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. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
    Somehow hectic and lumbering, diverting and dispiriting all at once, this mud-toned medieval pulp largely cleaves to the spirit of Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” series, reducing a fabled figure of British lore to two hours of tough-guy swagger and head-pounding digital thwackery.
  2. Two Women
    A handsomely mounted if largely melodramatic affair that gains steam as it gives way to truer emotions and bits of veiled humor.
  3. Like Crazy
    Director Paolo Virzì, who co-wrote with Francesca Archibugi, keeps the jam-packed film moving apace with a whirlwind of high-wire emotionality, memorable set pieces and vivid location work.
  4. Tracktown
    [Pappas] and co-director and co-writer Jeremy Teicher have created a funny, sweet movie that explores the struggles of a serious athlete without alienating those whose sneakers are gathering dust in the closet.
  5. Violet
    Violet never progresses. It’s just one long, slow wallow. That said, Devos and cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis devise so many striking images that the movie is always a pleasure to watch.
  6. Whisky Galore!
    Granted, there’s not much reason to watch this Whisky Galore! so long as the 1949 version still exists. But it’s clear that everyone involved with this production had genuine affection for the material and for the very idea of old Scotland as a genteel utopia populated by kindly tippler
  7. Lowriders
    It’s dispiriting to watch Lowriders make every predictable move. It clutters an otherwise well-meaning snapshot of a vibrant community underserved by mainstream filmmaking.
  8. Enter The Warriors Gate
    This movie ultimately lacks the characters and imagination to make it anything more than a passable entertainment.
  9. Take Me
    Healy is never able to find an absorbing middle ground in Mike Makowsky’s script, vacillating gratingly between shrill farce and murky thriller that flails its way toward an intended twist-ending that really shouldn’t surprise anyone.
  10. The Lovers
    Its emotional reserves are deeper and more capacious, its sense of mystery more profound, than in just about any American movie of any scale I’ve seen in recent memory.
  11. Lady Bloodfight
    Lady Bloodfight would be knocked out immediately if matched against classics in the genre.
  12. Obit
    A fun and informative documentary.
  13. Bang! The Bert Berns Story
    What matters most is that “Bang!” is filled with lively anecdotes about the days when hucksters and racketeers ran the music business, jostling for control — an art in and of itself.
  14. Buster's Mal Heart
    It’s a confident weirdness that Buster’s Mal Heart boasts as it dissects a damaged soul for signs of what’s eternal and what’s triggered when a man breaks in two.
  15. This Is Not What I Expected
    Flights of fancy are peppered in throughout but can’t make up for this concoction’s missing ingredient: romantic chemistry.
  16. 3 Generations
    When this well-acted picture calms down and focuses on real emotions, it proves a poignant, absorbing look at a modern family.
  17. Chuck
    Chuck is, in certain ways, not unlike its flawed hero: a lot of personality, just enough ambition, more interested in a good time and simple insight than a lasting impression.
  18. Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait
    Rather than explore his place in the arts and balance all that adoration with insight, Corsicato opts for hero worship. The result is a visually exciting but emotionally monotonous film.
  19. Tomorrow Ever After
    The themes with which Thier wrestles, and her anthropological exploration of city life is more compelling than some of the more melodramatic plot elements. But the film’s flaws don’t detract from the ideas she presents.
  20. Black Site Delta
    While a lot of gunfire ensues, Jesse Gustafson’s mechanical direction and Guy Stevenson’s cut-and-paste script shoot laughably hollow blanks.
  21. The Dinner
    For all the actors’ commitment and ferocity, the experience they offer feels less like a confrontation with the anxieties of modern life than a plush, moody escape.
  22. Risk
    Risk is first and foremost an impressive cinematic coup, a triumph of access to an elusive and sometimes combative subject. It is also an unsettling and fascinatingly unresolved piece of work, with little of the moment-to-moment suspense and dramatic focus that made “Citizenfour” so riveting.
  23. Another Evil
    Mell never quite knows how to mine this conceit to best effect. The result: a tonal mishmash involving silly demon-trapping bits, supernatural speculation and lots of yakking that derails the film’s potential tension and credibility.
  24. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    As a result of trying too hard to maintain the original's insouciant attitude, what was fresh now seems institutionalized, what was off the wall now feels carved in stone and the film's trademark irreverence has become dogma.
  25. How to Be a Latin Lover
    Its humor is broad, but most of the jokes work for the intended audience — with a few even breaking through to more resistant viewers.
