Washington Post's Scores

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For 11,478 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 52% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 60
Highest review score: 100 Oppenheimer
Lowest review score: 0 Dolittle
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6,014 out of 11478
  2. Mixed: 3,069 out of 11478
  3. Negative: 2,395 out of 11478
11478 movie reviews
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  1. Real Steel
    A slightly soggy tale of father-son bonding, crossed with an action-adventure flick about high-tech battle-bots.
  2. The Way
    Funny, moving, hip and transcendent all at the same time, The Way is both deeply thoughtful and enormous fun to watch.
  3. The Ides of March
    The Ides of March is cynical when, with political figures and institutions at all-time lows in public opinion, cynicism is the last thing we need; worse, that cynicism isn't spiked with any new or incisive insight.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Tucker & Dale vs Evil
    Tucker benefits from a sweetness not found in many of its peers, which unlike "Shaun" often lean too heavily on cynicism and gore.
  5. What's Your Number?
    What's Your Number? ups the vulgarity, ladling it on top of a rom-com base so insipid and predictable that the only thing to keep you awake is counting the number of times that the script drops the word "vagina."
  6. Restless
    Restless is saved from movie-of-the-week soppiness by its plucky lead actors; by now we assume (correctly) that Wasikowska will infuse her character with lucid, clear-eyed warmth.
  7. Machine Gun Preacher
    It gets the bullet points of Sam Childers's life, but misses the target.
  8. 50/50
    Considering that any one of those elements could have scuttled its fragile mix of drama, comedy and life-and-death stakes, 50/50 beats the odds with modest, utterly winning ease.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    My Afternoons with Margueritte
    It is a predictable, undernourished love story. We never quite learn why Margueritte feels so close to Germain or why he bothers with her. Characters appear and disappear, without much difference.
  10. Happy, Happy
    First-time director Anne Sewitsky may intend Happy, Happy as a Chekhovian chamber piece or romantic bagatelle, but her smugness about racism - and her glib symbolic resolution of the conflicts she raises - suggests an ambition that far outstrips her ability, at least for now.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
    A lightweight but enjoyable yarn.
  12. Killer Elite
    I've got another portmanteau word for the movie: unbelievaballistic.
  13. Dolphin Tale
    It's a whale of a tale, made more special by being predominantly true.
  14. Moneyball
    Like a cold beer under a bluebird sky; like a flawless line drive on a warm summer's day; like a long, languorous seventh-inning stretch - Moneyball satisfies.
  15. The Interrupters
    The gritty film is realistically inspiring and, thankfully, not overly dramatized. While the interrupters succeed on many levels, a pervasive sadness remains.
  16. Straw Dogs
    Does Lurie have an ax to grind? And how. Yet if, to some ears, its high-pitched whine nearly drowns out the underlying story at times, why did so many in that preview audience seem deaf to it? Maybe that's Lurie's real point: A culture that feeds on violence -- in real life and on film -- has also inured us to it.
  17. I Don't Know How She Does It
    Insipid, unfunny and cliche-ridden.
  18. Drive
    Low-key, sleek and sophisticated, Drive provides the visceral pleasures of pulp without sacrificing art. It's cool and smart. Some critics might even call it European.
  19. Contagion
    Plays less like a conventional medical thriller - think "Outbreak" - than like a dramatic reading of a "Nova" episode, performed by Hollywood's elite.
  20. Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football
    The biggest travesty isn't that the movie fails to stir "Rudy"-caliber emotions. It's that there was a meaningful story hiding behind the guise of a less serious genre.
  21. Love in Space
    Silly and slapsticky, Love in Space is too busy devising absurd set pieces to develop the characters or make their mutual attractions plausible. That makes it much like recent Hollywood rom-coms. It seems Chinese filmmakers have learned more than just a few phrases from American movies.
  22. My Kingdom
    Director Gao Xiaosong doesn't do anything surprising with this melodramatic material, but the movie boasts sumptuous costumes and several nifty action sequences.
  23. Bellflower
    Worse yet is the insincerity of the film's central performances. Too cool by half, Glodell, Wiseman and Dawson speak every line as if it had air quotes around it. In fact, the entire movie feels as though it has air quotes around it.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Warrior
    The catharsis Warrior offers in the end is hard won, and it will take a steely viewer not to find it gratifying, however over-the-top it may be.
