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. Anna Karenina
    In the end Anna Karenina lets you down - visually stunning, emotionally overwrought, beautifully acted, but not quite right.
  2. Step Up Revolution
    One perhaps does not expect a fully formed and cogent political platform from a "Step Up" film, but when a movie puts "Revolution" in the title and engages community action and social justice directly there should be more at the end than simply selling out to the first bidder.
  3. 1911
    Throughout 1911 the sense of dutiful intentions blocks any building momentum. When an English-speaking character appears to declare that history is being made, it only underlines the obvious.
  4. Finding Joe
    Finding Joe is so centered on the self-realization of the individual that it provokes one to contemplate the millions of oppressed, imperiled people that haven't the luxury of pursuing such an inner quest.
  5. Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology
    The film ultimately works best as a daughter's heartfelt tribute to an enormously devoted and emotionally generous parent. Unfortunately, that's just not enough to, well, connect us to the bigger picture.
  6. Boy
    Writer-director and co-star Taika Waititi ("Eagle vs Shark") never builds much momentum for his largely uneventful if sometimes inventive story.
  7. Chasing Mavericks
    The footage itself, particularly of the surf, is spectacular, with veteran cinematographer Bill Pope handling the camerawork. But the drama is soggy, overreaching for the heartfelt and overdoing the inspirational.
  8. Oranges and Sunshine
    Sometimes the facts can get in the way of the drama, and that's the central problem here. That sense of needing to be true to the record is reflected in an overwhelmed screenplay.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Snowmen
    It's a shame the film's first two acts are such a grind since there's actually a decently wrought resolution to it all. But by then, between the youngsters' more-is-less acting (Ray Liotta fares only slightly better as Billy's madcap dad), feeble stabs at humor and overreaching profundity, it's too little, too late.
  10. Young Goethe in Love
    Instead of underplaying the story's escalating tempestuousness it pushes it over the top; time and again the film begins to catch fire only to be doused in silliness.
  11. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
    Part manic comedy, part would-be heart-warmer of the "follow your bliss" variety, its odd combination of tones and situations leads to as many awkward, uncertain moments as funny ones.
  12. Killing Bono
    Killing Bono whips up a frenzied mix of musical jealousy, wishful stardom and farcical lucklessness into a movie too slippery to hold onto.
  13. RED 2
    Red 2 is much more of a mixed bag than it should have been.
  14. Dog Sweat
    Whatever personal risks first-time director Hossein Keshavarz took to make the film, there's little sense of danger in the finished product, which offers snapshots of middle-class Iran but falls flat on the dramatic front.
  15. Being Flynn
    Paul Weitz has dialed things down considerably for Being Flynn, writing and directing with an earnest sensitivity that at times suits, at times undermines, the complexities of the story at hand.
  16. Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
    Director Johanna Demetrakas has decided to simply present the man in all his demanding complexities and let him and his encounters with associates speak for themselves. Her only rubric is the one visible in her title: "Crazy Wisdom."
  17. Lula, the Son of Brazil
    Fábio Barreto's film is an act of hero worship, not a multifaceted exploration of a charismatic leader.
  18. Tonight You're Mine
    If only the falling-in-love machinations and character details weren't so wispy, Tonight You're Mine might have had more resonance. That said, the film has its moments.
  19. The Front Line
    Jang and screenwriter Park Sang-yeon recognize the situation's senselessness but can't resist ramping up the melodrama and celebrating the heroism of the battle-fatigued soldiers. These contradictory impulses, combined with the film's undercooked characters, make The Front Line a war movie not quite worth engaging.
  20. We Have a Pope
    Too gingerly to be persuasive.
  21. Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos
    Fans, go be with your people. Others, approach cautiously.
  22. Musical Chairs
    Though there's plenty of movement and enthusiasm, director Susan Seidelman is content with a metronomic approach to manipulating our feelings - buoyant Latin music never felt so routinely scene-setting - and seems afraid to let anyone on-screen depart from established caricature.
  23. Keyhole
    When Udo Kier is the sanest person around, you know you're in strangeville.
  24. Seeking Justice
    The busy star (Cage) acquits himself well enough in this otherwise rudimentary thriller from deliriously unsubtle director Roger Donaldson.
