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For 330 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 39% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.6 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 63
Highest review score:
Badlands
Critic Score 100
Lowest review score:
Playing for Keeps
Critic Score 20
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 124 out of 330
  2. Mixed: 197 out of 330
  3. Negative: 9 out of 330
330 movie reviews
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  1. On the Road
    It may lose its way on occasions, but thanks to a committed cast and a script that captures the Kerouac vibe, Salles' adaptation never ends up on the road to nowhere.
  2. Quartet
    As cozy as a mug of Horlicks inside an electric blanket, Hoffman's film couldn't offend if it tried. Age, however, has yet to wither its veterans' undimmed star appeal.
    • Metascore: 52
    • Critic Score 60
    Storage 24
    There's enough gore, ideas and self-aware absurdity here to make it something a bit more enticing than merely "Alien: The EastEnders Redux."
  4. Gangster Squad
    Typified by Penn's blustery performance, Gangster Squad is sleek, stylish but superficial. Easy on the eye, even easier on the brain, it doesn't last long in the memory.
    • Metascore: 63
    • Critic Score 60
    Hors Satan (Outside Satan)
    The vagueness won't win Dumont new fans, but his enigmatic allegory of intertwined good and evil does linger in the mind.
  6. Yossi
    This is a perceptive, warm-hearted work, anchored by Knoller's impressively less-is-more performance.
  7. The Last Stand
    Kim Jee-woon's riff on the western is an entertaining frolic back-loaded with gore and guffaws. Arnie's back!
    • Metascore: 49
    • Critic Score 60
    Broken City
    Broken? Not quite, but certainly damaged. City offers star power, dashes of dazzle and plenty of movie nods. But Hughes’ thriller fails to locate a life of its own.
    • Metascore: 43
    • Critic Score 60
    Parker
    He might have lost his edge, but Parker hasn’t mellowed in his old age. A sunny, silly, violent revenger that puts Statham in good company.
  10. Cloud Atlas
    A grand folly that makes the Wachowskis’ "The Matrix" trilogy look prosaic, Cloud Atlas is a fascinating if flawed work that will leave you gasping one minute and gagging the next.
    • Metascore: 59
    • Critic Score 60
    Warm Bodies
    A Frankenstein’s monster of comedy, romance and horror that’s less than its parts, Warm Bodies entertains but underwhelms.
  12. One Life
    Daniel Craig makes a decent fist of the narration. But you could also do without its gush about the “incredible journey” all beings on the planet share.
  13. The Paperboy
    A grindhouse mix of "Wild Things," "Killer Joe" and "Streetcar Named Desire," The Paperboy won’t be for all. But it boasts a soupy atmosphere and Kidman’s best turn for years.
    • Metascore: 65
    • Critic Score 60
    The Bay
    All prologue and no pay-off, but compelling all the same, this curio plays out like Diary Of The Dead with more diaries and fewer dead.
  15. Arbitrage
    As much as Nicholas Jarecki’s debut feature simmers, it never quite boils.
  16. Oz the Great and Powerful
    A lavishly mounted re-telling that, for all its good intentions and visual wonders, can’t help seeming surplus to requirements.
  17. Electrick Children
    Careful, kids – rock’n’roll can get you pregnant. Or that’s what one Mormon teen believes in this cute lo-fi indie from first-timer Rebecca Thomas.
    • Metascore: 67
    • Critic Score 60
    The Sapphires
    A feelgooder spiced by social conscience, this is one of those underdog productions with potential to punch well above its weight.
    • Metascore: 56
    • Critic Score 60
    The Monk
    Director Dominik Moll makes some odd style choices – like Looney Tunes-style ‘iris wipes’ – and it’s a while before Cassel fully embraces his dark side, yet his customary charisma is what seals The Monk’s redemption.
  20. Ginger & Rosa
    Spearheaded by a strikingly self-assured turn from Elle Fanning, this ’60s-set coming-of-ager follows two teenage girls whose bond starts to crumble under the emotional and political pressures of adulthood.
    • Metascore: 49
    • Critic Score 60
    Starbuck
    Huard’s charm offsets the plots contrivances, while Ken Scott’s finely balanced direction humanises the high concept.
  22. Welcome to the Punch
    There’s an emotional vacuum at its centre but Welcome To The Punch is an adrenalin shot to the heart of the Brit-crime genre.
  23. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
    Carell and Carrey shine like sequinned suits in a comedy that allows them endless fun with the dressing-up box. More narrative verve and it could’ve been The Prestige in a big-cat wig.
