L.A. Weekly's Scores

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For 3,750 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 51% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 56
Highest review score: 100 A Bread Factory Part Two: Walk With Me a While
Lowest review score: 0 Deuces Wild
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,540 out of 3750
  2. Mixed: 1,542 out of 3750
  3. Negative: 668 out of 3750
3750 movie reviews
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    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Jesus' Son
    Wildly funny bum's rush through the existentially absurd, self-engendered peaks and valleys of the junkie's lament.
  2. Marcel Proust's Time Regained
    Comes as close as perhaps any film has gotten to approximating the inner life of an artist.
  3. The Woman Chaser
    The movie is glorious pulp pastiche without the smirks, which is fitting given the author's ironic humanism.
  4. Humanité
    If only the whole thing didn't collapse in on itself, and quickly become a parody of artistic reach and terminal folly.
  5. Butterfly Tongues
    The family flags palpable agony... provides the movie's only earned emotional tension.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Boys and Girls
    Nice try, guys . . . now give me back my 97 minutes.
  7. Groove
    What gives the movie its coltish charm is Harrison's scene-setting feel for the indomitable brio of kids.
  8. Pop & Me
    The film quickly becomes a vortex of father-son bonding and rivalry, and what could have been a mere travelogue becomes a bumpy exploration of male identity and communication.
  9. Sunshine
    What makes Sunshine unique, what rewards a first viewing and lives in the mind long thereafter, is that Szabo has attempted to place Judaism and Christianity on a continuum that is both historically truthful and highly personal.
  10. Love's Labour's Lost
    Branagh has cut, pasted and aggressively abridged Love's Labour's Lost, and piled it high with fancy visuals to make sure we get the drift.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    American Pimp
    Credit the Hugheses for plunging headfirst into a deeply taboo topic, but they're doing it for the wrong reasons and thus playing into the worst of public stereotypes, namely that all black men are hustlers.
  12. Gone in Sixty Seconds
    Written in 60 Seconds would be a more appropriate title.
  13. Running Free
    Let horses be horses, scrap the tin-eared Lukas Haas narration.
  14. Grass
    Aims for crowd-pleasing impact over subtlety. But it's still a welcome corrective to the current "zero tolerance" fad.
  15. Big Momma's House
    Yo momma so fat, when she gets in an elevator, it has to go down. Had enough?
  16. Shanghai Noon
    A modest pleasure, driven by a jumble of Old West signifiers and goofball modern flourishes.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Better Living Through Circuitry
    Succeeds in articulating the fluid values and constituent parts of the "culture" even as that culture's subjects are at best mildly articulate.
  18. Passion of Mind
    It's hard to imagine a movie at once more pandering and insulting to adult women
  19. Kikujirô no natsu
    Ends up a flabby vehicle for the most banal of road-movie messages: The journey's the thing; the goal inevitably disappoints.
  20. 8 ½ Women
    As powerfully as the film lingers in the mind, one can't help wishing he were led just a bit more by his heart.
  21. Mission: Impossible II
    Every car chase, every plane crash, every potential drop off a cliff is a masterpiece of grace and surprise.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dinosaur
    There are plenty of gorgeous real-life vistas for adults to look at while stuffing popcorn in their ears to avoid the oversignifyin' music and the hurtin' dialogue.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man
    Why 3-D?
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Luminous Motion
    The elegant gambol through ideas, combined with Gordon's clear love of luminous motion -- literally -- is a welcome treat.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Small Time Crooks
    Small Time Crooks is definitely minor Allen that, nevertheless, offers a welcome riposte to the current national obsession with getting rich.
  26. Road Trip
    Genially moronic, Road Trip will tide you over until the next slice of "American Pie" comes along.
    • 21 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Held Up
    It looks like the film is angling for a "Northern Exposure" reunion, except with none of the regional eccentricity.
  28. Kadosh
    This unusually classical story from experimental Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai flows along, suffused in a quiet beauty flecked with sober foreboding.
  29. Center Stage
    Has next to no story beyond some stock clichés about bulimia, stage mothers and internal affairs in the corps de ballet.
  30. Screwed
    Miraculously seems a great deal longer (this is not a good thing) as it careens from shit joke to corpse joke to ass joke to dog-turd joke and back.
