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. A Cure for Wellness
    The terrors we see in A Cure for Wellness are never as scary as they are beautiful, but they are never so beautiful as they are arbitrary.
  2. Kedi
    While you don’t have to be crazy about cats to enjoy this documentary, it would certainly help.
  3. Fist Fight
    For much of its fast-paced running time, the film, which involves an after-school fight between two polar-opposite teachers, is just amusing enough to make up for its sheer preposterousness.
  4. The Great Wall
    If ever a film was made with more money than sense, this is it.
  5. Running Wild
    Just when you think the film has gratefully escaped its most inevitable turn, it goes there, adding one final kernel of corn to this ho-hum horse tale.
  6. Growing Up Smith
    Growing Up Smith is a well-intentioned fizzle that misses what should have been an easily reachable mark.
  7. Sex Doll
    Tighter pacing, more dimensional and compelling characters, and twistier consequences could have helped better propel this dark, semi-intriguing tale.
  8. I Am Jane Doe
    It’s an overwhelming, and sometimes disorganized firehose of information.... Ultimately, however, I Am Jane Doe is a powerful call to action to protect children over profit.
  9. Stray Bullets
    Plenty of first-time feature filmmakers have combined grubby genre kicks with more personal concerns; but there’s a confidence and energy to “Stray Bullets” that compensates for the rather rudimentary, over-familiar story.
  10. Fifty Shades Darker
    This is a surprisingly dull and tedious affair where nothing is even remotely plausible, the romance and the sex least of all.
  11. Duckweed
    The film can’t quite figure out how to wrap up, overstaying its welcome with multiple resolutions, but its heart is in the right place, using fantasy to reveal poignant truths about empathy and redemption.
  12. Chapter & Verse
    Filmmaker and Columbia professor Joseph, and playwright Beaty, in his feature writing and acting debut, infuse the movie with an intense New York City realism and an evocative street poetry that conjure up early John Cassavetes and Spike Lee.
  13. 1 Night
    Unfortunately, the film doesn’t fully explore its big ideas or give its talented cast dialogue to match.
  14. The Adventure Club
    The Adventure Club is a remarkably dull Canadian tween caper about a sought-after magical ancient box with wish-making powers.
  15. Bornless Ones
    This movie is still, ultimately, a generic shocker. But the amount of care lavished on the character-building and scene-setting is impressive, even if it doesn’t add up to much.
  16. Don't Hang Up
    It’s a taut, if somewhat hysterical, cycle of bait and switch, twists and turns, retribution, vengeance and mental torture payback for immature mind games with deadly results.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Havenhurst
    A reveal about the nature of the building and its violence works initially, but is never fully explored. There are some truly disgusting kills, making sure that horror fans who thirst for blood will get their fill.
  18. John Wick: Chapter 2
    The movie may look like disposable goods — it’s a sequel, a shoot-’em-up, starring an actor too often treated as a punchline — but it is also a connoisseur’s delight, a down-and-dirty B-picture with a lustrous A-picture soul.
  19. Mr. Gaga
    If you are familiar with his mesmerizing work, nothing more need be said; if you’re not, this feast of dance illustrates why others are.
  20. A United Kingdom
    A United Kingdom is traditional, well-made cinema, with a taste for the obvious at certain points, but it has some powerful advantages. These include its remarkable story (Susan Williams’' book "Colour Bar" was a primary source), plus a director who knows how to convey its essence and a superior cast whose presence elevates the material.
  21. The LEGO Batman Movie
    In its best moments, this gag-a-minute Bat-roast serves as a reminder that, in the right hands, a sharp comic scalpel can be an instrument of revelation as well as ridicule.
  22. Dark Night
    Sutton’s vision is unsettling and immersive, his technical precision immaculate. The sound design alone — long, ambient silences disrupted by a flashbulb-popping hallucination or a sudden scream — is reason enough to see the movie in a theater, whatever unpleasant associations the ending may conjure.
  23. Love Exposure
    The film's maximalist storytelling, both expansive and precise, snatching specific emotions from its torrid swirl, is best exemplified by the fact that the title card doesn't appear until an hour in.
  24. Rings
    At no point does the movie manage even a single sequence of sustained tension, or a frisson of genuine terror.
  25. The Space Between Us
    The pacing of the individual scenes and the direction of the actors feel so clunky and amateurish, you may wonder after a while if “The Space Between Us” is meant to indicate the yawning emotional chasm between the actors, struggling to connect across a galaxy’s worth of wretched dialogue.
