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. One Night at McCool's
    One Night at McCool's is one night too much.
  2. Driven
    Harlin's skill compensates for a lot of narrative preposterousness, even it is overmatched this time around.
  3. The Golden Bowl
    Yet another Merchant Ivory triumph.
  4. Town & Country
    Seems merely tired and stale, the opposite of fresh, marked by ideas for jokes rather than things that are actually funny. Then, without warning, it goes from inept to complete disaster, sinking from indifferent to fiasco in the blink of an eye.
  5. The Luzhin Defence
    Carefully made, involving and old-fashioned, the superior work it's inspired gives it an impact that lingers even when the endgame is over.
  6. The Low Down
    Thraves is skillful at evoking mood and atmosphere and at depicting transitional periods in a person's life with a mildly wistful humor.
  7. The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
    Hidden Wars is less dependent on talking heads than "Plan Colombia" and has the advantage of distance from some of the key events.
  8. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
    Where there was a modicum of charm to Mick Dundee's earliest exploits in New York City, the joke has withered as markedly as Hogan's face.
  9. Harry Is Here to Help
    Moll, in only his second feature, evokes a sense of foreboding, playing the routine against the unnerving, the humorous against the sinister, with a wit and deftness that might have impressed Hitchcock.
  10. Freddy Got Fingered
    Even the movie finds itself asking when it'll end. Not soon enough.
  11. The Center of the World
    All this sadness becomes so depressing to watch, testing the limits of the patience of even a viewer prepared to take Wang's underlying concerns seriously.
  12. Lakeboat
    Lakeboat requires its audiences to embrace it as lovingly as Mamet and Mantegna embrace its men, but it's a lot to ask.
  13. The Body
    Despite a premise that's provocative, to say the least, this one's a dud.
  14. The Circle
    Restrained yet powerful, devastating in its emotional effects.
  15. Bridget Jones's Diary
    Cheerful, cheeky entertainment, a clever confection.
  16. Josie and the Pussycats
    Light and frothy though all this is, there is an off-putting element to "Josie," and it's what must be the film's world record number of product placements.
  17. Kingdom Come
    This joyous film, which confronts pain, loss and transgression with love, wisdom and forgiveness amid inspired humor, has it all.
  18. Chopper
    A most ambitious first film. Dominik pulls it off impressively, assisted by a selfless cast, a driving score by Mick Harvey, and gifted cameramen Kevin Hayward and Geoffrey Hall.
  19. Joe Dirt
    If you are in touch with your inner 14-year-old child, you could do worse.
  20. The Girl
    In her feature debut, Zeig, -- displays confidence and style aplenty.
  21. Just Visiting
    Drains the original story of its satire and juices up its shtick, schmaltz and special effects.
  22. Beautiful Creatures
    Tedious and unfunny.
  23. The Day I Became a Woman
    Breathtaking reverie worthy of Fellini.
  24. Along Came a Spider
    A reasonably diverting albeit frequently improbable thriller.
    • 22 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Pokémon 3: The Movie
    Two Tylenol and a pair of earplugs might be enough to get you through Pokemon 3The Movie.
  26. Shadow Magic
    Evokes the dawn of cinema in China with much charm, humor and subtlety.
  27. Booye kafoor, atre yas
    As somber as much of this deceptively simple yet consistently acute, subtle and observant film is, an effect heightened by a carefully controlled use of color, it is not without hope.
  28. Blow
    This single cautionary tale of how drug innocence gives way to woeful, hung-over experience proves to be way too predictable to effectively caution or even involve anyone.
  29. Amores Perros
    It's a film of high energy, punctuated by rock music and a dark wit, yet it is capable of profound reflection and tragic irony.
  30. The Tailor of Panama
    Benefits from delicious acting from co-stars Geoffrey Rush and Pierce Brosnan, a mordant script co-written by le Carre (along with Boorman and Andrew Davies), and the distinctive touch of its director.
  31. Someone Like You...
    Smart, amiable and well-paced, and director Tony Goldwyn brings to it an all-too-rare buoyancy and breeziness.
  32. Spy Kids
    Lively, imaginative, with a playful sense of humor.
  33. Tomcats
    Raucously energetic and replete with a barrage of graphic sexual humor.
  34. The Brothers
    While all of the actors are excellent, we sat up whenever Gabrielle Union walked on screen. As the ever-sensible woman who disrupts Jackson's bachelorhood, she projects the pluck, gravitas and beauty of a younger Alfre Woodard.
  35. Heartbreakers
    As Hollywood diversions go, this gleaming MGM release still leaves you wishing the filmmakers took as many risks as their grifters do.
  36. Say It Isn't So
    Ultimately a sweet movie, but one made by people who can't stoop to conquer without an almost audible strain on their own intelligence.
