Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,520 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: 8,697 out of 16520
  2. Mixed: 5,806 out of 16520
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16520
16520 movie reviews
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  1. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
    Surprisingly free of gore, unlike its predecessors.
  2. Anatomy 2
    Suspenseful entertainment -- but it's also a suitably chilling cautionary tale.
  3. The Leopard (re-release)
    The film is a glittering triumph of personal expression at its most elegant and opulent.
  4. We Don't Live Here Anymore
    Affecting and sincere in the best sense, which makes up for the whiff of anachronism and the creakiness of some of the big metaphoric moments.
  5. Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie
    The appeal of Yu-Gi-Oh! for kids who play the card game shouldn't be too much of a mystery -- at least to any adult who admits to tuning in to celebrity poker on TV.
  6. Danny Deckchair
    As instantly gratifying and devoid of surprises as a Club Med vacation. It bears no relation to reality whatsoever, but sometimes it's nice to imagine that, somewhere, there's a place nothing like home.
  7. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
    Like its predecessor, it's Hollywood hokum at its most glamorous and effective.
  8. Bang Rajan
    The vigorous Bang Rajan moves with a sure sense of direction and authority to its major culminating battle, a singularly savage and wrenching encounter that for all its bloodshed is never exploitative and concludes the film on a resounding note of tragic grandeur.
  9. Last Life in the Universe
    The stars and Doyle's expressive cinematography add up to a disarmingly seductive yet always precarious film experience.
  10. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
    Keeps its filmmakers behind the camera and does without the personality-driven "Fahrenheit's" sarcastic sense of humor.
  11. Stander
    Crackles with forceful portrayals. Funny, violent, impassioned and inescapably poignant, Stander in no way sanctions Stander's turning to a life of crime yet has the courage to see him as a victim of apartheid himself.
  12. Code 46
    Winterbottom, who's never been a director with a gift for warmth, can't make this romance come alive. Morton and Robbins are gifted actors, but they seem straitjacketed here, and the film finds it difficult to avoid tedium as their lugubrious relationship unfolds.
  13. Little Black Book
    It's an irrefutably bad movie, littered with paper-thin characters, crummy dialogue and a mawkish undercurrent that wells up any time it starts to resemble something smarter and snappier. Yet it is somehow redeemed by Murphy's agreeably quirky performance in a horribly underwritten role.
  14. Open Water
    An expertly made suspense thriller based on an actual incident, but on a visceral level it's about as much fun as watching someone pull the wings off a butterfly.
  15. Collateral
    As a result of Mann's craftsmanship and concern, Collateral crackles with energy and purpose, a propulsive film with character on its mind and confident men and women on both sides of the camera.
  16. Festival Express
    There were greater rock festivals and there are greater rock movies, but nothing existed quite like this mobile bacchanal, nicely preserved in Festival Express.
  17. Gozu
    The film unfolds as if it were a dream in which taboo subconscious urges surface symbolically as in a Dali painting, yet everything takes place in everyday settings.
  18. Gender Bias
    Transfixed is a solid, engaging example of how a genre plot can illuminate a marginalized world.
  19. Thunderbirds
    Aside from a couple of rescue set pieces that bookend it, the film is strictly low-wattage in terms of action.
  20. The Village
    It's tedious instead of provocative and so unconvincing as to be preposterous.
  21. Intimate Strangers
    Patrice Leconte has long ago mastered a Gallic specialty: the knack of making impeccably polished, graceful films with an unpretentious ease while allowing them to emerge seeming fresh and spontaneous. Leconte's latest film to reach the U.S. reveals him to be at his slyest best.
  22. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
    That Cho and Penn are such likable actors and are so funny in their roles earns the movie more slack than it probably deserves and prevents it from being just another gross-out comedy.
  23. The Manchurian Candidate
    The strength of sensational material joined to excellent acting, superior filmmaking and uncanny political relevance has made The Manchurian Candidate into exceptionally intelligent entertainment and a high point of director Jonathan Demme's career.
  24. Proteus
    Proteus is involving and affecting even if it is not completely coherent or fully realized.