  25. Griff the Invisible
    Here's a better title for Griff the Invisible, a well-meaning but unengaging love story about two 20-something misfits: "Griff the Implausible."
  26. A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
    The cast is talented - the chemistry between characters is solid, comedic timing is impeccable and the actors seem to be having fun, which may prove contagious for audience members.
  27. Seven Days in Utopia
    With all due respect to Cook's novel, another book - the Bible - teaches us that on the seventh day, God gave it a rest. Seven Days in Utopia should have followed His lead.
  28. The Hedgehog
    The Hedgehog is a treat: a movie that's smart, grown-up, wry and deeply moving. Best of all, this is accomplished with the lightest of cinematic strokes. It sneaks up on you, without grandstanding, melodrama or outright jokes.
  29. Amigo
    The argument in Amigo is so heavy-handed - and its execution so crude - that by the time the movie winds its way to a predictable but uninvolving conclusion, nobody will be listening anymore.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Debt
    A more daring script might have found ways to tell the stories in parallel, doling out just enough information to keep viewers involved. But, as it is, The Debt grasps the viewer pretty firmly, delivering thrills without trivializing the moral quandaries that set it in motion.
  31. Colombiana
    Colombiana, though, doesn't quite qualify as a chick flick. The filmmakers were surely thinking of the guys when they arranged for Saldana to play many of her scenes in a cat suit, a bikini or lingerie.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Attack the Block
    In the end, police descend on the block at the very moment their presence becomes irrelevant. They misinterpret everything; locals watch as they blame all the wrong people. Soon their flashing lights will drive away, and the block will go back to taking care of itself the best it can.
  33. Senna
    Senna is what film critics might call a TMSI movie, as in: Trust me, see it.
  34. Chasing Madoff
    Director Jeff Prosserman's retelling borders on reprehensible, as he attempts to heighten an already powerful tale with a parade of needless bells and whistles, from flashy camera work to melodramatic reenactments. What a shame, because the story is truly astonishing.
  35. Brighton Rock
    There's a lovely moment with Mirren and John Hurt that helps send Brighton Rock toward its final note of tenderness. With so much style to burn, Joffe handles the tinge of Greene-ian ambivalence just right.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
    Feels retro in all the right ways; it's a bump-in-the-night tale that, if not for the occasional glimpse of a cellphone or reference to Adderall, could have been told decades ago.
  37. Our Idiot Brother
    There are times when Our Idiot Brother possesses a loping, genial sweetness. But it lacks conviction, and it doesn't hold a beeswax candle to such similarly themed films as "You Can Count on Me" and "Momma's Man."
    • 36 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Conan the Barbarian
    Those nostrils do a lot of Momoa's acting, to be honest. As right as he is looks-wise, Momoa falls short in attitude.
  39. Fright Night
    It stands apart from the rehash pack by accomplishing something rival remakes rarely do: It improves on the premise it has been handed, producing a modernized version of a decades-old story that's superior to its predecessor in virtually every aspect.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Final Destination 5
    Isn't as novel as it hopes to be, but it gets the job done.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    5 Days of War
    A tired old quote about truth being the first casualty of war is a strange way to start 5 Days of War, an overwrought drama that, whatever its good intentions, could hardly be said to aim for objectivity in its account of the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia.
  42. One Day
    One Day often seems too tame for its own good, as if its spirited protagonists were censoring themselves in deference to a PG-13 rating.
  43. 30 Minutes or Less
    Akin to watching a ring-tested champion punch far below his weight. What a comedown.
  44. The Guard
    Hip, lurid and improbably lovable, The Guard is easily the best guy-love comedy of the summer, with Cheadle and Gleeson's riffs and repartee tumbling back and forth as if they've been trading lies over Guinness forever.
  45. The Whistleblower
    A classic example of a film that doesn't trust the strength of its source material - or the intelligence of its audience.
  46. Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
    At its best, it's joyful, uplifting and even, occasionally, moving. And at its worst, it's a propaganda piece designed to win our undying loyalty to a TV show/cash cow that advocates for the little guy even though it's clearly turned into a diva.