  37. Too Much Sleep
    Unfolds as a shaggy-dog story, full of hilarious and outrageous twists that suggest that weirdness lies just below the surface of daily life seemingly at its most ordinary.
  38. Exit Wounds
    It's a pastiche of pulpy elements culled from all the "Dirty Harry" movies you can think of.
  39. Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale
    Meanders, dawdles, doubles back on itself but finally gets us somewhere fascinating and worthwhile.
  40. Memento
    A provocatively structured and thrillingly executed film noir, an intricate, inventive use of cinema's possibilities that pushes what can be done on screen in an unusual direction.
  41. Enemy at the Gates
    Has little to occupy us once its battle scenes recede. One of those goofy movies where devil-may-care Russian soldiers unwind by playing the balalaika far into the night, it takes itself far more seriously than anyone else will be able to manage.
  42. The Dish
    It unfolds in a hearty, good-natured Australian comedy that affectionately depicts how the citizens of a small town become connected to the Apollo moon flight.
  43. Kissing Jessica Stein
    For an American film it is a groundbreaker in exploring the realm of sexual fluidity, and it does so with wit, wisdom and in a completely entertaining fashion.
  44. Simon Magus
    Poetic and ambiguous, it manages to be magical in both the beautiful and terrifying senses of the word.
  45. Biandan, guniang
    The result is a film that is wise, fatalistic and romantic in just the right proportions--in the best noir tradition.
  46. When Brendan Met Trudy
    A plucky comic valentine for those who love the movies more than their own mothers.
  47. Long Night's Journey Into Day
    Not merely affecting and illuminating; it concludes on a note of hope.
  48. 15 Minutes
    Both audacious and unwieldy, exciting and excessive, this dark thriller is too long, too violent and not always convincing. But at the same time, there's no denying that it's onto something, that its savage indictment of the nexus involving media, crime and a voracious public is a cinematic statement difficult to ignore.
  49. Get Over It
    A blithe-spirited comedy in which teenagers discover their romantic vicissitudes mirrored in their high school production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It's being directed by their nasty drama teacher (Martin Short, hilarious), who has written 12 original songs for the production.
  50. Blow Dry
    Despite its dollops of good-natured humor and sentiment, Blow Dry is likely to play better on the tube as a likable-enough diversion.
  51. The Gleaners & I
    Captivating new documentary, The Gleaners and I, is charged with the pleasure of discovery.
  52. Me You Them
    An adroit, beautifully acted, sophisticated film with some drier-than-dust humor about unsophisticated people and is impressive as such. It's too bad that it's not more engaging much earlier on.
  53. Hit and Runway
    A little gem, a sparkling comedy with serious undertones about friendship, self-discovery and artistic integrity.
  54. The Caveman's Valentine
    As impressive as Jackson is and as thought-provoking as director Kasi Lemmons' movie is, it's ultimately satisfying neither as a genre piece nor as an art film.
  55. See Spot Run
    The gags, almost all of which involve the passage of gases and liquids, move at a fast-enough clip to keep you awake throughout. For which this review expresses a sorrow as profound as the sympathy it feels for all the actors.
  56. The Mexican
    If The Mexican proves anything, it's that eccentric features need a particularly delicate touch to be successful. With a film like this, how close you come doesn't matter: Off by a little is as debilitating as off by a lot.
  57. Series 7: The Contenders
    Getting progressively less involving as it goes along, the strongest feeling Series 7 creates is the passionate desire to change the channel and move on.
  58. Monkeybone
    Grand fantasy, in which Brendan Fraser and stylish design and energetic special effects play off one another for maximum fun.
  59. Last Resort
    This is the best class of poetic realism, the kind you can believe in without a trace of hesitation.
  60. 3000 Miles to Graceland
    One of those movies that makes you want to throw up your hands in despair, disgust, or maybe both.
  61. The Widow of Saint-Pierre
    Faraldo's most engrossing and inventive script, alternately serious and comic, is beautifully realized by Binoche, Auteuil and Kusturica, all of whom reveal a nobility of spirit and stylish gallantry so cherished by the French.
  62. Company Man
    Too often we feel that left-out-in-the-cold draft that blows over the shoulder whenever actors appear to be having more fun than the audience.
  63. Down to Earth
    Rock is undisputably gifted and charismatic, but when Down to Earth takes his edge away, the film's energy goes with it. And without energy, no comedy can survive.
  64. Sweet November
    A film that means to be seductive but merely progresses from the contrived to the manipulative.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Recess: School's Out
    Complacent yet competent animation kids will enjoy despite its mundane nature.
  66. The Price of Milk
    It's weird, wacky territory you enter in The Price of Milk, and we don't just mean New Zealand.
  67. Bad Company
    Succeeds by never tipping its hand or losing its equilibrium while its characters often seem to be doing nothing but.
