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. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
    As insistent as it is skillful -- and it is very skillful -- it does all it can to pound you into enjoying yourself. The result is rather like being force-fed a meal of your favorite foods by the Terminator.
  2. 28 Days Later...
    At once an old-fashioned freakout and an environmental cautionary tale (mess with Mother Nature and she'll mess with you right back), the film combines two genre standbys -- lethal contagion and the undead -- and gives them a wicked, contemporary spin.
  3. Wash Dry and Spin Out
    For histrionic wretched excess this movie would be hard to surpass.
  4. Francis Ford Coppola Presents: The Legend of Suriyothai
    Not the place to go look for nuanced, deeply emotional performances. The acting is inevitably on the formal side, suitable for the pageant this film is. But don't let that dissuade you. They won't be making another film like this any time soon, and the chance to see all those elephants is not one you get every day.
  5. Alex & Emma
    A painfully contrived and artificial exercise in futility.
  6. Hulk
    However nifty, Lee's Cubist gambit fails to capture the graphic tension that makes great comic-book art jump off the page and great pop movies jump off the screen with pow, zap and wow!
    • 14 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    From Justin to Kelly
    Relentlessly inoffensive, innocuous and vacuous, From Justin to Kelly is nowhere near as bad as its pre-release publicity would suggest.
  8. Manito
    As a dramatist Eason has a classicist's sense of structure and movement to complement his sense of the cinematic. Manito, which has a special grand jury prize from Sundance among its 10 awards, is a small film with a big impact.
  9. The Hard Word
    Interests us in ways we don't expect. It has a mordant sense of humor and a gift for character and incident that has attracted two of Australia's best actors -- Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths -- as well as an excellent supporting cast.
  10. Jet Lag
    Minor whimsy of a film.
  11. The Heart of Me
    Perhaps The Heart of Me's greatest success is the way it avoids turning any of its characters into villains. They all act badly at times, but we feel for them just the same; they never lose our sympathy. Weepy or not, that's an accomplishment any kind of film can feel proud of.
  12. No Turning Back
    More a 99-minute public service announcement about the plight of illegal immigrants than a fully formed drama, the film finds itself in a no-win situation not unlike that of its protagonist.
  13. Hollywood Homicide
    No one comes out of Hollywood Homicide looking good, but the film fades fast.
  14. Rugrats Go Wild
    The number of characters makes Rugrats Go Wild somewhat bulkier than its less complicated predecessors, but fans are not likely to mind.
  15. Tycoon: A New Russian
    In the end Tycoon above all evokes a melancholy awareness of the seemingly eternal exploitation and impoverishment of the Russian people.
  16. Herod's Law
    A bombshell in its home country, Herod's Law is made with the kind of flair that ensures a following everywhere politicians are venal and voters hope against hope for deliverance.
  17. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
    Falls wildly short of its inspirations.
  18. Love the Hard Way
    It's too little Grier too late, but it's also fairly satisfying to watch.
  19. The Eye
    Their (filmmakers Oxide and Danny Pang) sense of pacing is nicely arrhythmic, which makes the "boo" moments all the more heart-thudding, but what's even more pleasurable are the pockets of quiet, those lacuna of low-frequency dread when nothing much happens.
  20. 2 Fast 2 Furious
    My hand trembles slightly as I type these words, but the truth is that while watching 2 Fast 2 Furious, the follow-up to the pleasurably cheap-thrills sleeper "The Fast and the Furious," I realized just how much I miss Vin Diesel.
  21. Whale Rider
    A substantial film of unexpected emotional force. And when at a certain point it seems to slip the bonds of this world and take a leap of faith into an almost mythological dimension, it breathlessly takes us along for that memorable ride.
  22. Garmento
    Garmento has nothing going for it. First-time writer-director Michele Maher spent three years working in Manhattan's fashion industry...her attempts at satire are feeble and trite, and her stereotypical characters are without interest.
  23. The Weather Underground
    A compelling piece of work that turns out to have unexpected relevance to the current world situation.
  24. Controlled Chaos
    Controlled Chaos unfortunately also reveals that Zendel's talents do not equal her ambitions.
  25. The Era of Vampires
    A swift and amusing martial-action, adventure-horror picture with a bold, larger-than-life comic-book sensibility and richly atmospheric production design.
