Variety's Scores

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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
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  1. Better Luck Tomorrow
    Lin's nicely turned out picture is sometimes both predictable and a bit far-fetched narratively, but still provides a generally absorbing look at a slice of society normally taken for granted, both in life and onscreen.
  2. Khab-e sefid
    Gentle, touching tale.
  3. Ghosts of the Abyss
    Though quite routine on the logistics of deep-sea exploring, pic develops a visual style as it replays the events of the sinking that some viewers may find more visually exciting and satisfying than what Cameron staged in his original mega-blockbuster.
  4. Anger Management
    The antics here are strained, graceless and tiresomely crude, the sorts of things audiences feel they're supposed to laugh at rather than well-developed situations that generate genuine amusement.
  5. Going Down
    There seems to be no bottom to Going Down, a lame also-ran in the rapidly declining teen gross-out comedy genre.
  6. House of 1000 Corpses
    A cobwebbed, mummified horror entry that makes obvious, cartoonishly grotesque demands for attention.
  7. Marion Bridge
    Sensitive directorial bow by editor Wiebke von Carolsfeld and solid performances lend conviction if not quite distinction to the drama Marion Bridge.
  8. The Rose Technique
    Scheide's feature never quite seizes the potential for full-on "Stepfather" thrills or "Serial Mom"-style black comedy, leaving pic diverting but too mild.
  9. DysFunktional Family
    The attempt to draw certain connections between Griffin's material and its autobiographical origins feels slapped together, shortchanging both aspects of the film.
  10. The Man Without a Past
    Enormously satisfying, superbly crafted.
  11. Phone Booth
    Gussied up with a host of filmmaking tricks in an attempt to keep things lively, this intensely acted little exercise just doesn't have enough going for it, with the exception of gradually growing interest in lead Colin Farrell.
  12. Manna from Heaven
    This family affair is a squeaky-clean cable-ready comedy, unabashedly retro fluff.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion [re-release]
    Balkan probably gives her best performance to date to create a woman tormented by instability, sexual drive and psycho demons -- disjointedly portrayed in the script.
  14. What a Girl Wants
    It feels much more like a shameless reshuffle of "The Princess Diaries."
  15. Levity
    Despite an effectively low-key performance by Billy Bob Thornton in the leading role, pic is no more spiritually insightful or illuminating than Sunday School instructional story, and a lot less dramatically coherent.
  16. A Man Apart
    Diesel makes a violent bid to align himself with the Clint Eastwood-Charles Bronson-Steve McQueen tradition, but he lacks the charisma, emotional strength and humor to do so.
  17. Cowboy Bebop the Movie: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
    Though it isn't the entirely original creation "Metropolis" was, Bebop is more satisfying.
  18. Cet amour-là
    A limp-to-wilted film version of Duras' 16-year-long love affair with a young man who became her secretary and literary executor.
  19. The Good Thief
    Sure, it's all been done before, but seldom with this degree of vigor and panache.
  20. Stevie
    A forceful, affecting experience.
  21. Assassination Tango
    On just about every level -- as a thriller, as a romance and as a character study of a complicated man nearing the end of his professional life -- the film fails, and the meandering, sub-Cassavetes approach is likely to be a turnoff for all but the most indulgent viewers.
  22. The Core
    More palatable than most pictures of its ilk due to its keen awareness of its own preposterousness, a self-knowledge exuberantly expressed by a mostly live-wire cast.
  23. Head of State
    So beneath the considerable talents of its star, Chris Rock, it's dismaying to note Rock is also the movie's director, producer and co-scenarist. Not unlike Richard Pryor a generation ago, Rock has yet to land a movie vehicle that captures the sparky energy and subversive bent of his excellent stand-up performances.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Night and the City (re-release)
    Jules Dassin, in his direction, manages extraordinarily interesting backgrounds, realistically filmed to create a feeling both of suspense and mounting menace.
  25. Basic
    The teasing tale is told with such dispatch it will carry willing audiences along; genre staples of action, macho attitude and corruption through the ranks are delivered intact.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Flickering Lights
    Jensen helms with assurance and maturity, with rapid but unhectic pacing, plenty of dark humor and deft action sequences that turn cliches from U.S. action-comedies into something very Danish.
  27. Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie
    Unlikely to draw new fans but destined to please followers who couldn't catch the live act.
  28. Unknown Pleasures
    As lethargic as the characters it portrays, the film requires greater staying power than many audiences will possess.
  29. Piglet's Big Movie
    Fine new chapter in the long-running franchise should score well with family audiences.
  30. Chuen jik sat sau
    High-octane plunge into pop gangster psychology.
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