  47. The Help
    As affectionately as Taylor has brought The Help to the screen, and as gratifying as it is to watch Davis and Spencer bring Aibileen and Minny to palpable, fully rounded life, their narrative, like "The Blind Side" a few years ago, is structured largely around their white female benefactor.
  48. The Devil's Double
    In the end, The Devil's Double is one long balance sheet. On the plus side are the dueling performances of Cooper, which anchor the film. On the minus side is a seemingly interminable litany of violence, abuse and degradation. They cheapen the film by nudging it in the direction of a splatter flick.
  49. The Future
    What does The Future hold? Wonders, each of them weirder and more unnerving than the last.
  50. Another Earth
    As large as Earth Two looms - literally - in the frames of Mike Cahill's film, so do its implications. It's one big, honking metaphor, as much as a special effect. As a symbol of second chances, it's as intriguing as it is frustratingly obvious.
  51. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
    Now for the bad news. The filmmakers seem to have spent so much attention and, presumably, money on getting the primates right that they completely forgot about the people.
  52. The Change-Up
    As it is, the audience must content itself with baby poop, naughty words and the female anatomy at its pneumatic extreme, while Bateman and Reynolds's search for transcendence continues.
  53. Life in a Day
    Life in a Day is, without exaggeration, a profound achievement.
  54. Sarah's Key
    A movingly told tale of tragedy and its consequences, not just for the players in the original tragedy but also for those touched by their actions, in an ever-widening circle of aftershocks.
  55. World on a Wire (1973)
    Seen now, the movie seems as timely as it is outdated, its themes contemporary even if its clothing and hairdos are anything but.
  56. Project Nim
    An absorbing, agonizing documentary about ambition, lust and anthropomorphism at their most heedless, records suffering and manipulation so extreme that description can barely do them justice.
  57. The Smurfs
    The Smurfs is exactly like Amy Adams's princess-in-Manhattan comedy "Enchanted," only far less clever, kindhearted, original, exciting or entertaining.
  58. Crazy, Stupid, Love
    With its contrived setups, preposterous coincidences and calculated sentimentalism, Crazy, Stupid, Love seems beamed from the same alternate reality as "Larry Crowne." We might enjoy the ride while we're on it, but it will seem like a visit to another planet once we're home.
  59. Cowboys & Aliens
    A loving throwback to the classic westerns and sci-fi adventures of yore, this celebration of two of cinema's most revered genres doesn't stint in lavishing their most cherished conventions with even-handed affection and respect.
  60. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
    The books-trump-movies camp knows where this is headed: The film version - contains two characters and one narrative too many.
  61. A Better Life
    With such classics as "El Norte" and, more recently, "Sin Nombre" and "Under the Same Moon" having addressed the subject matter already and so well, viewers might be forgiven for asking just how many immigration movies we need. As A Better Life proves, as many as there are stories to tell.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
    The lines are drawn early on in "Beats," which is surprisingly tense and combative given the overwhelmingly positive and playful music in the band's catalogue. But that makes what could have been a sappy, fanboy loveletter a compelling look at the group's inner workings.
  63. Crime After Crime
    Some movies prove so eye-opening that a viewer may feel the urge to recount the story, start to finish, to friends and acquaintances. Crime After Crime is that kind of film.
  64. Friends with Benefits
    If Kunis gets the showier role in Friends With Benefits, Timberlake proves a quietly charming stalking horse, finally claiming and fully owning the spotlight with a hilarious homage to the 1990s rap duo Kriss Kross.
  65. Captain America: The First Avenger
    Captain America might hold the most promise, not just of saving the world, but of saving comic book movies from themselves.
  66. Tabloid
    McKinney, a woman whose spellbinding and baffling presence - nay, performance - in Tabloid more than lives up to her recent off-screen antics.
  67. Terri
    Tender, observant coming-of-age comedy.
  68. Winnie the Pooh
    A memorable return to the Hundred Acre Wood and a lively, interactive adventure that should delight everyone from wide-eyed preschoolers to nostalgic grandparents.
  69. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
    With its heartening final note of hope and renewal, Deathly Hallows -- Part 2 provides an altogether fitting finale to a series that has prized the fans above all.
  70. Zookeeper
    Pratfalls and agonizing tumbles appear to be James's business, and man, business is booming.
