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. Casa de los babys
    There is often not enough space for all these personalities to truly play out. They tend to become types rather than people, representatives of classes and points of view more than individual human beings.
  2. To Be and to Have
    Part of what makes a great documentary great is the subject, and though the film never scrapes below the surface of the schoolteacher -- we never find out if he lives alone or has children of his own -- Lopez pulls as hard on the imagination as a fictional character.
  3. Secondhand Lions
    Something we want to like more than we can. It's a mild family film with an excellent cast that never develops traction.
  4. The Fighting Temptations
    A rousing, warmhearted comedy, as infectious as the gospel music it celebrates.
  5. Underworld
    Alas, as is often the case with lower-end genre movies, the story cooked up by Wiseman and his friends, actor Kevin Grevioux and the film's screenwriter, Danny McBride, is decidedly less important than the look of the film and its influences.
  6. Emerald Cowboy
    Rich in authentic locales but is unevenly directed by Andrew Molina and is hazy in its chronology. Hayata's story in all its myriad implications might well have been better told in documentary form.
  7. The Year That Trembled
    Evokes the fear, anger and conflict that swept over the country at the time, but it doesn't offer sufficient fresh insights to justify doing so.
  8. Millennium Actress
    Millennium Actress fascinatingly goes where films have not often gone before.
  9. Dummy
    A romantic comedy of considerable charm and humor.
  10. Luster
    Has a charming, skittish quality, and Lewis finds pathos and humor in his characters' often painful search for love.
  11. So Close
    A martial arts valentine to the power of fighting women. It's a slick and delirious Hong Kong action film.
  12. Matchstick Men
    Everything in Matchstick Men moves and looks right, from John Mathieson's cinematography to Tom Foden's production design, so it's puzzling that the film fizzles rather than fizzes.
  13. Cabin Fever
    Rather than steep his story in dread, ideas or something, anything, fresh and different, first-time director Eli Roth just pours on the blood, along with some recycled surrealism and plenty of giddy movie allusions.
  14. Lost in Translation
    The fact that this kind of serious material ends up playing puckishly funny as well as poignant is a tribute both to Coppola and to her do-or-die decision to cast Murray in the lead role.
  15. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    Depp's performance reminds us that, yeah, it's only a movie -- just not a good one.
  16. The Same River Twice
    Other documentaries have crisscrossed between time frames, but Moss' beguiling The Same River Twice represents one of the most effective uses of the device.
  17. Where's the Party Yaar?
    Looks good but overstays its welcome.
  18. Grisbi (re-release)
    A wonderful treasure from the seemingly inexhaustible cornucopia of crackling French crime dramas.
  19. Carnage
    There's undeniable pathos to many of these encounters, and because the director has a wonderful feel for color and knows how to throw a frame around the world, there's also unmistakable beauty.
  20. The Order
    Cast adrift with vague, improbable characters and a plot that's at once under-and overcooked, the actors struggle to find a steady tone, lurching from somber to silly as the director tries to figure out what he's doing.
  21. Home Room
    Feels like detention -- without the possibility of recess.
  22. Party Monster
    For all its decadence, it moves effectively from outrageous camp humor to stark pathos and in the process manages to be oddly touching. As for Culkin, he succeeds as an adult actor in completely unexpected ways.
  23. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
    This sleek and sunny comedy is an all-too-rare example of smart and inventive Hollywood filmmaking.
  24. Taking Sides
    In compelling, suspenseful fashion, Taking Sides illuminates brilliantly the dilemma of a great, world-renowned artist flourishing in a totalitarian regime.
  25. The Backyard
    What is going on here? Most would say a lot of incredibly dangerous and stupid activity, and most of the people in this documentary not surprisingly seem none too bright.
  26. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
    It's a compelling and ambitious idea, but one that misfires because of its underwhelming characters and slack storytelling.
  27. Civil Brand
    A compelling, highly charged film that brings a contemporary perspective to classic prison picture elements.
  28. The Other Side of the Bed
    Consistently sleek but works best if no more is expected of it than a mild diversion.
  29. Jeepers Creepers II
    Where the first "Jeepers Creepers" came across like a dark, wacky dream, the inevitable Jeepers Creepers 2 seems more like a franchise under construction.
