Ian Buckwalter, NPR
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For 86 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 51% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 0.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Ian Buckwalter's Scores

  • Movies
Average review score: 60
Highest review score:
Tabu
Critic Score 95
Lowest review score:
This Means War
Critic Score 0
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 86
  3. Negative: 9 out of 86
86 movie reviews
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    • Metascore: 65
    • Ian Buckwalter 50
    Everything Must Go
    It's Rush who makes these characters push one another toward healing, and that feels forced. There are moments of poignancy, but mostly the film feels inert and unremarkable, an off-the-shelf indie-spiration fable that employs a manipulatively cruel twist to move the story away from its inherent darkness and toward an uplifting climactic montage.
    • Metascore: 48
    • Ian Buckwalter 50
    The Bang Bang Club
    A slideshow of actual photographs by the Bang Bang Club during the end credits packs more emotional punch than anything that precedes them, displaying in their still frames the singular focus that the movie lacks.
    • Metascore: 40
    • Ian Buckwalter 46
    The Good Heart
    The movie's two bright spots are Cox and Dano, who perform excellently despite the dull inevitabilities the script forces on them.
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    • Metascore: 49
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    Great Directors
    But more often, the film jumps around in dizzying disorganization, illustrating the fact that part of what a director provides to a film is not just vision and leadership, but also, as the word suggests, a narrative direction.
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    • Metascore: 56
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    Jumping the Broom
    Director Salim Akil deserves credit for keeping the film from falling apart completely. He sets a the brisk pace, and uses the picturesque oceanside setting to give the movie an inviting gloss even as the overstuffed narrative threatens to push viewers away.
    • Metascore: 44
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    The Hangover Part II
    It's not that Part II is bad, exactly. If "The Hangover" had never existed, this movie might feel funnier than it does, if not quite as freshly hilarious.
    • Metascore: 50
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    Cowboys & Aliens
    Based on a graphic novel, Cowboys & Aliens never quite transcends the flat dimensions of its source material.
    • Metascore: 57
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    Horrible Bosses
    When faced with the choice of which gag to go for, Horrible Bosses generally selects the raunchiest laugh possible, all other considerations be damned.
    • Metascore: 40
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    The Perfect Family
    Renton's approach is, to its benefit, fair and never strident. But it's also gentle and cautious, often to a fault.
    • Metascore: 51
    • Ian Buckwalter 45
    The Call
    The shoddy attention to character, plausibility and detail is particularly surprising coming from Anderson, a director of smart indie thrillers like "The Machinist," "Session 9" and "Transsiberian." He's been a gifted filmmaker with a talent for creating chilling tension through meticulous control of just these elements.
    • Metascore: 57
    • Ian Buckwalter 42
    All Good Things
    What's most surprising, given the latitude provided by all that conjecture, is that the Durst - "David Marks" for the purposes of the film - who emerges is less a character study than a thumbnail sketch.
    • Metascore: 58
    • Ian Buckwalter 40
    Stone
    This is a film about people who are lost, and the filmmakers draw a direct line between their characters' existential wanderings and the religious obsessions they find for themselves.
    • Metascore: 43
    • Ian Buckwalter 40
    The Romantics
    Will Tom choose the woman before him, or the maid of honor just a few feet behind? Unfortunately, given barely any idea of who these people are beyond their contrived literary inclinations and impeccable fashion sense, it's hard to muster much emotional investment in the decision.
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    • Metascore: 52
    • Ian Buckwalter 40
    Safe House
    It was only a matter of time before someone made a Tony Scott movie without Tony Scott.
    • Metascore: 47
    • Ian Buckwalter 40
    Hotel Transylvania
    The problem is that Jonathan is possibly the most annoying romantic lead in any film in recent memory. His gnarly, X-Games-loving, righteous-dude shtick is so grating that my frustration with the lack of ferocity in the movie's monsters may be largely because I kept wishing one of them would act like a proper monster and tear him limb from limb.
    • Metascore: 42
    • Ian Buckwalter 40
    Albatross
    It's a shame that the film comes across like an awkward and ingratiating teenager, given that the two performances at its core are so winning.
    • Metascore: 38
    • Ian Buckwalter 35
    The Trouble with Bliss
    Without much actual character to latch on to, most of the actors seem lost and awkward, even the usually dependable Hall.
    • Metascore: 41
    • Ian Buckwalter 35
    Olympus Has Fallen
    Feels from start to finish like a throwback to the action cinema and military thrillers of decades past.
    • Metascore: 43
    • Ian Buckwalter 35
    The ABCs of Death
    With 26 films, one for each letter of the alphabet, one might expect enough gems in the mix to make up for any stinkers. That's sadly not the case.
    • Metascore: 35
    • Ian Buckwalter 30
    Salvation Boulevard
    Without the humor, the stereotypes that define these characters aren't satirical; they're just mean-spirited and dull.
    • Metascore: 31
    • Ian Buckwalter 25
    Serving Up Richard
    Olek never decides what his film should be, and the result takes wild stabs at slasher gore, supernatural horror, black comedy and even social commentary, thanks to a zero-hour attempt to tie things up with a morality tale about the damaging effects of organized religion.
    • Metascore: 45
    • Ian Buckwalter 20
    Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
    This is a movie so in love with its own supposed cleverness that it never realizes it's not all that clever.
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    • Metascore: 39
    • Ian Buckwalter 20
    The Change-Up
    The Change-Up's spin on the material transplants the same old house on a crumbled foundation, trying to disguise its creaky familiarity with the gaudiest coat of paint possible.
    • Metascore: 38
    • Ian Buckwalter 15
    The Rite
    Hafstrom, on the other hand, has some serious work ahead of him if he wants any kind of absolution after this wreck.
    • Metascore: 31
    • Ian Buckwalter 0
    This Means War
    With the material they're given, they mostly just seem foolish for showing up to the movie to begin with. Audiences would do well to avoid the same mistake.
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