  26. The King's Case Note
    As choreographed by director Moon Hyun-Sung, the adventure seldom gets sufficiently up to speed, and on the occasions it threatens to come to life, the pedestrian action sequences fail to compensate for that lethargic pace.
  27. Danger Close
    Ultimately, neither narrative receives sufficient attention, robbing the subjects and that unique p.o.v. of the focus and urgency that lent the previous two films their undeniable potency.
  28. Casting JonBenét
    Though a thoughtful reflection is occasionally allowed — sometimes humanity finds its way out — this indulgent, stylized slog is straight out of a well-worn aren’t-people-weird-and-awful playbook.
  29. Grey Lady
    The film’s narrative engine remains too choppy and clunky, and the characters too cursorily developed, to hold attention.
  30. Black Rose
    From start to finish, Black Rose is about as pro forma as a motion picture gets.
  31. Displacement
    For anyone unfamiliar with physics or averse to a while-you-watch cram course, this film might prove a mind-numbing slog.
  32. Voice from the Stone
    Howell’s inept pileup of would-be signifiers — a misty quarry, a family crypt, a philosophical beekeeper — gives way to frisson-free horror and unconvincing romance.
  33. One Week and a Day
    One Week and a Day keeps an impeccable balance between absurdity and sadness, comedy and heartbreak. Increasingly outrageous but always plausible, it applies its pitiless, pitch black sense of humor to a very particular situation.
  34. The Black Room
    The Black Room is unabashedly trashy — with scene after scene of nudity and gore — but doesn’t offer much beyond sensation.
  35. Below Her Mouth
    With wooden performances and a lack of character development, Below Her Mouth is more X-rated, late-night cable skin flick than trenchant exploration of female sexuality.
  36. Rupture
    Rapace’s daring performance and Shainberg’s unique approach make Rupture a surprising slice of schlock that you won’t soon forget.
  37. The Circle
    Despite appealing features, including stars Emma Watson and Tom Hanks (who morphs his patented affability into casually sinister, Jobs-ian salesmanship), The Circle never builds up a head of steam as either dark drama, modern satire or dystopian thriller.
  38. Slack Bay
    Though the combination of social critique and unhinged laughs doesn’t always jell, the movie is quite gloriously a thing unto itself, even as it draws upon obvious inspirations.
  39. Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
    The film delineates the rise and fall of conventional urban planning, but also lets us know that the battle is not completely over.
  40. A Dark Song
    The two leads are resolute soldiers about it all, but they’re dutifully edgy elements in a stylist’s frame instead of fully realized characters living out what is supposed to be the riskiest time of their lives.
  41. A Night Without Armor
    Though deeply personal and heartfelt, the overwrought film falls prey to too much melodrama and not enough realism or humor.
  42. Let It Fall: L.A. 1982-1992
    "Let It Fall" understands the value of allowing its interview subjects to talk at greater, more involving length than is usual for documentaries, a technique that illuminates the complexities of reality and gives listeners a sense of the emotional textures of these people's lives.
  43. LA 92
    By sifting through and tying together an enormous variety of footage, directors Lindsay & Martin (who also served as editor) create an experience that gives a full sense of the anarchy and rage of the post-King verdict days, thrusting us fully and disturbingly into events in very much of a You Are There manner.
    • Los Angeles Times
      • Posted Apr 20, 2017
  44. Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
    When “Chasing Trane” serves up mesmerizing footage of Coltrane lost in the middle of a long solo, the film communicates something beyond words.
  45. Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent
    A film that finally fascinates despite some initial bumps in the road.
  46. Finding Oscar
    Lucid interviews with human-rights activists, attorneys, anthropologists, authors and others help frame this multi-faceted portrait.
  47. Somewhere Beautiful
    Patagonian landscapes in 16 mm and Hollywood real estate shot in 35 mm provide a visually sleek backdrop for mighty uninteresting relationships in the pretentious indie Somewhere Beautiful.
  48. NOLA Circus
    The flaws of Nola Circus aren’t limited to its outrageous and offensive approach. It’s that it never succeeds in bringing viewers onto its wavelength, which is probably a good thing for humanity’s sake.
  49. Free Fire
    Free Fire is a savagely funny and viciously precise distillation of one of the pair’s favorite themes: Men are idiots.
  50. Tomorrow
    Laurent and Dion’s passionate, off-the-beaten-path primer advocates thinking globally but acting locally with community-driven, grassroots alternatives that aren’t affected by any executive orders.
