Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
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
view
per page
  1. Offside
    In his most accessible and spontaneous picture, ranking Iranian helmer Jafar Panahi reveals unsuspected comic gifts barely visible in his dramatic festival winners "The White Balloon," "The Circle" and "Crimson Gold."
  2. Kiki's Delivery Service
    Overall, thoroughly delightful tale is stronger on character and texture than on plot, with Miyazaki’s masterful use of quiet spaces and expansive moods (especially in flying segs) offering a fresh contrast to hyped-up Yank toons.
  3. The Ornithologist
    The Ornithologist is deliciously subversive and genuinely funny.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    El Dorado
    An excellent oater drama, laced with adroit comedy and action relief, and set off by strong casting, superior direction and solid production.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sleeping Beauty
    Some of the best parts of the picture are those dealing with the three good fairies, spoken and sung by Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen and Barbara Luddy.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mona Lisa
    A pic that skillfully combines comedy and thriller, romance and sleaze
  7. Tales of the Grim Sleeper
    What emerges, finally, is an urgent distress call from one of America’s many, predominately black inner cities cast adrift by decades of municipal neglect and institutional racism.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Easy Rider
    Fonda himself has given this a fine production dress, with associate Bert Schneider, and the brilliant lensing, excellent music background ballads, especially Bob Dylan's "Easy Rider," are fine counterpoints to this poetic trip along Southwest America.
  9. Princess
    Princess plays out an unsettling scenario of underage sexuality in enigmatic, almost dreamlike terms.
  10. Knocked Up
    Uproarious. Line for line, minute to minute, writer-director Judd Apatow's latest effort is more explosively funny, more frequently, than nearly any other major studio release in recent memory.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Quiet Man
    Despite the length of the footage, film holds together by virtue of a number of choice characters, the best of which is Barry Fitzgerald’s socko punching of an Irish type. Wayne works well under Ford’s direction, answering all demands of the vigorous, physical character.
  12. Turtles Can Fly
    Ghobadi in this pic displays a complete command of his art as he shifts between -- and even blends -- wrenching tragedy and amusing comedy.
  13. The Departed
    This reworking of a popular Hong Kong picture pulses with energy, tangy dialogue and crackling performances from a fine cast.
  14. Yes
    A whirling, maximalist satire at once despairing and exuberant, subtle as a cannonball in its evisceration of the ruling classes and those who obey them, it’s both absurdist comedy and serious-as-cancer polemic: as grave as any film with an extended dance break to 2000s novelty hit “The Ketchup Song” can possibly be.
  15. Festival Express
    An instant ancillary classic for music fan.
  16. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
    A sublime, witty, gritty and transcendental movie reflecting one man's life journey.
  17. April and the Extraordinary World
    Here, within a thrilling tale that respects the intelligence of its audience, attentive parents will find the antidote to their fear that watching cartoons might rot your brain. If anything, April and the Extraordinary World seems bound to do the opposite, encouraging children to pursue their own passions and creativity.
  18. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
    An inventive, meaty distillation of Le Carre's 1974 novel, picture turns hero George Smiley's hunt for a mole within Blighty's MI6 into an incisive examination of Cold War ethics, rich in both contempo resonance and elegiac melancholy.
  19. The Wild Robot
    There’s never been an animated movie that reflects the world in quite this way.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Harakiri
    This stunning film is a sombre tragedy [from Yasuhiko Takiguchi's novel] giving off deep rage against militarism, political systems and beliefs that do not allow for a rational human outlook or future change.
  21. A Poet
    Its tone shifts from absurdist to serious to satirical and back again. This odd mix should not work, but Soto pulls it off with a sure hand and precisely exacting storytelling. That it succeeds in being both funny and poignant makes A Poet even more of an achievement.
  22. Support the Girls
    Hall’s performance — tender, tough, empathetic, controlled — crumples from tears to laughter in a blink. It’s phenomenal.
  23. Half Nelson
    Avoiding rote inspirational notes as well as boyz-in-the-hood violence, scrupulously low-key drama nonetheless builds to a powerful impact.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cat People
    This is a weird drama of thrill-chill caliber, with developments of surprises confined to psychology and mental reactions, rather than transformation to grotesque and marauding characters for visual impact on the audiences. Picture is well-made on moderate budget outlay.
  25. Vincere
    It's a thrilling, at times brilliant piece of staging that never forgets the emotional pull of either the tragic personal tale or the ramifications of history.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Fabulous Baker Boys
    The fun part is seeing it all play out, thanks to a standout cast and first-time director Steve Kloves’ skill in handling them.
  27. The Insider
    A borderline pretentious, overly inflated picture.
  28. The Sun
    As usual, Sokurov's unhurried pacing will test the patience of more fidgety viewers, although the script is more accessible than some of his recent efforts.
  29. Street Fight
    Curry's courage in the face of police harassment and what seems a very real threat of something worse is amazing.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Victim
    This is telling, moving stuff.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »