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. Joe Gould's Secret
    A series of subtly interlocking character studies.
  2. Shattered Glass
    What is a most pleasant surprise is how emotionally involving a story writer-director Billy Ray has fashioned, how he's turned Shattered Glass into a film for anyone who cares about strong drama.
  3. Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown
    Their personality types match up splendidly with the characters they play as well as each other, and Mrs. Brown's greatest pleasure is seeing and hearing them spar. Even with the gloves on, this is a battle well worth observing.
  4. The Parent Trap
    Irresistible family entertainment.
  5. About Adam
    A sly romantic comedy made with wit and style.
  6. Songcatcher
    Has enough virtues to make it successful, including an unusual story and some fine acting, especially by the powerful Janet McTeer.
  7. Human Resources
    Concerned with fathers and sons, expectations and dreams, ideals and reality, this completely engrossing film gets more involving as it goes on.
    • Los Angeles Times
  8. American Outlaws
    It's a handsome and skillful retelling of a legend that imaginatively draws on conventions of both the western and the gangster movie to create an energetic yet thoughtful contemporary action-adventure.
  9. He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not
    An impressively assured and confident first film and has been made with such attention to detail and mood that it's possible to regret not paying closer attention to its cleverly deceptive first part. It is ultimately unsettling in the utmost, its creepiness leavened by only the slightest touch of pitch-dark humor.
  10. The Legend of 1900
    Tantalizingly structured to intrigue us right from the start.
  11. Wild Things
    The movie has more twists than Chubby Checker, and as soon as you think Stephen Peters' script has used up every conceivable opportunity, it twists again.
  12. Punch-Drunk Love
    Charming and outlandish by turns, this misfit love story of disconnected people trying to find one another in an antagonistic world is a comedy of discomfort and rage that turns unexpectedly sweet and pure.
  13. Crimson Gold
    Through everyday actions and gestures -- in Hussein's awkward exchanges with other people, in his tender fumbling of his fiancée's purse -- Panahi shows a man for whom life has become increasingly arduous, alien. The filmmaker captures, in other words, what Bresson called "the force in the air before the storm."
  14. 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.
  15. The Full Monty
    If you don't go expecting the depth and subtlety of a Mike Leigh working-class film, The Full Monty can be heart-warming fun with more serious undertones than you might have expected. [13 August 1997, Calendar, p.F-5]
    • Los Angeles Times
  16. Knafayim Shvurot
    When the melodrama does get strong, and it does, when bad things happen on a dark and stormy night, we go with it rather than resisting. The film has won our trust, given some heft to its characters and involved us in their lives, come what may.
  17. Miracle
    Powered by an excellent Kurt Russell performance, Miracle treats old-fashioned, emotional material with an intelligence that respects both the story and the audience.
  18. 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.
  19. The Business of Strangers
    Crisp and provocative, and no small amount of its pleasure derives from Channing's dazzling performance.
  20. In This World
    What we are seeing may be a representation of the truth, but it is not real, and this collision of artifice and reality is jarring and disconcerting. This is a hurdle but not an insurmountable one. Even if it is counterfeit in a number of ways, the story In This World tells finally wins us over because it is too disturbing and well told not to.
  21. Audition
    A diabolically adroit piece of filmmaking that goes even further than the films of Italy's excruciatingly macabre Dario Argento.
  22. October Sky
    One of the most unfashionable movies of the new year, and one of the more appealing. [19 February 1999, Calendar, p.F-10]
    • Los Angeles Times
  23. En la ciudad sin límites
    Somber yet not without flashes of humor, The City of No Limits unfolds with a steady, cumulative power to a climax of surprises within surprises.
  24. Secretary
    For all the dolorous trim, Secretary is a genial romance that maintains a surprisingly buoyant tone throughout, notwithstanding some of the writers' sporadic dips into pop Freudianism.
  25. Undercover Brother
    A funkadelic fun ride that shrewdly reinvigorates the eye-popping styles and pulpy veneer of '70s blaxploitation flicks.
  26. The Score
    A top-drawer heist movie that ratchets up the tension inch by careful inch, The Score will remind you of classic caper films of the past, and that is a good thing.
  27. 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.
  28. The Story of the Weeping Camel
    "Weeping" is a simple tale of animal estrangement and reconciliation that in its own quiet way manages to be soothing, hypnotic, even magical.
  29. Jeepers Creepers
    As stylish as it is grisly, Jeepers Creepers has cult film written all over it, and it's not for nothing that Francis Ford Coppola has been a staunch Victor Salva mentor.
  30. 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.
  31. Enemy of the State
    A solid and satisfying commercial venture with more than enough pizazz to overcome occasional lapses in moment-to-moment plausibility.
  32. Animal Factory
    One of the least sensationalistic--and therefore, more unsettlingly plausible--visions of prison life ever transfigured into big-screen drama.
  33. Last Life in the Universe
    The stars and Doyle's expressive cinematography add up to a disarmingly seductive yet always precarious film experience.
