Variety's Scores

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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
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    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Near Dark
    Main point of interest will be the work of Bigelow, who has undoubtedly created the most hard-edged, violent actioner ever directed by an American woman.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Slam Dance
    Slam Dance is like junk food. It's brightly packaged, looks good and satisfies the hunger for entertainment, but it isn't terribly nourishing or well-made.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Belly of an Architect
    The Belly of an Architect is a visual treat, almost an homage to the style of Rome's architecture, lensed with skill and packed with esoteric nuances, but doubts about the story and the skill of the acting linger.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Princess Bride
    It also doesn't help that Cary Elwes and Robin Wright as the loving couple are nearly comatose and inspire little passion from each other, or the audience.
  5. Maurice
    Maurice, based on a posthumously published novel by E.M. Forster, is a well-crafted pic on the theme of homosexuality.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Fatal Attraction
    The screws are tightened expertly in this suspenseful meller about a flipped-out femme who makes life hell for the married man who scorns her.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hellraiser
    Hellraiser is a well-paced si-fi cum horror fantasy. Pic is well made, well acted, and the visual effects are generally handled with skill.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Pick-up Artist
    As long as this film sticks to what its title suggests, The Pick-Up Artist is a tolerably amusing comedy. But as soon as the compulsive skirt-chaser gets hooked on one girl, James Toback's long-gestating portrait of a one-track mind becomes bogged down in unconvincing plot mechanics.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Amazon Women on the Moon
    Amazon Women on the Moon is irreverent, vulgar and silly and has some hilarious moments and some real groaners too.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Fourth Protocol
    The Fourth Protocol is a decidedly contempo thriller, a tale of vying masterspies and a chase to head off a nuclear disaster. Its edge is a fine aura of realism.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hamburger Hill
    Well-produced and directdd with an eye to documentary-like realism and authenticity, pic centers upon a military undertaking of familiar futility during the Vietnam War.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Matewan
    Matewan is a heartfelt, straight-ahead tale of labor organizing in the coal mines of West Virginia in 1920 that runs its course like a train coming down the track.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    House II: The Second Story
    Director Ethan Wiley is determined to be cute rather than scary. He intros some cuddly creatures – a baby pterodactyl, plus a critter who’s a cross between a dog and a caterpillar – but they don’t add anything to the pic’s charm. Action scenes aren’t very thrilling or suspenseful.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jean de Florette
    Berri’s sympathetic work with his small cast, and his subservience to Pagnol’s story and dialog are key factors in the film’s robust dramatic appeal.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dirty Dancing
    Good production values, some nice dance sequences and a likable performance by Grey make the film more than watchable, especially for those acquainted with the Jewish tribal mating rituals that go on in the Catskill Mountain resorts.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Big Easy
    Until conventional plot contrivances begin to spoil the fun, The Big Easy is a snappy, sassy battle of the sexes in the guise of a melodrama about police corruption.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Way Out
    Costner is extremely low key while Hackman glides through his role and Patton dominates his scenes overplaying his villainous hand. Young is extremely alluring as the heroine.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Masters of the Universe
    All elements are of epic proportions in this Conan-Star Wars hybrid ripoff, based on the best-selling line of children’s toys. Epitome of Good takes on Epitome of Evil for nothing less than the future of the Universe, and the result is a colossal bore.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Who's That Girl
    Fortunately, Dunne’s playful personality eventually counter-balances Madonna’s shrillness, and their adventures together, while completely farfetched, finally become involving. What’s lacking is pure and simple good humor.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stakeout
    StakeOut is a slick, sure-footed entertainment, one part buddy comedy and one part police actioner stitched together with a dash of romance.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    The Lost Boys
    The Lost Boys is a horrifically dreadful vampire teensploitation entry that daringly advances the theory that all those missing children pictured on garbage bags and milk cartons are actually the victims of bloodsucking bikers.
  22. The Living Daylights
    With a hint of that my-way problem-solving approach, The Living Daylights freshens the Bond series’ cornball formula elements while reprising details that had made director John Glen’s debut, For Your Eyes Only, such a superior outing.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
    The earlier films in the series were far from perfect, but at their best they had some flair and agreeable humor, qualities this one sorely lacks. Hackman gets a few laughs, but has less to work with than before, and everyone else seems to be just going through the motions and having less fun doing so.
    • Variety
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    La Bamba
    La Bamba is engrossing throughout and boasts numerous fine performances.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    RoboCop
    Robocop is as tightly worked as a film can be, not a moment or line wasted.
    • 15 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Jaws: The Revenge
    Pacing leaves a lot to be desired and the moment-of-attack sequences, full of jagged cuts and a great deal of noise, more closely resemble the view from inside a washing machine.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Adventures in Babysitting
    Chris Columbus weighs in adequately in his directorial debut, thanks to a fresh, solid lead performance from Elisabeth Shue. Yet the film can never rise above the leaden script.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Surf Nazis Must Die
    A sort of Clockwork Orange meets Mad Max on the beach, pic hasn't one redeeming feature.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Innerspace
    Quaid is engagingly reckless and gung-ho as the pioneer into a new dimension, although he is physically constrained in his little capsule for most of the running time. Short has infinitely more possibilities and makes the most of them, coming into his own as a screen personality as a mild-mannered little guy who rises to an extraordinary situation.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Full Metal Jacket
    An intense, schematic, superbly made Vietnam War drama.
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