  26. Train Station
    Intriguing in concept but problematic in execution.
  27. American Violence
    It’s crisply shot but suffers from poor, amateurish editing, an overwrought dramatic score and the storytelling fails to compel. The acting, writing and directing of American Violence indicate this flick is strictly a B-movie, but its tone is far too self-serious to have any fun with at all.
  28. On the Rocks
    A shrill but often funny anti-romantic comedy from L.A. filmmakers Alex Kavutskiy and Ariel Gardner.
  29. The Daughter
    Made with taste, skill and discretion, The Daughter demonstrates both the staying power of classic material and the risks inherent in bringing it up to date.
  30. The Trouble with Terkel
    The Trouble With Terkel feels painfully outdated and stale, with rudimentary computer-generated visuals and characters that are potty-mouthed only for the sake of provocation.
  31. This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous
    With This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous, acclaimed filmmaker Barbara Kopple retains her signature intimacy and freedom from judgment of her subject.
  32. Eloise
    With Eloise, Legato and company take a prime location, rich in history, and make it look like a soundstage.
  33. Oklahoma City
    A chilling documentary that firmly positions McVeigh not as some delusional loner but rather as a product of a far-right subculture that looked on the U.S. federal government as one of the most dangerous forces on the face of the Earth.
  34. The Grace of Jake
    It earns points for not being overly pious, but there’s little depth in its exploration of one man’s spiritual evolution.
  35. Youth in Oregon
    Moore is primarily known as an actor but this is the third feature he’s directed, and he proves surprisingly unable to get layered performances out of some great actors.
  36. Don't Knock Twice
    The best reason to see Don’t Knock Twice is the volatile chemistry between genre favorites Katee Sackhoff and Lucy Boynton.
  37. War on Everyone
    It’s pleasurable enough to see Skarsgård and especially Peña, so often cast as a genial second banana, taking pride of place in their own vehicle, even if this one fails to make the most of their considerable chemistry.
  38. Midsummer in Newtown
    The talking-head commentary, however firsthand, personal and eloquent, can be repetitious, while the filmmaker leaves unnecessary basic information gaps in the story he’s telling. But Midsummer in Newtown is nonetheless an affecting chronicle.
  39. Wheeler
    It’s a terrific film that deserves far more attention than its low-profile release is likely to receive.
  40. Confidential Assignment
    South Korean filmmaker Kim Sung-hoon has clearly done his homework while injecting the action sequences with a terrific kinetic energy.
  41. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
    Boasting a higher body count than its IQ, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is violent, idiotic fun.
  42. I Am Michael
    Kelly, who is credited with Stacey Miller for the screenplay, is shrewd enough to keep the movie from being a dramatized op-ed piece about betrayal, instead making roiling uncertainty, loneliness and melancholy the marquee emotions.
  43. Fall
    Murphy’s quietly precise performance ultimately can’t overcome the film’s chilly gravity and unsatisfying finale.
  44. They Call Us Monsters
    There’s little doubt prison reform needs to address the severe effects of locking up kids for life, but They Call Us Monsters feels like a well-meaning skim rather than an impassioned, expertly reasoned plea for mercy.
  45. Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo
    Filmmaking duo Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau have crafted a film that articulates the ability for sex to produce just a little bit more love in the world, for a moment or an eternity.
  46. Lost in Florence
    A seemingly tourist-bureau-sanctioned travelogue posing as a romantic drama.
  47. Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions
    The flashy battle sequences will delight “Yu-Gi-Oh” fans. Viewers not familiar with the game will themselves be hopelessly lost.
  48. Get the Girl
    A staged kidnapping isn’t the only thing that goes from botched to worse where the tone-deaf black comedy-thriller Get the Girl is concerned.
  49. Kung Fu Yoga
    By the time it all culminates in a Chan-led classic Bollywood production number, the cuteness factor may have been pushed to its limit, but good luck trying to stop that goofy smile from spreading across your face.
  50. The Sunshine Makers
    This documentary meanders a bit as it goes between time periods, but it’s never less than entertaining and illuminating.
  51. Strike a Pose
    It’s a loving, honest portrait of these men who were world-famous for a bright moment, and most importantly, what happens after the limelight goes away.
  52. Sophie and the Rising Sun
    There’s a clumsy, soapy tepidness to the procession of plot points, but within individual scenes, the actors pierce the genteel surface.
