Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
For 17,791 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: 9,139 out of 17791
  2. Mixed: 7,015 out of 17791
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17791
17791 movie reviews
view
per page
  1. Buzz
    Film traverses Buzz's career with reasonable depth, helped by good-quality trailers from several pics. However, one suspects there are a lot more stories Buzz could tell in a more rigorous format.
  2. The Dogwalker
    Though central dynamic is a familiar one -- old coot and young lost soul thrown together -- perfs, understated script and well-judged direction avoid too-obvious sentimentality or melodrama. Nonetheless, overall story arc is fairly predictable, and deliberate pacing sometimes risks dullness.
  3. Fratricide
    A hard-hitting, ultimately tragic tale of the struggle for identity among Kurdish emigres in urban Germany.
  4. Princesas
    This loosely-structured pic feels authentic, its underdramatized script resolutely nonjudgmental.
  5. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
    Lee takes time to explain the stories behind the stories, to unearth revealing details under-reported in other accounts, and to identify individuals among the faceless masses of unfortunates.
  6. Snakes on a Plane
    Snakes on a Plane is exactly the sort of tasteless, utterly depraved, no-nonsense sluts-and-guts extravaganza it was meant to be.
  7. Accepted
    Sweetly amusing, gently anarchic and never mean-spirited.
  8. The Illusionist
    A bizarre story of intrigue, magic and murder in turn-of-the-century Vienna casts a considerable spell in The Illusionist.
  9. Material Girls
    It's less substantial than cotton candy, but Material Girls is as slickly produced as one of the Marchetta TV spots.
  10. Factotum
    Arguably one of the best adaptations of Bukowski's work, even compared with Bukowski's own script for 1997's "Barfly," deadpan timing and ace perfs bring out the morose humor and surprising warmth in the often miserabilist scribe's voice.
  11. Trust the Man
    For those who appreciate the Woody Allen view of New York but would prefer fewer neurotics, Trust the Man provides a loving take on bourgeois Manhattan contentment that's usually only found in episodes of "Will & Grace."
  12. 10th & Wolf
    A lackluster actioner.
  13. King Leopold's Ghost
    Ghost throws its most powerful punch in its second half, reporting on contempo events as a direct repeat of the ghastly Leopold era.
  14. Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands
    Along with the continual build-up of tension and threatened (more than shown) violence, pic is notable for its brutal depiction of the sex industry.
  15. Conversations with Other Women
    The battle of the sexes is restaged to clever but inconsequential effect in Conversations With Other Women. Very much a case of old wine in a new bottle.
  16. Pulse
    A dumbed-down remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's disturbingly abstract Japanese horror film.
  17. Step Up
    Fresh cast, a formulaic but engaging storyline, and a smoking soundtrack from rap and hip-hop luminaries.
  18. Zoom
    This tepid comic-bookish comedy should zip through its theatrical run faster than a speeding bullet. It likely won't perform much more superheroically in ancillary venues.
  19. Half Nelson
    Avoiding rote inspirational notes as well as boyz-in-the-hood violence, scrupulously low-key drama nonetheless builds to a powerful impact.
  20. The L.A. Riot Spectacular
    A comedy that's vulgar, disturbing, distasteful and violent, but so is injustice and civil unrest.
  21. Poster Boy
    Underproduced and compromised by an uneven script and a tendency to descend into melodrama, the DV-lensed feature nonetheless is well acted and directed with confidence.
  22. House of Sand
    Magnificently renders a fresh view of life on planet Earth.
  23. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
    A star-loaded, Gotham-set relationships movie that's generally good but works better in bits than as a whole.
  24. Who Needs Sleep?
    A comprehensive, personal and surprisingly engaging look at how film crews routinely work hours far beyond anything that can be considered safe, healthy or conducive to a balanced life.
  25. World Trade Center
    World Trade Center yields lovely and touching moments but proves a slow-going, arduous movie experience.
  26. Lunacy
    More moving animal parts and less human pontificating would make a stronger case for a tale already rich in imagery. Another drawback is Liska, too one-dimensional to stand against Triska's overpowering performance.
  27. The Descent
    The chills and spills keep comin' to agreeable effect in Brit-made scarefest The Descent.
  28. Barnyard
    Zippy enough to delight youngsters and clever enough to engage their parents.
  29. The Night Listener
    Aiming for unsettling atmosphere over character definition, the dawdling mystery thriller manages to flatten two protagonists that had far more depth in the novel.
  30. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
    Simultaneously teasing and loving a subject doesn't make for easy comedy, but writer-star Will Ferrell and director/co-writer Adam McKay pull it off with good-ol'-boy good nature in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »