Variety's Scores

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For 17,771 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 2.5 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: 9,130 out of 17771
  2. Mixed: 7,005 out of 17771
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17771
17771 movie reviews
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  1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Visually dazzling and considerably darker than the prior incarnations, the story suffers from a slightly disjointed feel that will prove less accessible to those not intimately familiar with every corner of author J.K. Rowling's world.
  2. I'll Sing for You
    Educational value aside, pic is exciting for its extended performance sequences, with the most notable finding Traore and Farke strolling with guitars through the acoustically amazing atrium of an abandoned mud schoolhouse.
  3. Firedancer
    Film struggles to balance its past-present memory drama and a rather standard take on an American immigrant family. Although accented by fine cinematic flourishes, pic is harmed by an abrupt conclusion and technical glitches.
  4. Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer
    Though interviews here are primarily with former camp followers and pic was made by one, overall perspective is just critical enough to satisfy both New Age types and curious skeptics.
  5. Bukowski: Born into This
    Makes a compelling case for raising him (Bukowski) from cult status to the top rank of 20th century U.S. literary figures -- while providing ample evidence of a very colorful life and times.
  6. Soul Plane
    Begins as a high-spirited romp before running out of gas and ideas about halfway up the tarmac.
  7. Saved!
    The spirited comedy ultimately kneels before an all-embracing deity, which could appease the God squad provided they get through all the wickedly funny zealot-bashing that comes first.
  8. The Mother
    A portrait of a contempo British family drifting apart because of generational differences, The Mother ends up an uneasy brew of too many competing tastes and themes.
  9. The Day After Tomorrow
    A disarmingly pulpy, eye-popping disaster movie during its first half, and an increasingly dull survival melodrama during its second.
  10. Union Square
    Its unvarnished look at life in the slow lane exerts a hypnotic fascination that could hook reality mainliners.
  11. Wake
    Though the characters are not particularly interesting in themselves, their dynamic remains consistently engrossing.
  12. Frankie and Johnny Are Married
    Beyond the participants' friends and co-workers, it's hard to imagine an audience for this professionally packaged exercise in navel gazing.
  13. The Five Obstructions
    Though billed as a documentary, The Five Obstructions doesn't easily fall into any category. Perhaps it's best described as a game, in which a pair of Danish film directors from different generations spar with one another in a highly civilized, and surprisingly entertaining, fashion.
  14. Raising Helen
    An undemanding dramedy.
  15. My Mother Likes Women
    Lightness of touch, vibrant performances and a sharp script are the hallmarks of this delightful femme comedy.
  16. The Rage in Placid Lake
    Melds an insightful observational style with some rather clunky satire and the resulting mix is uneven at best.
  17. Stateside
    Partially biographical story of a rich kid's unplanned encounter with the Marines and his even more random romance with a schizophrenic movie starlet is contrived and emotionally incomplete, and strained further by self-consciously cockeyed dialogue.
  18. Love Me If You Dare
    Valiant attempt to create a modern fairytale ends up being frustratingly creepy instead of haunting and memorable.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Fanny and Alexander (re-release)
    Emerges as a sumptuously produced period piece that is also a rich tapestry of childhood memoirs and moods, fear and fancy, employing all the manners and means of the best of cinematic theatrical from high and low comedy to darkest tragedy with detours into the gothic, the ghostly and the gruesome. (Review of Original Release)
  20. Control Room
    Compelling docu about the independent Arab news service, Al Jazeera.
  21. Twist
    Shot on location in subdued colors, Twist offers much less hope for its troubled characters than Dickens did. Its very downbeat vision may turn off auds, which is a pity because the film has a great many qualities, not least the admirable performances of Stahl, Close and Pelletier.
  22. The Youth
    Well worth a look, despite its flaws.
  23. S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine
    There's no shortage of existing docus on the subject, and Panh's doesn't bring either a fresh enough angle or enough new material to the table to justify its length.
  24. Shrek 2
    Lightning strikes twice, but not as brilliantly as before, in Shrek 2. The welcome sequel to the monster 2001 Oscar winner about an ogre's unlikely romance with a beautiful princess successfully recycles many of the qualities that made the first one an instant animated classic and worldwide smash.
  25. With All Deliberate Speed
    In choosing to cover the smaller picture of what has been little publicized, alongside the larger picture of what is generally known, pic loses momentum but gains depth.
  26. Carandiru
    A low-structure, high-involvement Brazilian free-for-all destined to take its place among hellish prison films, Carandiru plants a fist in the viewer's stomach.
  27. Breakin' All the Rules
    Manages to amuse as a cleverly concocted hybrid of conventional romantic comedy and mistaken-identity farce.
  28. A Slipping-Down Life
    A curiously bland drama that fails to fulfill the promise of its early scenes.
  29. Strayed
    A taut, suspenseful, linear approach, and a trio of excellent performances.
  30. Springtime in a Small Town
    Exquisitely made love story.
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