  68. Hannibal
    Creepy and grotesque rather than terrifying. It's more distasteful than anything stronger, a sour bottle of a celebrated vintage that a gourmet like Lecter wouldn't hesitate to send back with the sommelier.
  69. Journey to the Sun
    Sensitive, gritty and courageous, this film gathers a power and focus not foreshadowed in its deliberately rambling earlier sequences.
  70. Signs & Wonders
    Abounds in psychological suspense and plays like a mystery film, even though the mystery at hand may be purely one of the human heart.
  71. Saving Silverman
    A standard-issue numskull comedy that aims low but is high in energy.
  72. The Taste of Others
    All of this romantic back and forth unfolds gradually and in charming ensemble style. As the characters think about seducing each other, as they inevitably complicate their lives without being able to help themselves, the film is simultaneously seducing us.
  73. The Invisible Circus
    There are any number of aspects to The Invisible Circus that simply don't ring true.
  74. The Million Dollar Hotel
    A fantasy, a fairy tale, but its characters and the emotions they elicit become painfully real.
  75. Valentine
    A smart, stylish horror picture that offers a fresh twist on the ever-reliable revenge theme and affords a raft of talented young actors solid roles that show them to advantage.
  76. Head Over Heels
    Although Head Over Heels moves swiftly, has an appealing cast and a serviceably diverting plot, it is nevertheless hard to fall head over heels over it.
  77. In the Mood for Love
    The result is a kind of ultimate romantic film, joining an almost Jamesian sadness and discipline to that extraordinary visual sensibility. It's not the kind of thing you see every day.
  78. Nico and Dani
    An exceptional coming-of-age film--subtle, humorous, compassionate, acutely perceptive.
  79. Trolösa
    Complex, challenging and richly rewarding, it glows with the kind of wrenchingly selfless portrayals that are the hallmark of the Bergman classics.
  80. Glamour
    An elegant, poetic fable of endurance.
  81. Two Ninas
    It is amazing how writer-director Neil Turitz, a seasoned journalist, has taken the familiar ingredients of the spiky New York dating game movie and made them seem so fresh and original, filled with individuals acutely detailed and compassionately observed.
  82. Sugar & Spice
    Amusingly subversive, thanks to sharp writing and direction, by Mandy Nelson and Francine McDougall, respectively.
  83. The Wedding Planner
    The picture is never less than pleasant -- but it's not more than that often enough.
  84. Amy
    A skilled heart-tugger from Australia that verges on rock opera.
  85. The Amati Girls
    Has plenty of warmth, affection and conventional wisdom, but too much of the time it plays out in routine fashion with moments of contrivance.
  86. The Pledge
    A forced march toward certain disaster, a scenario only passionate believers in predestination are likely to savor.
  87. Snatch.
    Even if it's not quite as lighter than air as its predecessor, Snatch remains a lethal diversion.
  88. Zheng hun qi shi
    Director Chen Kuo-fu adds a refreshingly wry humor to this view and then deftly throws in some wrenching moments and an ultimately astounding final twist.
  89. Panic
    A lot of this is quite well done, but Bromell has a tendency to have too schematic an aesthetic agenda for his story: treating film noir like kabuki is not necessarily the best way to go, no matter how beautifully you do it.
  90. Antitrust
    It is ultimately more routine than provocative, despite the timeliness and seriousness of the issues it raises.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Double Take
    An even-handed mixture of suspense and comedy that aims to play fair with the audience on both fronts.
  92. Save the Last Dance
    The story comes full circle in a way that might seem overly schematic did it not have the courage to wear its heart on its sleeve without losing its head.
  93. Chunhyangdyun
    Im Kwon Taek's exquisite Chunhyang brings to the screen one of Korea's most cherished folk tales, a timeless romance in which the lovers are challenged by differences in class.
  94. The Claim
    Sadly the film is so elusive, so distant, that it never seems more than half-alive.
  95. Shadow of the Vampire
    Willem Dafoe's performance in Shadow of the Vampire is so irresistible it not only breaks that cycle but turns an otherwise just adequate film into something everyone will want to take a look at.
  96. Traffic
    So though it takes important steps in that direction, the film pulls back from what seems to be its own logical conclusion.
  97. All the Pretty Horses
    In an odd way Pretty Horses has been too faithful to the spirit of this somber, fatalistic, melancholy romance, too much a stubborn ode to stoicism, to light any emotional fires.
  98. Vatel
    Boldly distinctive in its depiction of individuals caught up in a veritable infernal machine designed solely to give pleasure to a monarch, Vatel is a timeless tale of love and sacrifice in a world as opulent as it is cruel.
  99. Thirteen Days
    Dealing with all these crises and decisions gives Thirteen Days a surprising amount of tension and watchability for a story whose outcome we already know.
  100. An Everlasting Piece
    This late-in-the-year gem glows with Levinson's characteristically warm embrace of a wide range of people and his superlative sense of time and place.
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