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. Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
    What is most involving about Gould is the extraordinary way he played.
  2. Love and Other Drugs
    A love story that is actually worth falling for, with Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal excellent at steaming up the screen in Love & Other Drugs.
  3. For Colored Girls
    Whatever stumbles there may be, they are offset by moments when For Colored Girls soars.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Making the Boys
    Making the Boys reveals just how bound up Crowley's play is with the history of the gay community, most heartbreakingly in the number of original company members who died from AIDS.
  5. White Material
    Simultaneously poetic, dramatic and realistic, White Material is an altogether stunning work.
  6. The King's Speech
    The gift of The King's Speech is that it allows us to look on as a pair of masterful actors re-create a monumental test of wills.
  7. Another Year
    It may sound commonplace, but in the hands of master filmmaker Mike Leigh, the everyday becomes extraordinary.
  8. Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
    Clearly, the directors have to be Merritt advocates to hang in there that long, but the film that resulted has elements that keep it from being simply a fan's notes.
  9. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
    Made with the on-camera cooperation of Spitzer (though not his wife), it is a sad, disturbing and in some ways tragic tale that in its lurid combination of sex and politics, banal hypocrisy and bare-knuckles power, seems very much an American story of our times.
  10. Barney's Version
    Whatever the film's flaws, and like its protagonist, there are times when things get a bit out of control, watching Giamatti use Barney to wrestle with success, failure, friendship, love and increasingly with time is exhilarating.
  11. Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
    You might want to tuck Damien Chazelle's name into your memory bank if his filmmaking debut, the terrific jazz improvisation that is Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, is any indication of what his future might hold.
  12. Cool It
    By bringing in a diverse group of big thinkers to take part in a very animated, sometimes agitated, discussion, the filmmaker has succeeded in bringing what could have been a very dry mountain of data, theories and experimental research to vibrant life.
  13. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
    What unfolds is a dark comic thriller and action-hero send-up, a strange alloy of daredevil helicopter maneuvers and night of the living elves. Captured in atmospheric widescreen camerawork, the end-of-the-world frozen landscape (actually Norway) is spectacular and spooky.
  14. Shake Hands with the Devil
    A quietly powerful, incisive portrait of Canadian Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallarme (Roy Dupuis), who was sent to Rwanda in 1993 on a peacekeeping mission as the ruling Hutu attacked the rebel Tutsi, yet he was hobbled by the U.N. leadership and faced with the indifference of the world's superpowers.
  15. Amer
    Consistently outrageous and relentlessly surreal, the Belgian film is, intentionally or not, frequently funny; it's also compelling and distinctive.
  16. Gnomeo and Juliet
    This gently amusing, genuinely sweet animated film makes you smile from start to finish?
  17. Sucker Punch
    A wonderfully wild provocation - an imperfect, overlong, intemperate and utterly absorbing romp through the id that I wouldn't have missed for the world.
  18. The Magician
    Writer-director-star Scott Ryan's darkly comic faux documentary, a gritty, shot-off-the cuff gem and a top prize winner in its native Australia. [29 Oct 2010, p.D8]
    • Los Angeles Times
      • Posted Aug 4, 2022
  19. Undertow
    In a confident yet relaxed feature debut, Fuentes-León has created a wholly unified work of art.
  20. Bhutto
    As Bhutto, the thorough and involving documentary on her life conveys, Benazir was a formidable personality all by herself.
  21. Applause
    It is a singular performance and a deeply affecting if imperfect film.
  22. Summer Wars
    Hosoda, who directed the cult film "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," has made a sophisticated yet poignant family entertainment with an appeal beyond Japanese animation buffs.
  23. Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
    Beautiful and melodic as well as pointedly political.
  24. Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries)
    It marks a subtle, assured and altogether distinctive feature debut for writer-director Rao and its radiant leading lady, rock star and stage performer Monica Dogra.
  25. Jumping the Broom
    This endearing picture is proof that it is still possible for a major studio release to be fun, smart and heart-tugging and devoid of numbskull violence and equally numbing special effects.
  26. Kaboom
    Araki lets his absurdist imagination run wild, and Kaboom takes the time-honored gambit of gradually revealing that nothing is as it seems to delightfully cockamamie extremes.