  53. Gold
    Without its lead, whose full-throttle portrait is at least a burning flame, Gold wouldn’t work on any level.
  54. The Salesman
    The world of The Salesman isn’t quite as intricately imagined as some of its predecessors, and the story’s sleuthing element, while absorbing, often feels more narratively expedient than germane. But if the setup is creaky, the payoff, when it arrives, is a thing to behold.
  55. A Dog's Purpose
    The film has all the emotional resonance of a dog-themed novelty coffee-table book. Adorable, but ultimately forgettable.
  56. Alone in Berlin
    Alone in Berlin is ultimately hobbled by its own cinematic inertia, its inability to reimagine the past with the kind of intensity that would also speak to the present.
  57. Worlds Apart
    It’s an often tender, affecting film that slowly creeps up on you — then completely takes hold.
  58. My Father Die
    My Father Die is all provocation and no substance, and therefore completely meaningless.
  59. Saving Banksy
    The road to hell, the saying goes, is paved with the best of intentions, and that is very much the case with the complex art world conundrum explored in the lively, involving documentary Saving Banksy.
  60. The Axe Murders of Villisca
    The Axe Murders of Villisca never really comes to much, perhaps because its focus is too diffuse. The scares are low, and the plot under-baked.
  61. Sailor Moon R the Movie: The Promise of the Rose
    Earlier English translations soft-pedaled the nature of Fiore’s affection for Mamoru. The lively new version is closer to the original, and suggests Fiore’s feeling are more passionate than fraternal.
  62. Detour
    What’s painfully clear is that all the artfully composed shots, hinky situations and extra conceptual surprises can’t make this Detour all that compelling beyond its crisp artifice.
  63. Staying Vertical
    Its title a sly reference to what distinguishes men from beasts, Staying Vertical hinges on the tension between primal instincts and socially proscribed behavior. Guiraudie isn’t just trying to decimate sexual taboos; he is also taking gently comic aim at the overly rigid roles into which people tend to lock themselves.
  64. Bakery in Brooklyn
    Director Gustavo Ron and co-writer Francisco Zegers fill the movie to bursting with plot, turning what might have been a delightfully airy cream puff of a film into a soggy disaster.
  65. Doobious Sources
    While the fake news angle is admittedly a timely one, the film’s ultimate dubious achievement is its remarkable ability to make “Dude, Where’s My Car?” feel like vintage Kubrick.
  66. Trespass Against Us
    Smith may have some ways to go as a feature filmmaker, but he has given us a world of such grottily realized depravity that it feels like a story unto itself.
  67. Antarctica: Ice and Sky
    The visuals and concepts presented here may be compelling and vital, but director Luc Jacquet (“March of the Penguins”) weaves them together with too little urgency, propulsion and, ultimately, unique sense of purpose.
  68. Split
    Split doesn’t just revive Shyamalan’s career; it resurrects his brand.
  69. Sea of Hope
    The film captures the dazzling beauty of its ocean locales, both above and beneath the surface, while soberly reminding us of the crucial ecological issues — and solutions — at hand.
  70. Monster Trucks
    On first glance, Monster Trucks looks so-bad-it’s-hilarious, and it’s a bit heartening to report that it’s not quite that. The monsters are cute and charming, the production value is high, and the trio of Lennon, Levy and Lowe bring just enough quirk to brighten up the humorous beats.
  71. Sleepless
    A stylish surface goes only so far to disguise the fact that we’re being sold some pretty cut-rate goods.
  72. 48 Hours to Live
    There’s more focus on the dull mystery and predictable story twists, and not nearly enough choreographic ecstasy on-screen.
  73. The Snare
    Writer-director C.A. Cooper’s The Snare is admirably artful and oblique in putting its own twist on the haunted-house story, but it’s derivative of much better psychological suspense films and is obnoxiously unpleasant to boot.
  74. Top Coat Cash
    Like a fog that corrupts your ability to be entertained, Top Coat Cash is genre amateurishness that neither thrills nor makes sense.
  75. The Ardennes
    The Ardennes is an odd mixture of glum-chic style and emotional curiosity, a story of brotherly tensions that primarily comes off like a movie posing as a story of brotherly tensions.
  76. Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies
    It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It’s really not anything.
  77. Bad Kids of Crestview Academy
    Animated comic book panels hint at an attempt at style, but bad camerawork captures bad performances of bad dialogue.