  24. Jack the Giant Slayer
    Not one for cynics or bedwetters, if you’re after a ripping, roaring, thigh-slapping giant of a fairytale, Bryan Singer’s blockbuster panto will be right up your beanstalk.
  25. Maniac
    The scuzz-chic visuals, sleaze-synth score and deep-cutting gore are effective, and shooting from the killer’s POV proves a valid USP. But Wood, despite giving his all, cannot match Joe Spinell’s unhinged turn in the original: nightmares in a damaged brain indeed.
    • Metascore: 51
    • Critic Score 60
    Dark Skies
    As a shocker, Scott Stewart’s (Priest) film is solid, but it’s the thoroughly depressing backdrop that you’ll take away.
    • Metascore: 54
    • Critic Score 60
    Oblivion
    It isn’t a reboot or reimagining, refreshingly, but Oblivion plays like a stylised remix of superior sci-fi ground-breakers. Cruise and Kosinski: they might be an effective team, but pioneers they’re not.
    • Metascore: 57
    • Critic Score 60
    Evil Dead (2013)
    Closer to Eli Roth than Sam Raimi, this brutal retread combines J-horror atmospherics with torture-porn kills. It’s more evisceration than invention but at least has the courage of its bloody-minded convictions.
  29. White Elephant
    Writer/director Trapero arguably crams too much into the film’s running time, but potent turns and Michael Nyman’s yearning score are among the compensations.
  30. Cockneys vs Zombies
    It might sound like a lazy idea for an iPhone game but a few fresh jokes and lashings of creative gore help it stand out from the shuffling crowd.
    • Metascore: 80
    • Critic Score 60
    What Richard Did
    An impressive study of guilt, responsibility and the bad things that happen to good people.
    • Metascore: 76
    • Critic Score 60
    Mud
    More accessible than "Take Shelter" but not as powerful, Mud boasts stunning photography, a mesmerising lead and a strong evocation of Americana. McConaughey’s gold run continues…
    • Metascore: 49
    • Critic Score 60
    Everybody Has a Plan
    Everybody does indeed have a plan in Ana Piterbarg’s ponderous Argentine noir – problem is, they’re all terrible.
    • Metascore: 40
    • Critic Score 60
    X-Men Origins: Wolverine
    Origins is an accomplished slice of comic-book entertainment, full of fights and action set-pieces impressive for a director touching big budget for the first time.
  35. I'm So Excited
    Full of fizz, filth and fun, I’m So Excited! is like an ’80s retro-blast. Its scattershot comedy may not impress latecomers to Almodóvar’s career, but old-school fans will love it.
  36. Byzantium
    Jordan’s apparent resolve to make an anti-Twilight unfortunately results in a movie that, if not for a fistful of moments of shock, style and excess, would be as drained of colour and tension as Ronan’s victims are of hemoglobin.
  37. Fast & Furious 6
    Another silly but sturdy instalment that’s as well-oiled as The Rock’s muscles. If the ‘Letty in London’ story doesn’t exactly have that new-car smell, this is still the fastest soap opera on wheels.
    • Metascore: 58
    • Critic Score 60
    I Give It a Year
    In a film with obvious ambition, though, it’s a shame that it resorts to formula so quickly.
    • Metascore: 55
    • Critic Score 60
    The Great Gatsby
    Gatsby fans will be unoffended yet untransported, but soundtracks will sell, DiCaprio will be on bedroom walls again and new readers may discover the book - which is no bad thing.
    • Metascore: 57
    • Critic Score 60
    The Company You Keep
    Well-crafted, well-intentioned and well, just a tad dull.
    • Metascore: 52
    • Critic Score 60
    Epic
    By no means an epic fail, but lacking the spry wit of more adult-friendly animations, this is big on action and small on originality. Gorgeous visuals aside, Epic is resolutely kiddie fare.
  42. No One Lives
    Depending on taste, you’ll be left either barfing or laughing.
    • Metascore: 35
    • Critic Score 60
    The Last Exorcism Part II
    Ashley Bell’s nuanced performance and a surprisingly pyrotechnic finale liven up a gloomy sequel. Title’s still nonsense, mind.
  44. The Purge
    James DeMonaco’s blood-splattered thriller begins well before expiring slowly from multiple improbabilities.
  45. World War Z
    Choosing quantity over quality, intensity over tension and big-screen thrills over low-fi shocks – this is probably what the zombie apocalypse will actually look like.
  46. After Earth
    Jaden Smith takes centre stage in a futuristic rites of passager that plays like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone. Although "Oblivion" narrowly remains this summer’s better ruined-Earth actioner.
