Village Voice's Scores

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For 11,162 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 40% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 56% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 7.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 57
Highest review score: 100 Hooligan Sparrow
Lowest review score: 0 Followers
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,708 out of 11162
  2. Mixed: 4,553 out of 11162
  3. Negative: 1,901 out of 11162
11162 movie reviews
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  1. Levitated Mass
    With a deft hand, Pray juxtaposes a history of Heizer's revolutionary career as a "negative space" sculptor with an insider's view of the insanely complex planning it took to move the two-story monolith.
  2. The Double Steps
    In the end, we glimpse footage of the real Augiéras, but by then, the film wanders off into its own set of suggested Cagean possibilities, and what you get feels closer to a fable-essay about the meaning of art than a narrative. Sweet stuff.
  3. Morvern Callar
    More engrossing than convincing.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Elite Squad
    This latest pounding slice-of-thug-life thriller from Brazil packs the same cinematic firepower as "City of God," only on the other side of the law.
  5. RED
    Not the best. Not the worst. Just the classiest.
  6. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
    From Oshima’s later career (after one stroke, he made 1999’s Taboo; after two strokes, it’s unclear whether he’ll direct again), most notable is this bilingual, end-of-WWII tearjerker about forgiveness and understanding between cultures, which could have been dubbed The Man Who Fell to Java.
  7. Our Father
    By way of a tragic left hook, Haroun's relaxed movie climaxes back where it began, on the devastated home ground. The journey, however pessimistic, is like a gentle handshake.
  8. Buzzard
    Potrykus and Burge make this transformation — from funny, oddball character study to darker portrayal of desperation — more naturally than it seems should be possible.
  9. Lucha Mexico
    The film's most worthy detour is into the history and personal significance of masks.
  10. 6ixtynin9
    Though overlong at two hours, 6ixtynin9—only the director's second outing (after 1997's spoofy" Fun Bar Karaoke')—is impressive for the tonal control Ratanaruang applies to his swerving scenario.
  11. Me and You and Everyone We Know
    July's witty ode to only-connecting sustains a delicate tone of pensive whimsy.
  12. Joe Gould's Secret
    A quietly ambitious, well-wrought, and tastefully poignant treatment of two local literary legends.
  13. Lady Vengeance
    As much as Lady Vengeance spins around its implacable protagonist like a rabid dog on a rope, the film becomes in its last, galling act an unlikely but stunning ensemble piece.
  14. School for Scoundrels
    Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton) is a classy, cool brand of vile--the demented drill sergeant in a designer suit. And Heder, cast in the role of the invisible man, is fine too. The movie wouldn't work without someone as nondescript as Heder.
  15. Ip Man: The Final Fight
    Not quite a biopic, the film presents an overview of Ip's years in Hong Kong; Anthony Wong's dignified performance begins with the grandmaster almost fully formed.
  16. Owning Mahowny
    Owning Mahowny shares the earlier ("Love and Death on Long Island") film's crisp precision, but it's a far more rigorously sublimated and abstract account of l'amour fou.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Duchess of Langeais
    Rivette is teasing his way, thinking afresh, playing a game but tweaking its rules, telling a story, but only sort of--making, in short, not simply a movie, but that ineffable magic called cinema.
  18. Tout Va Bien
    Fonda is a co-conspirator with the filmmakers, slyly tweaking her own offscreen activities.
  19. The First Purge
    The First Purge actually pulls back somewhat on that sense of bloodthirsty anticipation. The violence here feels more tragic than ever, and it’s also some time coming; when Purge Night does start, the killing doesn’t begin immediately.
  20. The Best Man
    Everything about the film is familiar except that the twentysomethings are all African American.
  21. X-Men: The Last Stand
    If little else, the third and supposedly final entry in the X-Men mega-franchise suggests that some movies -- or at any rate some formulas -- are not just critic-proof, they might even be director-proof.
  22. Here Come the Videofreex
    Can't-miss viewing for culture heads.
  23. The Eel
    This simple, sinuous fable may not be among Imamura’s greatest films–it lacks the crazy libidinal energy of The Pornographers or Eijanaika–but it could hardly have been made by anyone else.
  24. Wanderlust
    Though Wanderlust finally laughs off the real discomforting conclusion that it's edging toward, it's gut-busting funny when mocking their hopeless options.
