Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,522 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 16522
  2. Mixed: 5,808 out of 16522
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16522
16522 movie reviews
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  1. War Witch
    The powerful things we expect from War Witch are as advertised, but what we don't expect is even better.
  2. Tristana (re-release)
    The film, which came out in 1970 after a censorship battle with the Franco regime, catches — and releases — all the tension of shifting sexual mores. You can almost sense the director's pleasure in taking apart the duplicities of a patriarchal Spanish society. [21 Feb. 2013]
  3. No Place on Earth
    Add one more extraordinary survival tale to the canon of Holocaust documentaries: No Place on Earth.
  4. Reality
    Garrone achieves something uniquely colorful, disturbing and trenchant about self-perception in an increasingly fishbowl-like society.
  5. The Spectacular Now
    Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, as high school seniors Sutter and Aimee, bring such an authentic face of confidence and questioning, indifference and need, pain and denial, friendship and first love, that it will take you back to that time if you're no longer there, and light a path if you are.
  6. Graceland
    Graceland is a tense, twisty cinematic artichoke brimming with moral complexity and intriguing shades of gray.
  7. What Maisie Knew
    This is a beautifully rendered film.
  8. Interstellar
    Interstellar turns out to be the rarest beast in the Hollywood jungle. It's a mass audience picture that's intelligent as well as epic, with a sophisticated script that's as interested in emotional moments as immersive visuals. Which is saying a lot.
  9. Something in the Air
    Assayas has such a steady hand as a director, he knows precisely how to let all of Gilles' inner angst play out. His nostalgia for those past days can be felt in the affection and forgiving way the indiscretions of youth are portrayed.
  10. Blue Caprice
    Proves a highly auspicious feature debut for Moors and Porto as well as a much-deserved return to the limelight for Washington. Don't miss it.
  11. A Hijacking
    A Hijacking is as lean, focused and to the point as its title.
  12. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
    Make no mistake, "We Steal Secrets" is a sprawling, ambitious, major work — a gripping exploration of power, personality, technology and the crushing weight that can come to bear on those who find themselves in its combined path.
  13. 20 Feet from Stardom
    A moving and joyous behind-the-scenes documentary about a world filled with big, bold personalities and the music they make.
  14. Deceptive Practices: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay
    This documentary provides an elegant, enthralling peek behind the curtain and into the you-won't-trust-your-eyes world of this celebrated contemporary conjurer.
  15. The Attack
    The Attack rewards your patience. Though it's never less than involving, it grows in stature as it unfolds and ends as a more subtle and disturbing film about love, loss and tragedy than we might initially expect.
  16. Post Tenebras Lux
    Post Tenebras Lux is that real rarity in cinema, a visually striking archaeology of the psyche that benefits both the moviegoer primed to engage Reygadas' ideas, and the ones open to being swallowed in an art film wave.
  17. The Patience Stone
    It's the flesh-and-blood lead performance by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani as a profoundly conflicted Muslim wife and mother that seals this cinematic deal. She's superb.
  18. Fill the Void
    A transfixing, emotionally complex Israeli drama.
  19. The Girls in the Band
    Director Judy Chaikin, who co-wrote the film with its deft editor, Edward Osei-Gyimah, infuses this fine portrait with grace, nostalgia and a well-calibrated dose of social commentary.
  20. A Band Called Death
    Joy and redemption aren't exactly punk mantras, but A Band Called Death might just give your heart a thrashing.
  21. Becoming Traviata
    Zeroing in on the art of rehearsal, Becoming Traviata is an exquisitely observed look at performance and the creative process.
  22. Re-emerging: The Jews of Nigeria
    [A] captivating documentary.
  23. Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
    It's a great trick the filmmakers have pulled off to make us feel as if we're there sorting through the memories with him. The movie's editing is especially artful with Maya Hawke and Casey Brooks doing the nipping and tucking.
  24. In the Fog
    Intimate in the telling, sweeping in the implications, Loznitsa has created an unusually incisive film.
  25. Bastards
    Bastards is a thriller truly etched in darkness, pools of black broken mostly by the stricken yet soldiering faces of her main characters, like ships in a sea of stormy nights.
