Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,524 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 2.3 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: 8,698 out of 16524
  2. Mixed: 5,809 out of 16524
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16524
16524 movie reviews
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  1. Cthulhu
    Cthulhu isn't awful, but it isn't particularly compelling either.
  2. I Served the King of England
    The new film is so leisurely paced and overly long that what means to be at once charming yet darkly satirical lapses into tedium and barely comes alive.
  3. Ping Pong Playa
    Breathes fresh life into the tired, bloated sports-comedy formula -- while remaining utterly formulaic.
  4. Towelhead
    On the upside, newcomer Summer Bishil turns in a gutsy, quietly riveting performance as Jasira.
  5. Righteous Kill
    Righteous Kill's script is credited to "Inside Man's" Russell Gewirtz, and you wonder how the sleek, nuanced flow of that earlier movie evaded this one.
  6. Battle in Seattle
    Townsend's sincerity, his admiration for the idealism of the people behind the anti-WTO protests, is never in doubt, but combining drama with historical re-creation is frankly a challenge his filmmaking skills are not up to.
  7. Lakeview Terrace
    Jackson modulates Abel's internal turmoil and heated exchanges with enough shades of loneliness, steely generosity and wicked playfulness to give the actor firm control of our fascination and growing unease.
  8. Forever Strong
    The movie is well shot and edited, the rugby scenes are enjoyable (if likely puzzling to the uninitiated) and "Strong's" earnestness excuses at least some of its predictability.
  9. Choke
    As the story of a wallowing pig, Choke is often pretty entertaining, but when it comes to where-do-I-come-from poignancy, it can't always keep from gagging.
  10. The Elephant King
    Oliver's instant switch from bespectacled nerd to Thai-stick smoking, love-struck tourist is more embarrassing than convincing, as is the film's reliance on literally elephant-heavy symbolism.
  11. The Secret Life of Bees
    What's being sold here is the movie equivalent of the honey-drenched sweet potato biscuits that are forever being passed around on-screen. Their nutritional value may be nil, but they sure look comforting.
  12. Sex Drive
    Occasionally sharp but never quite as smartly formed as it could be, this Sex Drive is only partly worth the trip.
  13. Flash of Genius
    Wants so much to be liked, even with its prickly, difficult hero, that it misses the mark of nonobviousness necessary not only for a patent, but also for a thrilling, original work.
  14. An American Carol
    It's a gag-strewn, hit-and-miss affair that's not without its chuckles.
  15. City of Ember
    None of this means that the film is necessarily enjoyable to watch, however, which is often the problem when the rigors of inspired storytelling can't live up to an imaginatively designed filmic world.
  16. The Express
    If one will pardon the obvious analogy, The Express ends up feeling like a fumble at the goal line, coming across as simple-minded and melodramatic.
  17. Quarantine
    Shame as well upon the advance marketing department for blowing the end of the movie in ads, thus exorcising any ghost of a chance Quarantine had of issuing a surprise.
  18. Passengers
    With these actors and Rodrigo García's sensitive direction, Passengers might have fared well as a short. But as a full-length feature, it's a long ride to a familiar destination.
  19. The Alphabet Killer
    It's too bad there was no way around the story's inherent deficit since this effectively unsettling film, directed by Rob Schmidt ("Wrong Turn"), chugs along quite well for a while.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dark Streets
    The movie, drawn from Wallace King's adaptation of Glenn Stewart's play, drips with style, but it's all flourish and no reveal.
  21. Where God Left His Shoes
    Stabile keeps his affecting story hurtling forward with such grit and integrity it's easy to forgive its loaded setup and occasional lapses in detail and logic.
  22. Defiance
    Defiance has some genuine strengths but also some weaker elements, and these opposing traits battle it out kind of the way the contentious Bielskis fought not only the Germans but each other.
  23. Not Easily Broken
    The movie may be preaching to the choir -- and every inch of it feels like a sermon -- but it's a pretty decent homily, heartfelt and strongly delivered by a committed cast.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Yonkers Joe
    A mash-up of indie-film tropes.
  25. My Bloody Valentine
    Wooden performances by forgettable, generic actors -- again, just like in the original -- don't aid in making things any less leaden. Perhaps this is the best one can hope for from something like My Bloody Valentine 3-D, that it be just good enough to not be annoying. Or in this specific case, physically painful.
  26. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
    Underneath all the cartoonish mall mayhem and silly slapstick lies a comedy that aspires to be the sort of gentle crowd-pleaser John Hughes used to make.
  27. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
    Grimly competent.
  28. Donkey Punch
    It's got enough formulaic flair to make it a guilty-pleasure cousin of seaborne nailbiters "Knife in the Water" and "Dead Calm."
  29. Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
    Because Senesh died so young, it's hard to fill out a film of nearly 90 minutes that claims her as the subject, so director Grossman has resorted to using newsreel footage as well as re-creations, which, though discreet, add nothing special to the proceedings.
  30. Confessions of a Shopaholic
    Though you might wonder whether there's room in a movie marketplace that already feels overstocked with romantic comedies, Confessions of a Shopaholic arrives fashionably late and dressed to kill.
  31. The International
    Despite being structured in an intriguing way -- bits of confusing action are shown first and explained later -- The International never finds its footing.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Fanboys
    Fanboys doesn't have a fan's obsessive attention to detail, or the giddy geekiness that can make Tarantino's movies both thrilling and trying. It's not nearly nerdy enough.
  33. Angels & Demons
    Ultimately everything wilts under the weight of the complicated story lines of its many saints and sinners.
  34. Obsessed
    The singer-actress' saucy, glamorously wry performance makes up for some of the film's inherent predictability.
  35. Fired Up!
    Passable in its efficiency, Fired Up! is less offensive than it might have been while also managing to be staggeringly uninspired.
  36. 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.
  37. The Education of Charlie Banks
    Too often Durst's direction is overly earnest, heavy in long takes, atmosphere wise but scene foolish.
  38. 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.
  39. 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.
  40. 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.
  41. 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.
  42. 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.
  43. 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.
  44. Not Forgotten
    A movie that's more convoluted than satisfying.
  45. Dance Flick
    The miss-and-hit parodies score best when focusing on the Julia Stiles-styled girl next door.
  46. My Life in Ruins
    Doesn't skimp on the life lessons or instant transformations. But the movie primarily exists to give amiable Everywoman Vardalos the chance to regain her kefi.
  47. Tennessee
    The dramatic payoffs are either nonexistent or overly manipulated, and for a journey that starts with so much deep-set pain and regret to end with a sentimental twist feels, to use a phrase anathema in Carey's world, off-key.
  48. $9.99
    Less than the sum of its parts. The connective tissue of its episodes and set pieces -- some of which pack a memorable punch -- is not a compelling story line but the painterly physicality of the movie's stop-motion animation.
  49. Life Is Hot in Cracktown
    While Giovinazzo's crude approach undercuts his occasional stab at gravitas, "Cracktown's" cast keeps things in the ballpark of relatable humanity. Best of the lot is Kerry Washington.
  50. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
    A sometimes lively, sometimes listless wilderness adventure that will keep the kids cool and mildly entertained for a little while.
  51. Weather Girl
    You can reliably forecast most of the beats in Blayne Weaver's breezy romantic comedy Weather Girl, but that doesn't diminish the small pleasures the movie delivers.
  52. The Answer Man
    Conveniently, everyone wears their symptoms on their sleeves, but because the characters are so haphazardly drawn, their pain remains elusive to the end.
  53. The Collector
    Either you go for this sort of extreme, senseless gore or you don't. With its plot and lead performance, The Collector is, at least, an unusual specimen.
  54. I Sell the Dead
    The movie's not without charm -- the creature effects are fun and the mix of vampires, zombies (et al) is amusing. That's not enough to save it from the Curse of the Predictable Plot Twist and the Blight of the Creeping Shadows.
  55. Shorts
    The problem with Shorts is in the execution. The blown-up plot line at times derails even the little ones, the many fine comedic grown-ups are mostly squandered, and the "message" part of the movie feels like it was thrown together during detention, resulting in a wrap-up that is rushed and cloyingly PC.
  56. The Final Destination
    Though this latest entry has an OK sense of humor, moves swiftly enough and sports an effective opening sequence of racetrack destruction that puts its Fusion 3-D technology to good use, it mostly comes off as a particularly flimsy excuse to string together a bunch of gory killings.
  57. Grace
    Grace doesn't need a high body count to frighten, although its gore is stomach-turning. It's a horrifying meditation on the unbreakable union of mother and child.
  58. Spread
    If only Spread were half as entertaining as a Van Halen video.
  59. X Games 3D: The Movie
    An uneven thrill-circus display that too often feels like TV writ large and loud rather than the kind of cinematic reimagining that defined the surf-flick genre.
  60. Taking Woodstock
    It's a frustrating complication of a movie with a sprawling story and grand ambitions -- and some truly grand acting -- that stumbles almost as often as it soars. Bummer.
  61. The Open Road
    It's a low-key road movie that doesn't stray far from the very, very beaten path.
  62. We Live in Public
    If anything, the film is a reflection of the Web zeitgeist, where observation comes easily but insight is rare. What saves the documentary from becoming a complete frustration is the sheer, stunning prescience of Harris.
  63. The Other Man
    Approaching the film with, let's say, lowered expectations may go a long way toward appreciating what it attempts, as well as what it achieves.
  64. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
    Perched uncomfortably between flat whimsy and Lifetime movie crescendos, the coming-of-middle-age comic drama The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is rough going.
  65. Wonderful World
    Josh Goldin, a longtime screenwriter whose credits include "Darkman" and "Out on a Limb" -- and whose wife is a writer at the L.A. Times -- makes his debut as a writer-director with Wonderful World. The results of Goldin's dual efforts are promising but uneven.