  25. Assault on Precinct 13
    A surprisingly credible action flick.
  26. The Nightmare
    Ascher sometimes indulges in jump scares, and there's one unconvincing burst of gore. At first, these horror techniques seemed to me a mistake, but his subjects themselves continually link their experiences to movies they've seen, especially Communion and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Presumed Guilty: Tales of the Public Defenders
    As in most court TV (the film is produced by KQED), the action is faster paced than in reality, and the graphics are cheesy. But the lawyers are far more compelling than David E. Kelley's.
  28. Skiptrace
    Skiptrace proves that nothing can stop Jackie Chan, not even poor judgment.
  29. Becoming Bulletproof
    Becoming Bulletproof extols that virtue of inclusivity by not only showing the diverse actors onscreen, but giving them the chance to share their behind-the-scenes stories as well. Unfortunately, the documentary never transcends its rather conventional structure, relying instead on the do-good intentions of its audience to see it through.
  30. No No: A Dockumentary
    There's enough diamond lore here to please baseball diehards, but Ellis's outsize life will grip even casual fans.
  31. Bone Tomahawk
    Bone Tomahawk is an odd duck, a bowlegged western with slasher influences, a penchant for lengthy conversational meanderings, and a genuine interest in character.
  32. The Last Exorcism
    With a small, well-chosen cast, sly script, and slippery, ambivalent characters, The Last Exorcism gives a welcome titty-twist to the demonic-possession movie revival.
  33. Megan Leavey
    Megan Leavey is a rarity in Hollywood: a true story of a woman in combat, directed by a woman. This representation, combined with the undeniably lovable canine at its center, elevates it above the typical war film.
  34. Testament of Youth
    Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), simultaneously poignant and powerful as Vera Brittain, the writer who fought her way into Oxford then chucked that to go to the front as a nurse, gives another indelible performance.
  35. Double Dare
    Micheli's documentary finds a fresh angle via the intersecting stories of two stuntwomen.
  36. This Is the End
    After going this far, both in raunchy bad-boyism and mock-apologetic love-us shamelessness, they've effectively blown up their own formula. That's not a bad thing. This is the end; now it's time to try for more.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Autumn
    Enamored of all things French and noir, American director Ra'up McGee has written a love letter to both.
  38. Wetlands
    Helen's extreme behavior is at once a reaction to, and rebellion against, her mother and father (and their separation), which, along with a captivating go-for-broke lead turn by Juri, lends the film a poignancy to help offset the juvenile shock-tactic impulses.
  39. James' Journey to Jerusalem
    A deceptively modest fable of innocence abroad that resonates with the situation within Israel and without.
  40. Merchants of Doubt
    This material might be familiar to Frontline viewers and magazine readers, but Kenner's telling of the stories proves independently dramatic.
  41. Sing Street
    Sing Street pleases, all right, and even occasionally hits on truth.
  42. The Witness
    As James D. Solomon's compelling and sometimes frustrating doc The Witness makes clear, what the case actually tells us isn't that we live lives of pitilessness or blinkered fear. It's that we're gullible as hell.
  43. Never Goin' Back
    Writer-director Augustine Frizzell, making her feature directorial debut, is attuned to the giddy intimacies of female friendship, and Mitchell and Morrone are a charismatic pair.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wondrous Oblivion
    If writer-director Paul Morrison's film traces a predictable arc from racial unease to acceptance, it's often winning--and sometimes tough-minded--in the details.
  45. Making Rounds
    Making Rounds demonstrates the real value of medicine with a human touch.
  46. Notes on Blindness
    By having their actors lip-sync along to Hull and his family's own voices, the staged re-creations that so often pad nonfiction films here achieve a peculiar formalist beauty.
  47. Lolo
    Lolo is a fun, airy movie, but it's also unafraid of complexity.
  48. About Last Night
    Far from a film about sharks sharking and love not working out, this About Last Night revels in friendship, fidelity, and something too rarely seen in the movies today: the idea that being young and black in Los Angeles can be glorious.
  49. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
    Scotty offers more than just salaciousness.