  27. Scream 4
    The kills themselves are both bountiful and bloody, the movie references are brilliant and bloody, the funny is very frequent and very frequently bloody, but to say any more would ruin the boo.
  28. Kung Fu Panda 2
    The big action pieces, particularly the final face-off, are masterful both for their cleverness in bringing down the house and the detail jammed into every frame. Even composers Hans Zimmer, who's scored a zillion movies, and John Powell seem to be having more fun than usual.
  29. Carbon Nation
    Although it contains its moments of doom and gloom about the potential effects of climate change, the excellent documentary Carbon Nation is an inspiring look at the many recent advances in clean energy and green technologies.
  30. Cedar Rapids
    If that all sounds like a lot of good, clean fun, a word of warning. In what seems to have become the genre's raison d'etre, the dialogue is so blue at times that you'll probably feel the heat of the blushing cheeks on either side of you, especially whenever Reilly's fast-talking savant of smut shows up.
  31. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie
    Beyond the love fest of talking heads is a compelling life story that courses through the Depression, World War II and swinging London, all evoked in well-curated archival footage.
  32. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
    Part 2 turns out to be more than the last of its kind. Almost magically, it ends up being one of the best of the series as well.
  33. The Help
    Laughter, which is ladled on thick as gravy, proves to be the secret ingredient - turning what should be a feel-bad movie about those troubled times into a heart-warming surprise.
  34. The Hunger Games
    Making a successful Hunger Games movie out of Suzanne Collins' novel required casting the best possible performer as Katniss, and in Jennifer Lawrence director Gary Ross and company have hit the bull's-eye, so to speak.
  35. Rubber
    If you meet the fiendishly deadpan Rubber halfway, its assured mix of cinephile artiness and grindhouse spoof will offer some oddball surprises.
  36. Beginners
    A buoyant and disarming drama about sons and fathers, death and dying, living and loving and all the ways we find ourselves starting over, hoping to finally get it right.
  37. Crazy, Stupid, Love
    Between the writing, acting, directing and the rest, it works. Not crazy, not stupid, and filled with love. Period.
  38. Heartbeats
    There are risky plot choices all along the way, but the risks are what keeps the pot boiling as the complexities of the relationship triangle heat up and cool down.
  39. Born to Be Wild
    Although it runs just a fleet 40 minutes, the film proves a rich and memorable journey.
  40. Colombiana
    All of that combines to make Colombiana into a scandalous blend of action, sex and violence. My apologies in advance for having so much fun.
  41. Puss in Boots
    A treat to experience visually (especially in lively 3-D) and verbally, Puss in Boots is a family film where the adventure and invention never flag and the tongue-in-cheek humor doesn't linger far behind.
  42. The Descendants
    It makes The Descendants a tragedy infused with comedy and calls for a balancing act from filmmaker and star alike, a tightrope they navigate with nary a wobble.
  43. Midnight in Paris
    With Midnight in Paris, Allen has lightened up, allowed himself a treat and in the process created a gift for us and him.
  44. On the Road
    Salles has lovingly crafted a poetic, sensitive, achingly romantic version of the Kerouac book that captures the evanescence of its characters' existence and the purity of their rebellious hunger for the essence of life.
  45. Win Win
    Pure pleasure to experience. Written and directed by Tom McCarthy with an impeccable feel for off-center human comedy at its funniest and most heartfelt, its low-key qualities are so relaxed and unforced every moment feels like a gift.
  46. Coriolanus
    If you give yourself over to that clash of style and sensibility, something magical happens as the power, the prescience and the precision of Shakespeare's words take hold of modern problems.
  47. Take This Waltz
    Somehow it is the waiting - for the fall that you expect is coming, for the marriage you figure will fall apart - that makes Take This Waltz one to make room for on your dance card.
  48. Mooz-lum
    Having created rich roles for his actors, Basir elicits from them inspired portrayals. Well-crafted in all aspects, Mooz-lum is not only rich in nuance, but also an engrossing entertainment made with skill and passion.
  49. We Are What We Are
    An unexpectedly rich exploration of family bonds, blood rituals and the oftentimes zombie-like desire to assume the roles proscribed to each of us, played out with a sharp undertow of political allegory and darkly comic sensibility.
