Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,550 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 56% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 Sand Storm
Lowest review score: 0 Saw VI
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8,714 out of 16550
  2. Mixed: 5,819 out of 16550
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16550
16550 movie reviews
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  1. Drag Me to Hell
    With that fire in his belly, Raimi's Drag Me to Hell does everything we want a horror film to do: It is fearsomely scary, wickedly funny and diabolically gross.
  2. Departures
    The film manages to be anything but dark; whimsy and sweet irony are laced throughout, a warmhearted blend that turned it into the surprise winner of 2008's Oscar for foreign-language film.
  3. What Goes Up
    Glatzer aims to wring laughter out of this desperation but succeeds only in producing a series of contrived characters and situations that make "The Breakfast Club" look like an unfiltered documentary.
  4. Pressure Cooker
    Stephenson's a true original, worthy of her own reality TV show. As Pressure Cooker proves: Anything is possible.
  5. The Girlfriend Experience
    A compelling monotony, but one that's never quite pleasure, never quite pain and, therefore, never quite an experience.
  6. O'Horten
    This is a gentle comedy, both funny and melancholy, about a timid soul who discovers the necessity of embracing life in all its absurdity and unlooked-for joy.
  7. Easy Virtue
    Elliott has created a wonderfully rich battle for propriety in Easy Virtue. The humor might sting, but the pain is worth the pleasure.
  8. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
    It's not so much a movie as a series of running antiquity gags, good for a comedy club, not so much for the multiplex.
  9. Dance Flick
    The miss-and-hit parodies score best when focusing on the Julia Stiles-styled girl next door.
  10. The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story
    The Boys is so heartfelt that it elicits a sense that complex creative relationships may ultimately elude explication, leaving Jeffrey Sherman to speculate that the friction between his father and his uncle was what brought their songs alive.
  11. Terminator Salvation
    If you're a "Terminator" fan, though, "Salvation" is mostly worth it. The machines are mindless, yes, but there are enough pyrotechnics and heavy artillery to feel like Armageddon squared. And when the story starts to crumble around Bale, Worthington is there to pick up the pieces.
  12. Burma VJ: Reporter i et lukket land
    Filmmaking at its most fearless, with Ostergaard creating a suspenseful, harrowing account of his original key subject, known only as "Joshua."
  13. Summer Hours
    French films traditionally take France and its eternal appeal for granted. Summer Hours is the rare film that worries about that, worries about the future, and that proves to be invaluable.
  14. The Brothers Bloom
    The leads aren't only miscast -- Brody over-mopes and the usually wonderful Ruffalo seems out of sorts as a rascally schemer -- but interest in the con plot fades as the director's bag of tricks empties further.
  15. Angels & Demons
    Ultimately everything wilts under the weight of the complicated story lines of its many saints and sinners.
  16. Big Man Japan
    The film has slow sections that test the viewer's patience. But it also touches on themes of family, heroism and nationalism, and the finale, which has plenty of surprises and rewarding references for fans of the genre, is worth the wait.
  17. Jerichow
    Petzold, who has a crisp style and sharp sense of the visual, is too talented and imaginative to allow his film to become predictable. Rather, Jerichow offers implicit, sardonic social comment as well as a compelling playing out of the eternal triangle.
  18. Management
    Though it doesn't always work, it's an idea with its heart in the right place and, paired with nonshock comedy, it's a nice change of pace.
  19. Adoration
    There is always a risk with having such a singular focus on a single theme; you might wake up to find the walls of that favored niche are closing in on you. And that is where we find Egoyan in Adoration.
  20. Julia
    As Julia struggles to survive her bad decisions, the film struggles to survive Julia. We never get a good look at her demons, just the havoc they wreak.
  21. Little Ashes
    A trifling historical fantasy, gossip wrapped in gossamer, beautiful to watch but it takes only a light wind to leave the story in tatters.
  22. Love N' Dancing
    This is pretty unremarkable stuff that has little to excite outside of its nicely done twirl-and-dip sections, choreographed here by West Coast swing dancing guru Robert Royston.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Next Day Air
    That's about all Next Day Air can muster by way of invention, trying to slap a new face on a gaggle of rote gestures in a vain attempt to cover its own uselessness. But no matter how big the guns it draws, every shot is a dud.
  24. Outrage
    While the anger of Outrage is to be expected, the surprise of the film is how much sadness you take away as well, the sadness of people who feel compelled to pretend to be what they are not.
  25. Rudo y Cursi
    Mexico has had its share of debilitating transnational news lately, but the arrival of the puckishly entertaining, fleet-of-foot drama-comedy Rudo y Cursi deserves a hearty welcome.
  26. Star Trek
    Though it has its over-caffeinated aspects and its missteps, this Star Trek has in general bridged the gap between the old and the new with alacrity and purpose.
  27. The Limits of Control
    A little like guided meditation with suggestions floated, waiting, left untethered. It's up to you to distill meaning -- which will leave some convinced the director is merely self-indulgent, and others deeply satisfied.
  28. Revanche
    A darkly compelling film from Austria, can be viewed as either a thriller with psychological overtones or a psychological drama with thriller elements.
  29. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
    It's a solid, efficient comic book movie that is content to provide comic book satisfactions of the action and violence variety.
  30. Battle for Terra
    Director/co-writer Aristomenis Tsirbas, expanding his own short film, unveils a classically devised invasion yarn à la H.G. Wells, but with the twist that humans are the aggressors.
  31. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
    An amusingly sentimental whiff of a romantic comedy.
  32. The Merry Gentleman
    A dark and lovely drama about the complications of human connections that is Michael Keaton's impressive directing debut.
  33. Three Monkeys
    Unpredictable and gratifying, Three Monkeys emerges as a mordant cautionary tale on the contagiousness of corruption. It is rich in atmosphere.
  34. Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry
    An entertaining, adeptly crafted documentary that treats its provocative subject matter with refreshing respect.
  35. The Skeptic
    Old-fashioned in the worst sense, Bardwell's ghost story is heavy on Freud, light on fear.
  36. The Informers
    Conjures up plenty of debauched tableaux with its photogenic, jaded showbiz denizens and hangers-on, but nary a reason for existing.
  37. Obsessed
    The singer-actress' saucy, glamorously wry performance makes up for some of the film's inherent predictability.
  38. Fighting
    It's not "Raging Bull" or "Fight Club," but Fighting is populated by believable losers and lovingly adorned with just the right faces and peeling wallpaper to absorb you in Montiel's world.
  39. Il Divo
    Simultaneously exhilarating and confounding, dazzling and confusing, this is filmmaking of such verve and style that you likely won't care that you can't follow it completely.
  40. The Soloist
    By consistently and relentlessly overplaying everything, by settling for standard easy emotions when singular and heartfelt was called for, by pushing forward when they should have pulled back, director Joe Wright and screenwriter Susannah Grant have made the story mean less, not more. Instead of enhancing The Soloist's appeal, they have come close to eliminating it.
  41. Tyson
    The result is as gripping as a title fight and as mesmerizing as a conversation with a cobra. You may not be happy with everything said, but you will not be bored.
  42. Empty Nest
    In the end, it all can't help feeling a little slight, more a pleasant wade into a writer's neurotic playground than a satisfyingly deep dip.
  43. Mutant Chronicles
    It's pretty much all nonsense, but Mutant Chronicles is based on a game -- so just play along. That's when the fun begins.
  44. Earth
    It would be Pollyannaish to pretend that the documentary Earth is without its problems, but the bottom line is, difficulties be damned, it shouldn't be missed.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Treeless Mountain
    Kim is deft and sensitive with her tiny co-stars, but Treeless Mountain lacks the freshness and surprise of "In Between Days."
  46. State of Play
    Somehow when State of Play should be at its stomach-clenching best, the tension simply evaporates.
  47. American Violet
    The narrative is infused with chilling facts, and the filmmakers know how to build their case, but a drama demands more. We should have been immersed in Dee's wrenching journey, not just sitting it out on the sidelines.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Crank: High Voltage
    The movie thrives on absurdity and outrage, calculating that at some point you'll give in to its gonzo energies and go along for the ride.
  49. Every Little Step
    It's a can't-miss effort that knows how to please.
  50. Is Anybody There?
    It is also hard not to see remnants of a younger Michael Caine -- beautifully seductive and enigmatic all those years ago in "Alfie." He has said his wife cried when she saw the performance; you understand why.
  51. Lemon Tree
    Lemon Tree is in its best moments a sober-hearted take on the righteous blowback from whittled-away souls, and a movie that invariably rights itself with each return to the beautifully steely gaze of Abbass.
  52. Sleep Dealer
    Adventurous, ambitious and ingeniously futuristic, Sleep Dealer is a welcome surprise. It combines visually arresting science fiction done on a budget with a strong sense of social commentary in a way that few films attempt, let alone achieve.
