Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,523 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: 8,698 out of 16523
  2. Mixed: 5,808 out of 16523
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16523
16523 movie reviews
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  1. The Artist and the Model
    The lovely and poignant drama The Artist and the Model stirringly presents art, life and death as one irrevocably tangled trio.
  2. The Smurfs 2
    Just as with the 2011 film "The Smurfs," the new The Smurfs 2 is a passable mediocrity.
  3. The To Do List
    The To Do List is neither supergood nor superbad, but passable doesn't exactly raise the bar.
  4. The Act of Killing
    It's a mind-bending film, devastating and disorienting, that disturbs us in ways we're not used to being disturbed, raising questions about the nature of documentary, the persistence of evil, and the intertwined ways movies function in our culture and in our minds.
  5. The Wolverine
    The Wolverine is an erratic affair, more lumbering than compelling, an ambitious film with its share of effective moments that stubbornly refuses to catch fire.
  6. Blue Jasmine
    The movie is among the filmmaker's most emotionally affecting.
  7. Casting By
    A vivid reminder of the hand-in-glove importance of right actor/right role — and the indispensability of those casting mavens who helped make movie history. Good stuff.
  8. Tiny Times 1.0
    Is it good? No. Is it fun? A little. Is there a makeover montage? Of course.
  9. Wasteland
    The frustrating thing about the British heist flick Wasteland is how it creates two admirably entertaining storytelling strands — one a friendship saga, the other a robbery caper — yet can't merge the two successfully.
  10. The Time Being
    Not to be glib, but sitting through the art-centric chamber piece The Time Being is truly like watching paint dry.
  11. Stranded
    Stranded stops at being merely seriously dull and trite, rather than tipping into train-wreck silliness.
  12. Big Words
    Drumming is able to swing from lighter comedic moments to dramatic insights while making it seem effortless.
  13. R.I.P.D.
    The entire film has an oddly underdone quality to it, as if aiming not for greatness but to simply be passable.
  14. Girl Most Likely
    A tonal jumble, veering between forced farce and tired, rom-com beats, with little feeling real or true.
  15. RED 2
    Red 2 is much more of a mixed bag than it should have been.
  16. Only God Forgives
    The Danish filmmaker's latest theater of the macabre is brutal, bloody, saturated with revenge, sex and death, yet stunningly devoid of meaning, purpose, emotion or decent lighting. Seriously. Artful shadows can certainly set a mood; too many and it merely looks like someone is trying too hard.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Our Nixon
    It's a haunting, thoroughly evocative ride.
  18. The Rooftop
    The Rooftop is a bullet train to bananasville, its tonal eccentricities sure to wear out even the most dedicated connoisseur of silly cinema.
  19. Broken
    Solidly done if somewhat unremarkable, there is nothing particularly wrong with "Broken," nothing that needs fixing exactly, and yet it never fully comes together.
  20. Ways to Live Forever
    The result is as sugary as a fatal toothache, though it's hard to hate a film that merely wants to give the world a hug.
  21. Dealin' with Idiots
    The heavily improvised flick ambles as slowly as a toddler rounding first base. Hopefully, Garlin's next movie bothers to include a plot and jokes, i.e. the essential building blocks of a comedy.
  22. Nicky's Family
    There's a great story at the heart of Matej Minac's documentary Nicky's Family, if only it were allowed to be told unvarnished.
  23. Storm Surfers 3D
    Justin McMillan and Christopher Nelius' rah-rah documentary is most alive when it unearths old '80s footage of the friends partying it up with blond groupies — talk about thrilling curves.
  24. Terms and Conditions May Apply
    In inverse proportion to typically long-winded, inscrutable terms of service, the film is concise, direct and thoroughly engaging.
  25. Blackfish
    Blackfish, named after the Native American term for orcas, remains decidedly one-sided. But when that "side" is such a vital, convincing proponent for the greater protection and understanding of such evolved and majestic creatures, it can't help but win.
  26. Turbo
    A series of strong emotional crosscurrents tied to the notion of winning and losing are in the hands of a very eclectic and capable cast.
  27. The Hunt
    It is a devastating film to watch.
  28. Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus
    Whether the San Pedro does its magic is of course the big question. Regardless, Silva works his, delivering not exactly the Holy Grail of road movies, but a very mellow summer high.
  29. In the Fog
    Intimate in the telling, sweeping in the implications, Loznitsa has created an unusually incisive film.
  30. Grown Ups 2
    Grown Ups 2 looks like it was a lot of fun to make. And the last laugh is on us.
  31. Fruitvale Station
    Made with assurance and deep emotion, Fruitvale Station is more than a remarkable directing debut for 26-year-old Ryan Coogler. It's an outstanding film by any standard.
  32. Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp
    The movie is itself rough around the edges, notably in some chintzy attempts at animating pulp graphics. But it's briskly pieced together from interviews and archival footage.