  50. The Double Hour
    For what makes this tale something more than a puzzle to be solved is a level of emotional impact that genre exercises don't often provide, emotion traceable to sensitive acting that is similarly rare.
  51. Premium Rush
    The action is inventive, extensive and exciting, a bang-up job by cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen, one of the town's hot new shooters.
  52. The Human Resources Manager
    More than anything, this is an intelligent audience picture, a solid and engrossing piece of old-school filmmaking, both humane and character driven, in which the various protagonists learn something - not too much and not too easily - about the nature of their lives.
  53. Lemmy
    Fun for fans and a healthy primer for those previously unaware, the film's overall air of fawning worship makes it feel softer than befits such a gruff, roguish figure.
  54. The Bourne Legacy
    Complex, unexpected and dazzling, alternating relentless tension with resonant emotional moments, this is an exemplary espionage thriller that has a strong sense of what it wants to accomplish and how best to get there.
  55. Skyfall
    In Skyfall, Mendes has given us a thrilling new chapter in a franchise that by all rights should have been gasping for air - which really makes him the hero of this saga.
  56. 21 Jump Street
    Miller and Lord clearly understand the push-and-pull and hyper-competitiveness that make guy friendships both complex and stupid. That it comes to life so fully in 21 Jump Street is what gives the film an endearing, punch-you-in-the-arm-because-I-like-you-man charm.
  57. The Avengers
    Whedon is the key reason why this $220-million behemoth of a movie is smartly thought out and executed with verve and precision. It may be overly long at two hours, 23 minutes, but so much is going on you might not even notice.
  58. Zokkomon
    Director Satyajit Bhatkai has brought plenty of energy to an imaginative and thoughtful script by many hands.
  59. Thunder Soul
    Though it sometimes overplays the sentimentality, Thunder Soul gets not just the music but also the sense of possibility for this post-civil-rights generation.
  60. Project Nim
    What makes this film especially engrossing is that what happened between that chimp and the humans with whom he spent his life in intimate contact turns out to be only half the story that Marsh, who directed the electrifying "Man on Wire," has to tell.
  61. The Elephant in the Living Room
    This impeccably made film is chock-full of enlightening and sometimes bizarre moments.
  62. Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
    It is at its most vibrant when re-creating the energy of Tribe's original moment in the late '80s and early '90s, when the musicians brought a spirited, playful artfulness to the sometimes drearily self-serious world of hip-hop.
  63. Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny
    Winston Churchill: Walking With Destiny nonetheless serves as an informative look back at one of the 20th century's most celebrated figures. (Nov 4, 2010)
    • Los Angeles Times
      • Posted Apr 13, 2011
  64. Fly Away
    The lovely, heartbreaking Fly Away benefits from superb performances and a gripping story managed with simplicity and grace by writer-producer-director Janet Grillo.
  65. The First Grader
    Anchored by a lovely performance from Oliver Litondo as Maruge and an exuberant Naomie Harris as Jane Obinchu, the school principal who champions his cause, the result is a tearful, joyful, imperfect, yet nearly irresistible ode to the human spirit.
  66. The High Cost of Living
    Set in a noirish, gleaming Montreal, this handsome, captivating, well-paced and stylish film is fully realized in every aspect.
  67. The Trip
    Coogan and Brydon are either quite brilliant at this or just serving up slight variations of their very witty selves. Either way, their travels and squabbles are great fun to watch, the countryside is bucolic, the food mouthwatering. You just wouldn't want to go on a real road trip with them.
  68. Viva Riva!
    As gut-punch storytelling, Viva Riva! delivers much, not the least of which is the promise of an exciting new filmmaking talent.
  69. Buck
    The film is deeply moving yet never maudlin in telling this hard-knocks-but-hope-infused story.
  70. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
    The film, like the tour, will satisfy the Conan cravings of hardcore fans the most, and prove an enjoyable enough diversion for the rest.
  71. Another Earth
    Quietly and movingly out of this world. Director Mike Cahill has woven sci-fi imaginings and quantum physics theories of parallel universes into a provocative meditation on the prospect of rewriting your life history.
  72. Terri
    It's potent stuff, laced with smart, sensitive humor, and extremely well handled by Wysocki and the excellent ensemble of young actors that become Terri's intimates.
