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. Edmond
    It manages, in the course of a single tersely delineated story, to say more about the dark pathology of American racism than any five character arcs in "Crash." So go, by all means, but be prepared to take a beating.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Screen Door Jesus
    The cinematography, by Dan Stoloff (Tumbleweeds, Miracle), is beautiful throughout, but the individual stories occasionally verge toward silliness...Still, there's an affectionate authenticity here that Hollywood baloney like "Crash" can't touch.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Drawing Restraint 9
    It's difficult to see the characters as anyone but Barney and Björk, and the film's binary system, opposing hard and soft, East and West, male and female, etc., feels clumsy and simplistic. That said, there's creepy delight in seeing American consumption carried to its logical extreme.
  4. The Faculty
    A tight blend of self-awareness, humor and fear.
  5. The Count of Monte Cristo
    Reynolds, working in close harmony with cinematographer Andrew Dunn (Gosford Park), brings an infectious brio and an occasional sweeping grace to the classic trappings of Dumas.
  6. Willard
    It's one of many references to the movie-wise, but a resonant one, for Glover's performance turns out to be shockingly emotional, drawn as daringly close to the bone -- within this story's limited thematic range -- as Anthony Perkins' work in Hitchcock's seminal film.
  7. Mail Order Wife
    Initially amusing, ultimately wearying mock documentary.
  8. Rush Hour
    The problem with Rush Hour is that the film isn’t a partnership, it’s a Chris Tucker movie with Chan as straight man.
  9. White Oleander
    With its open, spontaneous elasticity, White Oleander is that rare Hollywood film -- an attempt to understand, without judgment, a world on its own terms.
  10. Matchstick Men
    Its characters are as flimsy and expendable as the title suggests, while only the most gullible of viewers (i.e., those who've never seen a David Mamet picture) will likely be duped by the painfully et cetera who's-conning-whom antics or the mounds of forced sentimentality under which they're ill-disguised.
  11. Dust to Glory
    Absolutely exhilarating...Pound for pound, it's more kinetically thrilling than anything Hollywood has produced in years, not least of all because it's real.
  12. Call Her Ganda
    Call Her Ganda works best when it’s focused on Laude and the case of her murder, an overwhelming showcase of empathy and persistence in the face of American racism and transmisogyny.
  13. Stuart Little
    It's (Stuart's) utter believability that lets us follow him into the ecstasy of absurdity that is the rest of the film.
  14. Goya in Bordeaux
    Storaro's gorgeous cinematography imbues every frame with an enthralling subjectivity.
  15. Lucie Aubrac
    Aside from isolated flares of unchecked emotion ...Bouquet's Lucie is too far removed from our ken of romance and overriding purpose, or from Berri's for that matter, to be embraced entirely.
  16. Taking Sides
    Stellan Skarsgård's deceptively low-key performance as the beleaguered musician -- furtive, indignant, drowning in self-pity blended with a kind of ruined nobility -- pushes the emotional temperature to a quiet fever pitch.
  17. Frida
    There's something oddly moving about the film purely as a love story between two people who were more alike than was good for them, yet somehow stuck it out. What we see in Frida is not Kahlo the painter, but Kahlo the love of Rivera's life, as he was of hers.
  18. Quitting
    Whether Quitting will prove absorbing to American audiences is debatable: After all, it's not like we don't have enough rehab stories of our own, and Jia often comes across as a sullen, unreachable brat.
  19. One
    Barbieri is a natural filmmaker, with an eye for film space and a gift for pacing. Both of his leads are wonderful, but it's Picoy who will break your heart.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ladrón que roba a ladrón
    For a movie whose bad guy bamboozles unsuspecting Latinos with false promises, Ladrón could be cited for precisely the same offense.
  21. Fear X
    Turturro keeps Fear X fascinating, practically in spite of itself.
  22. Ladies in Lavender.
    Ladies in Lavender oscillates between scenes so relentlessly nice they make you want to scream and others - particularly those depicting the crush Dench develops on her new housemate - creepier than anything in "The Amityville Horror."
  23. The Weather Man
    The Weather Man begs to be taken seriously and can't easily be dismissed; it kicks around in your mind for a good long while after you've seen it. Cage, who does his finest work since "Leaving Las Vegas," has stripped himself bare of the patented tics and mannerisms he honed in one Jerry Bruckheimer movie too many.
  24. Jabberwocky (re-release)
    Jabberwocky is not a Python film, a fact most obvious in its marked lack of humor.
  25. Blue Crush
    For the most part, the action, shot entirely on Hawaii's famed North Shore without blue screens or tanks, is awesome, all swirling turquoise tubes, thundering foam hammers and sleek, graceful riders.
  26. Beijing Bicycle
    Had Xiaoshuai trusted audience sympathies to stay with a slightly more forceful character, he'd likely have crafted the heart tugger that the film aims to be.
  27. Welcome to Collinwood
    With a dream cast that also includes Patricia Clarkson and, in a cameo, a tattooed George Clooney, fullness of narrative may not have struck the filmmakers as key, and their film feels slight, as if it were an extended short, albeit one made by the smartest kids in class.
  28. The Backyard
    Though engaging from beginning to end, be warned that this is also harrowing, utterly depressing stuff.
  29. Laurel Canyon
    Cholodenko's new film relies on easy caricature over true character such that the film fails to build emotional momentum or resonance.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Secretariat
    At least the formulaic race footage itself is vigorous; the schmaltzy mythmaking script, on the other hand, deserves a one-way trip to the glue factory.
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