  26. Together
    The result is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser that will strike Chen's admirers as a heartfelt but decidedly minor effort.
  27. The Italian Job
    A fast and furious action-adventure. The film's comedy counts for as much as the clever and risky ways in which Wahlberg and company go after the nasty Norton, who has holed up in a Bel-Air mansion with a world-class security system.
  28. Wrong Turn
    Director Rob Schmidt, working from a screenplay by Alan McElroy, manages to keep the suspense up through the final hour of the film. Cast members acquit themselves agreeably, carrying off horror archetypes without much fanfare.
  29. Capturing the Friedmans
    Overmatched by the strange and compelling true story that is its subject, this unfortunate film ends up both more disingenuous than it wants to admit and more awkward than it can easily acknowledge.
  30. Finding Nemo
    The best break of all is that Pixar's traditionally untethered imagination can't be kept under wraps forever, and "Nemo" erupts with sea creatures that showcase Stanton and company's gift for character and peerless eye for skewering contemporary culture.
  31. The In-Laws
    They (Brooks and Douglas) are so out of sync with each other that they seem to be looking for different movies to take their acts, though neither makes you want to see those hypothetical films. Not even as an option to this one.
  32. Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
    Not only does it feel like an exclusive party at which there is definitely no room for the uninitiated, its waves of idolization barely leave room for the band itself. Good as they are, They Might Be Giants deserve a better film.
  33. Grazia's Island
    The film doubtless works better for those able to accept it unquestioningly as a charming fable of the redemptive, healing power of love that it means to be.
  34. Bruce Almighty
    While Bruce Almighty does end on a modest "Candide"-like note, the getting there is too strained to be much of a pleasure.
  35. Pursuit of Happiness
    The film shares that most common of mainstream flaws, a malnourished script. Written by John Zaring, the film brings together some very fine actors (Frank Whaley and Annabeth Gish) playing barely there characters with less-than-compelling obstacles keeping them apart.
  36. Everybody Says I'm Fine!
    Takes a darkly daring tack that pays off handsomely, providing wholly unexpected dimension that reveals the full measure of Bose's imagination and skill. Smartly designed and richly photographed, this film is an idiosyncratic charmer -- and a lot more.
  37. The Sea
    It's hard to imagine anyone enjoying it except for those seeking to see people up there on the screen unhappier than themselves.
  38. Friends and Family
    It is an inept, inane Mafia comedy with a gay angle, all the more insufferable because director Kristen Coury and writer Joseph Triebwasser clearly think they're being wonderfully cute and clever.
  39. L'Auberge Espagnole
    Exhilarating comedy...Its warm, embracing spirit is refreshing in these divisive times.
  40. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
    Artfully, even elegantly constructed, Secret Lives skillfully probes issues of conflicting emotions and allegiances in a dark time, yet emerges as a loving affirmation of humanity's remarkable potential for goodness in the face of pervasive evil.
  41. Pokémon Heroes
    Gallops along at a quick, easygoing clip. Grown-ups may have to scrub the sugar from their frontal lobes. But it's not about them, is it? Never was. Never will be.
  42. Sweet Sixteen
    It's one of the most emotional and compelling the filmmaker has ever made. Confident, uncompromising and blisteringly realistic, Sweet Sixteen is a gritty and immediate film yet it goes right to the emotions.
  43. The Matrix Reloaded
    If a concept is to sustain itself over a multipart story, it must make an emotional connection, and this "Reloaded," especially with stars cast for their lack of affect and affinity for blankness, cannot do that.
  44. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
    It's sexy, brainy and slightly nuts.
  45. A Family Affair
    A serious romantic comedy of such strength and substance and so entertaining that it doesn't matter that its minuscule budget shows around the edges.
  46. Washington Heights
    This well-paced film's realistic style and authentic locales are a perfect fit for the characters and their story.
  47. Only the Strong Survive
    It emphasizes its stars' capacity to endure as individuals and entertainers and does not dwell on the harder times and personal travails they survived. However, it acknowledges the well-known exploitation black artists have traditionally experienced in the pop music industry.
  48. The Trip
    Swain balances the personal and the political, allowing his film to be intimate while keeping a larger perspective. It is refreshing to see people on screen who are living in a real world.