  25. The Burial Society
    The gimmicky nature of the flashbacks weakens the story and lessens the film's suspense. Nevertheless, The Burial Society is a clever, spiritual film that argues that God sees all and, what's more, he's always right.
  26. She Hate Me
    Lee's energy never flags, and She Hate Me resonates with authority and impact and daring, but the messages it sends are mixed.
  27. Garden State
    Garden State illuminates a young man's overdue coming of age with unexpected depth and grace.
  28. Los Angeles Plays Itself
    It is a remarkable work, quite likely the best documentary on the City of Angels ever made.
  29. Orwell Rolls in His Grave
    Enlightening, at times disturbing, and always provocative, but Pappas manages to end with a glimmer of hope.
  30. This Old Cub
    Though at times sentimental, the documentary is a terrific character sketch, capturing both the rough edges and the compassion of its subject.
  31. Catwoman
    Not everybody will be able to swallow its heady romanticism, yet its French director, Pitof, has brought sophistication to a comic book sensibility, which helps some purple patches of dialogue along with other absurdities.
  32. Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut
    “Donnie Darko" was one of the best pictures released in 2001. Now that it has returned in a 20-minute longer--and richer -- director's cut, it seems sure to be ranked as one of the key American films of the decade.
  33. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
    The film is especially strong in its second half, which is dominated by contemporary footage of Zinn.
  34. A Home at the End of the World
    Charged by a passion for life, A Home at the End of the World is a major achievement.
  35. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
    Kitano uses exaggerated acting, choreo-graphed violence and, most radically, the rhythms of everyday life -- farmers pounding the earth, the syncopated plop of falling rain -- to turn this genre story into a crypto-Kabuki play and one blissfully idiosyncratic diversion.
  36. Ju-on: The Grudge
    The film's repetitious, episodic structure seems to unnecessarily alleviate the building tension, making it a far less frightening film than it might have been.
  37. The Bourne Supremacy
    Rarely does pop come with such sizzle.
  38. Zhou Yu de huo che
    Seems at once overwhelmingly romantic and elliptical, yet all the while it has been building to a conclusion that is surprisingly affecting in the jolt of recognition it elicits.
  39. A Cinderella Story
    Unfortunately, "Cinderella" feels like a pro forma TV movie from the get-go and relies almost entirely on Duff's likability to hold the audience's attention.
  40. Maria Full of Grace
    In its vitality and finesse, Maria Full of Grace is all of a piece -- and both artistically and spiritually itself full of grace.
  41. Touch of Pink
    Lively and often comical.
  42. I, Robot
    More disturbing, yet another robot, or maybe two, seems to have written a Hollywood script and hijacked a major studio production. Given the film's assembly-line screenplay and mechanistic storytelling, no other explanation seems viable. Certainly no one with a heartbeat or taste would blow so much talent, time and resources on such rubbishy writing.
  43. Flavors
    Aims for a kind of hip cultural fusion but lacks the sharp satirical perspective to pull it off.
  44. Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
    Even if you have no previous interest in or extensive knowledge of hip-hop, Freestyle will draw you in, accomplishing that rare feat of making the creative process interesting while also telling a story.
  45. The Door in the Floor
    Bridges turns a two-dimensional image into a presence so vital, so filled with breath and blood, that you uneasily fall in love with his character and abandon all thought of the artifice that's brought it to life.
  46. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
    By turns exasperating, appalling and surprisingly empathetic -- sometimes all in the same moment -- the three members of Metallica quickly emerge as the main attractions in Some Kind of Monster, but not for the reasons you might expect.
  47. The Inheritance
    A powerhouse. Highly dramatic and intensely emotional, blessed with strong themes and an unstoppable narrative drive, it is adult, intelligent entertainment of a kind we rarely see these days.
  48. Sleepover
    A skillfully made teen comedy with such an endearing sensibility that it's fun even for those old enough to be the grandparents of its stars.
  49. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    In this context Ferrell seems more than just comic relief. He's a reminder that the greatest, deepest laughter doesn't come at the expense of some other guy, but from the glints of self-recognition we get when the screen becomes our mirror.
