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. Mary Reilly
    There is nothing to be embarrassed about here, neither is there much to relish, for Mary Reilly has more of the sheen of art than its essence.
  2. White Squall
    The 20 or so minutes we spend with the Albatross in the squall is high adventure, to be sure. Everything else is ballast.
  3. The Shining
    There are moments so visually stunning only a Kubrick could pull them off, yet the film is too grandiose to be the jolter that horror pictures are expected to be. Both those expecting significance from Kubrick and those merely looking for a good scare may be equally disappointed.
  4. Naked Lunch
    It's a movie for people who really dig Cronenberg's mulchy fixations-and probably for no one else. [27 Dec 1991]
    • Los Angeles Times
  5. Last Action Hero
    Last Action Hero does have occasional moments of humor, but overall it is lacking in fun or magic. [18 Jun 1993, p.1]
    • Los Angeles Times
  6. Far and Away
    It's strong as can be in terms of production values and panoramic photography (as befits its $70-million budget) and weak as watery tea when it comes to little things like dialogue and character development. [22 May 1992]
    • Los Angeles Times
  7. Air America
    Air America is far from a disgrace, but it's so rare to see a film with this much panoramic verve that you want it to deliver the real goods and not this cargo-load of tinkertoy war-is-heck ironies. [10 Aug 1990]
    • Los Angeles Times
  8. Traveller
    The cast is really fine, but the script requires a lot of hard swallowing. The story moves along briskly and colorfully but gets further and further from the intimate atmosphere that initially makes it so appealing. [25 Apr 1997]
    • Los Angeles Times
  9. Empire of the Sun
    For all its good intentions, for the thrillingly staged moments in the film's first quarter-for all the sweeping movement of thousands of people streaming through the streets of Shanghai-and for all its not-inconsiderable craft, the film's grave problem is a lack of central heating: We don't have a single character to warm up to.
  10. Newsies
    Newsies becomes a string of set-pieces, some of which work, some of which don't, all barreling full-speed ahead toward its Teddy Roosevelt deus ex machina. [10 Apr 1992]
    • Los Angeles Times
  11. The Governess
    Driver, who steadfastly carries Rosina/Mary through every stormy stage of her self-discovery, is consistently better than the picture, as is Wilkinson.
  12. Lethal Weapon
    At bottom, Lethal Weapon isn't much. It's a big, shallow, flashy, buddy-buddy cop thriller; it attacks you like a stereophonic steamroller, flattening everything behind it. Snatches of "Hustle" "Magnum Force" and "48 HRS." float above this plot like scum on a polluted lake, and the holes in logic and mindless climax are (or should be) embarrassing. [6 Mar 1987, p.4]
    • Los Angeles Times
  13. Shallow Grave
    Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge (who is a physician!) keep the action spurting forward, but their approach is oblique. We seem to be catching the odds and ends of scenes; it's as if the filmmakers wanted to make a movie in which all the expected high points were skimped.
  14. The Pillow Book
    Despite its arresting visual style, its wave after wave of creative and hypnotic images, The Pillow Book, as its name hints, slowly but inexorably leads to sleep.
  15. Cool World
    But the erotic potential of animation has never been realized and Cool World doesn't even try. [11 Jul 1992]
    • Los Angeles Times
  16. Labyrinth
    There's more length than depth to Labyrinth. The Baryshnikov staging of "The Nutcracker" has more to tell about a girl on the edge of young womanhood, with more poignancy and a more palpable sense of transition, than all the technical wizardry Henson and crew have offered so lavishly-and without a single pop song, either. [26 Jun 1986, p.1]
    • Los Angeles Times
  17. I Love You Phillip Morris
    It's clear from first frame to last that the filmmakers decided to go broad, very broad, with a story that swings between hysterical, hyper-sexual, bizarre, surprisingly tender and just plain awful. This is one mixed bag of a movie.
  18. Jonah Hex
    Brolin's intermittent voice-over narration proves to be the most powerful stuff, with the rest curiously sputtering.
  19. Piranha 3-D
    Piranha 3D is trying so hard for the laughs and the allusions amid all the gore, and endless bloodbath of bare naked ladies, that it completely forgets to frighten anyone.
  20. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
    In Prince Dastan, he (Gyllenhaal) is supposed to be that heady mix of street smarts, roguish charm and barroom moxie with the noble heart of a lion underneath. It's a lot to ask and turns out to be something more than he can deliver.