  71. Horrible Bosses
    Scorchingly raunchy - and yes, pretty funny.
  72. Farmageddon
    Kristin Canty's surprisingly engrossing documentary, a worthy addition to the growing annals of movies and books advocating for sustainable farming methods.
  73. Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times
    What is their passion for? Not newspapers, or even a single newspaper, per se, but for journalism itself, the practice of which is nowhere stronger than at the Times. That, at least, is how Page One argues it. It's a compelling argument.
  74. Trollhunter
    The film's real problem is that it can't seem to make up its mind about whether it wants to frighten us or make us laugh.
  75. Monte Carlo
    Dependable entertainment for young girls.
  76. Larry Crowne
    It's a light and breezy, recession-themed romantic comedy; "Up in the Air" without all the angst and introspection.
  77. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    Dark of the Moon is capable of having a little fun with itself. In one scene, mini-Autobots watch "Star Trek'' on TV, not noticing that Spock has the same voice as Sentinel Prime, the formerly moon-stuck 'bot who's rescued and revived in order to play a major role in this installment.
  78. Bad Teacher
    This fitfully funny but mostly dull misfire defines exactly where the line can be drawn between truly subversive humor and lazy cynicism.
  79. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
    It isn't as sad a movie as "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," another behind-the-mask documentary. It's funnier. But it's just as illuminating.
  80. Bride Flight
    Lovely scenery and historical context elevate the sentimental story lines above the soap opera domain.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Buck
    You don't have to be a horse nut to fall for Buck, one of those rare documentaries whose subject is so inherently fascinating that a fictional character could hardly compete.
  82. The Trip
    Have you ever been trapped in the back seat of a car while the old married couple up front bickers and banters for hours? It's either sheer torture or, if the couple happens to be Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, wildly entertaining.
  83. Cars 2
    Unfortunately, the sequel shortchanges the very relationships that gave the first movie its surprising heart.
  84. Mr. Popper's Penguins
    During the movie's awww-inducing conclusion, those of you who are allergic to cuteness - or to Jim Carrey - might want to look away.
  85. Louder Than a Bomb
    The real value of poetry - of the contest itself - is not revealed until the closing credits, when we see the impressive list of colleges that the movie's four subjects have gone on to.
  86. The Art of Getting By
    There's no sense of perspective here.
  87. Green Lantern
    It's neither amusing nor exciting enough to ensure a long-running franchise.
  88. City of Life and Death
    It's a muscular, physical movie, pieced together from arresting imagery and revelatory gestures, large and small.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
    With summer comes theaters filled with superheroes, sequels and forgettable family fare. In the last category, we find Judy Moody.
  90. Submarine
    For much of the film, this is very funny and fairly original stuff, though Submarine starts to run aground about the time that Jordana and Oliver's relationship does.
  91. Empire of Silver
    The movie is occasionally muddled and always melodramatic, yet it's pictorially compelling, thanks to dramatic locations and exacting art direction.
  92. Beginners
    You know you're in the hands of a superbly gifted filmmaker when he can pull off a talking dog.
  93. Super 8
    All too often the plot feels calculated rather than organic, the result of a time-tested formula rather than genuine innovation.
  94. The Tree of Life
    At its best, The Tree of Life makes the viewer lean forward, eager to enter Malick's own dreamy, poetic consciousness. At worst, it leads to the vague feeling that we're listening to the meanderings of someone who's not sure we're smart enough to keep up.
  95. X-Men: First Class
    First Class happily delivers on the escapism and rich narrative texture the best of its predecessors have promised.
  96. 13 Assassins
    Does Guinness World Records have an entry for longest on-screen fight? If it doesn't, Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins just set it. And if a record actually exists, Miike's film just broke it.
  97. Incendies
    It knocks you off your feet and leaves you shaken.
  98. Midnight in Paris
    Sheer pleasure to watch, full of rich visuals and felicitous comic turns.
  99. Kung Fu Panda 2
    And, yes, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a little darker and a little more intense than the first film, especially for very young viewers.
  100. The Hangover Part II
    The Hangover Part II offers absolutely nothing new to fans of the first film. In fact, once the comfort of familiarity has worn off, they may well feel as baited-and-switched as the patrons of one of the sketchier clubs the boys visit.
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