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. Coco Before Chanel
    A superior filmed biography that brings intelligence, restraint and style to what could have been a more standard treatment.
  2. Humpday
    Unlike a lot of institutional raunch in today's comedy, Humpday finds laughs out of what is rarely made explicit between buddies.
  3. Ong Bak
    It's a display of phenomenal dexterity and nimble grace that's a joy to watch. That, friends, is entertainment.
  4. The Chorus
    A runaway hit in France last year and the country's official Oscar entry, is a well-nigh irresistible film celebrating the redemptive power of music.
  5. Travelers and Magicians
    A warm, embracing film of transcendent beauty and spirituality.
  6. Assault on Precinct 13
    Smart, satisfying action entertainment that is also a perceptive work of considerable artistry.
  7. Machuca
    One of those special films that broadens and deepens as it goes on.
  8. Monsieur N.
    An elegant, sophisticated mystery.
  9. Lost Embrace
    It's a film of unexpected, almost indescribable off-center charm that deepens as it goes on.
  10. The Nomi Song
    Horn, who knew Nomi, does an excellent job of evoking the exhilaratingly hedonistic period the film covers as well as the long shadow that the coming of AIDS casts over it.
  11. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
    The mellow, serendipitous The Parrots of Telegraph Hill is here to show you just how magical happenstance can be.
  12. Downfall
    The reality it confronts is so gripping, we cannot turn away. This may not be the most sophisticated retelling of what happened while Berlin burned, but what a story it is.
  13. The Animation Show 2005
    If there's a theme to this group of films it's the richness of imagery gathered from a variety of forms including hand-drawn, computer-generated and hybrid work. Ink, pixels and clay are brought to life with equal parts darkness and light to evoke stories and moods that are anything but conventional.
  14. Up and Down
    Buoyed by an unreserved humanism and a cheerful sense of the absurd.
  15. Gunner Palace
    A striking new documentary that shows the war in a way it's not been seen before: from the ground up.
  16. Hostage
    Made with energetic flair and no small dose of violence, mercifully handled with discretion, Hostage exemplifies taut, confident filmmaking.
  17. The Upside of Anger
    A squarely suburban movie with a distinctly bourgeois-shaped window on the world, but it's genuine and exceptionally well observed.
  18. Millions
    Despite being a pure fantasy that relishes not making literal sense, Millions retains a conviction about what it's doing that makes us believe and enjoy.
  19. Mail Order Wife
    A wickedly funny satire.
  20. Don't Move
    has a rich, lyrical sweep and floats between past and present, reality and imagination, with ease. It is a richly satisfying experience.
  21. Steamboy
    A stunning-to-look-at film marred by a less than searing pace and some narrative incoherence.
  22. Mondovino
    An entertaining film that is neither stuffy nor pretentious.
  23. Nina's Tragedies
    Has too much depth, too much freshness and imagination ever to be adequately described in any of its aspects as merely "quirky" or "off the wall."
  24. Dust to Glory
    Like his father, Brown inserts himself into the action via folksy narration. His husky, laid-back voice sounds something like Kevin Costner, lending a regular-guy aura to the reverential treatment he affords his subject.
  25. Palindromes
    As depressing as it is hard to watch, Palindromes is also consistently, horrifyingly funny and sharp-witted, and the darker and more well-observed its humor, the more it belies the director's unsentimental, even grudging empathy for his fellow DNA monkeys.
  26. Torremolinos 73
    It's a bawdy farce done with real delicacy, a charming adult comedy that ends up with unlooked-for emotional heft. If that doesn't cover all the bases, it certainly comes close.
  27. Double Dare
    Fascinating, highly entertaining.
  28. The Holy Girl
    A subtle artist and a sharp observer, Martel manages a large cast with an ease that matches her skill at storytelling, within which psychological insight and social comment flow easily and implicitly.
  29. Ladies in Lavender.
    It is a pleasure from start to finish.
  30. Kingdom of Heaven
    Scott and company have gotten so accomplished at re-creating history that the results have a welcome offhanded quality, making them spectacular without seeming to be showing off.
  31. Fighting Tommy Riley
    This small, lovingly crafted film continually surprises with its depth and resonance.
  32. Mysterious Skin
    It's hard to imagine a more serious or persuasive indictment of the horrors inflicted on children by sexual abuse than Mysterious Skin.
  33. Brothers
    The end result was that the performances reached a remarkable level of intimacy and intensity.
  34. Kings & Queen
    A complex, boldly experimental movie plotted like a thriller and paced like a farce, Kings and Queen is category-defying film that's as smart and emotionally resonant as it is entertaining.
  35. Lost
    Lost is consistently clever, amusing -- and scary.
  36. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
    Dallaire is not only the protagonist of Shake Hands, he is a compelling reason to see it.
  37. Fixing Frank
    Fixing Frank is "good theater," and in the writing and in Butler's quietly chilling, ever-so-civilized portrayal, Apsey emerges as a veritable Svengali.