  49. Man on the Train
    As a filmmaker, he (Leconte) doesn't have anything profound to say but does say his something with craft, visual flair and professionalism. Depending on your mood, that can be either too little or just enough.
  50. Daddy Day Care
    I laughed a couple of times, but mostly I was bored out of my mind and not a little depressed.
  51. The Shape of Things
    Unfortunately, this film is not as convincing as LaBute's first feature ("In the Company of Men"), for it betrays its origins in the theatricality of its dialogue, resulting in an aura of artificiality.
  52. Down with Love
    Director Peyton Reed gets the film's look and, in moments, its disingenuous innocence, but you have to wonder what he and the screenwriters, Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake, thought they were parodying. The actors clearly haven't a clue.
  53. Charlotte Sometimes
    Would that all love stories were as sophisticated and amusing as the satisfying Charlotte Sometimes.
  54. X2: X-Men United
    Brisk and involving with a streamlined forward propulsion, it's the kind of superhero movie we want if we have to have superhero movies at all.
  55. The Dancer Upstairs
    If the screenwriter and director had followed their cinematic instincts fully, they would have collaborated on one of the more satisfying political thrillers in years; instead, they've managed to create three-quarters of one.
  56. Owning Mahowny
    Kwietniowski might have tried for some edginess that would express a measure of the excitement Mahowny is experiencing. Despite the driven intensity of the banker, the film threatens to slip into the lifelessness of the drab world it depicts.
  57. Blue Car
    Even with its drawbacks, Blue Car remains an intimate, thoughtful drama, with a performance no one is likely to forget.
  58. The Lizzie McGuire Movie
    The movie, with all its brashness and crassness, can still claim noble motives in encouraging insecure young people to seek the pop diva buried deep within.
  59. New Suit
    In not taking itself too seriously New Suit scores more points than some pictures that take a scathing approach.
  60. Spellbound
    At a time when so many in this country are at odds about what represents America at its best, it's refreshing and then some to see a film that everyone can agree is an example of exactly that.
  61. Marooned in Iraq
    Even though the film's tone grows ever more elegiac, it stubbornly remains a celebration of the Kurdish capacity to endure.
  62. Returning Mickey Stern
    A bland romantic comedy that comes up short on both laughs and love.
  63. The Real Cancun
    The result is surprisingly genial, even innocent -- a movie without a screenplay that echoes countless coming-of-age-at-the-beach movies, except maybe "Weekend at Bernie's."
  64. House of Fools
    A superbly shot film of emotional extravagance, sentimentality and even humor, House of Fools is a film that is ultimately quite moving but which probably could only have been pulled off by a director steeped in that famous Russian soul.
  65. City of Ghosts
    For his atmospheric debut as a feature director, the actor Matt Dillon has cast himself as a guy in need of saving. It's a nice fit.
  66. A Decade Under the Influence
    It is often remarked that the years between "Easy Rider" (1969) and "Star Wars" (1977) marked a second golden age in American filmmaking, and this documentary, as comprehensive as it is incisive, is a reminder of just how many terrific pictures came out during those years.
  67. Manic
    If the cast is distractingly pretty, the performances are also quite fine and, in the case of Gordon-Levitt, exceptional.
  68. Confidence
    Does have a large and capable cast and, in James Foley, a director with a taste for visual flourishes. They all so fell in love with the script by Doug Jung they didn't notice how much a derivative retread it is of superior material like "The Grifters" and even "The Sting."
  69. Identity
    Fine escapist fare with a saving sense of humor and an underlying premise that, when revealed, proves to be arguably plausible even if a reach.
  70. It Runs in the Family
    Schepisi not only inspired the cast to give well-shaded, reflective portrayals but also made the film a work of honest, heartfelt sentiment.
  71. People I Know
    It's not often that you see talented, well-meaning people joined together like cultists in the snare of a group delusion, but that's what makes this film fascinating, the proverbial accident you can't take your eyes off.
  72. Onmyoji: The Yin Yang Master
    Emerges as an epic tale of love, sacrifice and redemption that attains a Shakespearean aura of grandeur and nobility of spirit.
  73. Winged Migration
    At its best, Winged Migration is a marvel, and if that seems like a gee-whiz word, that's because this film has a lot to be gee-whiz about.
  74. Holes
    It's got an involving, adventurous story to tell and the wherewithal to tell it correctly. And while young adults may think this is intended only for them, in truth it's their elders who are especially starved for this kind of entertainment.