  78. Claire in Motion
    For the most part, nothing about Claire in Motion seems overly calculated. It knows precisely where it’s going, but it’s also wise enough to leave that destination open-ended.
  79. The Crash
    While writer-director-editor Aram Rappaport draws effectively weighted performances (especially from the always committed Driver) and maintains a crisp pace, he’s less adept at balancing those big picture thriller elements with Clifton’s personal journey, which ultimately serves to rob both aspects of greater potency.
  80. 100 Streets
    It’s six or so characters in search of a meaningful movie.
  81. We Are the Flesh
    Until the thought-provoking, from-left-field twist ending, We Are the Flesh mostly seems like a series of sick tableaux, dredged up from the director’s subconscious and then splattered across the screen. But there’s genuine artistry even to this film’s most exploitative moments.
  82. The Bye Bye Man
    The Bye Bye Man is cheesy, but it feels knowingly cheesy, with a heavy dose of wink-wink, nudge-nudge from the filmmakers.
  83. The Book of Love
    For a film thats trying very hard to make you feel, it sure leaves you cold.
  84. Reset
    This is one documentary, as “La Danse” was before it, that is a thing of beauty in and of itself.
  85. One Piece Film: Gold
    Viewers unfamiliar with One Piece may find themselves lost in places, as the filmmakers treat the regular characters and their relationships as givens, with no introductions or explanations. Fans will find the outré settings, bizarre characters, over-the-top fights and slapstick comedy they enjoy.
  86. Underworld: Blood Wars
    The fifth film in the series still executes creative kills; if only the same attention were paid to the rest of the movie.
  87. Hickey
    A generic coming-of-age comedy that feels inextricably stuck in the ’90s, Hickey serves as the feature debut of TV commercial director Alex Grossman and plays like a never aired UPN series pilot.
  88. Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)
    In its loose, hallucinatory narrative, we gain a sense of the nightmares caused by a loss of spirituality and physical connection. It may leave you questioning if the Mayans were right all along.
  89. Pitchfork
    Director/co-writer Glenn Douglas Packard tries to bring a little style and color to the film by relying on off-kilter camera angles and cartoonish supporting characters. But he mostly stays within the narrow parameters of the “knocking off generically attractive youngsters one-by-one” movie, never getting campy enough, bizarre enough or satirical enough.
  90. Retake
    A fine Watkins brings quiet depth and pathos to the buttoned-up, tightly wound Jonathan, while Graye proves an appealingly game and sexy counterpart.
  91. Two Lovers and a Bear
    Two Lovers and a Bear is above all thrillingly cinematic, even when its elements of lived-in intensity and jokey fantasy refuse to coalesce.
  92. Lost & Found
    A sporadically fun, heartfelt ride whose script by director Joseph Itaya and Erik Cardona is filled with too many broad strokes, faux close calls, plot conveniences and questionable story points to feel fully baked.
  93. Between Us
    The loose style of the film is held together by the strong performances from the leads and supporting actors alike.
  94. The Autopsy of Jane Doe
    The Autopsy of Jane Doe is sometimes too low-key, favoring spooky atmosphere and slow-drip storytelling over visceral kicks. But as an acting showcase, the film’s a winner, getting plenty of juice from the performances of two reliable pros.
  95. Arsenal
    Despite attracting some top-drawer talent, “Arsenal” is a brutally unpleasant, bottom-of-the-barrel crime drama that unsuccessfully attempts to drown the terrible dialogue and pedestrian direction with buckets of gushing blood.
  96. Railroad Tigers
    Instead of a grand lark of fast fists and derring-do, we get a lumbering, choppy voyage of minimal excitement.
  97. Paterson
    What’s magical about Paterson — and what may frustrate those seeking a tidier, prosier experience — is its refusal to settle for clear answers.
  98. 20th Century Women
    The beauty of Bening’s performance lies in those marvelously suggestive layers — all the delicate, tendril-like emotional possibilities that she manages to tuck into the margins of any given moment.
  99. Why Him?
    The biggest problem with Why Him? though, isn’t him, it’s her. Stephanie is so underwritten that even though these men are competing ruthlessly over her, she drops out of the story completely. She’s the center of attention, but she’s a void. That’s not the fault of the winsome Deutch.
  100. A Monster Calls
    "Monster" is almost too ambitious to be completely realized. But when it works, which is most of the time, its story has a power which lingers in the mind.
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