  25. Casa de mi Padre
    The giddy laughs that ensue, though sometimes inspired, are too few and far between.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Laredoans Speak: Voices on Immigration
    Misses opportunities to add much substance to the debate over immigration reform. Instead, it strings together the views of a few law enforcement officials, legal experts, agriculture industry representatives, politicians, one "coyote," or human smuggler, and others hailing from the south Texas town of Laredo.
  27. The Magic of Belle Isle
    It has some heartfelt performances and a nice, nondescript vibe, but it's largely unmemorable.
  28. The Samaritan
    The Samaritan doesn't wind up feeling like a con, exactly, but it has just enough promise to leave viewers feeling ripped off when it comes up short.
  29. Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away
    If one is interested in seeing a Cirque du Soleil show, there are many to choose from. "Worlds Away" functions solely as some sort of bargain sampler platter appetizer, never proving it has a real reason of its own to exist.
  30. Fun Size
    Transiently entertaining, with intermittent sparks, it'll do until something better comes along.
  31. Blue Like Jazz
    As for the title, it's a nod to the jazz music that Don's off-the-grid dad shares with his more buttoned-up son. But, like most everything else here, it feels more contrived than authentic.
  32. Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day
    "Woman" is in essence an earnestly competent, slightly overcooked B-movie potboiler, with ideas of faith occasionally added to frame the story as parable.
  33. Jack and Diane
    Temple is dependable if uninspiring, and Keough has yet to develop much in the way of screen presence - in the film, her short dark hair and doughy features look sculpted to maximize her resemblance to her grandfather, Elvis Presley.
  34. The Smurfs 2
    Just as with the 2011 film "The Smurfs," the new The Smurfs 2 is a passable mediocrity.
  35. RoboCop
    Although the movie isn't a complete disaster, it's not your father's RoboCop either.
  36. Lola Versus
    Here that soul-baring, soul-searching is the centerpiece of the film. Unfortunately, not much else about Lola Versus matches that standard.
  37. Seven Psychopaths
    Unlike "In Bruges," the outlandish parts of Seven Psychopaths, though often bleakly entertaining in their own right, remain a collection of weird riffs that not even engaging acting by Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken and Tom Waits can bring together.
  38. Losing Control
    Losing Control has a vague cheerfulness but no real snap or insight, with Weiss apparently thinking that using scientific terminology to discuss relationships is witty rather than contrived. Perhaps investigating something new would have better served Weiss than simply looking to her own experiences, exploring rather than settling.
  39. MIS Human Secret Weapon
    The accompanying trove of archival footage and photos, however, helps break the occasional monotony; the juxtaposition of these elderly vets with snapshots of their 1940s-era, uniformed selves is always affecting.
  40. The Face of Love
    Arie Posin regrettably sticks to the tastefully designed, artless tear-jerker. The lost opportunity is that he's got the masterful Bening and Harris to play with, great enough actors to turn any interaction — however tritely written — into an intimate, emotionally honest dance of the scarred and delicate.
  41. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
    It's a product of the highest quality, but at the end of the day that's what it is: a machine-made, assembly-line product whose strengths tend to feel like items checked off a master list rather than being the result of any kind of individual creative touch.
  42. Red Hook Summer
    In truth, the film fizzles as much as it fumes.
  43. Where Do We Go Now?
    The film aims to be a gentle comedy (there are even some songs approaching musical numbers) with serious undercurrents. It stumbles most when reaching for its bigger themes.
  44. The Color Wheel
    You might not "like" Perry's movie, but it's hard to deny the forensically assured sensibility at work.
  45. The Cup
    Given all the impossible choices the young jockey had to face, The Cup should have been a weepie if ever there was one - but the filmmakers stumble on their way to the finish line.
  46. Mansome
    Offers mostly skin-deep snapshots of various men and their grooming habits.
  47. Mighty Fine
    It all makes for a family therapist's dream scenario, but an otherwise choppy and predictable memory piece.
  48. Crooked Arrows
    The result is a well-meaning checklist of a film that lacks sufficient charm or off-the-field vigor to fully score its intended goal.
  49. Hide Away
    This quiet, atmospheric drama (originally titled "A Year in Mooring") feels padded even in its brief running time; it's a slight mood piece posing as a character study.