  21. Survival of the Dead
    The metaphor of senseless rancor is clear, but it's not compelling when the slow-moving monsters pose more of a nuisance than a threat.
  22. Robin Hood
    Still, there are some things to savor. Blanchett is an actress who's always involving, and Crowe is very much in his element as an intrepid, laconic archer who lets his arrows do the talking.
  23. The Losers
    There are enough clever bits, in that exploding-bodies kind of way, to inject some fun into the party. White and director of photography Scott Kevan, who collaborated on "Stomp the Yard," have some seriously inventive visuals, which at times are smash-cut fabulous.
  24. A Nightmare on Elm Street
    This "Nightmare" is mostly stale goods. You'd think Bayer's music video background would jibe well with the playful surreality of Craven's premise. But when not paying homage -- the claw in the bathtub, the morphing wall -- Bayer surprisingly traffics in factory-level horror atmospherics and loud, saw-it-coming shocks.
  25. Leela
    The film is not without humor or conflict, but it is a complex coming-of-age story that places a premium on independence and attacks sexual hypocrisy.
  26. Santa vs. the Snowman
    Dazzling in its possibilities, but the holiday message of the 37-minute Santa vs. the Snowman leaves a lot to be desired.
  27. Chain Camera
    On the whole, Chain Camera is encouraging.
  28. Confessions of a Burning Man
    The four individuals' narratives are not always that compelling and make for a film best experienced on a strictly sensory level. Let the images wash over you and enjoy.
  29. The Flip Side
    A small picture of many satisfactions.
  30. Flavors
    Aims for a kind of hip cultural fusion but lacks the sharp satirical perspective to pull it off.
  31. Proteus
    Proteus is involving and affecting even if it is not completely coherent or fully realized.
  32. Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire
    Contends that doctrines, including promoting unilateralism, increasing military spending and protecting "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil," can be traced from right-wing think tanks into U.S. foreign policy.
  33. Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain... Begins to Die
    Like Moore's film, Celsius hits too many topics with too broad a brush, resulting in yet another contribution to this campaign season's spin cycle of rhetoric.
  34. Sex Sells: The Making of 'Touché'
    A mildly amusing comedy about the vicissitudes of shooting porn that has little of the grit, sleaze and uncertainty that is the lot of the veteran pornographer striving for professionalism more often than not against all odds.
  35. God's Sandbox
    It's good that God's Sanbox has such an intriguing premise and compelling performances, because Doran Eran's pacing tends toward slackness, and most of the dialogue is in an English that is often impenetrable.
  36. Trudell
    Unfortunately, absent a more objective context, Trudell's gnomic utterances do little to support those sentiments. By preaching so relentlessly to the choir, this film misses an opportunity to show what got them to sing in the first place.
  37. Autumn
    The twists and reversals that pile up, stirred by greed, friendship and betrayal, fail to register any meaning, simply accumulating -- so that ultimately Autumn is as dry and lifeless as the leaves that fall to the ground in its opening images.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    My Grandmother's House
    The analogy feels forced, arbitrary, as do the movie's periodic spasms of impressionistic imagery.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Empire in Africa
    That "Empire" lacks clear-cut heroes and villains is not necessarily a fault, but the movie's muddle too often comes across as an attempt to avoid assigning responsibility where it belongs.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Withdrawal from Gaza
    Withdrawal's most glaring omission is the lack of any serious criticism of the settlers, whether from the Jewish left or any Palestinian point of view.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Something to Cheer About
    The outline of a great story, but it never fills in the gaps.
  42. Fakers
    The scenario isn't entirely plausible, but the actors are engaging and you can't beat the running time.
  43. Day Night Day Night
    The most profound thing the remarkably dread-filled drama Day Night Day Night tells us is what it doesn't tell us.
  44. Duck
    Writer-director Nic Bettauer hits upon some important themes, including homelessness, environmentalism and the plight of the elderly, but not enough care has gone into developing the subsidiary characters who merely come across as types.
  45. Downtown: A Street Tale
    As writer as well as star, Dedio expresses passionate concern for the lost young souls of Lower Manhattan but by and large doesn't define his characters strongly enough to involve the viewer in their fates very deeply.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hollywood Dreams
    It's a very mixed bag. When it's good, Hollywood Dreams is corrosively funny and unexpectedly poignant. And when it's bad, it's over-the-top bad.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Closing Escrow
    A spoof, sometimes a funny one, and sometimes just plain overkill.
