Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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For 561 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 60% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 7.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Joe Williams' Scores

  • Movies
Average review score: 67
Highest review score:
The Tree of Life
Critic Score 100
Lowest review score:
New Year's Eve
Critic Score 25
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 418 out of 561
  2. Mixed: 101 out of 561
  3. Negative: 42 out of 561
561 movie reviews
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    • Metascore: 65
    • Joe Williams 88
    Everything Must Go
    Ferrell's dryly understated performance is a shorthand for an alcoholic's denial and repressed rage, and as Nick grows increasingly desperate for a drink, he keeps his anger stashed like a last beer for emergencies.
    • Metascore: 75
    • Joe Williams 88
    Bridesmaids
    Kristen Wiig is the best sketch comic alive, and Bridesmaids should finally make her a movie star.
    • Metascore: 85
    • Joe Williams 88
    Meek's Cutoff
    Notwithstanding exquisite images that evoke Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven," city-slicker audiences may find themselves getting saddle sore. But those with the courage to explore uncharted territory will be rewarded with a rough gem of a movie.
    • Metascore: 77
    • Joe Williams 88
    Circo
    An artfully observant and unexpectedly moving documentary.
    • Metascore: 76
    • Joe Williams 88
    Submarine
    As an homage to an influential director, Submarine blows "Super 8" out of the water.
    • Metascore: 76
    • Joe Williams 88
    Buck
    Beautifully but simply wrought by director Cindy Meehl, this deft documentary is a poignant reappraisal of what it means to be human.
    • Metascore: 82
    • Joe Williams 88
    The Trip
    When the two men compare impersonations of Michael Caine or Sean Connery, Brydon's version is always slightly better - and Coogan knows it.
    • Metascore: 85
    • Joe Williams 88
    City of Life and Death
    Both arduous and artful, City of Life and Death is the best imaginable movie about the genocidal siege that's now called the Rape of Nanking. Anything more explicit would be unwatchable; anything more contemplative would be a betrayal of the sustained suffering.
    • Metascore: 87
    • Joe Williams 88
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
    Like the previous seven movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 obliviates the line between art and craft, but the witchcraft conjured for this satisfying finale is uniquely generous.
    • Metascore: 66
    • Joe Williams 88
    Captain America: The First Avenger
    The best kind of comic-book movie. It's stylish and spectacular, yet it's rooted in history and human emotions. It's smart yet it's funny. It's wise yet it kicks ass when it has to. Just like the U.S. of A.
    • Metascore: 83
    • Joe Williams 88
    Project Nim
    There's so much higher intelligence in Project Nim that simply digesting it feels like evolutionary progress.
    • Metascore: 87
    • Joe Williams 88
    Moneyball
    Although you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy it, Moneyball is one of the best baseball movies imaginable.
    • Metascore: 80
    • Joe Williams 88
    The Mill and the Cross
    An art-history lesson and a spiritual exercise disguised as a movie.
    • Metascore: 85
    • Joe Williams 88
    Take Shelter
    Shannon's powerfully imploded performance ignites one of the best films of the year.
    • Metascore: 84
    • Joe Williams 88
    The Descendants
    An Oscar-ready collaboration between a great director and a star at the peak of his powers, but at its heart is a message in a bottle reading: "Trapped in paradise. Please send help."
    • Metascore: 83
    • Joe Williams 88
    Hugo
    For cinematic sojourners, Hugo is a trip to the moon.
    • Metascore: 65
    • Joe Williams 88
    My Week with Marilyn
    The performance is both an eerie imitation and a touching revelation. Oscar voters who overlooked Williams for her camouflage roles in "Brokeback Mountain," "Wendy and Lucy" and "Blue Valentine" should now throw diamonds at her feet.
    • Metascore: 71
    • Joe Williams 88
    Young Adult
    Clear-eyed, fearless and ferociously funny, Young Adult is mature filmmaking.
    • Metascore: 89
    • Joe Williams 88
    The Artist
    May be too cute to qualify as high art, but it's highly entertaining.
    • Metascore: 52
    • Joe Williams 88
    Safe House
    The action is contained within a coherent dramatic structure and the puzzle-box paranoia of spy-agency protocol.
    • Metascore: 95
    • Joe Williams 88
    A Separation
    Although it's slow to unfold, this courtroom drama is so timelessly humane and even-handed it feels like it came from the dockets of Solomon - by way of Sidney Lumet.
    • Metascore: 73
    • Joe Williams 88
    Declaration of War
    The tonal shifts, the "Amelie"-style voiceover and the punk-retro soundtrack may jar some viewers who expect uninterrupted violins, but Declaration of War is alternative therapy that really works.
    • Metascore: 68
    • Joe Williams 88
    We Need to Talk About Kevin
    Refusing to hold our hands, director Lynne Ramsay ("Morvern Callar") pushes far beyond the boundaries of topical drama into the realm of the surreal.
    • Metascore: 76
    • Joe Williams 88
    Chico & Rita
    When a place and its people are this stylish, we can't help but be drawn to them.
    • Metascore: 57
    • Joe Williams 88
    Chimpanzee
    An eye-opening primer in cross-species similarity. We learn that apes are violent and territorial but also that they are capable of creativity and tenderness.
    • Metascore: 63
    • Joe Williams 88
    The Hunter
    To keep serious cinema from going extinct, this could be sold as "The Hunger Games" cross-bred with "The Lorax," but it's better and more mature than either of those hit movies.
    • Metascore: 66
    • Joe Williams 88
    The Fairy
    Do yourself and your kids a favor. On the way to multiplex to see "The Avengers," tell them The Fairy is about an all-powerful superheroine. Someday, they'll find the words to thank you.
    • Metascore: 72
    • Joe Williams 88
    First Position
    Among recent documentaries, First Position soars to the head of the class.
    • Metascore: 83
    • Joe Williams 88
    Monsieur Lazhar
    Until a devastatingly effective finale, Monsieur Lazhar is an exercise in delicacy, carried by Fallag's gentle performance and a fine cast of kid actors.
    • Metascore: 42
    • Joe Williams 88
    Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
    A blast, the best action movie of the summer.
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