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 8.8 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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  1. Iris
    The film is not a biopic or a portrait of a famous marriage so much as it is an imaginative essay on what made a union between two radically different people work as well as it did.
  2. Memento
    If nothing else, Memento is a savvy comment on the queasy uncertainties of the postmodern condition, in which history goes no further back than yesterday's news, and knowledge is supplanted by "information" from a tumult of spin-controlled, unreliable narrators.
  3. Primer
    A dense and dazzling science-fiction mind-bender unassumingly dressed up in a tech geek’s short-sleeved oxford shirt, pocket protector and safety goggles.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Control
    Control honors its subject’s eternal self-doubt by honing in on that truth and leaving the legend to others.
  5. Ocean's Twelve
    For sheer urbane elegance coupled with technical mastery and lush, old-fashioned élan, no one working for the studios today comes close to the versatile Soderbergh.
  6. 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.
  7. Monster House
    Becomes one of those wonderfully weird adventure stories beloved of children who don't mind getting a good old-fashioned case of the heebie-jeebies. It's kind of a blast for adults too.
  8. Vajra Sky Over Tibet
    Filmed only with direct light and sound, Bush's stunning camerawork adroitly captures the majestic landscapes and icons of Buddhism: its murals and artworks, monks and nuns.
  9. Sunshine State
    If Sayles had maneuvered these stories and performances into even a shade more sentimentality or gravitas, the weight would have collapsed them like a house of cards. As it is, they breathe easily, delicately into each other.
  10. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
    Even the “good” Holocaust stories are chased by heartbreak, as we learn from this straight-ahead documentary.
  11. Bottle Shock
    Just around the halfway point, something unexpected happens -- the movie actually gets good. You can chalk that up to the delightful Alan Rickman.
  12. Mystery Men
    Mystery Men gives proof that satire isn't dead.
  13. The Dancer Upstairs
    A labor of love hobbled by a stubborn desire to eke its delicate love story out of a premise that all but sits up and begs to be treated as a political thriller.
  14. Intimate Strangers
    Leconte, as always, means to explore the gray areas between sexual espionage and love, and there remains something powerful about the fantasy of being listened to, without judgment.
  15. My First Mister
    Christine Lahti, making her directorial debut, wrings good laughs and strong emotion throughout, largely through the performances.
  16. The Recruit
    Visibly uninspired, Pacino gives a perfunctory performance -- though surely he must have looked over at Farrell and been reminded of himself 30 years ago, all jacked-up and beautiful, like a stallion at the gate.
  17. Before the Fall
    When movie clichés are presented with rigor and feeling, they can pack a fresh punch.
  18. Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
    The list of ills is endless, well-researched, and cross-referenced repeatedly for emphasis. That makes the film a bit of a slog at times, but the fury and grief of the folks interviewed propel it forward.
  19. Guru
    The film is a triumph of casting: In a role that is often about the sheer steamrolling force of his character’s personality, Abishek Bachchan’s attention to detail makes Guru accessible rather than intimidating, admirable but also plausible.
  20. Freaky Friday
    Waters directing, from a perky script by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, is bouncy and assured enough to give a cheeky lilt to what otherwise might have been an earnest PSA for intergenerational peace, love and understanding.
  21. Mystic River
    Where Lehane's novel seethes with emotionally charged subtext, Eastwood's workmanlike direction feels static -- fatally tasteful, embalmed in gravitas -- while his sporadic efforts at dramatic heightening come off as vulgar cliché.
  22. The House with a Clock in Its Walls
    Since the movie is in such a hurry, we’re not given much chance to soak in this strangeness. Making up for it: Black is paired with Blanchett, who plays a neighboring witch in smashing violet skirt ensembles; the two rat-a-tat insults at each other like a vaudevillian comedy duo.
  23. Life and Nothing More
    It’s a shame we never get to know Andrew as well as Regina — arguably part of the moody teen persona — but it’s even more affecting when Andrew’s initially passive existence escalates due to white fear, and his mother is left to fight for his chance at life.
  24. Goya in Bordeaux
    Storaro's gorgeous cinematography imbues every frame with an enthralling subjectivity.
  25. District B13
    Go for the dazzling, if repetitive, human stunt work. Endure the appallingly simplistic politics.
  26. On Her Shoulders
    Especially wrenching are scenes of the Yazidi, torn from the land of their birth, separated from one another in camps, confronting the question of how to remain unified when scattered across the globe.
  27. Proof
    Engrossing.
  28. Border
    While the film does take some twists and turns — some fairly contrived — it mostly drills down and explores her emotional conundrum without drawing symbolic conclusions about the world we live in.
  29. The Last Mimzy
    A capable, if modest, charmer.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Aristocrats
    Delicious fun, indeed, but it doesn't really require a large screen. Please send me a copy of the DVD.
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