  34. Deep Blue Sea
    An example of how expert action filmmaking and up-to-the-minute visual effects can transcend a workmanlike script and bring excitement to conventional genre material.
  35. Bright Leaves
    Inevitably poignant but also often amusing and always deeply touching.
  36. Twister
    Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to the rush of raw excitement "Twister" creates is that it makes it possible to ignore the painful awkwardness of the film's expository sequences and thudding dialogue of the "OK, boss lady, hold your horses" variety.
  37. Final Destination
    A terrific theatrical feature debut for television veterans Glen Morgan and James Wong.
  38. X-Men
    While X-Men doesn't take your breath away wire-to-wire the way "The Matrix" did, it's an accomplished piece of work with considerable pulp watchability to it.
  39. Calle 54
    Visually as pleasing as it sounds.
  40. Don't Say a Word
    Smart, stylish and, most important, satisfying.
  41. Bowfinger
    Has it's share of downtime.
    • Los Angeles Times
  42. The Princess Diaries
    This stylish Disney production is an ideal family film.
  43. Salaam Bombay!
    Watching the strength of [Nair]'s vision and her craft, balanced by the empathy shown in all her work so far--her earlier documentaries as well--there is every reason to believe that “Salaam Bombay!” marks the opening of an extraordinary career.
  44. The Debut
    Illuminating as it is entertaining.
  45. Gangster No. 1
    Taut, corrosive and compelling, Gangster No. 1 has the galvanic appeal of "Little Caesar" and "Scarface" in its full-sized portrait of a brilliant but twisted and savage criminal.
  46. Storytelling
    None of this intellectualizing is necessary to the simple enjoyment of Storytelling -- provided the viewer has a taste for the pitch-black humor that emerges when Solondz's camera becomes a veritable blowtorch aimed at humanity's myriad failings.
  47. Sunset Boulevard
    Sunset Blvd., directed by Billy Wilder, is an attack on Hollywood, especially its image-making fickleness and casual exploitation of all things shimmery. [20 Apr 1995, p.14]
    • Los Angeles Times
  48. Army of Darkness
    Ash's dialogue keeps the movie just goofy enough that even audiences that don't go in for schlock-horror phantasmagorias will be tickled. [19 Feb 1993, Calender, p.F-8]
    • Los Angeles Times
  49. Journey to the Sun
    Sensitive, gritty and courageous, this film gathers a power and focus not foreshadowed in its deliberately rambling earlier sequences.
  50. Carandiru
    Carandiru is Babenco's fourth film set inside some type of incarceration facility and meshes his documentary style and fondness for realism with the escapism of storytelling found in "Kiss of the Spider Woman." It plunges us deep inside a corrupt system and its sincere empathy creates a stirring mix of emotions.
  51. A Civil Action
    Comes close, achingly close, to greatness.
  52. The Tracker
    Redeemed by its adherence to a simple yet distinctive approach to storytelling and its uniformly strong acting.
  53. 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.
  54. Lucía, Lucía
    An exhilarating celebration of the possibilities of love and friendship, and Lucía, Félix and Adrián could not be more likable.
  55. The Winslow Boy
    Genteel moviemaking with modern overtones, The Winslow Boy is especially good at the visual re-creation of its time.
  56. Blue Car
    Even with its drawbacks, Blue Car remains an intimate, thoughtful drama, with a performance no one is likely to forget.
  57. Japanese Story
    Collette is fearless in reaching deeply into her emotions, and her expressiveness as an actress comes across as completely natural because it so clearly comes from within.
  58. The Mask of Zorro
    A lively, old-fashioned adventure yarn with just a twist of modern attitude, it's the kind of pleasant entertainment that allows the paying customers to have as much fun as the people on screen.
  59. Erleuchtung garantiert
    As funny as it is nourishing, and it has stellar performances from Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav Peter Wohler, who play off each other like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
  60. Ravenous
    Has all the ingredients for a cult film success but most definitely is not for everyone. It's stylish, sophisticated, venturesome--to say the least.
  61. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
    A good example of complex Hollywood wizardry placed in the service of sharp, intelligent family entertainment.
  62. Boyz n the Hood
    If people here feel trapped, despairing of a way out, it is Singleton's gift to make us empathize with their hopelessness, and make us wonder, along with them, how long this must go on.
  63. Zelary
    It's a convincing romantic drama, written, directed and acted with so much skill it's able to break loose from its conventional moorings and become more effective, more moving than we anticipated.
  64. The Fast and the Furious
    The result is an intensely involving entertainment that can be enjoyed by viewers who scarcely know how their own cars work.
  65. How Stella Got Her Groove Back
    Stella may be frothy and paper-thin, but it's also another great success for star Angela Bassett, who transforms the film into an infomercial for her considerable abilities.
  66. You Can Count on Me
    With warm humor and perceptive writing, director Kenneth Lonergan displays a gift for creating realistic characters and a compelling story.