    • Metascore: 78
    • Critic Score 60
    In the Fog
    The film strips away ideas of heroism mercilessly.
    • Metascore: 51
    • Critic Score 60
    Stuck in Love
    The ending may be a little too tidy and obvious, but this is a sweet little study of the right royal mess people can make of relationships when they let their own neuroses take over, and a warm tribute to overcoming them.
  49. Paradise: Love
    Though it covers similar thematic ground to Laurent Cantet’s haiti-set "Heading South," Seidl’s gruelling film proves his knack for leaving viewers emotionally discomfited.
    • Metascore: 64
    • Critic Score 60
    Grabbers
    A bright, breezy Irish monster mash boasting gorgeous cinematography, appealing performances and great SFX, even if it’s a little slight for can’t-miss status.
    • Metascore: 68
    • Critic Score 60
    The Bling Ring
    Sharp and shiny as the jewellery its twisted teens pilfer, Coppola’s cautionary tale eschews action for angsting about celeb- obsessed culture. Worth it just to hear Watson snarl “I wanna ROB!”
  52. Renoir
    Veteran French actor Bouquet brings a lifetime of experience to his arthritic old master, though, while the frequently unclad Theret captivates and exasperates in equal measure.
    • Metascore: 60
    • Critic Score 60
    The Look of Love
    Exuberant when it’s in the ascendence but empty on the way back down, this well-crafted cock and balls story is – for the most part – filthy good fun.
  54. The Raven
    As implausible as the stars' gleaming choppers.
    • Metascore: 40
    • Critic Score 40
    Act of Valor
    This voiceover is one of many perplexing elements in this ridiculously pumped-up military recruitment video, which intersperses brilliant and immersive combat scenes with excruciating comradely banter.
  56. Mirror Mirror
    To borrow a line Roberts spits at Collins, there's something about Mirror that's incredibly irritating. Fingers crossed Huntsman has more edge.
    • Metascore: 41
    • Critic Score 40
    Battleship
    Misguided in the extreme. A scene in which Kitsch and co aim blindly for the broadest of targets – and miss by miles – proves painfully apt.
    • Metascore: 57
    • Critic Score 40
    Albert Nobbs
    Good performances, but it's difficult to give two hoots about Close's passion project when the story remains as pinched and hermetic as poor little Albert Nobbs himself.
    • Metascore: 48
    • Critic Score 40
    Lockout
    Luc Besson's clunky, space-bound actioner apes '80s B-flick excess but skimps on all the good parts. Fans of really bad science and pixelated CGI won't be disappointed, though.
    • Metascore: 62
    • Critic Score 40
    The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
    The pleasure of seeing a supergroup of Brit-veterans soon withers in an OAP comedy that plumps for light laughs over deeper insights.
  61. Piranha 3DD
    "Welcome to rock bottom!" sighs Hasselhoff at one stage, pretty much summing up this textbook exercise in sloppy seconds. Here's hoping the piranhas have a better agent than he does.
  62. Men in Black III
    In a summer hardly starved of comic-book properties, this redundant extension of a series that ran out of gas a decade ago doesn't need a neuralyzer to be forgettable.
    • Metascore: 41
    • Critic Score 40
    What to Expect When You're Expecting
    Its overview of the baby experience is obscured by a family-values lens – no single/same-sex parents - resulting in an awful ensemble comedy to complete that "Valentine's Day" / "New Year's Eve" box-set, complete with sexist clichés.
  64. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
    What [Bekmambetov] doesn't do is offer us any respite from his 3D CGI barrage, an assault on the senses that makes the bullet John Wilkes Booth fired into the real Abe's noggin seem calming by comparison.
    • Metascore: 32
    • Critic Score 40
    Chernobyl Diaries
    Diaries is dark and gruesome, but with little in the way of genuine shock or surprise, you should expect the expected.
  66. Lola Versus
    You'd think Greta Gerwig's bones were hurting, so achingly hip is this irritating New York indie.
  67. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
    Fake plastic trees, fake plastic entertainment? The Lorax is immensely colourful, catchy and cheery. Then again, it's also gaudy, bland and recycled. You can do better.
    • Metascore: 43
    • Critic Score 40
    360
    Banal, blundering and at times downright ludicrous, 360 is a full-circle misfire that Meirelles' lively images can't salvage.
    • Metascore: 43
    • Critic Score 40
    Step Up Revolution
    3D has been kind to teen dance flicks and Step Up 4's better set-pieces take full advantage. Shame the movie's other attempts to tango with the zeitgeist are rather more flat-footed.