  33. Killing Season
    The pretentious, preposterous, dueling-dialect flameout called Killing Season has to stand as one of the biggest missed opportunities in iconic matchups.
  34. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
    Often an engrossing example of the sweeping, stirring biography.
  35. The Hot Flashes
    What could have been an empowering and amusing riff on the typically male underdog genre is mostly charmless.
  36. Still Mine
    The estimable James Cromwell splendidly anchors this tender, true-life tale.
  37. Pawn Shop Chronicles
    Kramer, 10 years removed from his lone critical success, "The Cooler," and writer Adam Minarovich aren't exactly aping Tarantino, if only because they don't have the talent or inclination to aim that high.
  38. Pacific Rim
    Guillermo del Toro is more than a filmmaker, he's a fantasy visionary with an outsized imagination and a fanatical specificity, a creator of out-of-this world universes carefully conceived down to the smallest detail. His particular gifts and passions are on display in the long-awaited Pacific Rim and the results are spectacular.
  39. Sweetgrass
    Sweetgrass is an unexpectedly intoxicating documentary, unexpected because it blends high artistic standards with the grueling reality of one of the toughest, most exhausting of work environments.
  40. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
    A crafty, brainy and uniquely stirring concoction.
  41. The Way, Way Back
    Authenticity gives the movie its witty, heartwarming, hopeful, sentimental, searing and relatable edge. It is merciless in probing the tender spots of times like these, and tough-guy sweet in patching up the wounds.
  42. The Crash Reel
    The Crash Reel asks pointed questions about hazard, reward and consequence, forcing us to look anew at the rush attached to so many high-stakes sports.
  43. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
    A skillfully rendered narrative that should satisfy fans and pique the interest of the uninitiated.
  44. The Look of Love
    Skims a host of provocative surfaces without truly dissecting the self-absorbed playboy.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Laurence Anyways
    At nearly three hours, it's by turns an extraordinary and exhausting work.
  46. Just Like a Woman
    All that's missing from Just Like a Woman, Rachid Bouchareb's salute to "Thelma & Louise," is the quality.
  47. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain
    The hour of mike time isn't as strong as such previous dispatches as "Seriously…Funny."
  48. Despicable Me 2
    Even with slightly heavier issues, like its predecessor, Despicable Me 2 is light on its feet, visually inventive and very fast with the repartee. It requires actors who can pull off the many peppery lines at warp speed and in that the film is lucky with its voice cast.
  49. The Lone Ranger
    The Lone Ranger exists without a convincing sense of jeopardy or, more critically, any place for audiences to emotionally connect.
  50. Un Flic (re-release)
    Though not among Melville's classics, Un Flic is a pleasure to experience.
  51. The Attack
    The Attack rewards your patience. Though it's never less than involving, it grows in stature as it unfolds and ends as a more subtle and disturbing film about love, loss and tragedy than we might initially expect.
  52. Byzantium
    Byzantium's appeal is not so much its bite, which could use some refining, but the emotional journey its undead take. In Jordan's hands, the vampires are so very human.
  53. I'm So Excited
    I'm So Excited! will not stand as one of Almodóvar's defining works. But for some completely frivolous, naughty nonsense, it may be just the ticket.
  54. The Heat
    At times The Heat gets messy, and the comedy is not always pitch perfect. But they're cops. They're enemies. They're friends. They're opposites. It's funny.
  55. Gasland Part II
    With continued arguments and legislation over fracking, this follow-up seems inevitable and necessary.
  56. The Secret Disco Revolution
    The movie feels like a flakey, off-the-cuff blog post that somehow transmogrified itself into a feature-length documentary.
  57. Copperhead
    Painfully lugubrious, any sting Copperhead might contain for its contrarian's view of history is undone by its wayward sense of storytelling.
  58. 100 Bloody Acres
    With a fun post-credits gag to round it off, 100 Bloody Acres is great summer counterprogramming for anyone who wants to unwind with a bit of bloody fun and goofball gore.
  59. Detention of the Dead
    Six-year-olds at recess could come up with a wittier script and more charming performances, since they probably wouldn't be hampered by lame pop culture references, laziness disguised as parody, and gore disguised as slapstick.
  60. Maniac
    The self-serious POV visual style has none of Brian DePalma's cheeky, unnerving and self-implicating virtuosity — it just reinforces how sick and dumb this whole feel-bad exercise in misogyny and dimestore pathology is.
  61. How to Make Money Selling Drugs
    As the filmmaker unfurls the harsh, essential facts, both past and present, about America's complex relationship with drugs — along with tobacco and alcohol's longtime place in the equation — the movie gains serious power and momentum.
  62. A Band Called Death
    Joy and redemption aren't exactly punk mantras, but A Band Called Death might just give your heart a thrashing.
  63. Bidder 70
    [A] vital and involving documentary.
