|

Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
American History X
New Line Cinema
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity
Starring
Edward Norton,
Edward Furlong,
Beverly D'Angelo,
Avery Brooks,
Stacy Keach,
and
Elliott Gould
A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in a family. (New Line Cinema)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
David McKenna
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Tony Kaye
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 16, 1999
Video: April 16, 1999
Theatrical: October 30, 1998
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
117 minutes, BW / Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Chicago Tribune
Gene Siskel
A shockingly powerful screed against racism that also manages to be so well performed and directed that it is entertaining as well. [30 October 1998, Friday, p.A]
91
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Feels as true as a documentary, as painful as a blow to the heart.
90
TNT RoughCut
Christopher Brandon
What makes this film so powerful is that its unanswered questions force the audience to examine hate and its consequences making American History X one lesson you can't miss.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
This is the sort of incendiary role a lot of actors would kill for, yet the shock of Norton's performance isn't its showboat flamboyance. It's that he makes this sadistic junior sociopath rueful and intelligent.

80
The New York Times
Janet Maslin
An inflated yet gut-slugging film.

80
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
American History X is a crash course on how to make a message movie that resonates with crackling power.
80
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Jolting, superbly acted film.

80
Film.com
Gemma Files
A true achievement -- no matter who eventually wants to take, or deny, credit for its creation.
80
Film.com
Norman Green
Despite a cheap, Hollywood ending and despite Kaye's kooky campaign, X is a killer.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A series of well-drawn sketches and powerful scenes, in search of an organizing principle.

75
San Francisco Examiner
Craig Marine
Such an ambitious, well-acted film that it's easy to overlook its flaws as relatively minor.

75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Unflinching in its depiction of racism, anti-Semitism, violence and jailhouse politics.

75
USA Today
Mike Clark
While this movie is sometimes overbaked, it is the first major studio release in a while to engross wall-to-wall.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
May be flawed, but it's not easily forgotten.

70
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Trenchant and visceral, American History X may not be perfect, but it's a darn sight better than good.

70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The movie can't explain as much as it wants to about what makes (and unmakes) a skinhead, but it carries us a fair distance.

70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
It's Norton who makes the film such an enlightening experience, and he's mesmerizing.

70
Slate
David Edelstein
It's a testament to Norton's utter immersion in the role that he can even halfway connect the dots between this fundamentally sweet, brainy kid and the magnetic, white trash monster who'll haunt our minds long after the movie's liberal pieties fade into static.

70
Film.com
John Hartl
Norton's performance, which is every bit as varied as his Oscar-nominated work in Primal Fear, once more demonstrates that he's one of the most remarkable chameleons working in film.
67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
A violent, sober cautionary tale, strictly middle-of-the-road when it comes to its much-ballyhooed politics and grimly obvious in its telling.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Excellent in flashes, unintentionally absurd and lead-footed at other moments, the movie stumbles under the weight of its own grandiose intentions.

60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Joshua Klein
There may be much to like about his movie, but it's all been done before to more challenging degrees of moral ambiguity. That's a pretty fatal flaw.

60
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
Director Tony Kaye may be reaching for opera, but screenwriter David McKenna has set his sights distinctly lower.

60
Newsweek
David Ansen
This material is charged enough without piling on the melodrama and the lip-smacking violence. The movie too often sacrifices reportage for razzle-dazzle.

60
Time
Richard Corliss
It's hard to know whom to blame for the film's choppiness, its mixture of rage and sentimentality, the stridency of some of the acting.

50
New York Post
Rod Dreher
The picture is smothered by solemn right-mindedness, and hobbled by scripter David McKenna's simplistic, knee-jerk liberal take on suburban white racism.
50
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
For all its surface verisimilitude and for all its focus on a problem that couldn't be more current, this film can't manage to feel more than sporadically real.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
As a visit to a world and a way of life most of us will never experience, American History X is vivid, and it feels honest. At the very least, it's not typical.

40
Dallas Observer
Andy Klein
Fails dramatically as well as ideologically.

25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Norton's high-energy acting is the only element that saves the picture from being a total loss.

20
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
A mousy little nothing of a picture.

20
Village Voice
Gary Dauphin
A mess of a film.


The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 111 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|