    • Metascore: 51
    • Critic Score 40
    The Expendables 2
    "Sometimes it's fun to run with the pack," counsels self-confessed lone wolf Chuck Norris. For the most part, you'd be well advised to choose the opposite direction.
    • Metascore: 43
    • Critic Score 40
    Total Recall (2012)
    Entertaining in small doses, but gruelling at two hours, Wiseman's derivative, spec-hackular upgrade bins the twisted wit and meaty thrills of the Arnie original.
    • Metascore: 31
    • Critic Score 40
    That's My Boy
    Adam Sandler stumbles into his own movie about 10 minutes into That's My Boy, and that's where the fun ends.
    • Metascore: 54
    • Critic Score 40
    To Rome with Love
    Four trivial stories, forced laughs: don't expect much more from Allen's latest postcard from Europe.
  74. The Cold Light of Day
    "I'm getting sick of this!" says Sigourney during one of Cold Light's many shoot-outs. Those tempted to give it the benefit of the doubt will swiftly reach the same conclusion.
  75. The Inbetweeners Movie
    Affection for the characters will bring fans in. But many will leave wishing the makers of one of the most enjoyable programmes of recent years had left well enough alone.
  76. Anna Karenina
    Pimped, primped and dressed to the nines, Joe Wright's Tols-toy story looks the business. Like a disappointing Christmas present, though, the pleasure quickly evaporates once you remove the shiny paper.
  77. Taken 2
    "What are you going to do?" wails Maggie. "What I do best!" growls Liam. Yet while it's fun to watch him take out the Eurotrash, we've seen him do it better.
    • Metascore: 39
    • Critic Score 40
    Resident Evil: Retribution
    Giant brains with teeth, suburban mutant zombies, more bullets than a John Woo film festival, and hot girls in skin-tight S&M outfits pummelling each other to a deafening dubstep soundtrack. If you're looking for brainless, blood-guzzling carnage, you've found it.
  79. House at the End of the Street
    Sadly, any hopes Mark Tonderai's US follow-up to 2008's "Hush" could have some "Cabin In The Woods"-style surprises up its sleeve are swiftly dashed as its talented lead is reduced to being just another scantily clad babe getting stalked by a psycho.
    • Metascore: 30
    • Critic Score 40
    The Babymakers
    A romcom that fumbles for heart in the gutter, and finds only glib gags.
    • Metascore: 54
    • Critic Score 40
    Sparkle
    Sparkle isn't "Dreamgirls" – but fans of schmaltzy showbiz fairytales should enjoy it.
  82. Café de Flore
    Beneath the surface panache lies an overlong, emotionally shallow study of so-called 'twin flames', possible reincarnation and learning to let go of love.
    • Metascore: 37
    • Critic Score 40
    Fun Size
    The cast try hard and are rewarded with some zesty dialogue, but remain shackled to the girl-with-dead-dad-grows-up formula.
  84. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
    Between its farcical script, soulless relationships and waxwork performances, this is a final chapter that will please only the most devout fans. At least the bleeding wolves have stopped talking.
    • Metascore: 40
    • Critic Score 40
    Here Comes the Boom
    Cue 105 painful minutes of a fat guy getting punched in the face and falling down.
    • Metascore: 30
    • Critic Score 40
    Alex Cross
    Miscast and underwritten, Alex Cross does not reinvent Tyler Perry, or James Patterson's character, or anything, really. The only appeal here is the sick kick of watching a franchise blow itself to bloody stumps.
    • Metascore: 49
    • Critic Score 40
    Cheerful Weather for the Wedding
    Buckling under the influence of Downton Abbey, Rice apes its style but none of the substance to create an amiable study of posh hypocrisy without any real satire or social feeling.
    • Metascore: 48
    • Critic Score 40
    Bullet to the Head
    Stallone's shtick keeps it from collapsing into farce but, overall, Bullet To The Head is too derivative and disposable to warrant serious attention.
    • Metascore: 42
    • Critic Score 40
    Won't Back Down
    The leads are fine, but the movie's about as fun as summer school.
  90. The Guilt Trip
    Bickering turns to bonding over the course of a predictable affair that only comes to life during a Texan steak-eating contest that has Babs ingest a mountain of meat.
    • Metascore: 21
    • Critic Score 40
    Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
    Though it gives good splat and the scenery’s to die for, Hansel & Gretel gets just about everything wrong. Hammy, boring, chronically unfunny - there’ll be nightmares before bedtime.
  92. A Good Day to Die Hard
    “That was exciting!” says Willis after he and Courtney survive a 20-storey leap through a plate glass window. “Want to go again?” Frankly, Bruce, we’re fine to leave it here.