  51. The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
    The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki is a lovely piece of work, a sweet, warmly observed tale overlaid with just the right amount of Scandinavian melancholy, a combination that perfectly suits its quietly engaging protagonist.
  52. The Transfiguration
    Bold and brutal in shocking spurts, the indie horror drama from writer-director O’Shea is a startling debut that leaves a fresh mark on the genre while celebrating its forbears.
  53. Unforgettable
    Though this movie has its outrageous moments, Di Novi puts the female emotional journey up front and treats things respectfully. But every erotic thriller needs some crazy, and thank goodness for Heigl's full commitment to her character's insanity.
  54. The Promise
    With seemingly all the right pieces, it's a disappointment that The Promise lacks the energy and originality needed to sustain itself. It might be fresh material, but the approach is decidedly stale.
  55. A Quiet Passion
    The stately rhythms of the dialogue — drawn out by the particulars of Davies’ blocking, framing and editing — become a kind of music. The effect is bewildering at first, then absorbing, then transfixing. Its purpose, in line with the loftiest ideals of poetry itself, is to clear the mind and stir the soul.
  56. Karl Marx City
    Shot in evocative black and white, Karl Marx City is a sleek, absorbing detective story, a fascinating primer on mass surveillance in the pre-Snowden era, and a roving memoir of East German life.
  57. Spark: A Space Tail
    “Spark” should earn points for originality, but it never invests in establishing its world or its characters in a way that engages viewers.
  58. Truman
    It sounds paradoxical but, if done right, films about a life ending can be the most life-affirming films you'll see. Truman, a great success in its native Spain, is definitely done right.
  59. The Lost City of Z
    The movie may, in the end, frustrate your desire for straight-up thrills and clear answers, but its irresolution is masterful — sincere, generous and entirely appropriate to the deeply searching story it has to tell.
  60. David Lynch: The Art Life
    Lynch devotees should dig this respectful, offbeat portrait.
  61. The Outcasts
    Frequently fun and generally harmless, The Outcasts doesn’t bring anything new to the teen comedy, but that’s the nice thing about the sub-genre for its viewers.
  62. Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
    Subtle, unsettling, slyly amusing, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer takes some getting used to because it's the kind of film we're not used to seeing.
  63. Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo
    Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo is a well-crafted, revealing British documentary.
  64. Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past
    By showing the exhausting diligence that goes into moments of pure transcendent joy onstage, this doc should make new fans for Giordano’s living museum.
  65. Graduation
    Bleak, naturalistic and flawlessly acted, Graduation distills the mood and moral decay of a place whose gray skies and nondescript housing blocks feel like permanent reminders of its dark history.
  66. All This Panic
    All This Panic is a deeply felt tribute to youth but also to growing up; it’s a time capsule of a fleeting, fragile moment when angst is mixed with beauty and everything seems ripe with potential.
  67. Altitude
    The cast is game and the pace blessedly zippy, but everything about this film feels too fake to generate any real suspense.
  68. The Mason Brothers
    This lifeless serving of soggy pulp packs all the gritty authenticity of a gummy vitamin.
  69. A Woman, a Part
    The film is an astute character study that is analytical but never unemotional.
  70. My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
    As externalized visions of high school hellishness go, Shaw’s doesn’t always translate into the most cohesively entertaining of mash-ups, but his techniques are attention-grabbers.
  71. Tommy's Honour
    It’s surprisingly affecting, but there’s a tendency to telegraph these pivotal emotional moments that in a way lessens their effect. It’s a tribute to the film’s overall craft, and especially its cast, that it’s as much a winner as it is.
  72. Heal the Living
    Heal the Living reveals a gift for joining skillful visual filmmaking with moving, affecting storytelling, all in the service of a story that unfolds in surprising ways.
  73. Little Boxes
    Lynskey, Ellis, and Jackson are charming enough to buoy this lightly dramatic tale, but with a laid-back energy the stakes are never quite high enough. “Little Boxes” offers tame social commentary in a pleasant package.
  74. The Fate of the Furious
    The series seems to have at last entered its frustrating, decadent, spinning-its-wheels phase.
  75. Tickling Giants
    Tickling Giants surprises us on several levels. It reveals Egypt’s familiar Arab Spring experience through a lens, that of satiric comedy, which is very different from the way we usually see it. And it has the personal element of Youssef’s involving story, showing what can happen when your dreams come true to a completely unexpected extent.