  67. Cecil B. DeMented
    A fast, furious and funny fusillade of a movie.
  68. Lilo & Stitch
    Looser and less obviously formulaic in its fresh approach to our hearts, the brash Lilo & Stitch has an unleashed, subversive sense of humor that's less corporate and more uninhibited than any non-Pixar Disney film.
  69. Drumline
    Every holiday season needs a pleasant surprise, and this year it's Drumline. This entertaining and enthusiastically told tale shrewdly energizes its way-familiar plot line by setting it amid one of the greatest and least-known spectacles in American sports.
  70. Festival in Cannes
    A giddy comic fantasy, full of romance, chicanery and beguiling, sophisticated players.
    • Los Angeles Times
  71. Piñero
    Ichaso moves easily between a black-and-white past and a full-color present, maintaining a pace as buoyant and rhythmic as the beat of the infectious Latin music that accompanies the film.
  72. The Limey
    A solid genre film that offers the satisfactions of the familiar while deriving its resonance through its specific and telling references to the '60s.
  73. Tying the Knot
    Lively, incisive and comprehensive documentary.
  74. Illuminata
    Everything falls into place and seems exactly right: the brisk tempo, the crisp, witty performances, the slightly sooty touch.
  75. Criminal
    Captures Los Angeles in a straightforward, naturalistic way, neighborhood-hopping like a native.
  76. Private Parts
    Private Parts is a supremely crafty, smartly written, and--given the number of "himselfs" and "herselfs" on the cast list--surprisingly well-acted piece of pop kitsch.
  77. Shaolin Soccer
    An infectious knockabout kung fu comedy with amusing special effects combined with breathtaking stunts.
  78. Tigerland
    Consistently fresh, engrossing and unpredictable.
  79. The Butterfly
    An exceptionally satisfying film of much grace and beauty.
  80. The Animal
    An outrageous and imaginative summer comedy.
  81. Dead Man Walking
    Unusual in both its subject matter and its approach, this film guides us on a pair of intertwined paths American movies rarely venture down.
    • Los Angeles Times
  82. Barbershop
    As warm as it is wise, deftly setting off uproarious humor with an underlying seriousness that sneaks up on the viewer, providing an experience that is richer than anticipated.
  83. Grass
    This turns out to be an informative, involving, even sobering advocacy film.
  84. Topsy-Turvy
    A bit longer than it might be, a bit more attached to its digressions than we might wish. But the length does encourage the feeling that we've been through the whole creative process with Gilbert and Sullivan .
  85. 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.
  86. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    Enlivening things to an unprecedented extent, the songs turn O Brother into perhaps the warmest production in the Coens' repertoire.
  87. America's Heart and Soul
    This is an undeniably gorgeous film, with tremendous sweep and a great feel for vast landscapes and glittering cityscapes. Schwartzberg has captured a sense of the country's grandeur.
  88. Orgazmo
    Blissfully outrageous.
  89. Saving Private Ryan
    A startling reminder of exactly how spectacular a director Spielberg can be when he allows himself to be challenged by a subject (in this case World War II) that pushes against his limits.
  90. Fargo
    With the perfect assist from their actors, all of whom are well in on the joke, this affectionate look at the frozen North brings the Coens back in from the cold.
  91. Gloomy Sunday
    A beautiful period piece, set against one of the world's glorious cities, adding poignancy. Twists and turns heighten a gradually accruing effect, building to a risky moment of truth, a coup de théâtre that is as daring as it is satisfying.
  92. Sex Is Comedy
    Breillat's first foray into comedy is playful, whip-smart and far breezier in both tone and look than the stylized gender polemics she's known for.
  93. Bright Young Things
    As faithful to the spirit of the novel, and the era that inspired it, as a movie could be yet still feel as fresh as Paris Hilton dish on Page Six.
  94. Blind Shaft
    Makes for gripping, merciless drama.
  95. Goya in Bordeaux
    Superb, contemplative.
    • Los Angeles Times
  96. A Dirty Shame
    This raucously gritty and high-spirited film could scarcely be bluer in terms of the language, but from Waters it comes as a gust of fresh air.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pretty in Pink
    Delightful... The film is buoyed by a captivating performance by Ringwald, who has an unerring ability to share her character's emotions with an audience, as if we were eavsdropping behind her makeup mirror. [28 Feb 1986]
    • Los Angeles Times
  98. Suspect Zero
    Merhige understands how exciting going to the edge of credibility can be without falling off, and he has the bravura talent and imagination needed to pull off the sheer, hurtling audacity of Suspect Zero.
  99. Festival Express
    There were greater rock festivals and there are greater rock movies, but nothing existed quite like this mobile bacchanal, nicely preserved in Festival Express.
  100. Ten
    One of the best films to open so far this year, but greeting each new work from a favored director as if it were equally brilliant can't be good for anyone, the director included.
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