  26. The Great Beauty
    As its name promises, The Great Beauty is drop-dead gorgeous, a film that is luxuriously, seductively, stunningly cinematic. But more than intoxicating imagery is on director Paolo Sorrentino's mind, a lot more.
  27. The Past
    As the secrets that almost everyone is hiding slowly but inexorably come to light, Farhadi's gifts as a very specific director, someone who knows exactly how he wants every scene to be played, come to the fore, adding honesty and involvement to a plot that might seem artificial in other hands.
  28. Venus in Fur
    It is a caustic, comic, cerebral romp for a long time before it hits you with its best shot — some Polanski-worthy darkness.
  29. La Promesse (The Promise)
    The conflicts involved are intense and absorbing, proving that compelling moral dilemmas make for the most dramatic cinema.
  30. Wish You Were Here
    Wish You Were Here is mystery moviemaking at its most intriguing.
  31. Naked
    Naked is a mesmerizing character study, an attempt to stretch the emotional boundaries of truth on film as far as they will go. For once we think we've seen as much of Johnny as we can take, like an etching by Escher we start to see something else, a glimpse of another person easily missed.
  32. Chef
    If this all sounds fairly rote, it's far from it. That's because the filmmaker largely eschews done-to-death family dynamics, forced obstacles and predictable responses for authentic interaction, organic humor and a hopeful vitality.
  33. Breathe In
    The exquisitely calibrated Breathe In explores such a fraught mutual passion with honesty, intimacy and complete emotional involvement.
  34. Drug War
    To has a great mastery of timing; he knows just how long to let a look linger before cutting away, how little he can reveal without losing us. The director keeps you guessing until the very end whether Choi or Zhang, or someone else entirely, will be the last man standing.
  35. After Tiller
    Filmmakers Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, whose profiles in courage are sympathetic but not adulatory, have crafted an absorbing, thoughtful report.
  36. Enough Said
    One of the pleasures of Enough Said is watching Louis-Dreyfus and Gandolfini, two well-known performers only Holofcener would think of putting together, come alive both as individuals and the two halves of a relationship.
  37. Our Children
    This is a taut psychological study, based on a true story, of the complexities of personal power relationships that begins with the kind of shattering revelation that would be the conclusion of most films.
  38. A.K.A. Doc Pomus
    Expertly put together by editor Amy Linton, AKA Doc Pomus uses its wealth of material to create the sense of a man with a genius for putting undistilled emotion into his songs.
  39. Mother of George
    It is the kind of distinctive, culture-driven drama from emerging filmmakers that I wish we saw more of.
  40. Out in the Dark
    It's unique, powerful stuff.
  41. The Dirties
    A masterful blend of black humor and queasy dread.
  42. Herb & Dorothy
    The Vogels' story is a very specific one, at once more unexpected and more moving than it might seem at first.
  43. The Railway Man
    The Railway Man is an impressively crafted, skillfully acted, highly absorbing journey into a dark corner of world history.
  44. The Double
    It is the interplay between Wasikowska and Eisenberg that gives "The Double" both its tension and its charm... Their struggle captivates, the resolution shocks, and you can't help but wonder what windmills Ayoade will tilt next.
  45. Stranger by the Lake
    The filmmaker constructs a growing sense of dread with the calculated precision of a classic horror movie.
  46. Abuse of Weakness
    With clinical dispassion and narrative elegance, Breillat has constructed what she calls "a thriller about denial."
  47. Locke
    Locke stands out both for the way filmmaker Knight conceived and executed it and for the kind of hypnotic acting Hardy can be counted on to bring to the table.
  48. Bridegroom
    Despite the pain, sadness and vast emotional upheaval depicted here, Bridegroom is also a movie filled with hope and passion, dignity and pride, and many stirring pockets of joy.
  49. Cinderella
    As pure of heart as its heroine, Cinderella floats across the screen like a gossamer confection, full of elegant beauty and quiet grace.
  50. Winter Nomads
    An exhilarating vérité work by first-timer Manuel von Stürler, the documentary follows this seasonal migration, or transhumance, with a sense of quiet awe and intimacy, capturing the feel of cold rain, deep snow and the comforting heat of a campfire.