  76. The Case for Christ
    Give credit to the filmmakers for making a faith-affirming picture that aims to be more thoughtful than maudlin. But what they’ve ended up with is a fairly rote Christian redemption narrative — albeit with more charts and graphs.
  77. Their Finest
    Their Finest is a treat that has something on its mind, a charming concoction that adds a bit of texture and bite to the mix. Genial and engaging with a fine sense of humor, it makes blending the comic with the serious look simpler than it actually is.
  78. Blue Gold: American Jeans
    Blue Gold: American Jeans is intermittently engaging, but its attempt to weave together the journey of vintage clothing dealer Eric Schrader with the history of the apparel ultimately falls apart.
  79. The Eyes
    The Eyes is a talky, set-bound drama masquerading as a suspense picture, and nearly the entire movie consists of overwritten, overacted, visually inert confrontations and monologues.
  80. Live Cargo
    Logan Sandler’s Live Cargo is stuffed with arty close-ups and stunning backdrops, but the emotions to connect them are missing.
  81. Cézanne et Moi
    Ever-present is the mild dissonance of fiery pioneers of expression inspiring charmingly pretty if standard art house fare.
  82. All These Sleepless Nights
    Tapping into that transitional juncture where limitless possibility crosses paths with nagging uncertainty, filmmaker Michal Marczak adroitly captures the youthful, restless spirit cradled within the pulsating beat of its immersive, ambient soundtrack.
  83. Alive and Kicking
    There may be no fancy filmmaking steps in “Alive and Kicking,” but the jaw-dropping improvisations and physical intimacy of the dancers make it an action film par excellence — joy-fueled and gravity-defying.
  84. God Knows Where I Am
    This documentary is a lyrical exploration of both a person and the place she died in, as well as a devastating commentary on American society’s approach to mental health.
  85. SHOT! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock
    The maximalist approach isn’t necessary to enhance the wild tales, but the film does reflect its subject in its messy yet invigorating approach.
  86. Mine
    The film is often a marvel of visual and narrative resourcefulness. But with its single primary location, blistering atmosphere, small cast and narrow focus, “Mine” may prove too grueling for some.
  87. 1 Mile to You
    The film feels cluttered by all the other nonsense of girls, rivalries and friendships that could have been pared down for a more efficient narrative.
  88. The Void
    Few horror fans will complain about a movie that’s so generous with well-constructed, energetically staged set pieces featuring elaborate makeup effects and plenty of nondigital goo. The Void is derivative, but delightful.
  89. Bethany
    James Cullen Bressack’s Bethany is polished, well-acted and filled with memorably disgusting images, but its portrait of a frazzled adult survivor of child abuse is ultimately formulaic and a little sleazy.
  90. The Ticket
    Directed by Ido Fluk from a screenplay he wrote with Sharon Mashihi, the film is sensitively observed, its performances convincingly understated. But it rapidly devolves into a standard, and increasingly unfocused, story of materialism and greed.
  91. Colossal
    Neither Hathaway nor the script makes any overt bids for the audience’s sympathy in Colossal, which may explain why they earn it so handily.
  92. Queen of the Desert
    The main flaws in “Queen,” however, are a lurching narrative coupled with dialogue awkwardness, and a blasé approach to Bell’s motivations.
  93. Salt and Fire
    Like something you peer at rather than absorb, Salt and Fire is both awful and a tad fascinating.
  94. Speech & Debate
    Although the story, which feels a tad past its expiration date, never digs too deeply into its central issues (hypocrisy, loneliness, censorship, finding one’s voice), Dan Harris’ peppy direction and nimble turns by the film’s young leads prevail.
  95. Going in Style
    If anything, it uses its gifted veterans to disguise how tired, implausible and overly sentimental the proceedings turn out to be.
  96. Smurfs: The Lost Village
    Though it's nice to see Smurfette get her due, the whole endeavor feels tired and tiring.
  97. Aftermath
    Aftermath can’t quite sustain its controlled tone, relying on operatic melodrama and limp plot twists as it concludes in an uneasy resolution.
  98. The Assignment
    There’s howlingly awful and then there’s The Assignment, a thoroughly ridiculous, numbingly slow neo-noir thriller.
  99. Your Name.
    The movie’s spirit is by turns energetic and serene, impetuous and wise, its wild shifts from comedy to tragedy to romance revealing themselves not as tonal swings so much as variations in a larger cosmic pattern.
  100. Gifted
    No one is likely to disagree with the basic correctness of the movie’s conclusions, though you may well object to the process by which it arrives at them.
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