Wall Street Journal's Scores

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For 3,942 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 44% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Les Misérables
Lowest review score: 0 The Limits of Control
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,101 out of 3942
  2. Mixed: 1,197 out of 3942
  3. Negative: 644 out of 3942
3942 movie reviews
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  1. The Beat That My Heart Skipped
    There are remakes and there are remakes. I don't want to belabor the flaws and sexual excesses of the original; its great strength was its explosive energy. Still, this one investigates the unfulfilled potential of the first one so thoroughly, and develops it so audaciously, that it qualifies as a brilliant reinvention.
    • Wall Street Journal
  2. The World
    It's a fine film, full of small epiphanies.
    • Wall Street Journal
  3. War of the Worlds
    With this genuinely big entertainment, powered by a beating heart, Steven Spielberg has put the summer back in summer movies.
    • Wall Street Journal
  4. Bewitched
    Why is the movie such a mess? Will Ferrell plays a washed-up actor who's supposed to be a hopeless mess, but even his character makes little sense. Is it all supposed to be postmodern? No, it's post-postmortem, the dead spirit of a dearly departed show.
    • Wall Street Journal
  5. Rize
    Bursting with joy and throbbing with music, Rize has a tragic dimension too. When you see the clown cry, you'll be with him all the way.
    • Wall Street Journal
  6. March of the Penguins
    Watch them march to the very extremes of extremis, though, and it's easy to feel awe.
    • Wall Street Journal
  7. Me and You and Everyone We Know
    The distinction of this lovely, if slightly tentative, debut feature is its willingness to set forth mysteries of the human heart without solving them; everyone's fate stays unsealed.
    • Wall Street Journal
  8. Batman Begins
    Batman Begins summons up moments of great eloquence and power. If only its cast of characters was as fully inhabited as its turbulent city.
    • Wall Street Journal
  9. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
    The movie reminded me of a relatively new product, the little translucent wafer that you put on your tongue to freshen your breath. One hit of intense flavor and the thing dissolves without a trace.
    • Wall Street Journal
  10. Howl's Moving Castle
    A moveable feast of delights.
    • Wall Street Journal
  11. Cinderella Man
    Ron Howard's Depression-era movie also works from the inside out, building a classic underdog drama from depth of character, rich texture, vivid detail and stirring performances.
    • Wall Street Journal
  12. Lords of Dogtown
    If Lords of Dogtown accomplishes nothing else, it shows how hard writing a fiction film can be, and what a vast artistic distance can stand between a bad fiction film and the first-rate documentary that inspired it.
    • Wall Street Journal
  13. The Longest Yard
    That's what is missing from The Longest Yard most egregiously. Charm has been kept on the bench.
    • Wall Street Journal
  14. Madagascar
    The plot really is basic, so the bafflement of the movie lies in its combination of visual riches and dramatic -- as well as thematic -- impoverishment.
    • Wall Street Journal
  15. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
    The scenery, effects and balletic, iconic combats are perfectly wonderful, but there's an emotional black hole where the hero should be.
    • Wall Street Journal
  16. Mindhunters
    Eye-blowing and mind-numbing.
    • Wall Street Journal
  17. Kicking & Screaming
    This is little more than a big-budget sitcom, with a guest appearance by Mike Ditka, who plays an unfunny version of himself as Phil's assistant coach.
    • Wall Street Journal
  18. Monster-in-Law
    The movie itself is grotesque, and may drive you nuts as it makes you laugh, mostly at the stupidity of the thing.
    • Wall Street Journal
  19. Mad Hot Ballroom
    Don't miss an opportunity to see Mad Hot Ballroom, though. It will sweep you off your feet.
    • Wall Street Journal
  20. Kings & Queen
    A remarkable though sometimes frustrating film.
    • Wall Street Journal
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    House of Wax
    This is slash and burn strictly by the numbers. There's never an ounce of doubt where the movie's going; the only suspense is how long it's going to take to get there and how high the body count is going to get.
    • Wall Street Journal
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Kingdom of Heaven
    While there's gore by the gallon, inventiveness is in short supply.
    • Wall Street Journal
  23. Brothers
    A drama of uncommon moral complexity, unexpected humor, convincing transformations (for good and bad) and, best of all, vibrant, unpredictable energy. In a movie landscape littered with dead souls, here's a live one.
    • Wall Street Journal
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Crash
    Ultimately, Crash succeeds in spite of itself. Its color war starts to feel obvious and schematic. Its coincidences and clichés become like a pileup on the 405 freeway, but there it is -- you find yourself rubbernecking and can't manage to look away.
    • Wall Street Journal
  25. 3-Iron
    Despite its cargo of meaning, 3-Iron feels marvelously weightless, like the lovers as they stand on a scale that the hero has fixed.
    • Wall Street Journal
  26. The Interpreter
    In the absence of internal logic, external style and emotional intelligence carry the day.
    • Wall Street Journal
  27. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
    Gives us the same sort of perverse pleasure that's been a staple of "60 Minutes" over the years -- watching world-class crooks tell world-class lies.
    • Wall Street Journal
  28. House of D
    Everyone in the film seems to be in solitary, thanks to Mr. Duchovny's stultifying style. If there was a single moment of spontaneity, it escaped me. Ditto for frivolity, though bogus poetry abounds.
    • Wall Street Journal
  29. Palindromes
    Palindromes finds him (Solondz) stuck with his single theme inside a sealed dollhouse of his own construction. He has gifts to give a larger audience, if ever he breaks out.
    • Wall Street Journal
  30. Fever Pitch
    For all its various failures, Fever Pitch taps expertly into our nostalgia for an era when baseball really was the American pastime, unsullied by money, drugs or celebrity.
    • Wall Street Journal
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