Movie Ratings & Reviews

Last film added: May 10, 2012. There are currently 1151 films in the database (since 1996).

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Keyword Search Result: "life"


Search returned all film titles and reviews that contain the keyword "life" out of 1151 total films.



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MASTERPIECES

1. Eraserhead 2000 (2001) 10  
   David Lynch's restored first feature film. A nightmarish 1977 masterpiece of grotesque, eerie postindustrial life.
   
2. Fight Club (1999) 10  
   This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. Edward Norton stars.
   
3. Planet Earth (2006) 10  
   Spectacular 11-part BBC documentary of the diversity of Earth's life, from the poles to deserts.
   
4. Trainspotting (1996) 10  
   Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a starter home. Choose a career. Choose a family.
   
5. Tree of Life, The (2011) 10  
   Terrence Malick's insightful, gorgeous and bold vision. Sincerely explores the meaning of life and love.
   

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EXCELLENT

6. American Splendor (2003) 9  
   Welcome to the life of Harvey Pekar, a hospital clerk, music collector and comic-book writer.
   
7. Amores perros (2000) 9  
   Three interconnected stories about life in Mexico City are resolved with a fatal car accident.
   
8. Contact (1997) 9  
   Jodie Foster stars in this Carl Sagan story about the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.
   
9. Coraline (2009) 9  
   A secret door reveals a young girl's alternate, button-eyed life. Fantastic experience in RealD 3D.
   
10. Dreamlife of Angels, The (1998) 9  
    In France, two penniless young women with few prospects become friends and share a flat.
    
11. eXistenZ (1999) 9  
    Game designer Jennifer Jason Leigh creates a virtual-reality experience indistinguishable from real life.
    
12. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008) 9  
    A fast-moving, entertaining portrait of late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, narrated by Johnny Depp.
    
13. Grizzly Man (2005) 9  
    Director Werner Herzog explores the life, death and values of grizzly bear activist Timothy Treadwell.
    
14. How to Die in Oregon (2011) 9  
    Peter Richardson's respectful, heartbreaking documentary about physician-assisted suicide and the beauty of life.
    
15. In Pursuit of Panama (2009) 9  
    An allegorical, Kerouac-like documentary about two lifelong friends who embark on a seven-country road trip.
    
16. Into the Wild (2007) 9  
    Christopher McCandless abandons his privileged life and adventures to live alone in the Alaskan wilderness.
    
17. Single Man, The (2010) 9  
    A heartbroken English professor is having trouble coping with his life in 1960s California. Wonderful.
    
18. Stranger Than Fiction (2006) 9  
    Will Ferrell tries to figure out who's narrating his unraveling life. Maggie Gyllenhaal is adorable.
    
19. Truman Show, The (1998) 9  
    Insurance salesman Jim Carrey discovers his entire life is actually a TV show.
    
20. Waking Life (2001) 9  
    Richard Linklater presents a uniquely animated universe that explores dream life and real life.
    
21. Wrestler, The (2008) 9  
    Professional wrestler Mickey Rourke must retire, but life outside the ring is a dispiriting struggle.
    
22. Yi yi (2000) 9  
    The meaning of life explored through portraits of individual members of a Taiwanese family.
    

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VERY GOOD

23. 25th Hour (2002) 8  
    Edward Norton revaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before a seven-year jail term.
    
24. Arrival, The (1996) 8  
    Astronomer Charlie Sheen discovers intelligent alien life, but the aliens are keeping a deadly secret.
    
25. Before Night Falls (2000) 8  
    A portrait of the life of Cuban author and exile Reinaldo Arenas, starring Javier Bardem.
    
26. Bourne Supremacy, The (2004) 8  
    A sequel that tops the original. Matt Damon resumes his life as a trained assassin.
    
27. Bug's Life, A (1998) 8  
    A misfit ant, looking to save his colony from grasshoppers, recruits some inept circus bugs.
    
28. Dancer in the Dark (2000) 8  
    Björk arrives in America with her son, expecting life to be like a Hollywood film.
    
29. Garden State (2004) 8  
    Zach Braff returns to his hometown. There he meets Natalie Portman, who changes his life.
    
30. Good Will Hunting (1997) 8  
    Troubled MIT janitor Matt Damon is a gifted mathematician. Can he turn his life around?
    
31. Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) 8  
    A Dogme 95 video-art exercise about the effects of schizophrenia on family life. Poetic desperation.
    
32. Life is Beautiful (1997) 8  
    Jewish man Roberto Benigni uses humor to protect his son in a Nazi death camp.
    
33. Lovers of the Arctic Circle, The (1998) 8  
    A story of circular lives, with circular names, in a circular place. Life is happenstance.
    
34. Matchstick Men (2003) 8  
    Con-artist Nicolas Cage is an obsessive-compulsive agoraphobe whose life changes drastically when Alison Lohman appears.
    
35. Nói albínói (2004) 8  
    A teenager drifts through life on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland.
    
36. Pushing Daisies - The Complete First Season (2007) 8  
    A man can bring dead people back to life, with Amélie-style narration. Whimsical forensic romance.
    
37. Séraphine (2009) 8  
    Moving, evenhanded historical drama about the difficult but ecstatic life of French painter Séraphine Louis.
    
38. Sideways (2004) 8  
    Two middle-aged men embark on a weeklong road-trip through California's wine country. American life-affirming.
    
39. Smoke Signals (1998) 8  
    Two young Indian men from an Idaho reservation take a life-changing road trip together. Soulful.
    