    • Metascore: 52
    • Critic Score 40
    Beautiful Creatures
    A semi-successful slice of Southern gothic panto. 

  94. Safe Haven
    By the numbers even by Sparks’ standards.
    • Metascore: 32
    • Critic Score 40
    Day of the Falcon
    Banderas hams and Pinto flutters. If it weren’t for Strong and some colourful art direction, you could chalk this up as a busted well.
  96. The Croods
    But for the most part it’s Neanderthal compared to the Pixar stable.
    • Metascore: 35
    • Critic Score 40
    Identity Thief
    Melissa McCarthy’s over-the-top performance as a low-rung grifter enlivens what is otherwise a groan-worthy odd-couple comedy.
  98. Red Dawn
    The doltish, messy and frequently incoherent result bears all the hallmarks of a botched and compromised endeavour.
    • Metascore: 42
    • Critic Score 40
    Reincarnated
    It’s a premise that sounds like the silliest of celebrity vanity but is, in fact, presented as an endearing portrayal of Rastafari culture, spiritual exploration and Snoop’s own past, present and future.
    • Metascore: 41
    • Critic Score 40
    G.I. Joe: Retaliation
    “Rock solid,” is Bruce Willis’ nod-wink appraisal of an attack strategy in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The film’s nowhere near as sturdy, trundling out middling action and nonsensical plotting.
    • Metascore: 48
    • Critic Score 40
    The Odd Life of Timothy Green
    An outdated oddity.
  102. Erased
    Eckhart makes a decent Damon stand-in, but there’s nothing here than hasn’t been done (better) before.
  103. The Lords of Salem
    Occasionally potent but mostly risible, this tale of the occult sees Rob Zombie cast a weak spell. Disappointing.
  104. 1st Night
    It’s to director Chris Menaul’s credit that his lack of big-screen experience isn’t evident, but the same can’t be said for his cast who are, by and large, too stiff to charm.
  105. The Hangover Part III
    Less abrasive than Part II, but lacking any of Part I's freshness, this is the most lacklustre return-to-Vegas, trilogy-closing caper since "Ocean's Thirteen."
    • Metascore: 20
    • Critic Score 40
    A Haunted House
    The moments where you feel the cast are off-script and riffing are fun if not actually funny, but the most horrific thing on offer here is misogyny.
  107. The Prey
    Sweeping landscape shots and the reliable presence of Sergi López, here playing a scarred private investigator, can’t distract from the clichés of a particularly dim-witted script.
    • Metascore: 48
    • Critic Score 40
    Admission
    These truly are dark and terrible times if we are forced to accept the elitist problems of an Ivy League college admissions officer as shameless fodder for a romcom.
    • Metascore: 15
    • Critic Score 20
    Silent Hill: Revelation 3D
    The nurse-monsters look cool - think HR Giger in Ann Summers kit - but the plot and burning fairgrounds are so OTT they dispel any chill factor.
    • Metascore: 31
    • Critic Score 20
    Texas Chainsaw 3D
    Sadly, this leap onto the stereoscopic bandwagon marks a new low for the franchise, as far away in quality from the '74 original as it is in years.
  111. Parental Guidance
    The kids are charmless, the writing is bland, and the embarrassing jokes sound like nails down a blackboard.
    • Metascore: 27
    • Critic Score 20
    Playing for Keeps
    Playing For Keeps is awful – and not in a hilarious Ed Wood way.
    • Metascore: 19
    • Critic Score 20
    Movie 43
    Quite why A-listers Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman and Emma Stone (among others) aligned themselves with this excruciatingly moronic compilation of shorts is anybody's guess.
    • Metascore: 35
    • Critic Score 20
    The Host
    Steven Spielberg famously retained his childhood sense of wonder. On this evidence, Meyer has maintained a nine-year-old's notion of titillating romance.
  115. Scary Movie 5
    That every jibe lands woefully wide is no surprise, though we’ll give leading lady Ashley Tisdale credit for giving her all to a film that mercifully won’t be around long enough to do any lasting damage to her post-High School Musical career.
  116. The Big Wedding
    The Big Wedding isn’t telling a story so much as selling a lifestyle – one that, rather like Heigl’s morning sickness, makes you want to vomit.
    • Metascore: 41
    • Critic Score 20
    Stand Up Guys
    Most ‘one crazy night’ movies (from After Hours to Superbad) thrive on a sense of escalation, but Stand Up Guys only seems to lower the stakes as it stumbles tediously on.
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