  30. Suddenly
    Works its charms slowly but steadily.
  31. My Boss's Daughter
    My Boss's Daughter is not awful. It is a genial youth comedy that serves Kutcher well as a vehicle. That's it. That's all it tries to be
  32. Dust
    Dust is a bust, a big bad movie of the scope, ambition and bravura that could be made only by a talented filmmaker run amok.
  33. The Medallion
    Chan defies time and gravity with remarkable energy, ease and resourcefulness, not to mention charm and humor. He even gets away with a nude scene, not bad for man who turns 50 in April.
  34. Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator
    It's a classic rags-to-riches-to-rage tale about the fatal nexus of celebrity and market forces, a story that is unexpectedly poignant even though it's told to an insistent punk rock beat.
  35. Rana's Wedding
    The film effectively conveys the fears and frustrations of Palestinians struggling in a country that treats them as the enemy.
  36. Green Card Fever
    While clunky in pacing -- and in periodic attempts at humor -- Green Card Fever has been well-photographed by Scott Spears and makes some provocative points.
  37. Don't Tempt Me
    What ensues is so glum and disjointed that the film becomes an even bigger mess.
  38. Venus Boyz
    It is clear that these individuals have exercised considerable courage and determination to sort out their sexual natures and to be true to them. They have the sturdy sense of human survivors, and in Venus Boyz Baur regards them with compassion and dignity.
  39. The Battle of Shaker Heights
    The best thing that can be said about this lethargic coming-of-age tale, noticeably undernourished at 78 minutes, is that it's better than the even more pathetic "Stolen Summer."
  40. Marci X
    Despite the occasional topical reference to President Bush and Sen. Clinton, this movie is, like, so eight years ago, it isn't funny.
  41. Dog Days
    Strangely entertaining.
  42. Thirteen
    Isn't in league with the Nicholas Ray classic ("Rebel Without a Cause"), but in its ferocious energy and lead performances it's many cuts above most big-screen soap operas.
  43. Uptown Girls
    Uptown Girls is more downer than upper.
  44. Passionada
    Director Dan Ireland and the Jermanoks strive for and achieve a light romantic comedy with humorous, fanciful plotting yet shaded by genuine tenderness and passion.
  45. Loco Love
    Might have been offensive with its stereotypical, one-dimensional characters and Spanglish-laden "jokes" if it wasn't so utterly bland. With about as much flavor as iceberg lettuce, the movie really doesn't offer enough to get worked up about.
  46. Freddy vs. Jason
    Tremendous energy, outrageous humor, dazzling technical finesse -- and a numbing amount of violence, brutality, bloodshed and all-out savagery. It is downright depressing to think about all that vigorous cinematic artistry and expertise aimed so low.
  47. American Splendor
    Biographies of living people are tricky if for no other reason than a biographer can sometimes feel protective of his or her subject. Berman and Pulcini obviously adore Pekar, but by not getting out of his head more often and taking him on his own harsh terms, they blow the chance to dig as deep as the source.
  48. Shaolin Soccer
    An infectious knockabout kung fu comedy with amusing special effects combined with breathtaking stunts.
  49. Open Range
    Say what you like, think what you will, scoff if you have to (and you will definitely have to), but in the final analysis Kevin Knows Westerns.
  50. Grind
    Manages to capture enough honest moments to make it watchable, but it's never really funny enough to recommend to anyone who's outgrown short pants and kneepads.
  51. OT: Our Town
    A whole world can be fit into 76 minutes, and that's what the splendid documentary OT: our town manages to do.
  52. Le divorce
    Whatever the reason, his riff on Le Divorce follows the original only in broad strokes, hewing to a similar plot with many of the same characters but without the wit, the barbs and the politics.
  53. The Princess Blade
    With its stylized, near-surreal comic-book look and roots, The Princess Blade has all the makings of a cult film.
  54. Step Into Liquid
    Brown has expertly captured the exhilarating and terrifying experience of watching surfers attack waves so preposterously large and ridiculously beautiful they defy description.
  55. S.W.A.T.
    Though the film's second half has some good action moments, it never fulfills the promise of its earliest scenes.