  50. Music from the Big House
    Even with a gripping subject like blues-singing convicts, the documentary Music from the Big House has a disconcerting emotional distance.
  51. One Day on Earth
    The film is driven by a we-are-the-world connectedness, but remains a travelogue in search of a defining center. The overall impression is as fleeting as much of the imagery that flashes across the screen.
  52. Hello I Must Be Going
    Even though as a whole Hello I Must Be Going lets us down in the second half, the pleasure of watching Lynskey and Abbott never diminishes.
  53. Goats
    It all remains remarkably free of memorable comic situations, dramatic tension or emotional insight. Adolescence may be bruising, crazy or normal, but it's rarely this staid.
  54. Nitro Circus: The Movie
    Strictly for fans only.
  55. Starbuck
    As amiable art-house fluff, it's a passable way to kill time.
  56. Little Birds
    Breathtaking moments give way to boring ones; searing emotions vie with the exceedingly bland.
  57. Need For Speed
    Waugh has a good feel for the cars and action extremes, while director of photography Shane Hurlbut acquits himself nicely. But the screenplay written by George Gatins is full of potholes.
  58. Runner Runner
    The struggles in the movie are with the moments when life and liberty are on the line. The ones that should put you on the edge of your seat are more likely to have you glancing at your watch.
  59. The Internship
    The movie is not exactly a laugh riot. But its comedy is amiable enough — and surprisingly clean.
  60. Craigslist Joe
    The documentary Craigslist Joe fulfills its unique premise - without providing much in the way of stakes, obstacles, tension or, frankly, greater meaning.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Awakening
    The Awakening just meanders like an aimless ghost.
  62. Kick-Ass 2
    Kick-Ass 2 is a lesser version of what it appears to be, an uncertain jumble rather than a true exploration of outrage, violence and identity.
  63. Mama
    Beautifully envisioned, badly constructed, the only truly terrifying things in the new horror movie Mama are the fake tattoos, short black hair and black T-shirts meant to turn "Zero Dark Thirty" star Jessica Chastain into a guitar-shredding, punk rocker chick.
  64. Samsara
    Samsara is as frustrating as it is beautiful, which is saying a lot because this is a film laced with exquisite images.
  65. LUV
    What begins as a promising peek into the tragic cycle of waylaid promise that's crippling broken inner-city families is itself dispiritingly pulled sideways in the Baltimore-set indie LUV.
  66. Nature Calls
    It almost seems like harder work somehow to get this many comedians together and then turn out a movie that is only so fitfully funny.
  67. Promised Land
    It's got a strong cast and an intriguing premise that has the added bonus of real-world relevance. But, good intentions and good work aside, the film flounders before it reaches its conclusion.
  68. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
    There is no shaking the feeling that Branagh and his cast are a kind of an espionage film B team, capable of mild diversion but nothing more.
  69. The To Do List
    The To Do List is neither supergood nor superbad, but passable doesn't exactly raise the bar.
  70. The Eye of the Storm
    The Eye of the Storm is an ambitious stab at what might be called the Great Australian Film. The results are off-and-on impressive, but the project's ambitions turn out to be greater than its ability to achieve them.
  71. The Other Son
    The Other Son is a case of good intentions overwhelming the inherent drama - quite simply, political correctness got the best of it. The French director is so focused on covering all the bases, and ensuring a sense of equal empathy - and screen time - for the plight of both families, she leaves the film struggling to get beyond a log-jam of life lessons.
  72. Mulberry Child
    In the film based on her memoir Mulberry Child, Jian Ping speaks of her family's ordeal during the Cultural Revolution with searing detail and not an ounce of sentimentality. The same can't be said of director Susan Morgan Cooper's heavy-handed approach to the material.
  73. Step Up To The Plate
    As for the so-called "food compositions" seen here, like the film itself, they're more impressionistic and artistic than enticing. For a far more satisfying cinematic meal, check out the similarly themed "Jiro Dreams of Sushi."
  74. Home
    Tension is one of Home's biggest issues. There just isn't nearly enough of it. Story is another.