  48. The Hottest State
    Personal and heartfelt, it's nevertheless bogged down by a lack of perspective on the material and a pointlessly frilly visual style.
  49. Self Medicated
    Self-Medicated is not loathsome or lurid, just one-sided and in need of guidance -- ironically so, because that's what its protagonist so steadfastly refuses to accept. The movie's lack of nuance is balanced by its good intentions.
  50. Nina's Heavenly Delights
    There are a few surprising flavors in Nina's Heavenly Delights, but it's more of a samosa than a meal. The ceiling is set pretty low when characters start exhorting each other to "follow your heart." Which they do, early and often.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Meeting Resistance
    Meeting Resistance in theory should have been a revealing documentary. In truth, however, the measures taken to protect the informants' identities dilute the potency of their statements and diminish the film's efficacy as a historical document.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Man in the Chair
    Though they can't transcend writer-director Michael Schroeder's pointed contrivances, the actors tap into something achingly true in this valentine to Hollywood's below-the-line crafts people and society's castoffs.
  53. The First Saturday in May
    Filmmakers Brad and John Hennegan follow six horses and their trainers through the arduous 2006 race season, building up to the Derby, but they are never able to find the balance between insider wonkery and genuine human (or animal) drama.
  54. The Doorman
    Price keeps the humor believably shallow and the movie from getting too far from the aim of chronicling an exclusivity junkie's fall.
  55. American Teen
    Here are casual cruelty, crushing heartbreak and pressure from parents and peers, all of which can involve the viewer but are nothing revelatory.
  56. In Search of a Midnight Kiss
    If it were a parody of relationship-youth pictures, In Search of a Midnight Kiss would maybe be tolerable, but writer-director Alex Holdridge seems to be playing it with a straight face.
  57. Bohica
    Unfortunately, it takes director D.J. Paul a while to lend shape to this chatty, free-form material -- it would really make a better stage play -- and to distinguish writer Joseph "Bo" Colen's authentic-sounding but unevenly drawn characters.
  58. 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.
  59. 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.
  60. Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
    Van Peebles' persona and sensibility remain engaging, as do his way with his beguiling score and songs, but his film desperately needs tightening to eliminate tedious moments, especially in the African sequence.
  61. American Casino
    The result is a lopsided, visually uninspired film that works best when it eschews the complex numbers-crunching of its financial industry pundits and whistle-blowers to profile the everyday victims of the crisis.
  62. House of Numbers: Anatomy of an Epidemic
    Leung manages to present a barrage of intriguing theories debunking our generally accepted beliefs and misperceptions about how HIV/AIDS is acquired, tested, diagnosed, defined and treated. It's a vital yet thorny approach whose inconclusiveness is bound to sadden or infuriate anyone who's lost a loved one to AIDS.
  63. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
    The film is intelligent, well crafted and often funny, but it may not sufficiently reward even the brief time it asks one to spend with such hideous men.
  64. Adventures of Power
    Adventures of Power just may teach the world that, as hard as it is to catch the wind, it's harder still to drum the air.
  65. Looking for Palladin
    Paved with clichés, the apparently well-meaning Looking for Palladin is a long journey with no new places.
  66. Skin
    Too many of the characters are either good or bad, and that loss of nuance is missed.
  67. Oh My God
    Filmmaker Peter Rodger does a fairly comprehensive job of traversing the globe in 98 minutes, posing the age-old question, "What is God?"
  68. Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
    Spending more observational time with her smart, resilient and stirringly positive subjects -- even seeing less-edited footage of their business plan speeches -- might have helped sell her inspirational story.
  69. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
    What is unexpected, however, is that the film manages to be flat and uninteresting, despite the juicy (or, at the very least, lurid) true story from 1979 that serves as this curio's inspiration.
  70. Drool
    Even though Drool rambles and ultimately slides into overly obvious make-believe, Kissam emerges as a fearless risk-taker of promise.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Celine: Through the Eyes of the World
    Some concert movies make you feel like you have the best seat in the house; this one plants you squarely in front of the Jumbotron.
  72. Formosa Betrayed
    A mostly pedestrian political thriller whose basis in true events adds little to the film's excitement or entertainment value.
  73. Godspeed
    What keeps Godspeed from lasting power are its melodramatic swerves and less-than-revelatory acting. But despite its fissures in tone and technique, Godspeed occasionally plays like a sturdy indie outpost of revenge cinema.
  74. Don McKay
    McKay never quite catches fire as a thriller and, truth be told, it's not much of a character study either.
