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America
    More intriguing on paper than when it actually unspools onscreen. Kevin Willmott's small-scaled but ambitious picture is well-researched, sometimes amusing and not unintelligent.
  20. The Photograph
    It’s a looser, warmer, and more meditative romance, one that takes its time by giving its actors room to breathe.
  21. Deconstructing Harry
    A tremendous, stellar cast is mostly confined to minor roles, but all shine under Allen's assured direction.
  22. Expired
    An occasionally cringe-inducing mix of pathos and humor, the tightly scripted, well-acted and notably art-directed tale follows a lonely, vulnerable meter maid who falls into a comically horrific relationship with a colleague incapable of emotional intimacy.
  23. Cats Don't Dance
    Decked out with sharp and colorful design work, some well-drawn characters and six snappy Randy Newman tunes, this first entry from Turner Feature Animation goes down very easily but lacks a hook to make it anything other than a minor kidpic entry commercially.
  24. Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell
    Fortunately, “I Got a Story to Tell” bears a life force that looms even larger than Wallace’s — that of his Jamaican-born “moms,” Voletta, who has so much star presence that even Angela Bassett couldn’t quite do justice to it when she played her in the 2009 movie.
  25. Fall
    Fall is a technical feat of a thriller, yet it’s not without a human center. It earns your clenched gut and your white knuckles.
  26. Maverick
    This exuberant Western is a crowd-pleaser that remains faithful to the genre while having a roaring good time sending up its conventions.
  27. G.I. Jane
    A very entertaining get-tough fantasy with political and feminist underpinnings.
  28. The Void
    At least its failings aren’t formulaic ones — or perhaps they’re the fault of jamming in more fantastic-cinema formula than one modestly scaled film can support.
  29. Mister Foe
    Tip-top performances, led by young British thesp Jamie Bell, and a deftly handled tone reflecting all the title teen's confused emotions make Hallam Foe a viewing delight.
  30. Despicable Me 2
    While not quite as charming or unique as the original, Despicable Me 2 comes awfully close.
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