  50. Stung
    Though quite silly, none of this feels self-reflexive or -satisfied. It delights in its own stupidity the way a dog rolls in dirt, but is nearly as difficult to get mad at after it muddies up the rug.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes
    The story--is only important in that it gives the Quays a foundation for their fabulous animated tableaux.
  52. Apparition Hill
    It is fascinating seeing people come to a holy place — a place that's more about love and spirituality than religion — with their hearts and minds open, just looking for guidance. And whether you believe in God or not, isn't that what we all want?
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Highwater
    Sure to become a sacred text to surf-movie enthusiasts, but surprisingly watchable even for those who think "goofy-footing" is a new Southern hip-hop dance craze.
  54. Bettie Page Reveals All
    Mori — director of the 1991 documentary Building Bombs — assembles the information here with clarity and sensitivity.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jackass: The Movie
    Shrewdly, the Jackass gang didn't mess with their established formula in the transition to the big screen.
  56. October Gale
    The performances in October Gale subvert genre expectations: Clarkson displays toughness and resolve without turning into Liam Neeson, and the distressed Speedman is as vulnerable as he is determined.
  57. London - The Modern Babylon
    Temple and editor Caroline Richards demonstrate that the London mob (it can seem like there's been only one mob through the ages) time and again rescues the city from its complacency—and safeguards it from the suffocation of class-bound England.
  58. Tiger Eyes
    An engaging (if somewhat slender) portrait of the violence of adolescent maturation.
  59. 40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie
    Only a monster would begrudge Aronsohn for putting this all together. It doesn’t hurt that Magic Music really do have some chops.
  60. The Mountain Between Us
    Despite some frightening (and effective) scenes of slippery slopes and aggravated wildlife, the film’s heart lies in watching these characters discover in themselves and each other the will to press on.
  61. Heading South
    An intelligent movie, not so much salacious as affecting but ultimately less analytical than overwrought, Heading South makes its points in the first 20 minutes.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Babí léto
    The reconciliatory finale comes with a sad footnote: Czech New Wave veteran Brodsky killed himself shortly after the film was released in his native country –- an eerie rebuke to the movie's spunky and life-affirming vision of old age.
  63. National Bird
    National Bird shows that war will always be hell, even for those who aren’t on the battleground. Kennebeck directs with a cold, distant eye, almost giving her subjects the same treatment they gave all those poor souls they targeted.
  64. The Valet
    Of all of Francis Veber's farces (The Dinner Game, La Cage Aux Folles, etc.), this is the one that feels most like a sitcom pilot, which is to say it's a farce most forced.
  65. The Ten
    More often than not, you'll laugh, and that's all you can hope for in what might as well be a prolonged episode of "The State," from which several of the cast and creators sprang.
  66. 8 Mile
    Extremely clever in its use of self-deprecation, it's guaranteed to bring down the house at any remotely sympathetic venue.
  67. Boss
    Boss is that rare Bollywood action film whose stars are worthy of the pedestal they're put on.
  68. The Return
    Primordial and laconic, this remarkably assured debut feature has the elegant simplicity of its title.
  69. Whiz Kids
    This quietly absorbing film is finally more about character formation--curiosity, persistence, endurance--than about achievement as a means to some extrinsic social end.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bomb the System
    A needlessly circuitous plot twist leaves a bitter taste, but not before the film's scruffy charm does its work.
  71. The Golden Dream
    For all its heart and strong performances, there's little new here. Still, the ending is perfect, triumphant and heartbreaking all at once, demonstrating that Quemada-Diez gets the reality of U.S. life.
  72. The Happy Sad
    The cast—and Evans's deft hand with them—makes it worth checking out.
  73. Print the Legend
    The filmmakers assume, rightly for the most part, that viewers will be invested in the origin story and power struggles at the start-up MakerBot, one of the first companies to make and sell 3-D printers to the public.
  74. K-19: The Widowmaker
    As square-shouldered as you'd expect of a National Geographic co-production. But Bigelow hits all her marks and more within the narrow parameters.
  75. Always Woodstock
    The rom-com elements don't always work, and the conclusion is a bit pat, but Always Woodstock is never less than charming and funny along the way.
  76. P2
    If it weren't for two excessively violent deaths, P2 could be termed a refreshingly old-fashioned thriller, one dependent on hairbreadth escapes and the pluck of its heroine.
