Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
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For 32 reviews, this critic has graded:
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25% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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72% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.6 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Pauline Kael's Scores
- Movies
| Average review score: | 56 |
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| Highest review score: |
Critic Score
100
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| Lowest review score: |
Critic Score
10
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 32
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Mixed: 11 out of 32
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Negative: 8 out of 32
32
movie reviews
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Pauline Kael 30
There's a basic flaw in Malick's method: he has perceived the movie--he's done our work instead of his. In place of people and action, with metaphor rising out of the story, he gives us a surface that is all conscious metaphor. Badlands is so preconceived that there's nothing left to respond to. [18 March 1974, p.135]- Posted Mar 5, 2013
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Pauline Kael 30
What happened to the Kubrick who used to slip in sly, subtle jokes and little editing tricks? This may be his worst movie. He probably believes he's numbing us by the power of his vision, but he's actually numbing us by its emptiness. [13 July 1987, p.75] -
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Pauline Kael 30
Nichols must have a cummerbund around his head: the directing is constricted – there's no visual inventiveness or spontaneity. And in his hands the script has no conviction. [9 Jan 1989] -
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Pauline Kael 30
The movie is childishly naïve... like a New Age social-studies lesson. It isn't really revisionist; it's the old stuff toned down and sensitized. [17 Dec 1990] -
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Pauline Kael 30
Everything in this movie is fudged ever so humanistically, in a perfuctory, low-pressure way. And the picture has its effectiveness: people are crying at it. Of course they're crying at it - it's a piece of wet kitsch. [6 Feb 1989] -
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Pauline Kael 30
The whole picture is edited and scored as if it were a lollapalooza of laughs. And, with Murphy busting his sides guffawing in self-congratulation, and the camera jammed into his tonsils, damned if the audience doesn't whoop and carry on as if yes, this is a wow of a comedy. [24 Dec. 1984, p.78]Posted Mar 19, 2013 -
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Pauline Kael 30
The movie is slight and vapid, with the consistency of watery jello...It isn't about teenagers – it's actually closer to being a pre-teen's idea of what it will be like to be a teenager. [7 Apr 1996, p.91] -
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