  53. Anvil! The Story of Anvil
    You may never have expected to see the words heavy metal, endearing and warmhearted in the same sentence, but you just did.
  54. Dragonball: Evolution
    Director James Wong ("Final Destination") and writer Ben Ramsey are utterly blasé in their approach to the series' mythology and structure, cobbling together an 84-minute movie that seems to exist only to rile up fanboys. On that count -- and that count alone -- Dragonball Evolution triumphs.
  55. Hannah Montana: The Movie
    In the end, Hannah Montana: The Movie is big, beautiful, a little boring and utterly safe. There are flashes of inspiration -- the "Hoedown Throwdown" dance, the scenes between Martindale and the Cyruses -- but it also is what it is: Miley Cyrus' next big step.
  56. Observe and Report
    It heaps piles of bad, crazy stuff at our feet then walks away. There is no moral to this story, and there's not much comedy either.
  57. Lymelife
    Scott's coming-of-age bumblings form the piece's narrative rhythm. But the most affecting moments come from Mickey's midlife machinations: Baldwin, who also produced the film, has his best role since "The Cooler."
  58. Adventureland
    Greg Mottola has taken that most overdone of contemporary genres, the coming-of-age story, and made it engaging, bittersweet and even fun.
  59. Sugar
    As good as it is because of the care and skill writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck bring to it, gifts that were visible in their first film, "Half Nelson," which earned a lead actor Oscar nomination for Ryan Gosling.
  60. Alien Trespass
    While Alien Trespass stays true to the era and the genre, it forgets that its mission in this galaxy is not merely to pay tribute but to entertain.
  61. Bart Got a Room
    The mysterious Bart and the mythology of the senior prom as the defining moment in the life of a teenager are the unseen specters hovering over the slight comedy Bart Got a Room.
  62. The Escapist
    It makes for an unexpectedly welcome form of dramatic escape: the character study breaking free from a hoary old movie genre.
  63. Fast & Furious
    Fast & Furious is, in a very bizarre way, a thing of gasp-inducing artistry to watch, even if you're not a member of the NASCAR, gear-head, street-racing crowd.
  64. Gigantic
    First-time feature director Matt Aselton, who co-wrote the darkly funny, well-observed script with Adam Nagata, has crafted a disarming tale that's one of the better independent films in recent memory.
  65. Paris 36
    Paris 36 has a beguilingly authentic sound and offers a blend of impassioned sentiment and harsh, even brutal grit
  66. The Song of Sparrows
    I can't help but be struck by the stark cultural differences in the portrayal of family life, particularly the relationships between women and men. The characters Majidi draws of children and their fathers are rich: sometimes combative, always loving and textured. But the mothers never truly emerge from the background.
  67. C Me Dance
    Unfortunately, the movie is so rudimentarily written, acted and directed, and its more earthly concerns painted with such a broad, superficial brush, it's hard to be convinced of such key story elements as Sheri's advanced leukemia, her love of ballet and the fact that she and dad Vince (Robbins) are actually father and daughter.
  68. Forbidden Lie$
    Even after you've seen Forbidden Lie$, the dizzying, drop-dead fascinating documentary on Norma Khouri, you won't be absolutely sure if she's on the level or a con artist ranked as "one of the best ever." That's how good she is.
  69. Lifelines
    There's so much ranting and raving, all of it boring and trite.
  70. Tulpan
    This is a difficult film to pigeonhole, an indefinable mixture of genres and attitudes that is by turns off-the-wall and serious, comic and sad.
  71. Goodbye Solo
    Its style is spare, rigorous, almost anti-dramatic, but it deals thoughtfully with some of the most complex elements of the human equation.
  72. Monsters vs Aliens
    In fact "nice" is the adjective that seems to surface most in trying to pin down the film's most salient quality, which means that while the film is enjoyable enough, it is unlikely to become a classic for us, or a "Shrek" sort of franchise for DreamWorks.
  73. Spinning Into Butter
    Despite the film's haphazard choices and aversion to subtlety, Parker and Williamson come off as appealing sparring partners.
  74. The Education of Charlie Banks
    Too often Durst's direction is overly earnest, heavy in long takes, atmosphere wise but scene foolish.
  75. 12 Rounds
    Escapist fun that provides an effective showcase for the blue-collar charisma and bulky good looks of its hyper-athletic lead, four-time World Champion wrestler John Cena (think Matt Damon, only twice the size).