  66. The Crazies
    The Crazies only ever amounts to genre-regimented madness.
  67. Defendor
    For all its aspirations, the film never meshes into something cohesive or substantial. Its naive earnestness has its charms, but like its title character, Defendor never takes flight.
  68. Brooklyn's Finest
    An old-style potboiler about desperate cops in dire straits that overcooks both its story and its stars.
  69. Remember Me
    Pattinson could have the makings of a brilliant career, something more than the hot streak he's got going as the "it" guy of the moment. The same problems plague the film, which is beautifully shot but its emotional potential unrealized.
  70. Greenberg
    Any comic relief it affords comes with such an undertow of repressed emotions and displaced anger that it all starts to feel more depressing than dramatic.
  71. Just a Kiss
    Though the cast ends up looking good, the film's unwillingness or inability to have things add up hurts everyone's efforts.
  72. The Brothers
    While all of the actors are excellent, we sat up whenever Gabrielle Union walked on screen. As the ever-sensible woman who disrupts Jackson's bachelorhood, she projects the pluck, gravitas and beauty of a younger Alfre Woodard.
  73. Around the Bend
    Gentlemen, it's a male chick flick - "The Dirty Secrets of the Ya-Ya Brotherhood."
  74. Die Another Day
    Die Another Day is only intermittently entertaining but it's hard not to be a sucker for its charms, or perhaps it's just impossible not to feel nostalgia for movies you grew up with.
  75. Tell Me Something
    Not ultimately original enough to sustain its many horrific images.
  76. The Weight of Water
    As a director, Bigelow knows how to get out of the house, but she can be impatient when it comes to humdrum reality. That may account for her interest in Shreve's novel, with its epic tragedies, and it may help to explain the misguided casting of Penn and Hurley, each of whom comes equipped with an oversized personality.
  77. Titan A.E.
    It's not the story that's the story here, it' the film' bravura visual look.
  78. Double Jeopardy
    For all its familiar conventions and hoary improbabilities, Double Jeopardy is a relatively efficient model of its kind.
  79. New Rose Hotel
    No place for literalists, but Ferrera fans should be pleased with this tale.
  80. The Young Unknowns
    Jelski is a skilled filmmaker, and her sense of reality is so uncompromising that, even when tempered by a touch of dark humor, her film is a grim, hard-to-take business.
  81. Crop Circles: Quest for Truth
    Turns out to be a film that's interesting in spite of itself. It's less an impartial investigation than an advocacy film, having been hijacked by the members of the "inner sanctum."
  82. Fidel
    Hitler had his Leni Riefenstahl, and now Castro has his Bravo...Bravo is no Riefenstahl when it comes to persuasive mythologizing.
  83. Mickey Blue Eyes
    With preposterously convoluted plot twists, not even Grant is enough to make us smile all the way through the end.
    • Los Angeles Times
  84. Beautiful
    This film's wise and compassionate view is that, for many young women of limited opportunities, winning a beauty contest represents their best hope.
  85. Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy
    It's not inaccurate to call Porn Star a puff piece.
  86. Just Looking
    There are enough grace notes and gentle surprises strewn along this well-trod path to make Just Looking just good enough to justify Alexander's career move.
  87. Taxman
    Has the hit-machine aura of something whipped together by L.A. studio execs over avocado sandwiches and banana smoothies.
  88. The Learning Curve
    May not offer anything new, but it has terrific vitality.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Best Man
    Lee's attempt at making a romantic comedy that black audiences can enjoy without having to reimagine themselves as Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.
    • Los Angeles Times
  90. Lies
    A work of honesty and artistic integrity that nonetheless will be difficult to watch for many viewers.
  91. Return to Never Land
    It's no use expecting Return to Never Land to match, much less exceed, Disney's 1953 version of "Peter Pan," which by itself isn't quite in the uppermost tier of the studio's full-length cartoons.
  92. Mutant Aliens
    Zany, exuberantly irreverent animated space adventure.
  93. The Other Brother
    Perfectly pleasant if slightly pokey comedy.
  94. Blue Moon
    A warm and pleasant romantic fantasy that shows BenGazzara and Rita Moreno to advantage but is better suited to the tube or the stage.
  95. Bobby G. Can't Swim
    Decidedly a minor item that's been on the shelf for a while but is nonetheless an effective calling card for its writer-director-star.
  96. Light It Up
    A hostage drama, cliches intact, is what we get.
  97. One Man's Hero
    Has the stuff of a cavalry classic...but it lacks the vision and personality to attain such a level of artistry.
  98. Comedian
    What makes Comedian more than just another documentary about the comedy club comeback of a sitcom prince is that it contrasts his struggle with that of just another stand-up climber, Orny Adams.
  99. Evelyn
    Its heart is so much in the right place it is difficult to get really peeved at it.
  100. A Shot at Glory
    Not as distinctive or even as humorous as its needs to be to stand out, but it has clearly been made with affection and care.
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