  77. The Last Days on Mars
    It's just zombies versus an international research station on the wastes of the Red Planet, with all that such a premise promises.
  78. Redbelt
    With his 10th feature--an entertaining tale of high-stakes martial arts--Mamet has infused the sleight of hand with a measure of two-fisted action.
  79. Stolen Seas
    The protracted 2008 ship-napping of the CEC Future...is couched in illuminating context.
  80. Flow: For Love of Water
    One of those charming little documentaries that make you question whether the human race is really worth preserving.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Clan
    Billed as a thriller, The Clan doesn't quite thrill but instead instills a slow-building dread of the inevitable.
  82. Night Catches Us
    Writer-director Tanya Hamilton's striking debut is the rare recent American-independent film that goes beyond the private dramas of its protagonists, imagining them as players in broader historical moments.
  83. Bottled Up
    The jokes are not always consistent but highly effective when they strike.
  84. Fahrenheit 9/11
    If Moore is formidable, it's not because he is a great filmmaker (far from it), but because he infuses his sense of ridicule with the fury of moral indignation. Fahrenheit 9/11 is strongest when that wrath is vented on Bush and his cohorts.
  85. The Fundamentals of Caring
    As in Ant-Man, there's lots of shopworn redemption-plotting to get through here, and a sense that the filmmakers find the kind of jobs actually available to Americans a little beneath someone as twinkly-cute as Paul Rudd. But — also like in Ant-Man — the pleasures of Rudd overpower the programmatic elements.
  86. Downtown 81
    Doesn't dawdle and, despite some eye-rolling dialogue, is a generally amiable time-trip.
  87. We the Animals
    Brawling yet tender, wild yet rigorously controlled, first-time fiction director Jeremiah Zagar’s We the Animals is an impressionistic swirl of a film about masculinity, about abuse, about growing up queer, about chaotic family life, about the jumble of incidents and stirrings through which a child discovers a self.
  88. Men at Lunch
    Given Men at Lunch's compelling argument that the identity of its anonymous ironworker subjects is beside the point—that mystery is a prime facet of its enduring appeal—the documentary's desire to determine who they really were comes across as unnecessary.
  89. SPECTRE
    In the end, Spectre is just too much of a good thing. Though each scene is carefully wrought, there's little grace, majesty, or romance in the way the pieces are connected. The whole is bumpy and inelegant — entertaining for sure, but hard to love.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Experiment
    After the film's ultraviolent finale (set to the tacky beats of synth-pop volksmusik), one wonders whether this sharp bit of fascinating fascism provides a true analysis of television's new mean streak, or simply an engaging indulgence in same.
  91. My Name Is Emily
    My Name Is Emily gets lighter as it goes along, releasing tension and pretension for a pleasant, routine ride.
  92. Ms. 45
    It's hard to imagine Ms. 45 with any other actress. Lund is a particularly effective avenging angel, easily making the leap from innocent mouse to worldly wise killer.
  93. Our School
    Despite the efforts of many interviewees to seem broad-minded, Nicoara has a knack for ferreting out moments that reveal actual Romanian attitudes.
  94. Ismael's Ghosts
    There’s no way around it: The whole, here, is a mess. Even with the extra minutes, the film seems unfinished, the connections among its disparate scenarios vague and arbitrary. But outside of the espionage-movie and poor-lonely-director-dude-can’t-stop-getting-laid interludes, many of those scenarios unsettle, provoke (intentional) laughter, or prove engrossing, especially in their doublings and mysteries.
  95. Lucky Bastard
    The film is most successful when humanizing the people behind the objectification, with lives beyond the smut.
  96. Suicide Squad
    David Ayer's film may not always work, but when it does, it's a perverse delight.
  97. Neither Heaven Nor Earth
    Cogitore's movie is at once otherworldly and firmly tethered to stark reality.
  98. Panic
    Steeped in metaphor as it is, Panic offers a more naturalistic analysis of male midlife crisis than the grotesquely overpraised "American Beauty."
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Summer Storm
    One of the film's major assets is Stadlober's winningly natural performance-his moody charisma is irresistible.
  100. Transpecos
    Transpecos distinguishes itself with a sharp ear for dialogue, keen attention to ground-level detail, and an ending that unexpectedly chooses cautious optimism over blanket cynicism.
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