  75. Lilya 4-Ever
    I can't think of another good movie this year that's as tough to watch as Moodysson's, but, then, I can't think of very many movies that are as good.
  76. Malibu's Most Wanted
    After an hour, or two-thirds of the film, they run out of gas. This is the kind of material that's easier to set up than it is to bring together in a satisfying fashion.
  77. Venus and Mars
    Not exactly terrible, merely stale and pointless.
  78. A Mighty Wind
    The jokes would be funny even if they weren't perfectly timed, but what makes them come across as so poignant is the seriousness with which the director and his co-conspirators deliver their jabs and japes.
  79. Bulletproof Monk
    Began life as a comic book, and screenwriters Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, ever respectful of that lineage, have not allowed the film's dialogue or plot points to rise above their cartoonish origins.
  80. Chasing Papi
    A giddy, slight Latina-lib comedy.
  81. 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.
  82. XX/XY
    It's an overly familiar setup played out by overly familiar types but, curiously, what invests XX/XY with its tension is that there's no sense that Austin Chick, the film's capable young director and writer, knows what he feels about any of this.
  83. Better Luck Tomorrow
    It has the virtue of Lin's tangy wit but it also suffers from the vice of a director who, torn between personal vision and wide public reach, tends to smother his ideas under a veneer of cool.
  84. Khab-e sefid
    A sweet-natured Iranian film of considerable charm and humor that might have been more enjoyable had its writer-director-star, Hamid Jebelli, been a tad less self-indulgent in telling his slender tale.
  85. Anger Management
    Though what he does here pretty much defines coasting, Nicholson just fooling around adds an energy to even the kind of hopelessly contrived material that lets you know that the lowest common denominator just got lower.
  86. Going Down
    Teen sex comedies don't come more mindless than Joseph A. Pineda's Going Down, a movie so seriously underinspired it's hard to imagine it appealing to anyone but fantasy-prone middle schoolers who can barely wait to live it up like their older brothers and sisters.
  87. House of 1000 Corpses
    The endless gore and violence make the experience torturous -- and not just for the victims in the movie.
  88. The Rose Technique
    With The Rose Technique, producer-writer Ray Stroeber came up with a promising idea, but director Jon Scheide plays this pitch-dark comedy far too straight.
  89. DysFunktional Family
    Some may be offended by Eddie Griffin's blunt language, yet they would find it hard to deny that he tells it like it is.
  90. The Man Without a Past
    Offers up a subversive comic sensibility, one that somehow combines Buster Keaton's deadpan stare with Frank Capra's tireless optimism and filters them both through a black-ice Finnish point of view. Welcome to Aki World.
  91. Phone Booth
    Without question, the whole thing's absurd -- this is, remember, about a guy stuck in a phone booth -- but for its first 40 minutes or so it's also mildly entertaining, fueled by the nuttiness of the setup and Schumacher's energy.
  92. Manna from Heaven
    Suffers from an overcomplicated plot, an overpopulated cast, a lot of corny humor and artificial contrivance, topped by a sluggish pace.
  93. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion [re-release]
    A provocative political thriller that is as troubling today as when it came out in 1970. Maybe more so.
  94. What a Girl Wants
    Works well enough. It has a decided plus in its appealing young star, Amanda Bynes, last seen opposite Frankie Muniz in "Big Fat Liar."
  95. Levity
    About as well-meaning as a movie can get, but that's never enough to ensure it comes alive on the screen, which is sadly the case here.
  96. A Man Apart
    Though it wasn't planned this way, it's an amusing exercise to view A Man Apart as an allegory for the war in Iraq.
  97. Cowboy Bebop the Movie: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
    Demonstrates how exciting and vital contemporary animated filmmaking is in Japan. The characters may not move with the fluidity of their American counterparts, but the story unfolds with a sinister grace that any live-action director might envy.
  98. Cet amour-là
    A crisp, elegantly resonant film.
  99. Fellini: I'm a Born Liar
    Both completely fascinating and intermittently frustrating; however, as with Fellini's own films, the downside is far outweighed by the pluses.
  100. The Good Thief
    Promising as it seems in theory, everything in this new version, like Lena Lamont's image in "Singin' In the Rain," falls apart as soon as the talking starts.
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