  50. Riding Giants
    For those who do enjoy being smacked around by the ocean, for those who thrill to the romance and hype of extreme surfing and dig the outsider aspect of this rarefied culture or at least its marketed cool, this film will likely be their ticket to ride a board by proxy.
  51. King Arthur
    A nutty, often enjoyable farrago of craft and cinematic sampling, King Arthur moves fast and loose, and is almost aggressive in its absence of an original idea, in and of itself a Bruckheimer trademark.
  52. Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi
    May ultimately be slight, but its appeal lies in its ability to find hope and strength in the soulful eyes of a gentle teenager.
  53. America's Heart and Soul
    This is an undeniably gorgeous film, with tremendous sweep and a great feel for vast landscapes and glittering cityscapes. Schwartzberg has captured a sense of the country's grandeur.
  54. The Clearing
    A beautiful and consistently engaging film, but that the filmmakers dared cast all three lead roles with actors who are over 40 makes it especially rewarding.
  55. Before Sunset
    Because Linklater now wears his heart on his sleeve, he has made a film that in its joy, optimism and aesthetic achievement keeps faith with American cinema at its finest.
  56. De-Lovely
    Something certainly blows here, but it isn't the archangel's horn.
  57. Spider-Man 2
    As played by Alfred Molina with both computer-generated and puppeteer assistance, Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go.
  58. The Notebook
    Cassavetes isn't much of a director and he never settles on a mood, which he seems intent on ruining with hiccups of goofiness. But there's an underlying humanity to his scenes, a sense that movies are made by people for other people.
  59. Bought & Sold
    The story wraps a little too neatly and backs away from some of its darker impulses but is finally a sweet-natured tale of male rituals and cultural adaptation in urban America.
  60. The Intended
    The misguided, delirious result offers the perverse guilty pleasure of watching a roster of distinguished actors earnestly swimming against a tidal wave of silliness.
  61. Kaena: The Prophecy
    There are moments in Kaena that are absorbing, but too much of the time it simply becomes tedious.
  62. Time of the Wolf
    One of the most harrowing and plausible visions of apocalypse since George A. Romero's 1968 zombie shocker, "Night of the Living Dead."
  63. Two Brothers
    Only the tigers, beautiful and dangerous, maintain their integrity. By staying true to themselves, they make nothing else matter.
  64. White Chicks
    Even if it lingers a bit too long, White Chicks represents a solid accomplishment for the crowd-pleasing Wayans brothers.
  65. Fahrenheit 9/11
    Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 has launched an unapologetic attack, both savage and savvy, on an administration he feels has betrayed the best of America and done extensive damage in the world.
  66. Swing
    All surface shine with little substance.
  67. The Hunting of the President
    Worthy of being seen as more than a potential double-bill partner for "Fahrenheit 9/11."
  68. Facing Windows
    Far from a simple, feel-good story of self-discovery, Facing Windows delivers a challenging examination of loneliness and human interaction.
  69. Seducing Doctor Lewis
    The kind of shrewd, genial comedy it provides doesn't intend to break new ground, but its traditional satisfactions are so effectively done and so long in coming our way that to see it is to realize just how hungry we've been for this kind of old-fashioned treat.
  70. Father and Son
    Nothing much happens by way of plot in the course of Father and Son, but it offers a fresh and often startling vision of one of the most fundamental relationships between human beings.
  71. The Terminal
    Entertainment like this is too hard to find to second-guess for too long.
  72. What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?
    As entertainment, the movie is a mixed bag. Some of the talking heads become just that after a while.
  73. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
    Mean-spirited vulgarity and homosexual panic.
  74. À cause d'un garçon
    There's a naturalness to the entire cast, yet there is considerable depth to the portrayals, and the interplay between the characters is exceptionally rich and nuanced.
  75. Grand Theft Parsons
    Knoxville is surprisingly good playing a man who may have been in one too many barroom brawls, moving with a hunched, hips-forward swagger that suggests someone constantly walking through very low doorways.
