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. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
    In addition to being a study in great acting, this is a study in great directing.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
    Admirers of Stephen Sondheim who have wondered whether a riveting movie would ever be made from one of his stage musicals can put aside their doubts and worries: Tim Burton has finally accomplished it in his ravishing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
  3. Chicago 10
    Morgen plunges viewers completely into the anarchic, exhilarating, finally ambiguous world of 1968 America; his final stroke of genius is his choice of music, which includes a breathtaking use of Eminem's "Mosh."
  4. Paranoid Park
    Van Sant is such an assured filmmaker that Paranoid Park is almost inescapably absorbing; he has found a particularly engaging leading man in Miller, whose expressive, even painterly face goes from blank to angelic in the blink of a long-lashed eye.
  5. Flight of the Red Balloon
    Because it's one of the most beautiful films ever. Because it's a work of art on the order of a poem by Yeats or a painting by Rothko.
  6. Chris & Don. A Love Story
    A celebration -- of love, commitment and devotion until the bitter end. Gay and straight viewers alike are sure to be inspired by this lyrical testament to a corollary of Tolstoy's famous dictum: Every unhappy family might be unhappy in its own way, but every genuinely happy family is a triumph.
  7. Happy-Go-Lucky
    Won't break your heart -- it will make it soar.
  8. Milk
    What makes Milk extraordinary isn't just that it's a nuanced, stirring portrait of one of the 20th century's most pivotal figures, but that it's also a nuanced, stirring portrait of the thousands of people he energized.
  9. The Nightmare Before Christmas
    His dazzlingly brilliant "Nightmare" -- directed by Henry Selick -- is more of a postmodern fractured fable, one he scribbled as a poem-script 10 years ago when he and Selick were working as Disney animators...This is a modern classic that enriches the Christmas tradition by turning it on its head and spinning it like a bob.
  10. Under the Sand
    It's a great pleasure that -- we get to ponder one of the most involving psychological mysteries in recent memory.
  11. The Kid Stays in the Picture
    Has to be one of the must-see films for any student of Hollywood fame and infamy.
  12. The Muse
    The list of great moments is virtually endless.
  13. Our Song
    It's an astonishing movie, with a real-life feel.
  14. The Five Senses
    A brilliant film--vivid, haunting, intelligent and in good taste, wonderfully acted, wonderfully written and directed.
  15. Hoosiers
    Hackman anchors the movie with a performance of remarkable control. You see his hurt in his glances at his shoes, his little phony chuckle; you can feel him carrying his secret -- it's a rage held together with rubber bands. This is the Hackman of "The Conversation," not "The French Connection." [27 Feb 1987, Style, p.c1]
  16. Moonstruck
    A great big beautiful valentine of a movie, an intoxicating romantic comedy set beneath the biggest, brightest Christmas moon you ever saw. It's a monster moon, a Moby Dick of a moon, whose radiance fills the winter sky and every cranny of this joyous love story.
  17. Heathers
    More than just one of the best movies so far this year, it is a revolution in young-adult entertainment.
  18. Dead Ringers
    For those who enjoy cinematic visits to other, darker worlds, this blood's for you. Watching Ringers is not unlike watching a critical operation -- unnerving but also enthralling. [23 Sept 1988]
  19. The Deep End
    An extraordinarily riveting drama.
  20. The Crying Game
    From the performances by Rea, Davidson and Whitaker, to Jordan's endlessly original script, to Anne Dudley's melancholy score, and Lyle Lovett's closing rendition of "Stand by Your Man," The Crying Game enthralls and amazes us. It deserves to be called great.
  21. The People vs. Larry Flynt
    Enormously entertaining and surprisingly touching.
  22. The Opposite of Sex
    It's a terrific movie.
  23. Out of Sight
    In some ways Soderbergh does a much better job than Tarantino. He handles the time shifts more adroitly, always keeping us on track; he goes easy on the violence, and when he does unleash it, it's short, fast and ugly.
  24. Reversal of Fortune
    This engrossing mystery-comedy peeks through the keyholes of the rich and infamous in a manner both droll and delicious.
  25. The Player
    The film, which begins with a single, gorgeously sustained eight-minute camera move, is blissfully out of touch with contemporary trends in moviemaking...surprising, both in style and narrative.
  26. The Apostle
    If you want to sample the sheer bouquet of great acting, you could get drunk on this movie.
  27. About a Boy
    That rare romantic comedy that dares to choose messiness over closure, prickly independence over fetishized coupledom, and honesty over typical Hollywood endings.
  28. Tadpole
    Doesn't need the passage of time to become a classic. It's one already.
  29. A Hard Day's Night
    It doesn't matter how many times you see these images. They're always exciting.
  30. Ran
    The drama itself packs a powerful -- and timeless -- gut punch.
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