  73. Beautiful Darling
    A transgender icon with a life as tragically short as some of the idols she worshipped, she's the deserving subject of an archivally rich remembrance, and such is James Rasin's poignant documentary Beautiful Darling.
  74. Like Crazy
    If you are experienced enough to understand love's fragility but still romantic enough to embrace its power, Like Crazy will put you away.
  75. Sarah's Key
    Sarah's Key is more powerful than you expect, maybe even more powerful than it should be.
  76. The Robber
    They use dialogue sparingly, powerfully; a talky detective sounds like a visitor from another planet. The world he has encroached upon is defined by the ability to run and the adrenaline-rush threat of capture. Freedom's just another word in this gripping existential portrait.
  77. Forks Over Knives
    Richly inspiring and informative documentary.
  78. Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
    Though it's more than a little awestruck and feels padded even at 82 minutes, the story it tells remains completely fascinating
  79. The Sleeping Beauty
    One could argue that, in varying degrees, all of the iconoclastic French director's films have dismantled femme-centric fairy tales. But in this, the second of a planned trilogy, she's confronting burnished old folk tales head-on. Sly and playful, it's a beauty.
  80. Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
    Unconventional, imaginative, nothing if not audacious, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a portrait of creativity from the inside, a serious yet playful attempt to find an artistic way to tell an emotional truth.
  81. ParaNorman
    It may be the most fun you'll have with ghosts and zombies all year.
  82. Spork
    For all its poignancy, Spork never loses sight of its goal to be zesty, sharp-witted fun.
  83. The Artist
    It combines delightful humor and charm with what movies at their best have always conveyed: the honest power of pure emotion. It is a movie love story and a love note to the movies, all at the same time.
  84. Littlerock
    McLaughlin, who has a good eye for the minimal, manages to bring out the haunting beauty of empty places littered with the discards of forgotten lives.
  85. The Woman in Black
    If the story is laid out none too subtly, its straightforward purity is, finally, its greatest strength. Screenwriter Jane Goldman has adapted Susan Hill's 1983 novel (which spawned a radio series, TV movie and long-running West End stage play) with economy, placing a premium on eeriness, not gore.
  86. Film Socialisme
    With its rich, layered storytelling, Film Socialisme is, in its broadest sense, about nothing less than the history, present and future of Western civilization, up to and including Internet videos of cats.
  87. !Women Art Revolution
    In her vibrant !Women Art Revolution Hershman focuses on a number of the many women who created what has been called the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.
  88. The Pirates! Band of Misfits
    A clever piece of business that is a complete pleasure to experience.
  89. Take Shelter
    From the first moments of the eerie storm that opens the story, dread is the prevailing mood of this pre-apocalyptic drama - a film very much about this moment in time.
  90. Jig
    As for the dancing itself, it's nothing short of dazzling.
  91. Donnie Darko
    If you let it be what it is, Donnie Darko will knock you flat.
  92. Attack the Block
    Pulsing with a rowdy energy, the film works as both a sci-fi horror flick and a teen adventure film.
  93. Oblivion
    Oblivion has the ability to haunt you visually and, with an unanticipated love story, even emotionally.
  94. Bully
    If you feel like you've already read quite a bit about the documentary Bully, you have. But that still won't prepare you for the experience of seeing it.
  95. Halloween
    With a canny balance of empathy and exploitation, Halloween treats its heroine’s lingering trauma with surprising emotional realism and only a hint of comic exaggeration.
  96. Crime After Crime
    A deeply affecting account of the very real effect of political corruption, but also of resilience and grace.
  97. Rapt
    Rapt fuses strands of dramatic tension in a shrewd enough way that it even saves its sharpest cuts for the kidnapping's aftermath, when a well-heeled life laid bare must reconcile with a much different form of enforced solitude.
  98. Daylight
    Replete with superior acting and visual splendor, the film is a fine instance of the overly familiar made fresh.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Point Blank
    A taut, roller-coaster ride clocking in at under 90 minutes about another everyman caught in an extraordinary situation.
  100. Sleeping Beauty
    As repellent as Lucy's story can be, its mystery has a seductive sway, and it does add up to more than the sum of its insistently elliptical parts.
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