  75. Penguins of Madagascar
    The pun is a gun for Penguins' writers. Not a sharpshooter rifle, but a machine gun that unloads a nonstop quip barrage, mowing down the real promise of this 3-D animation action comedy.
  76. Tears of Gaza
    Tears of Gaza is both horrifying and frustrating. This documentary's goals are noble ones, but its execution is something else again.
  77. Hellbound?
    Given the subjectively interpretive nature of scripture and ancient religious history, which informs most of the Christian-centric debate here, the result is an often dense, contradictory discourse.
  78. Fred Won't Move Out
    It also points to one of the movie's most nagging problems: Stuck somewhere between personal memoir and universal truth, Fred Won't Move Out ends up being neither.
  79. No Good Deed
    It’s a little dumb (OK, maybe more than a little), but No Good Deed is an otherwise brisk, efficient thriller that won’t punish audiences who drop in.
  80. Pain & Gain
    That sense of extreme, excess, over-the-top everything is there from start to finish. And isn't that what Bay fans count on even at cut-rate prices?
  81. Here Comes the Devil
    Bogliano — who hit it big in indie horror with "Penumbra" and "Room for Tourists" — is a mood man, adept at unease and admirably judicious about shock moments, if not exactly skilled with storytelling or pacing.
  82. Tales of the Night
    In each story the imagery dazzles at first, then becomes somewhat dreary; Ocelot's storytelling never quite matches his visual abilities.
  83. Decoding Deepak
    Decoding Deepak does not feel, as it might, like an indictment of those messages but rather a straightforward portrait of someone working hard to present the product he is selling.
  84. Madrid, 1987
    The actors give their characters a resonance beyond the symbolic, but the action doesn't quite transcend the stagy setup.
  85. Waiting for Lightning
    Unfortunately, the athlete himself simply isn't much of a presence in this documentary, even as the film aims to celebrate him.
  86. All Together
    It's too bad the filmmaker felt the need to lighten his unvarnished observations about aging with "cute" stuff. Has there ever been a worthwhile payoff from the introduction of Viagra to a plot line?
  87. Sassy Pants
    Well-meaning and, in the end, sweetly redemptive, Sassy Pants would have worn better with more depth, energy and, yes, sass.
  88. Sexy Baby
    The result is a kind of "Three Ages of Woman, With Plastic Surgery," that veers between insight and hand-wringing.
  89. Tai Chi Zero
    Often more distracting than diverting with its everything-goes aesthetic - there are strains of steampunk, manga and silent film comedy, with video-game touches.
  90. Pusher (2012)
    In the end, Prieto's Pusher feels like a Guy Ritchie knockoff.
  91. The Black Tulip
    The voices in Black Tulip declaim themes of renewed hope and freedom, while the plot's grand gestures too often fall flat.
  92. Struck by Lightning
    Genial and heartfelt but essentially toothless, lacking in either snark or spark.
  93. A Man's Story
    As a flashy, country-hopping ridealong with a style icon, it will appeal to fashionistas, but you won't learn much about the high-end world of clothing design beyond its ability to stretch someone's schedule to the breaking point, and land that someone a gig outfitting Jamie Foxx and Will Smith.
  94. Citadel
    The feature debut from Irish writer-director Ciarán Foy, Citadel attempts to transform mundane anxieties into the stuff of a horror film. But the initial tension of the premise dissipates like a slow leak.
  95. Barrymore
    Two things to keep in mind when considering Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer as the great John B: It was brilliant as a one-man stage show; it was never a good candidate for film.
  96. Talaash
    The provocative noir experience that Talaash promises, with its jazzily scored, moodily lighted opening montage of a Mumbai red-light district at night, is nowhere to be found once this meandering mystery begins.
  97. Black Rock
    [Aselton's] disregard for her male characters causes Black Rock to spiral into dudette "Deliverance."
  98. A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III
    The earnest passages mostly just lie there; the film works best on its frilly, exuberant surface, as a valentine to Streamline Moderne, Pop Art and L.A.
  99. Saving Grace B. Jones
    At its most straightforward, the film is an effective drama about a 10-year-old city girl's eye-opening summer in the rural Midwest.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Clandestine Childhood
    Clandestine Childhood is a sincere effort but also rather sincerely a meager one too.
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