  76. American Swing
    But even a comic spin on grimace-inducing tales of the icky buffet, the "mattress room" (whatever you're imagining, that's it) and Levenson's own buffoonish image as a 10-ladies-a-night player -- "He never read a book," Al Goldstein cracks -- can't keep an unexplored sadness from slithering in amid the orgy of upbeat testimonials.
  77. The Haunting in Connecticut
    Part of what makes "Connecticut" oddly watchable even as it drags is the oil-and-water mix of acting styles of the leads. Virginia Madsen's refined naturalism is an awkward fit with the sharp mannerisms of Martin Donovan.
  78. Shall We Kiss?
    It is classical in form yet fresh and spontaneous.
  79. Knowing
    Whatever else Proyas has done in Knowing, he has created an ending that is sure to divide audiences into camps of love it or hate it, deeming its message either hopeful or hopelessly heavy-handed. For me, it doesn't quite work; still I'm glad he took the risk.
  80. Sin Nombre
    There is bitter and breathtaking truth in the story and in the story- telling, which won Fukunaga the directing and cinematography award in the dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
  81. I Love You, Man
    Could have taken a more relevant, insightful and even funnier cut at a very rich topic. But the filmmakers didn't; they went with dog poo instead.
  82. Duplicity
    A throwback to the days of old-school caper movies like "To Catch a Thief," Duplicity is just the kind of sophisticated amusement you would expect from filmmaker Tony Gilroy.
  83. Bob Funk
    If you can get through the tedious first half of Bob Funk, there's actually a decent little character study waiting on the other side.
  84. The Great Buck Howard
    An affectionate though flawed comedy.
  85. Skills Like This
    Too bad all the forced whimsy of this "Bottle Rocket" wannabe feels maniacally scattershot -- like an off night at an improv club -- rather than organically inspired.
  86. Valentino: The Last Emperor
    Unexpectedly involving documentary.
  87. Sunshine Cleaning
    A smartly done morality tale that couldn't be more in sync with these troubled times.
  88. Miss March
    Even a 15-year-old boy would find this movie to be a chore.
  89. The Last House on the Left
    A shockingly mundane disappointment taken on its own and a deeply misguided refraction of the original.
  90. The Cake Eaters
    A bland ensemble drama with an unremarkable script that somehow inspired actress Mary Stuart Masterson to make her feature-directing debut. The material doesn't serve her well -- and vice versa.
  91. The Edge of Love
    Sometimes glossy, sometimes hard-edged, the film alternates between glitz and unpleasantness and ends as a kind of glum soap opera, too glam to be bleak and too bleak to be so glam.
  92. The Perfect Sleep
    Although the script by star Anton Pardoe is ambitious and creative, its dizzying array of characters, along with a dense story that unfolds more like a checklist of showdowns than an organic narrative, make for a tedious sit.
  93. Race to Witch Mountain
    A fast and furious (yes "fast and furious" in that way) wild ride of a movie in which the good guys are good (some of them really, really good), the bad guys are good (very scary good) and the car chases (around a thousand of them by my count, though it was hard to keep track with all the screeching tires and twisted metal) are pretty spectacular.
  94. Tokyo Sonata
    Bold, acutely observant and universal in its wide-ranging concerns and implications.
  95. Brothers at War
    Rademacher's vigorous commitment to making the documentary, as well as to his large, close-knit family, deserves respect.
  96. Watchmen
    Snyder stands revealed here as more of a beginner than a visionary in his uncertain approach to making an on-screen world come alive.
  97. Phoebe in Wonderland
    There are problems for us as well in Wonderland. Like its main characters, the film is having an identity crisis -- is it a parable for adults or a fable for children? Its childlike whimsy doesn't always fit with its very grown-up themes.
  98. Fados
    A centerpiece of the film is a tribute to the late, legendary Amália Rodrigues, a woman of commanding, majestic beauty and presence, who is seen with her pianist in rehearsal, searching out every nuance of a song she is to perform. Unfortunately, Fado's other performers are not identified.
  99. Sherman's Way
    It's lost-in-life meets lust-for-life in the reliably regenerative wine country, which means most moviegoers could hand this emotionally stranded odd couple a road map of where they'll be by the closing credits.
  100. Tokyo!
    A fun jaunt around the city and a quick tour of the preoccupations of three leading directors? Now there's a bargain.
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