  51. Sunlight Jr.
    Though this is an emotionally driven movie, it never drifts into melodrama. Collyer is as pragmatic in her approach as her characters. But it is Dillon and Watts' nuanced portrayals that make "Sunlight's" darkness so appealing.
  52. Let the Fire Burn
    It earns its considerable impact by telling an unnerving story and leaving it, in ways both daring and effective, fundamentally unresolved.
  53. Valentine Road
    A moving and infuriating look at the 2008 murder of openly gay teenager Lawrence "Larry" King.
  54. The Missing Picture
    The Missing Picture is personal and unexpected, a documentary that mixes media in an unusual way to very potent effect.
  55. These Birds Walk
    Deeply moving and devoid of melodrama, These Birds Walk is as pragmatic as its subjects.
  56. For Those in Peril
    Fine performances (MacKay is a revelation), bristling tension, strong atmospherics and a wealth of superbly wrought, often heartbreaking scenes add up to make "Peril" a must-see for serious filmgoers.
  57. Gloria
    Between Lelio's ingenuity in staging the film, an extremely clever script co-written with his frequent collaborator, Gonzalo Maza, and the pumping disco that interjects its opinions and assessments of each situation, Gloria is one of the most enjoyable movies to come along in a while.
  58. When I Walk
    When I Walk is extraordinarily accomplished, poignant, and wise.
  59. The Little Bedroom
    A small-scale gem of a movie, both dramatically aware and psychologically astute.
  60. Aftermath
    Aftermath is a bombshell disguised as a thriller.
  61. Sweet Dreams
    The most memorable thing about Sweet Dreams is that it allows us to experience the resilience, the capacity for happiness these women retain in spite of all they've been through. There's a lesson there for all of us.
  62. Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?
    I don't know whether the tall man is happy, but I do know that Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? is intellectually and visually groundbreaking, and most certainly a film.
  63. Tim's Vermeer
    Like art itself, words can't fully capture what it is like to see the Vermeer emerge under Jenison's brush. Or to see Jenison's obsession with the idea run its course.
  64. Paddington
    Artfully and cleverly, the sweet spirit of that young bear from darkest Peru and his many London misadventures materializes brilliantly on screen in the very good hands of writer-director-conjurer Paul King.
  65. Home
    The great achievement in writer-director Jono Oliver's poignant, superb debut, Home, lies in the balance between the film's empathy for those like Jack who seek independence and its compassion for others who may need care indefinitely.
  66. Levitated Mass
    Well-directed with exceptional access by veteran documentarian Doug Pray, whose previous films include "Hype!," "Scratch" and "Art & Copy," Levitated Mass in essence intercuts three stories, each of which is more unexpected than one might imagine.
  67. Let's Get Lost
    Illusion and disillusionment entwine through the film like twin helixes, weaving a dreamy, free-form look at his life and legacy.
  68. The Great Flood
    Guitarist-composer Bill Frisell's wall-to-wall, bluesy-jazzy soundtrack beautifully reflects and unifies the visuals while also helping to personalize this distinct endeavor. It's a terrific achievement.
  69. Nightcrawler
    Nightcrawler is pulp with a purpose. A smart, engaged film powered by an altogether remarkable performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, it is melodrama grounded in a disturbing reality, an extreme scenario that is troubling because it cuts close to the bone.
  70. The Trip to Italy
    Brydon and Coogan's discourse over breakfast, lunch and dinner is captured with a casualness that makes the eavesdropping delicious.
  71. The Imitation Game
    The disturbing, involving, always-complex story of British mathematician Alan Turing is a tale crafted to resonate for our time, and the smartly entertaining The Imitation Game gives it the kind of crackerjack cinematic presentation that's pure pleasure to experience.
  72. Eden
    No matter what is going on, Hansen-Love's talent for bringing us inside a specific world makes Eden an experience we all can connect to.
  73. Listen Up Philip
    While the intolerance fueling this dark, existential comedy won't be to everyone's liking, the film's cerebral beat-down is a strange and sardonic thing of beauty.
  74. The Guest
    It's Stevens, as the all-American cover-model mercenary both friendly and fatal, who gives The Guest its literally killer personality.