  31. Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000
    A stinker.
  32. Coming Soon
    Like oversolicitous lovers, the filmmakers are hung up on foreplay -- and not enough old-fashioned teenage raunch.
  33. Hamlet
    Cast for fun, and the whimsy is enjoyable both for its parody of heavy-handed "relevant" updates of the play.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Human Traffic
    Turns into a driving soundtrack accompanied by a film.
  35. La Nouvelle Ève
    Corsini's insight into the psyche of this contemporary woman doesn't have much of a point because it tells us nothing new.
  36. Up at the Villa
    Impressive supporting cast---, in character parts both expanded and invented, enrich the enterprise.
  37. I Dreamed of Africa
    There's little room for Kuki to evolve into anything approaching an actual character, and it would take an actress far greater than Basinger, who gives it her all, to make something of the role.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Michael Jordan to the Max
    Ultimately, it's as vapid as (Michael Jordan's) perfume and as disposable as a pair of his Hanes.
  39. The Basket
    Well-acted, briskly paced and prettily photographed, the film is a mild-mannered family story with a caring heart, and that's ultimately enough to make its 104 minutes worthwhile.
  40. Gladiator
    Filled with brilliant filmmaking and features outstanding performances, but it's neither profound enough nor pop enough to be great -- it's mournful, serious, beautiful and, finally, pointless.
  41. Adorenarin doraibu
    Not to mention the good-when-moody, best-when-raucous art-band soundtrack!
  42. Luminarias
    There are surprising grace notes in all the performances, and familiar, friendly faces pop up in supporting roles.
  43. The Big Kahuna
    It's a sweet chamber piece, beautifully played.
  44. Committed
    The best thing about Committed, though, is Krueger, a filmmaker who's not only willing to lead us into the well-traveled terrain of romantic comedy, but able to show us something new there.
  45. Frequency
    If the trailer for this one left you feeling you'd pretty much got it, plot point by plot point, so really why bother.
  46. Bossa Nova
    This suffocatingly pleasant cross between "Sliding Doors" and "Six Degrees of Separation" is barely rescued by one beautiful scene.
  47. The Idiots
    Becomes guilty of the very prejudice that his film has so obviously tried to subvert. It's too bad -- the rest of it is hilarious.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
    Everything from the Rube Goldberg sets to the Jim Henson creatures is aimed squarely at a preschool audience.
  49. Timecode
    We're afforded the illusion of an omniscience so complete as to mark a pioneering breakthrough in movie storytelling, one not to be missed.
  50. Where the Heart Is
    Although its lushness and penchant for melodrama are the cinematic equivalent of Billy Sherrill's syrupy string arrangements for George Jones, Tammy Wynette and Charlie Rich circa 1973, the movie deftly manages to remain sweet without becoming saccharine.
  51. Croupier
    Immensely rich, clipped and precise, with a sly, sardonic sense of humor.
  52. Gossip
    Gossip is trash, but it's well-written, slickly directed trash.
  53. The Last September
    This is one of those rare times when a credit-heavy gathering of top film talents actually manages to produce a work of art.
  54. From the Edge of the City
    An impressive work that's ultimately undone by its excessive style.
  55. J'aimerais pas crever un dimanche
    Seems stuck in reverse.
  56. U-571
    A story as creaky as the sub that gives the film its name.
  57. The Virgin Suicides
    Sofia Coppola, who's directed the film from her own screenplay, narrowly misses making the story work on the screen.
  58. Love & Basketball
    Although the writing and the directing are smart and purposeful, the movie takes flight on the strength of its performances.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Keeping the Faith
    Unbearably talky and earnest in equal measure.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Girl Next Door
    Even more than the invasive procedures of her day job, or the casual humiliation by the raging misogynists drawn to this business, there's a virulent self-hatred on display that is palpably painful to watch.
  61. Set Me Free
    Maintains a reflective, bittersweet tone that's almost tactile.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Third World Cop
    Excels at suspense and atmosphere, despite the garden-variety plot and an unintentionally hilarious - credit sequence .
  63. American Psycho
    Cloaking (Bateman's) world in a hyperrealist light so sharp you could cut yourself on it, Harron keeps the violence minimal, over the top and ghoulishly funny.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    28 Days
    Has all the force of bubbles on air -- fun to look at, but exciting no emotion deeper than fleeting delight.