40. Spider-Man 2 (2004) 8  
    Tobey Maguire continues his demanding double life as student and superhero. Enter supervillain Dr. Octopus.
    

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GOOD

41. Atom Smashers, The (2008) 7  
    How does life exist? Documentary chronicles the search for the Higgs boson by Fermilab physicists.
    
42. Beautiful Mind, A (2001) 7  
    The struggles of a mathematical genius, inspired by the life of John Forbes Nash, Jr.
    
43. Girlfriend Experience, The (2009) 7  
    Soderbergh's experimental film about free enterprise via the life of a high-end Manhattan call girl.
    
44. Good Shepherd, The (2006) 7  
    The early history of the CIA, viewed through a fictional man's life. Serious and tedious.
    
45. Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The (2004) 7  
    Oceanographer Bill Murray leads a surreal voyage in search of a mythical jaguar shark.
    
46. Life is to Whistle (1998) 7  
    Three characters in present-day Havana must choose between their self-restricting beliefs or living more freely.
    
47. Life Less Ordinary, A (1997) 7  
    Cleaning man Ewan McGregor takes Cameron Diaz hostage after being fired. Heaven offers romantic help.
    
48. Negotiator, The (1998) 7  
    Police negotiator Samuel L. Jackson has been framed. Can negotiator Kevin Spacey save his life?
    
49. Pollock (2000) 7  
    The life, career, and artistic techniques of American painter Jackson Pollock, played by Ed Harris.
    
50. Sweet and Lowdown (1999) 7  
    The life of a fictional jazz guitarist, starring Sean Penn, Samantha Morton, and Uma Thurman.
    
51. Wedding Crashers (2005) 7  
    Divorce mediators Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson make a lifestyle out of sneaking into weddings.
    
52. Wild Man Blues (1997) 7  
    A documentary about Woody Allen's life as he tours with his New Orleans jazz band.
    

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FAIR

53. Anywhere But Here (1999) 6  
    Susan Sarandon and daughter Natalie Portman try to start a new life in Beverly Hills.
    
54. Dan in Real Life (2007) 6  
    A very sweet, unremarkable romantic comedy. Steve Carell is a struggling single parent and widower.
    
55. Family Man, The (2000) 6  
    On Christmas morning, investment broker Nicolas Cage wakes up in a life-altering Dickensian parallel universe.
    
56. Haiku Tunnel (2001) 6  
    A comedy about tempness versus permness, both in the workplace and in life.
    
57. Laurel Canyon (2002) 6  
    An uptight young man moves in with Frances McDormand and experiences a clash of lifestyles.
    
58. Life as a House (2001) 6  
    Terminally ill Kevin Kline takes custody of his teenage son. Jena Malone is charming.
    
59. Limbo (2005) 6  
    A bullet sends a man into a repeating time loop. Afterlife as low-budget film noir.
    
60. Night at the Museum (2006) 6  
    New night security guard Ben Stiller discovers that museum exhibits come to life at night.
    
61. New World, The (2005) 6  
    Malick depicts Pocahontas's life in 1600s Virginia. It's epic, sluggish, and burdened by disjointed voiceovers.
    
62. Nothing to Lose (1997) 6  
    Tim Robbins kidnaps would-be carjacker Martin Lawrence and schemes to repair his miserable life.
    
63. PU-239: The Half Life of Timofey Berezin (2007) 6  
    A nuclear plant worker with radiation poisoning tries to sell stolen plutonium to Moscow gangsters.
    
64. Weather Man, The (2005) 6  
    Successful Chicago weatherman Nicolas Cage's personal life is a failure. So he takes up archery.
    
65. What the Bleep Do We Know!? (2004) 6  
    Life is a quantum world of possibility. It's spoiled by less-than-credible talking heads and soundbites.
    

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ADEQUATE

66. After.Life (2010) 5  
    Christina Ricci is constantly naked in this pretentious horror film featuring a creepy funeral director.
    
67. EdTV (1999) 5  
    Video store clerk Matthew McConaughey agrees to have his life televised 24 hours a day.
    
68. Evolution (2001) 5  
    I kept wishing for the alien life forms to kill David Duchovny and Orlando Jones.
    
69. Malibu's Most Wanted (2003) 5  
    A white Senator's son wants to live the hip-hop lifestyle. Don't be hatin'.
    
70. Picture Perfect (1997) 5  
    Successful career woman Jennifer Aniston has an incomplete personal life. What makes the perfect mate?
    
71. Scream 2 (1997) 5  
    A copycat killer begins acting out a real-life sequel. Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox scream!
    
72. What Just Happened (2008) 5  
    Two weeks in the life of big-time Hollywood producer Robert De Niro. Anxious, high-stakes triviality.
    
73. Zoolander (2001) 5  
    Ben Stiller wonders if there's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking.
    

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FROM BAD TO WORSE

(NO!  MY EYES!  MY EYES!)

74. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) CRAP  
    Angelina Jolie is searching for Pandora's box. Alas, beauty and special effects don't equal quality.
    
75. Virus (1999) CRAP  
    Jamie Lee Curtis fights an electromagnetic alien lifeform. It's a nicely polished turd.
    

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Statistical ratings distribution of these 75 films (6.5% of total rated films):
With enough films included, it usually approximates a bell curve with a mean near 6.5...
(especially when considering that CRAP is 0-4 combined).
Average rating for these 75 films: 7.4.



10:

6.7%




9:

22.7%




8:

24%




7:

16%




6:

17.3%




5:

10.7%




CRAP:

2.7%