  75. The Lunchbox
    One thing that makes Lunchbox so strong is that a touch of melancholy hangs over its sweetness. Finally this is a film about the wheel of life, about what helps us cope with its turns and find our way in its unforgiving labyrinth.
  76. Kids for Cash
    A vital, urgent and infuriating look at the devastating failures of the juvenile court system and the insidious reach of prison privatization.
  77. Oculus
    Less concerned with fake shocks and show-me violence than the grimly calibrated rotting of personalities, Oculus is one of the more intelligently nasty horror films in recent memory.
  78. Alive Inside
    As much a plea to change the system as it is an examination of how music helps individuals, Alive Inside is not the most sophisticated documentary, but its power is indisputable, and it does end on a hopeful note.
  79. Blind
    It's a fascinating exploration of the things that can thrive in the soil of a jealous mind, fertilized by suspicion and a lack of sight.
  80. The Rover
    There is nothing noble about Eric's mission or about the considerable violence he resorts to to get the job done, but Pearce's willingness to give him an integrity of purpose mixes well with Michôd's intense, controlled direction and his ability to blend unexpected, empathetic character moments with all the killing.
  81. '71
    Nothing is extraneous, no moment that doesn't enhance the tension of this nightmare scenario is allowed to survive, until the proceedings become, in the best possible sense, almost unbearable to watch.
  82. Show Boat
    It is a stylish, durable piece of epic Americana, replete with some of the most beloved songs in musical theater and rich in its sense of period. [15 Jul 1985, p.2]
    • Los Angeles Times
  83. A Brief History of Time
    A film that is genuinely mind-expanding, an exhilarating intellectual gantlet that tells a remarkable human story.
  84. American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
    A documentary that's admirably frank about the difficulties of insightfully portraying such a widely lauded — and subtly cagey and habitually self-effacing — figure.
  85. Anita
    If you can't place the name, or want to know more, Anita is a splendid place to start.
  86. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
    It is the way in which the writer-director uses the specter of vampires and vices to take an off-center cut at Iranian gender politics and U.S.-Eurocentric pop culture that sets the film apart.
  87. Watermark
    If Watermark does nothing else, it will make you question society's contradictory view of water use.
  88. Dancing in Jaffa
    A documentary that doesn't force-feed its message of hope but genuinely earns it.
  89. The King and the Mockingbird
    Marvelously colorful, casually inventive and completely wacky, The King and the Mockingbird just might be the best animated film of the year.
  90. The Case Against 8
    Emotional and analytical by turn, The Case Against 8 is a thoroughly engaging documentary.
  91. Withnail and I
    For all the laughter it generates in its confrontations between city and country folk and their ways, Withnail and I has a decidedly dark and subtle undertow. One hilarious incident after another may keep the semiautobiographical Withnail and I perking along, but it is at the same time a ‘60s joy ride about to tailspin into the sobering ‘70s.
  92. Goodbye to Language 3D
    Always looking forward, Godard remains remarkably capable of seeing the world and thinking about filmmaking with clear eyes and fresh ideas.
  93. Macbeth
    It's the gripping and verbally deft cast, led by a swaggering, formidably brooding Fassbender and a searing and poignant Cotillard, that may emerge most memorable here.
  94. It Follows
    [A] smart, relentlessly chilling thriller that opts for originality over cheaply rejiggered jolts.
  95. Winter Sleep
    Like so much of Ceylan's work, Winter Sleep is a haunting piece.
  96. Timbuktu
    The screenplay — by the French Mauritania director and Malian co-writer Kessen Tall, in her feature debut — is a mesmerizing blend of the horrific and the humorous as it boils ideology down to the personal level.
  97. The Blue Room
    What tantalizes is the way the story moves between their private passion and their public shame, the way then and now become synchronous. Amalric navigates the shifts with a lapidary precision.
  98. National Gallery
    In a time when so many documentary filmmakers take on advocacy roles, National Gallery represents the heart of what Wiseman does best — step back and let the place and its people lead the story.
  99. Bird People
    Ferran's eccentricity is an acquired taste, but the light, emotional artfulness of Bird People — a cry for the senses in a world that so often dulls — is welcome.
  100. Coming Home
    Zhang and his sterling actors have made something fairly unforgettable about the tragedy of forgetting.
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