  56. Freaky Friday
    Turning ordinary life into movie magic is one of the most difficult, least-heralded challenges for any filmmaker. What makes Freaky Friday a charmer isn't how far-out things get for this mother and daughter, but how sweet and distinctly un-freaky a kid, her mom and their love for each other can be.
  57. Boys Life 4: Four Play
    Brent Sloan is the executive producer for the 87-minute Boys Life 4, each segment of which is polished, succinctly developed and well-acted. It deserves as warm a reception from audiences as its predecessors.
  58. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...
    The perfect summer tonic for mature audiences looking for sophisticated escape. It's filled with beautiful people in gorgeous, exotic locales.
  59. The Secret Lives of Dentists
    A stylish work from an accomplished, sophisticated filmmaker that bristles with intelligence and gleams with Scott's and Davis' multifaceted, astutely judged portrayals.
  60. Enemies of Laughter
    Paymer and many others in a large cast are well-established players with strong credits, and they do the best they can to pump life into remorselessly glum material.
  61. The Magdalene Sisters
    Graced with performers who bring a purity of emotion to their work, the film is always dramatically convincing. There is a fundamental air of truth about it, a sense that, horrific though things seem, this is how it must have been.
  62. American Wedding
    Scott's energy helps keep the movie going during its sluggish moments and animates its few bright spots, including a pleasurably dumb showdown on the dance floor of a gay bar.
  63. Gigli
    Nearly as unwatchable as it is unpronounceable.
  64. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
    However caricatured a vision of female empowerment, Lara Croft exercises an irresistible tug not just on the adolescent male imagination but the 12-year-old female imagination as well.
  65. Mondays in the Sun
    A triumph of quiet realism, a piece of sophisticated, subtle filmmaking that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking.
  66. Buffalo Soldiers
    Even Phoenix, an actor who can make an incestuous-minded Roman emperor seem sensitive, can't smooth over political nihilism this unsavory.
  67. Hotel
    Figgis certainly was after something different, but like "Timecode," in which four linked stories unwind in separate panels, Hotel proves to be a fundamentally insipid bid at experimental narrative.
  68. Seabiscuit
    It is not as exceptional a film as the reality deserves, but with a story this strong and races this expertly re-created, it squeezes out a victory by being as good a movie as it needs to be. On some days, that is enough.
  69. Lucía, Lucía
    An exhilarating celebration of the possibilities of love and friendship, and Lucía, Félix and Adrián could not be more likable.
  70. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
    A good example of complex Hollywood wizardry placed in the service of sharp, intelligent family entertainment.
  71. Camp
    Has a good deal of the appeal, and the drawbacks, of a high school play. It can be pokey and overly earnest and its dramatics are not always polished, but, on the other hand, would you want them to be?
  72. Masked and Anonymous
    The look of the film is great, the soundtrack glorious, but more often than not the dialogue is atrocious, featuring a lot of long-winded gobbledygook.
  73. Cuban Rafters
    The creators of the magnificent Balseros stayed involved with its subject, a group of Cuban boat people who made it to the United States, for a full seven years. If you put in that kind of time, you witness life happening in front of you in all its compelling, confounding drama. What could be better than that?
  74. This Thing of Ours
    A decently crafted, standard Mafia blood bath with a few new wrinkles and an aura of authenticity.
  75. Sakura Wars
    Duller-than-dirt.
  76. Johnny English
    A comic actor of genius who raises silliness to an art form, the wonderfully expressive Atkinson makes excellent use of those devastating looks in the spy spoof Johnny English, where he turns up as a James Bond type more likely to kill adversaries by accident than on purpose.
  77. The Embalmer
    From start to finish Garrone charges The Embalmer, a richly visual film, with an effective ambiguity and sense of foreboding.
  78. How to Deal
    Works up some genuine emotion offset by occasional humor and creates individuals of a certain degree of complexity, but the film is glazed over with an aura of artificiality.
  79. The Sea Is Watching
    An exquisite period film from a script Akira Kurosawa did not live to direct. It has a softer edge than the master probably would have delivered, but it is deeply affecting.
