Variety's Scores

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For 17,760 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: 9,121 out of 17760
  2. Mixed: 7,003 out of 17760
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17760
17760 movie reviews
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    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Creepshow
    George Romero, collaborating with writer Stephen King, again proves his adeptness at combining thrills with tongue-in-cheek humor.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Five Days One Summer
    An attempt at an intimate personal drama that just doesn't come off, Five Days One Summer is so slow that it seems more like Five Summers One Day.
    • 15 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Piranha Part Two: The Spawning
    This is a routine monster film, unrelated to Joe Dante’s 1978 Piranha. Idiotic premise has US government genetic engineering experiments creating a deadly form of grunions (hinted at being used in the Vietnam war).
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Man from Snowy River
    A rattling good adventure story, inspired by a legendary poem [by A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson] which nearly every Australian had drummed into him as a child, filmed in spectacularly rugged terrain in the Great Dividing Ranges in Victoria.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    First Blood
    Director Ted Kotcheff has all sorts of trouble with this mess, aside from credibility. Supposedly, the real villain here is society itself, which invented a debacle like Vietnam and must now deal with its lingering tragedies. But First Blood cops out completely on that one, not even trying to find a solution to Stallone's problems.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Halloween III: Season of the Witch
    There’s not much to say about Halloween III that hasn’t already been said about either of the other two Halloween pics or a slew of imitators.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lookin' to Get Out
    Hal Ashby's Lookin' to Get Out is an ill-conceived vehicle for actor (and co-writer) Jon Voight to showcase his character comedy talents in a loose, semi-improvised environment.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Favorite Year
    An enjoyable romp through the early days of television, My Favorite Year [from a story by Dennis Palumbo] provides a field day for a wonderful bunch of actors headed by Peter O'Toole in another rambunctious, stylish starring turn.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Amityville II: The Possession
    There are actually two films meandering in this mess – one a second-rate horror flick about a family in peril, and another that is a slight variation on the demon-possessed Exorcist theme.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hammett
    Over polished by too many script rewrites, perhaps emasculated by massive footage scraps and belated re-shoots, project emerges a rather suffocating film taking place in a rickety Chinatown.
    • Variety
    • 18 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The Beastmaster
    When The Beastmaster begins, it is very hard to tell what it is all about. An hour later, it is very hard to care what it is all about. Another hour later, it is very hard to remember what it was all about.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Class of 1984
    Class of 1984 is pure exploitation with plenty of action and a manipulative plot [from a story by Tom Holland] designed to have audiences cheering on the blood.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fast Times at Ridgemont High
    The nice thing is that Crowe and director Amy Heckerling have provided something pleasant to observe in all of these characters though they really are sadly lacking in anything gripping.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Friday the 13th Part III
    Friday the 13th Part III is terrible, too...There are some dandy 3-D sequences, however, of a yo-yo going up and down and popcorn popping.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pink Floyd: The Wall
    An eye-popping dramatization of an audio storyline. Being a visual translation of a so-called 'concept' album, pic works extremely well in carrying over the somber tone of the LP.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tex
    What Tex will probably best be remembered for is breaking new ground at Disney Studios in representing some of the real problems confronting today’s young people. The teenagers are put in the milieu of drugs, alcohol, sex and violence. Family life is not necessarily rosy and well-scrubbed. Where the picture ironically goes awry is in trying to tackle all of these problems in the space of 103 minutes.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Night Shift
    Though the plotline hardly sounds like a family film, this is probably the most sanitized treatment of pimps and prostitution audiences will ever see. None of this much matters, because director Ron Howard and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, all TV veterans, are only bent on giving the audience a good time.
    • Variety
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    An Officer and a Gentleman
    An Officer and a Gentleman deserves a 21-gun salute, maybe 42. Rarely does a film come along with so many finely-drawn characters to care about.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The World According to Garp
    George Roy Hill’s film adaptation of [John Irving’s novel] The World According to Garp has taste, intelligence, craft and numerous other virtues going for it.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
    The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is just about everything it's meant to be - a couple of diverting hours in the dark. Rollicking, good-natured, a bit spicy and with just enough heart to avoid seeming totally synthetic.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
    Woody Allen’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy is a pleasant disappointment, pleasant because he gets all the laughs he goes for in a visually charming, sweetly paced picture, a disappointment because he doesn’t go for more.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Secret of NIMH
    The Secret of NIMH is a richly animated and skillfully structured film created by former Disney animators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. As craft, their first feature film is certainly an homage to the best of an age ago.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    TRON
    Tron is loaded with visual delights but falls way short of the mark in story and viewer involvement. Steven Lisberger has adequately marshalled a huge force of technicians to deliver the dazzle, but even kids (and specifically computer game freaks) will have a difficult time getting hooked on the situations.
    • Variety
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Thing
    If it’s the most vividly gruesome monster ever to stalk the screen that audiences crave, then The Thing is the thing. On all other levels, however, John Carpenter’s remake of Howard Hawks’ 1951 sci-fi classic comes as a letdown.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Annie
    In an effort to be more 'realistic' Annie winds up exposing just how weak a story it had to start with [stage play book by Thomas Meehan], not helped here by the music [songs by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin].
    • 44 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Firefox
    Firefox is a burn-out. Despite the tense mission being depicted, there’s no suspense, excitement or thrills to be had, and lackadaisical pacing gives viewer plenty of time to ponder the gaping implausibilities.
  27. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
    There are some unsatisfactory elements–slow spots occur during the middle stretch, the mild anti-establishment stance is getting to be a bit cliche and one never knows whether E.T.’s mortal illness is physical or psychological in nature, or both. But, as with “Close Encounters,” the truly lovely and moving ending more than makes up for everything. Chalk up another smash for Spielberg.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Grease 2
    Where this film has a decided edge on its predecessor is in the staging and cutting of the musical sequences. Choreographer and director Patricia Birch has come up with some unusual settings (a bowling alley, a bomb shelter) for some of the scenes, and employs some sharp montage to give most of the songs and dances a fair amount of punch.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
    Star Trek II is a very satisfying space adventure, closer in spirit and format to the popular TV series than to its big-budget predecessor.
    • Variety
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Poltergeist
    Given the talents, Poltergeist is an annoying film because it could have been so much better.
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