  38. A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
    Informativeand endearing film.
  39. Lords of Dogtown
    As beautifully structured as one of the Z-Boys' graceful and intricate maneuvers. It is economic yet possesses depth and is visually striking, capturing an idea of what life is like in a very fast lane.
  40. Rock School
    Immensely entertaining.
  41. Apres Vous (After You)
    This delightfully spirited film is perfectly cast, and it's hard to imagine how Daniel Auteuil, José Garcia and Sandrine Kiberlain could possibly improve upon their irresistible, multifaceted portrayals.
  42. Deep Blue
    Numerous films have explored undersea life, but few as comprehensively and as consistently compelling as Deep Blue, by the creators of the "Blue Planet" TV series.
  43. Caterina va in città
    Smart, sassy, compassionate and critical.
  44. Wild Side
    This process unfolds in terse, compelling fashion with ravishing camerawork by Agnès Godard.
  45. Rize
    José Cancella's original score complement the tremendous wit, vitality and sensuality of the dancers.
  46. Yes
    Bold, vibrant and impassioned, Yes is the work of a high-risk film artist in command of her medium and gifted in propelling her actors to soaring performances.
  47. The Last Mogul
    A smart, well-paced documentary that balances the man's triumphs with his rare failures and discerningly explores the darker side of his power.
  48. Tropical Malady
    Mysterious and original.
  49. The Beautiful Country
    It is a straightforward, conventional narrative, charting seemingly endless cruelty and hardship, but rewards the patient with an eloquent climactic sequence that is impossible to predict.
  50. Wedding Crashers
    Witty, unhinged and fearless, it's exactly the kind of movie we need now.
  51. Happy Endings
    Why aren't there more American movies like this? I mean smart, unpretentious, sophisticated, un-condescending and cheap.
  52. The Warrior
    It is chockablock with brutality, but the violence is of the high-minded, self-congratulatory sort that indicates without actually showing.
  53. Hustle & Flow
    Unfolds in the satisfying fashion of classic Hollywood movies that strike a balance between grit and heart.
  54. Bad News Bears
    A straightforward, surprisingly faithful and definitely loving adaptation of the original.
  55. The Edukators
    A sweet, funny and gripping romantic adventure, it's about the limitations of political activism in this day and age, and what happens when your girlfriend and your best friend fall in love.
  56. Last Days
    What Last Days offers is a blank and narrative-free, but pitch-perfect, dreamscape on which to project your own personal ruminations on Kurt, fame, whatever, nevermind. If you have none, you're on your own.
  57. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
    For an exquisitely melancholy story steeped in a sense of the past as a succession of great waves of political, ideological and economic change, it's fitting that the movie should end with an underwater sequence. It looks like a dream of a memory of a place about to be wiped out by the next great flood of history.
  58. Red Eye
    The plot is not absolutely airtight, but Craven's filmmaking is too fast-moving and too involving for this to matter. As a movie, Red-Eye is in every way as well crafted and sharply designed as the Boeing 767 Lisa fatefully boards.
  59. Clean
    Clean is one of those movies that's slightly off the mark in ways that are hard to put a finger on, but it is shot so soulfully and features such beautiful performances that it's easy to forgive the occasional false note.
  60. El Crimen Perfecto (The Perfect Crime)
    Perfectly delightful.
  61. The Memory of a Killer
    This is one terrific thriller with several wicked tricks up its sleeve, each more satisfying than the last.
  62. Transporter 2
    Delivers a satisfying late-summer escapist treat.
  63. Cote d'Azur
    This is a sophisticated adult treat in the French manner with an attractive and gifted cast and is essentially serious, yet often whimsical and always compassionate.
  64. Keane
    A wholly unexpected and ultimately gratifying experience.
  65. Steal Me
    A beautifully realized small film of understated power.
  66. Proof
    Against considerable odds and despite a shaky start, Proof proves itself in every area.
  67. Stupid Boy
    Loic's journey is rich in incident and detail, and Garçon Stupide retains its dynamic momentum throughout.
  68. Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D
    An unapologetic cheerleader for exploring the final frontier, Hanks wrote and produced (along with director Mark Cowen) this enthralling look at what might be the greatest technological feat of the 20th century.
  69. Forty Shades of Blue
    Sachs has pulled off a film of inferences and intimations, thanks largely to the casting of accomplished actors.
  70. Serenity
    A highly entertaining piece of genre-blending fun.
  71. The Gospel
    Rousing, affirmative entertainment.
  72. Before the Fall
    Commands attention from its very first frame and never lets up right through the fade-out. It is a splendid example of classic screen storytelling with no false steps, and Gansel's understated approach pays off with resounding emotional effect and meaning.
  73. Innocent Voices
    Mandoki, who with this film returns to the Spanish-speaking cinema after a string of Hollywood films, has brought a sure sense of the visual and taut construction to Innocent Voices, based on a true story. It is filled with wrenching images.
