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Ann Hornaday

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Baltimore Sun, Washington Post
For 1,807 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 49% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.6 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Ann Hornaday's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 City of Ghosts
Lowest review score: 0 Undiscovered
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,180 out of 1807
  2. Mixed: 336 out of 1807
  3. Negative: 291 out of 1807
1807 movie reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    The Life Ahead
    The Life Ahead might be a familiar story, but as a showcase for Loren’s sensuality, star power and unfailing instincts, it feels both classic and exhilaratingly new. She’s still got it, and as this performance reminds us at every turn, she always did.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Ann Hornaday
    Ammonite
    Rather than a movie that breaks the mold, it looks like Anning has inspired one we've seen before.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Come Away
    There are moments when the fanfic speculations of “Come Away” feel too forced and downright cockamamie; the plot, probably inevitable, becomes schematic and the near-constant state of magical thinking too sticky-sweet for words. But the enterprise is ennobled by Chapman's sense of style and a consistently strong set of performances, especially from Jolie and Oyelowo.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 88 Ann Hornaday
    City Hall
    With City Hall, Wiseman brings his quiet observational skills to the day-to-day operations of local government, which is why the film is so well-timed for this particular moment.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself
    If Pelosi’s preoccupation with extremes gives short shrift to the majority of Americans who don’t see everything through a political lens, her wide range and curiosity provide a portrait that is vivid, textured and deeply disheartening.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 37 Ann Hornaday
    Bad Hair
    Bad Hair is a good idea buried within a scattershot, ultimately mediocre movie.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 37 Ann Hornaday
    Rebecca
    Rebecca is nice to look at, inoffensive, competently executed and utterly unnecessary when once, it was so much more.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 100 Ann Hornaday
    David Byrne’s American Utopia
    In American Utopia, Lee brings the same insight and sensitivity to Byrne’s stage show, which bursts forth with an exuberant mixture of optimistic joy and wistful nostalgia.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Totally Under Control
    Matters of objective science and empirical observation have now become so mired in partisanship, authoritarian narrative and conspiracy blather that even a film this judicious and straightforwardly informative feels doomed to reach no further than its own self-selected constituency.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    The Forty-Year-Old Version
    It's a foregone conclusion that The Forty-Year-Old Version will be compared with films by Woody Allen, Spike Lee and Judd Apatow, the latter of whom is referenced in the title and the steady stream of vulgar humor that courses through Blank’s dialogue. But even with those obvious references, she’s crafted something all her own.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 37 Ann Hornaday
    On the Rocks
    Things happen in On the Rocks, but the caper-flick high jinks viewers expect to ensue never come to full, cockeyed fruition.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Dick Johnson Is Dead
    Plenty of movies are wish-fulfillment fantasies, but Kirsten Johnson has created a first: a dread-fulfillment fantasy that brims with love, humor and, of all things, life.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 88 Ann Hornaday
    The Trial of the Chicago 7
    Briskly paced, bristling with Sorkin’s distinctive verbal fusillades, seamlessly blending conventional courtroom procedural with protest reenactments and documentary footage (including Wexler’s), The Trial of the Chicago 7 offers an absorbing primer in a chapter of American history that was both bizarre and ruefully meaningful.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Ann Hornaday
    Kajillionaire
    Funny, poignant and ultimately triumphant, Kajillionaire is a precarious balancing act, one that July pulls off with astute writing, careful staging and trust in her actors to strike precisely the right emotional tones, whether they be tender or breathtakingly tough.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Enola Holmes
    Enola Holmes offers brisk and exuberant escape from the heaviness of modern times, with its leading actress lending her own appealing touches to the journey. When the game is afoot, she's more than capable, not just of keeping up, but winning the day.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Residue
    Residue is a delicately layered depiction of the dance between alienation and belonging. In this moving portrait, it’s a dance is defined by struggle, grief and undiminished grace.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 37 Ann Hornaday
    Antebellum
    Even Monáe’s magnetism can't elevate Antebellum above roots that are firmly planted in the blood and soil of pulp exploitation, shaky liberal earnestness and rank opportunism.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Mulan
    Somber and serious-minded, the live-action Mulan is a movie that has grown up alongside its original audience, which is presumably old enough to crave something heavier in its entertainment diet. Little girls might be better off sticking with the cartoon for now; but this opulent, ambitious production and Liu’s focused, intrepid performance at its center, gives them something to grow into.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Ann Hornaday
    The Personal History of David Copperfield
    If ever a match were made in cine-literary heaven it would be Charles Dickens and Armando Iannucci, each a master of probing social criticism, slashing wit and floridly besotted love of language.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Ann Hornaday
    Coup 53
    As enlightening as Coup 53 is as a secret history, it’s even more satisfying as an aesthetic exercise, treating viewers to one of cleverest workarounds in cinematic problem-solving in recent memory. It’s a nonfiction film that functions precisely as all documentaries should: as a piece of doggedly investigative, personally transparent reporting, and as simply great storytelling, full stop.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Ann Hornaday
    She Dies Tomorrow
    A vivid but vaporous portrait of collective unease that feels uncannily of this moment.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    I Used to Go Here
    With modesty, precision and wry compassion, I Used to Go Here limns human nature at its most contradictory and indefinable, offering a textbook example — at least until the right German word comes along.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 88 Ann Hornaday
    The Fight
    In this engrossing and ultimately inspiring examination of ideals in action, the team behind The Fight wind up illustrating a cardinal rule of nonfiction filmmaking: When it comes to humanizing even the loftiest principles, a documentary lives or dies by its principals.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Ann Hornaday
    Days of the Whale
    Propelled by a lyrical, pulsing soundtrack of Colombian rock, hip-hop and bolero, Days of the Whale is less a character study, or even a love story than a vibrant study in swirling perpetual motion.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Ann Hornaday
    Radioactive
    Alternately fascinating and disappointing biopic about French scientist Marie ­Curie.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    The Old Guard
    When Layne and Theron are together, The Old Guard transcends its pulp provenance to become a soulful, emotionally grounded portrait of female mentorship and mutual respect.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 63 Ann Hornaday
    Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
    Still, there’s no denying that the wise, funny, loving protagonists of Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets make for unforgettable company, even after the hangover has worn off.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Ann Hornaday
    The Outpost
    Skillfully directed by Rod Lurie, this engrossing and deeply wrenching thriller dances the same fine line as most latter-day movies that want to honor service and sacrifice, without lapsing into empty triumphalism. For the most part, The Outpost balances those competing impulses, with a canny combination of unadorned bluntness and technical finesse.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    Da 5 Bloods
    Da 5 Bloods is most invigorating when Lee is most sharply polemical, whether it’s during that vibrant prologue, or when he stops to drop some knowledge in interstitial flashes of history, wisdom and exuberant wit.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Ann Hornaday
    The King of Staten Island
    Perhaps the highest compliment one can pay Davidson, Apatow and their collaborators is that The King of Staten Island is probably the first movie in cinematic history to earn every single one of the audience’s tears at the sight of a disastrous back tattoo. May it be the last.
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