Variety's Scores

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For 17,847 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: 9,172 out of 17847
  2. Mixed: 7,036 out of 17847
  3. Negative: 1,639 out of 17847
17847 movie reviews
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  1. Things Heard & Seen
    What lies beneath Things Heard & Seen are clichés.
  2. Love and a .45
    What holds the film back, however, in addition to its less than compelling schema and central relationship, is its utter lack of visual style. At a time when most pictures feature form almost at the expense of content, this one has an utterly undesigned look that’s virtually distinctive in its blandness.
  3. Dreaming Lhasa
    A sensitive if literal-minded tale that demonstrates how Tibet's national identity is of a piece with its spiritual heart.
  4. The Mighty Macs
    Family-friendly and abounding in uplift, The Mighty Macs is an undemandingly pleasant indie drama.
  5. Space Station 76
    Aiming more for bemused chuckles than for convulsive laughter, Plotnick and his actors deftly evoke a faux Me Decade ambiance throughout Space Station 76.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
    Pic is mainly focused on the violent special effects outbursts of Freddy Krueger (ably limned under heavy makeup by Robert Englund), the child murderer’s demon spirit who seeks revenge on Langenkamp and the other Elm St kids for the sins of their parents. Debuting director Chuck Russell elicits poor performances from most of his thesps, making it difficult to differentiate between pic’s comic relief and unintended howlers.
  7. Black Christmas
    You can’t take a movie like this too seriously, but it’s still one of the rare slasher films that offers a holiday from bloodshed for its own sake.
  8. Cassandra's Dream
    Like a tragic overture played at the wrong tempo and slightly off-key, Woody Allen's London-set Cassandra's Dream sends out more mixed signals than an inebriated telegraphist.
  9. Chloe
    Sexual suspicion and game-playing spiral down from the exotically intriguing to outright silliness in Chloe.
  10. Wilson
    In Wilson, Daniel Clowes’ voice, which was once acerbically hip, sounds dated.
  11. The Killing of John Lennon
    Anchored by a fearless, commanding lead perf by newcomer Jonas Ball as deranged assassin Mark David Chapman, The Killing of John Lennon is a harrowing, impressionistic, widescreen tour-de-force that unfolds with the propulsive urgency of a scrapbook thrown into a howling wind.
  12. The Blackout Experiments
    The result is interesting enough, but feels a bit overextended at feature length considering the limited insight afforded.
  13. Half Magic
    Half Magic is hobbled by a debut director’s desire to be liked. But Graham’s passion is sincere, even if her tone and rushed pace — the byproduct of cramming in every idea in case she doesn’t get a second chance — teeters on sitcom.
  14. Don't Let Go
    With any luck, Relive will get a reboot down the road, in which someone takes better advantage of the basic idea.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Humanoids from the Deep
    Given the nonsensical script and fact that considerable footage was added, editor Mark Goldblatt did a good job in making disparate elements at least hang together and play coherently. James Horner’s score makes it seem that more is happening than actually takes place.
  16. Escape Plan
    Mercifully free of tongue-in-cheek meta-humor, Escape Plan is a likably lunkheaded meat-and-potatoes brawler that never pretends to be more sophisticated than it is.
  17. Paradise Hills
    If you’ve ever wanted a mashup of Disney princess movies and “The Stepford Wives” or imagined “The Handmaid’s Tale” as a swoony YA fantasy, Paradise Hills is absolutely the movie for you.
  18. Sleepers
    Colorful characters, richly evoked settings, epic story of friendship, crime and punishment, and a strong dose of good old-fashioned star power.
  19. Kidnapped
    A technically proficient and aggressively unpleasant suspenser about sadistic home invaders.
  20. Nabbeun namja
    The most emotionally satisfying pic to date by Korean iconoclast Kim Ki-duk.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Devils
    As if the story alone weren’t bizarre enough, Russell has spared nothing in hyping the historic events by stressing the grisly at the expense of dramatic unity.
  22. The Good Neighbor
    Competent performances and a slick veneer make this revamp go down easily enough. Still, one wishes Rick had placed more emphasis on Hitchcockian suspense, rather than trusting the slow-moving tale will hold us via plot and character complexities that really aren’t particularly evident.
  23. Guess Who
    If only as much thought went into the script for this listless comedy as its marketing calculus.
  24. Sex Drive
    Since the new pic contains little that's genuinely amusing or minimally original, it likely will fail on its own merits.
  25. Daddy's Little Girls
    Chockfull of cathartic moments, Perry's storytelling is best when it defies convention. Like the black man's Frank Capra, Perry tells stories in which every conflict is a test of faith and every victory a testament to the American underdog. Instead of following the proven formulas of screenwriting books, he earnestly shepherds his own messy structure.
  26. Meeting Resistance
    Proves a welcome addition to the growing body of films on Iraq, but ultimately promises more than it delivers.
  27. Addicted to Love
    Warm performances that result in hilarity without guilt.
  28. Orwell Rolls in His Grave
    A marvel of passionate succinctness.
  29. S1m0ne
    Attempts to delve beneath the surface of Hollywood's rampant narcissism and fascination with technology, but ultimately feels like just one more in the long line of films this year about the business of making movies.
  30. Special Treatment
    Again co-written by and co-starring writer-thesp Richard Debuisne, picture has some of the duo's trademark sharp dialogue but again fails to fully come together on a narrative level.
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