  75. The Greatest
    Unfortunately, though its heart is smack in the right place, The Greatest tends to play more like a collection of appropriate, well-acted scenes than as a fully satisfying narrative.
  76. The Thorn in the Heart
    Gondry captures the leafy radiance of the countryside, and he makes judicious use of special-effects whimsies. But this memory piece will have far more resonance for the Gondry family than for anyone else.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    When You're Strange
    Distressingly short on creative spark or historical illumination.
  78. The City of Your Final Destination
    Filled with unrealized possibilities and fraught with flaws, Final Destination seems destined to be little more than a footnote in the anthology of extraordinary films to come out of the long creative collaboration between producer Merchant, director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
  79. The Perfect Game
    An imperfect film, but an unusual case in which the heart of both the story and its telling do help in smoothing over other deficiencies, sweet and disarming in its belief that something like a baseball game can make a bigger difference.
  80. Iron Man 2
    As sequels go, this one is acceptable, nothing more, nothing less.
  81. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
    A new biopic of eccentric British rock legend Ian Dury, Andy Serkis uncoils a performance of spit, grit and wit so ferocious it only serves to starkly clarify how unremarkable and formulaic the rest of the movie is.
  82. The Lightkeepers
    You can't really hate The Lightkeepers. You can only wish that writer-director Daniel Adams had invested the movie with equal measures of originality and quaintness … and maybe told Dreyfuss to tone down the whole sea captain thing.
  83. Princess Kaiulani
    The film is too reverently drawn and self-consciously played to muster any real momentum.
  84. Finding Bliss
    Modestly entertaining film.
  85. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
    Starts off feeling clever and original but turns silly and diffused as its convoluted story spins out.
  86. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
    If the bad guys didn't reappear with welcome regularity, "Money Never Sleeps" would be even more of a snooze than it already is.
  87. Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
    The whole effort is undermined by an abundance of mob-movie cliches.
  88. Great Directors
    It shouldn't be surprising, but some of these directors are more interesting than their work. French director Breillat, never a personal favorite, is an absolutely hypnotic speaker who holds the screen the way her films rarely have.
  89. Despicable Me
    The film throws so much ersatz cleverness and overdone emotion at the audience that we end up more worn out than entertained.
  90. The Color Purple
    This time out, Spielberg has chosen to put an antic disposition on, and with the single exception of casting, his almost every decision has been disastrous. He has prettified or coarsened; he has made comic scenes broadly slapstick and tiptoed over the story's crucial relationship. The result, alas, is the film purpled.
  91. RED
    Red can't stop itself from trying too hard to be hip. It's not that it doesn't have effective moments, it's that it doesn't have as many as it thinks it does. The film's inescapable air of glib self-satisfaction is not only largely unearned, it's downright irritating.
  92. Devil
    By the time the patented Shyamalan Extra-Strength Third Act Twist is revealed, being asked to care about fate, redemption and forgiveness when a satan-in-an-elevator gimmick hasn't delivered is like getting medicinal aftertaste from what should have been a box of delectably fiery Red Hots.
  93. Conviction
    The film falls short of delivering the outrage and uplift that should have come easy for this true-life fight against justice denied. Unfortunately, that makes Conviction more a trial than a triumph.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Company Men
    I'd like to think the earnest sentiments and machine-tooled dramatic complications of Wells' script could find a receptive audience in late 2010. I'd like to think, too, that the mess we're in demands a gutsier script. Good cast, though.
  95. Due Date
    This is a disappointing turn coming from Phillips, particularly since "The Hangover" was such a fresh, bracing brew of black comic fun.
  96. Welcome to the Rileys
    Fortunately Stewart seems to thrive in water over her head, and when she pulls Gandolfini in with her the movie gels. It makes you wish the filmmaker had left them in the deep end longer.
  97. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
    To be fair to Deathly Hallows, the filmmakers have tried hard to fill the proceedings with battles and chases and debilitating curses. Genuine filmmaking excitement, however, is harder to provide.
  98. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
    Oh, there are sword fights aplenty (as bloodless as ever), but instead of a real story, we are left clinging to individual moments.
  99. TRON: Legacy
    New players, a new story line, a new director and nearly three decades of improved technology including all the whiz-bang-wow the latest 3-D has to offer. Unfortunately, there's not nearly enough new life.
  100. Tamara Drewe
    It all leaves "Drewe" and its often jarring turns of motivation and tone - feeling haphazard and cartoony, and the whole thing more a vibrant mess than something comically disarming.
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