  76. Around the World in 80 Days
    Sails along on a slipstream of pleasant scenery, amusing incident and the boundless charms of its appealing leading men, Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan: It's an unexpectedly buoyant spectacular.
  77. My Sister Maria
    A thoughtful look backward, a summing up that attempts to understand what is ephemeral and what truly lasts, what it is that matters in the final analysis.
  78. Word Wars
    The film stands up well to the inevitable comparisons to "Spellbound," a riveting documentary about young spelling bee contestants.
  79. Imagining Argentina
    Severely marred by a plot device so ludicrous it turns a serious drama into something silly.
  80. Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
    Moving and invaluable.
  81. The Chronicles of Riddick
    Not since John Travolta sprouted a head of dreadlocks and strapped on platform boots for "Battlefield Earth" has cinematic science fiction been such good-bad fun as in The Chronicles of Riddick.
  82. The Stepford Wives
    It was somebody's nitwit idea to rip out the story's guts and brains for a sour sellout of a finale -- which finds the filmmakers behaving exactly like Stepford men and turning an original into a dummy.
  83. Garfield
    Bill Murray completists, tots under 5 and their unfortunate chaperons are the only ones who need experience the soulless excuse for an entertainment called Garfield: The Movie.
  84. Napoleon Dynamite
    It's a simple collection of sight gags and pratfalls that mines the overly familiar turf of awkward adolescence without bringing anything truly original to the experience.
  85. Imelda
    Diaz has said that she hopes the film asks the right questions. But it seems, in this case, that the questions are leading - and rightly so. Marcos is given all the tape she needs to hang herself.
  86. The Story of the Weeping Camel
    "Weeping" is a simple tale of animal estrangement and reconciliation that in its own quiet way manages to be soothing, hypnotic, even magical.
  87. The Corporation
    The Corporation takes great and successful pains to be as visually diverse and clever as it is intellectually provocative.
  88. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Azkaban breaks free of all these shackles in its final hour. Working with the persuasive Thewlis and Oldman, able to focus his gifts on what's distinctive, dramatic and surprising about the story, Cuarón creates on screen the heartfelt magic that has enthralled so many on the page.
  89. Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer
    Does little to unravel the riddle of the title. Unless you are already a fan of Castaneda, the film is likely to leave you feeling as though you've just watched a very long, lost episode of that old TV series "In Search of ..."
  90. Bukowski: Born into This
    Accomplishes beautifully what it sets out to do, which is to reveal the man behind the crusty, hard-drinking, tough-talking persona Charles Bukowski so artfully crafted.
  91. Soul Plane
    Flashy production design can't save Soul Plane from crashing and burning in a debris field strewn with stereotypes and raunch.
  92. Saved!
    It's no great surprise that after a tough beginning, Saved! soon starts to sound a lot like the inspirational TV movie (with Valerie Bertinelli).
  93. The Mother
    Every element of The Mother, directed by Roger Michell and written by Hanif Kureishi, fits together with perfection. The film's staging -- the way its settings create a world that allows for striking images that echo the psychological interplay of its people, the way in which every performance could not be any better -- is awe-inspiring.
  94. Baadasssss!
    In its spirit and execution, Baadasssss! lives up to its forebear.
  95. The Day After Tomorrow
    The story is too silly, too woefully underwritten, to stake a claim on seriousness.
  96. Union Square
    Far more troubling than the documentary's lack of data and analysis, its refusal to pose even basic questions -- whether, for instance, the so-called war on drugs is a total farce -- is the sense that these seven lost souls are principally on display for our viewing displeasure.
  97. Wake
    Nothing is allowed to build, so there is no tension or surprise left for the film's climax, resulting in a reductively pulpy rehash of 20th century American drama.
  98. Frankie and Johnny Are Married
    A bittersweet, wryly amusing "dramatic fiction"
  99. The Five Obstructions
    A complete original. This ingenious, almost indescribable film won't remind you of anything else because there's nothing else like it.
  100. Raising Helen
    The agreeable cast led by Hudson and Cusack manage to extract a handful of laughs from the forgettable dialogue, but at nearly two hours, the film goes on far too long.
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