  80. Dirty Pretty Things
    This is a film that insinuates itself deeply into our awareness. It's that rare pulp story with something on its mind, an unnerving, socially conscious thriller with a killer sense of narrative drive.
  81. The Anarchist Cookbook
    An admirably ambitious political satire but is stronger on soundtrack narration than on-camera dramatization.
  82. Bad Boys II
    With a body built for action and a smile made for comedy, Smith eases through his scenes -- cool but never scary, a touch hip-hop and thoroughly audience-friendly. And unlike Lawrence, he can act. Smith's ability to put over a scene, combined with his matinee charm, goes a long way to making the film's violence palatable.
  83. September 11
    It's no surprise that Imamura has directed the best film in September 11, which is doubtless why the producer saved it for last.
  84. Garage Days
    Like real indie films, garage bands are by definition rough around the edges, but what separates the true believers from the poseurs is their passion, their commitment -- and not just how cool they look on screen or on stage. A mainstream endeavor tricked out as an indie, Garage Days gives us plenty to look at but no reason to care.
  85. A Housekeeper
    A summer treat for sophisticated moviegoers -- graceful and serious, yet not overly so. This easy-to-take movie gets everything just right and is a pleasure to watch.
  86. Km. 0 - Kilometer Zero
    Made from a sophisticated European perspective, this is a light summer entertainment with an able, highly attractive cast.
  87. Northfork
    A thoroughly original accomplishment of a high artistic order, Northfork features flawless, spare production design by Ichelle Spitzig and the Polish brothers' father, Del, and cinematographer M. David Mullen's striking images slide effortlessly into Dalí-like Surrealism.
  88. The Cuckoo
    A rare bird indeed -- a disarming, appealingly modest discovery, beautifully shot, nicely performed. Perched on the knife's edge of absurdity, the story at once embraces the large questions (who is the enemy and why) and shrugs them off with a laugh.
  89. I Capture the Castle
    It's a rich, emotional story, a wonderfully appealing film made with humor and intelligence, but there is also something almost magical about how it takes the stuff of innumerable previous films -- love, romance and adolescent coming of age -- and turns them into something that feels one of a kind.
  90. The Holy Land
    It has the awkwardness that characterizes many first features and, as befits a culture that does not always prize refinement, some of its performances and situations are not as subtle as they should be.
  91. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
    These guys have dumbed down a comic book.
  92. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
    This noisy retread, a secondhand facsimile of a movie, is, except for the headache its boisterous sound level leaves you with, as forgettable as a bad day in the Disneyland parking lot.
  93. Tattoo
    The film is an engrossing and original police procedural of bleak, steel-gray images and high style. But be warned: as part of its complex, ever-unfolding plot, it is punctuated with some grisly images.
  94. Confusion of Genders
    Certainly sexy, entertaining and provocative -- in several senses of the word -- but it's also tiresome as only a French film can be when everyone in it has only sex and amour on his or her mind and is deadly serious about both.
  95. Gasoline
    Finally too derivative and sensational for its own sake to work.
  96. Swimming Pool
    Ozon misses some chances with Sarah, but Rampling doesn't skip a beat. Freed from the burden of likability, the actress pushes the character from near-farce to near-tragedy, without once appealing to sentimentalism.
  97. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
    An expertly paced and efficient sci-fi thrill machine, "T3" effectively marries impressive action sequences with persuasive storytelling and its star's uniquely appealing style of "No" drama -- as in no reaction, no expression, no emotion of any kind.
  98. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
    A pleasure to look at. It's filled with fine, imaginative moves and an overarching sense of visual freedom, a feeling of play that entices us into enjoyment. But, when it comes to dialogue and story, this Sinbad apparently used up all its initiative changing its hero's ethnicity to generic Greco-Roman.
  99. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
    Elle dresses in shades of sorbet and dolls up her Chihuahua like a bantamweight drag queen, but by fighting the good fight she's also giving alpha girls and women their due, rescuing them from the magazine horror stories and the taint of Hillary.
  100. On_Line
    A fine example of digital filmmaking, and Weintrob and his co-writer, Andrew Osborne, manage to raise some serious issues regarding the Internet without taking themselves too seriously.
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