  74. The President's Last Bang
    An outrageous, savagely comical account of the disastrous circumstances surrounding the assassination of dictatorial South Korean President Park Chung Hee in 1979.
  75. After Innocence
    What emerges from these stories is a picture of the fallibility of the system and the vulnerability of innocent citizens, whom even scientific evidence cannot protect from incompetence, ego and prejudice, and of the courage of the exonerated victims to make meaning of their tragedies.
  76. New York Doll
    Though it is small in scale and lasts only 78 minutes, New York Doll, like any documentary, goes places we expect it to and places we do not. As journeys go, this is one to treasure.
  77. Paradise Now
    A powerful, poignant, provocative drama, it gets its strength from its dispassion, from an uncompromising determination to explain rather than justify or condemn, to put a human face on incomprehensible acts.
  78. The Passenger (re-release)
    A fascinating reflection of the era when it was made; but a starker indictment still of what film culture has become. In 1975, The Passenger was a night at the movies.
  79. Bee Season
    With the help of clear direction and some excellent acting, especially from Flora Cross in a memorable debut as Eliza, Bee Season is affecting in ways that movies have all but given up trying to be.
  80. Ellie Parker
    Ellie Parker is at once hilarious and harrowing, and in being so, seems right on target.
  81. Gilles' Wife
    Suffused with a painterly tenderness and cruelty, the French film Gilles' Wife - based on a 1937 Belgian novel by Madeleine Bourdouxhe - stars the extraordinary actress Emmanuelle Devos.
  82. The Syrian Bride
    Written, directed and acted with real compassion and sympathy for the humanity of its characters, no matter who they are or on what side of these multiple issues they turn out to be.
  83. The Ice Harvest
    A droll, dark Christmas treat for adults, a delightful alternative to the usual holiday-themed fare.
  84. Streets of Legend
    Even though it is ultimately anything but an endorsement for street racing, the movie stunningly captures its undeniable excitement.
  85. The Boys of Baraka
    A moving, troubling documentary. Moving because of the nature of the problem it explores, troubling because the film can't help but underline that simple solutions are never going to present themselves, no matter how much we want them to.
  86. Mrs Henderson Presents
    Just as there will always be an England, there will always be a certain kind of English film: the highly polished entertainment, well-acted, genteelly amusing and impeccably turned out. Mrs. Henderson Presents is the latest example of the trend and an especially satisfying one.
  87. The Matador
    In The Matador, a delightfully sly diversion, Pierce Brosnan breaks the mold and turns in what might be considered the performance of his career, the kind of witty, relaxed star portrayal that recalls those of Cary Grant and other Golden Era legends.
  88. Match Point
    It pretty much keeps its pulse steady, its blood cold and its nerves tamped down -- which, combined with cinematographer Remi Adefarasin's architectural Hitchcockian flourishes, lends a queasy, cool air to the proceedings.
  89. Happy Here and Now
    This is a droll, laid-back film noir steeped in Crescent City atmosphere and music that culminates in the colliding worlds of genuine and virtual reality.
  90. Casanova
    In the exhilarating Casanova, giddy shenanigans effectively set off the dangerous, darker impulses of human nature.
  91. Little Jerusalem
    Philosophy and religion become entangled with love and sex in Karin Albou's intelligent, sensual drama.
  92. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
    The trouble with describing a story this complex and digressive is that it's hard to keep it from sounding complicated and hard-to-follow. But for a movie about movies, it's surprisingly humanistic, cheerful and true to life.
  93. Battle in Heaven
    Reygadas asks audiences to plunge headlong into his chaotic vision of the world, no questions asked but complete trust required. Not everyone is going to be willing or able to take this leap of faith, but those who do go along with Reygadas may well feel they have come away having undergone a stunning revelatory experience.
  94. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
    Julia Jentsch strong and graceful, quiet knockout of a performance is the film's most potent weapon.
  95. 16 Blocks
    A ticking clock scenario and a terrific performance by Willis as an alcoholic NYPD detective make up for the film's occasional missteps and some strange pop culture references.
  96. Forgiving Dr. Mengele
    The very title suggests that this compelling and provocative film is going to be different from other Holocaust documentaries.
  97. Duck Season
    Sometimes a film about nothing can be a film about everything; a film without overwhelmingly dramatic events can delight you more than an outsized epic. The sly and disarming Duck Season is such a film.
  98. Thank You for Smoking
    A very smart and funny movie directed by Jason Reitman, who also shrewdly adapted the screenplay from Christopher Buckley's savagely satiric novel.
  99. Inside Man
    Smartly plotted by newcomer Russell Gewirtz and smoothly directed by, of all people, Spike Lee, Inside Man is a deft and satisfying entertainment, an elegant, expertly acted puzzler that is just off-base and out-of-the-ordinary enough to keep us consistently involved.
  100. The Beauty Academy of Kabul
    Ultimately, Mermin's film is a profound reminder of the things that make us human. Things that don't matter much, in the scheme of things, but loom large when taken away. Things we all have in common.
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