The Dissolve's Scores
- Movies
For 1,567 reviews, this publication has graded:
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37% higher than the average critic
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5% same as the average critic
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58% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8.2 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 56
Highest review score: | Safe | |
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Lowest review score: | Sin City: A Dame To Kill For |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 577 out of 1567
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Mixed: 771 out of 1567
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Negative: 219 out of 1567
1567
movie
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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Reviewed by
Nathan Rabin
I do not invoke the terms “Gestapo” or “genocide” lightly; for an ostensible romp aimed at small children, Guardian Of The Highlands is an incredibly dark, disturbing film that derives all of its suspense from putting adorable animals in horrible peril.- The Dissolve
- Posted Dec 9, 2020
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Noel Murray
Bronson playing another strong man who would prefer not to have to kick as many asses as circumstances demand. Bronson is Vince Majestyk, a Colorado melon farmer who stands up against a criminal syndicate and the local law when he hires migrant day laborers to bring in his crop, rather than using the local mob’s drunken goons.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 30, 2017
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Reviewed by
Scott Tobias
While Creep has the limited scope of DIY filmmaking at its most rudimentary, that contributes to a tone that’s unusually playful and entertaining without coming off as a lark.- The Dissolve
- Posted Sep 1, 2015
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Noel Murray
Do I Sound Gay? gets into the mysteries of homosexual attraction and eroticism, and suggests that if Thorpe wants the kind of long-term relationship that Takei, Sedaris, and Savage have, he’ll have to get over his fetishization of the macho and learn to accept himself. That’s a poignant, powerful conclusion, all from asking one question.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 7, 2015
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Holdridge and Saasen should get credit for making sure the obstacles to their happiness aren’t romance-movie contrivances, but rather the sorts of things that—to paraphrase another famous writer—happen to people while they’re busy making other plans.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 7, 2015
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Reviewed by
Charles Bramesco
Theory’s premise dares to interrogate what, if anything, the apparent randomness of life means. Brown and screenwriter Michael J. Kospiah haven’t the foggiest, but they’re willing to unload as many harebrained plot twists as it takes to obfuscate the question.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 7, 2015
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Tasha Robinson
Everything about the way this story is rendered makes it feel much bigger than the characters and their limited travails can make it.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 2, 2015
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Tasha Robinson
The film lacks the narrative tightness, stark beauty, and gripping intensity of Granik’s feature-film work. But it has much of the nuance, and the emotional impact.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 2, 2015
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Reviewed by
Mike D'Angelo
The film isn’t remotely funny or insightful enough to justify spending an hour and a half in such intensely disagreeable company.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 2, 2015
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Vadim Rizov
If this is, as he claims, indeed his last film (or at least last big narrative feature), he’s retiring with the courage of his convictions intact. If only he was expressing them more vigorously.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 2, 2015
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Reviewed by
Mike D'Angelo
There’s not much to Jackie & Ryan, which is what almost makes it something special.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 1, 2015
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Scott Tobias
Though Cartel Land isn’t interested in making fact-filled statements about the drug war, Heineman’s ingenious conceit gets at the difficulty ordinary people have in doing something about it.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 1, 2015
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Reviewed by
Keith Phipps
She was, the documentary argues, a complex artist, one of awe-inspiring talent and many frustrating contradictions, and one who deserved better than to become just another punchline on her way to the grave. Kapadia provides a heartbreaking reminder of what we lost when we lost her.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jul 1, 2015
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Reviewed by
Keith Phipps
The setpieces, in addition to mostly rehashing better scenes from earlier films, feel thrown together to serve the effects, and the effects look far less astonishing than anything in Cameron’s first two films.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 30, 2015
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Reviewed by
Jen Chaney
After spending time with all nine of these sometimes-gutsy, sometimes-conflicted women and men, it’s impossible not to feel a deeper appreciation for their struggle to feel like the skin they live in is genuinely their home.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 30, 2015
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Reviewed by
Noel Murray
A Poem Is A Naked Person is littered with striking moments that fit casually into Blank’s study of fame and aspiration.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 30, 2015
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Scott Tobias
More than the first Magic Mike, XXL is a loose, shambling party bus—or party organic fro-yo food truck, to be more exact—and everyone’s having a great time. These are entertainment professionals, after all, and the audience is in good hands.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 30, 2015
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Scott Tobias
There’s a touching story here about a boy getting over his grief and narcissism by nursing a dog through its own set of traumas, but Max is far too gung-ho about playing up the pup’s heroism and self-sacrifice to give it much time to develop.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Scott Tobias
Generally speaking, the more obscure the fetish, the worse the subplot gets, though they all wear out their one-joke welcome before Lawson inevitably turns up the sentiment and makes the film about love and kids and happy unions.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Reviewed by
Mike D'Angelo
The Princess Of France ambles from one low-key encounter to another, rarely engaging directly with the Bard, and never elevating its heart rate beyond the resting level.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Scott Tobias
The payoff may be predictable, but Banker and Everson are refreshingly unclear about how they—and viewers—feel about it. They just stay true to their protagonist’s feelings, see their premise through to the end, and leave it others to sort out. For a thesis-statement of a movie, that’s the riskiest possible conclusion.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Reviewed by
Keith Phipps
The director’s observant approach to the material helps pave over the frustrations.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Reviewed by
Tasha Robinson
Batkid’s story is fun in part because it’s so joyously frivolous. He’s cute because he’s a tiny version of a big thing. Trying to blow him up into something bigger than he is spoils some of what makes him special.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Reviewed by
Genevieve Koski
Where Ted managed a respectable ratio of clever (or at least transcendently dumb) gags to lazy/offensive ones, Ted 2 is a repetitive, self-congratulatory slog, dragged down by a haphazard plot and the same third-act problems that ultimately sunk the first film.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Reviewed by
Scott Tobias
As a loaded summary of an important, disquieting chapter in Illinois legal history, A Murder In The Park gets the blood boiling, and suggests a justice system open to manipulation by bad actors.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 24, 2015
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Reviewed by
Matthew Dessem
Most of the time, the way to hit the big target is to aim as precisely as possible at the small one. That’s what Noah Buschel does so well in his new film Glass Chin.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 24, 2015
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Reviewed by
Andrew Lapin
Burdge, Lafleur, and Palladino are effortlessly believable as sisters, but that only makes it seem like a shame that the script doesn’t take fuller advantage of their innate chemistry.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 24, 2015
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Reviewed by
Keith Phipps
It’s fun to watch the decades go by and the fashions change, but though Fresh Dressed takes its subject seriously, it ends up feeling superficial.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 24, 2015
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Reviewed by
Charles Bramesco
Bound To Vengeance is not necessarily an evil film, or even a hateful one. It’s confused at best, though it’s more likely that the film’s misguided pseudo-feminist subtext is a result of simple thoughtlessness.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 24, 2015
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Reviewed by
Mike D'Angelo
The ideas are admirably heady, and Phang, making just her second feature (after 2008’s little-seen Half-Life), demonstrates a sure hand with both her imaginative milieu and her cast.- The Dissolve
- Posted Jun 23, 2015
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