  65. Where the Money Is
    The romance and sheer fun that Where the Money Is packs into its swift 89 minutes follow from the sweet surprise that neither is threatened by the other.
  66. East Is East
    The proceedings are leavened also with a carefree sense of humor -- including some clever, jokey camera work -- and given depth by a cache of marvelous performances.
  67. Est - Ouest
    By the time the movie ends, having traversed numerous plot twists and character revelations, the viewer is emotionally drained in a bittersweet sort of way.
  68. Restaurant
    A sharp, upbeat, well-wrought meditation on love and race that kicks the new year in movies off to a terrific start.
  69. La sindrome di Stendhal
    Strangely drab.
  70. Southpaw
    The small-town Irish feel of the movie is infectious, and McGrath uncovers some great supporting players.
  71. The Filth and the Fury
    The Sex Pistols themselves were bloody magnificent.
  72. Joe Gould's Secret
    The alchemy of good acting under the pressure of sublime film sense makes for a miracle in the hearts of the audience.
  73. Rules of Engagement
    Worth it, though, for the conviction and ramrod-erect bearing that pros Jackson and Jones bring to their roles.
  74. Return to Me
    Where else could this flabby excuse for a women's movie go? Straight to the Oxygen Channel, if it's lucky.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Ready to Rumble
    Even though Ready To Rumble isn't funny or good in any way, there's plenty of softcore gay porn (wrestling), loud music and women with large breasts.
  76. Me Myself I
    It's bad enough that Australian writer-director Pip Karmel feels she must attempt the alternate-reality gimmick.
  77. Black and White
    A sui generis excursion into sex and race that is by turns terrible...and close to divine.
  78. Price of Glory
    It's outclassed by the memory of just about every prizefighting flick you've ever seen.
  79. The Road to El Dorado
    A snappy, delightfully balanced bit of historic whimsy.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Skulls
    Screenwriter John Pogue and director Rob Cohen expose only the dullness of their own imaginations.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Beau Travail
    Leaving the theater, you feel not only as if you've been in a foreign country, but as if you'd gone there inside someone else's skin.
  82. High Fidelity
    High Fidelity wants to be hip, but it's comically square.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Here on Earth
    Complete and utter horseshit.
  84. Waking the Dead
    Catches the volatile beauty of what it was to be alive and politically aware in the early '70s with a rare accuracy and depth.
  85. The Color of Paradise
    The performances are revelatory.
  86. Such a Long Journey
    True to its source material, this is a movie with the dense, rich texture of a good novel.
  87. Buddy Boy
    A little bit "pi," a little bit "julien donkey-boy," a little bit "Eraserhead," Buddy Boy doesn't equal these, but offers bizarre pleasures of its own.
  88. X
    It's all such a spectacular show.
  89. Whatever It Takes
    If the teen in your life drags you along to this movie, act like you're doing him a favor -- and try not to let on that you sort of liked it.
  90. Winter Sleepers
    Though it was made before "Run Lola Run," feels like the work of a more seasoned heart and mind.
  91. Romeo Must Die
    Doesn't even come close to being a good movie, but it is a lot of fun.
  92. Erin Brockovich
    A sexy, hugely enjoyable romp, hedged with lyrical grace notes and intimate detail.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beyond the Mat
    Blaustein's journey seems not to have shaken his convictions; he still embraces pro wrestling, warts and all.
  94. Final Destination
    Fails because it takes itself both too seriously and not seriously enough.
  95. Soft Fruit
    The characters...are so unlikable that one longs for a bit of cheap sentiment if only to make them palatable.
  96. Mission to Mars
    Otherwise fine actors such as Don Cheadle and Gary Sinise spend nearly two hours of film time stand-ing around like department-store dummies mouthing dialogue so wooden it's petrified.
  97. The Ninth Gate
    Euro-kitsch of the highest order, which doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, just unnecessary.
  98. Soft Toilet Seats
    Is it possible for a movie to have a worse title? This might not matter so much if the film that followed were any good, but for the most part it's drudgery.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Deterrence
    Ultimately this is a radio drama made into a movie with a single set.
  100. Condo Painting
    A superb, instructive portrait of an artist at work.
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