  64. Downloaded
    Downloaded is still a vigorous retelling of Fanning's and Parker's wildfire achievement and its ethical pitfalls, even if there's little in the way of journalistic balance.
  65. Redemption
    Statham's broody charisma and veteran cinematographer Chris Menges' ("The Killing Fields") eclectic views of contemporary London help hold interest, even as we ponder what Knight is really trying to say.
  66. Some Girl(s)
    Like us, the deft and merciless director Daisy von Scherler Mayer ("Party Girl") sides with the girls, and to stack the deck she's hired five tremendous actresses.
  67. The Stroller Strategy
    It's a goofy, episodic trifle designed to induce swoons among the saccharine who coo every time they see a cute guy, or a baby, or a cute guy holding a baby while watching YouTube videos about how to change a diaper.
  68. White House Down
    White House Down is a hoot and a half, a shameless popcorn entertainment that is preposterous and diverting in just about equal measure.
  69. Somm
    The film's formula of following these four from three weeks before the start of things right through the competition is a tried and true one that can't help but have success.
  70. Call Me Kuchu
    The civil rights arguments and the activism are handled in remarkably objective fashion, though it is no mystery where the directors' sentiments lie.
  71. Monsters University
    The animation is snappy in the way it handles an extremely eclectic-looking bunch of monsters. The 3-D effects are nifty but, as with so much about "MU," not necessary.
  72. World War Z
    It's fun to see this kind of familiar material done with intelligence and skill.
  73. Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story
    As intriguing as the facts are, much of the documentary's charm is the way in which it embeds the work.
  74. A Hijacking
    A Hijacking is as lean, focused and to the point as its title.
  75. Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire
    Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire is a reasoned counter to Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" and, as such, a constructive addition to the current national firearms debate.
  76. L.A. Superheroes
    Spotty acting, flashes of crass dialogue, some questionable camera work and awkward storytelling — including a surfeit of phone conversations — further sink this well-meaning effort.
  77. Rushlights
    If ever a movie signaled that the Quentin Tarantino copycat age of empty-headed wink-wink genre rehashing is still with us, Rushlights is that movie.
  78. Between Us
    The performers fully commit to their unlikable parts but, at least as written, even the best actors couldn't create compelling, relatable characters out of this messed-up bunch.
  79. Aliyah
    Tense, smartly crafted and highly resonant, Aliyah is one of the best films so far this year.
  80. Unfinished Song
    Unfinished Song is a movie so geared toward hitting its spots, it amounts to emotional Muzak rather than something truly played live.
  81. 20 Feet from Stardom
    A moving and joyous behind-the-scenes documentary about a world filled with big, bold personalities and the music they make.
  82. The Bling Ring
    Make no mistake, it is lovely to look at this celebrity bedazzled bit of L.A. crime history for a while. But the movie ultimately leaves you feeling as empty as the lives it means to portray.
  83. Stepping High
    Stepping High is both a trifle and an impassioned argument that dance is a direct route to character, ethics and world peace.
  84. Big Men
    When on-the-ground reality is conveyed with the complexity and fascination it is here, unforgettable documentaries are always the result.
  85. Hey Bartender
    For all his attention to the exactitude of creating righteous cocktails, Tirola never quite nails a specific structure, focus or theme.
  86. Pandora's Promise
    A challenge to eco-orthodoxy, Pandora's Promise subscribes to its own dogma. The lack of opposing voices diminishes the film, even as Stone raises issues that shouldn't be discounted out of hand.
  87. Vehicle 19
    A serviceable if silly B-movie.
  88. The Guillotines
    An action fan could be forgiven for the medicinal taste that this slick but dissipating exercise leaves behind.
  89. The Rambler
    It's a handsome nothing, at least until you get sick of the screaming.
  90. Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm
    "Ain't in It" offers a warm and largely satisfying look at a man and his music and, for some, the end of an era.
  91. The Wall
    The Wall is a remarkably involving film, especially given its brave, self-imposed limitations.
  92. Married and Counting
    As might be the case watching any couple repeatedly exchange wedding vows and proclaim their eternal love, things can get a bit mawkish. But there's no denying the sincerity of Pat and Stephen's powerful devotion — to each other and to the vital cause of marriage equality.
  93. Man of Steel
    While its ambition and scope pull one way, its pinched and unconvincing sense of drama pull the other.
  94. Berberian Sound Studio
    Writer-director Peter Strickland...uses atmosphere as others would use plot, and knows how to provoke comic shudders. But he tends to repeat himself, and he doesn't quite find a satisfying denouement for the inventive premise.
  95. This Is the End
    From the clockwork comic timing to the movie's salty mix of the ridiculous and the reflective, This Is the End is stupidly hysterical and smartly heretical. Cross my heart and hope to die, it's funny as hell.
  96. Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
    It's a great trick the filmmakers have pulled off to make us feel as if we're there sorting through the memories with him. The movie's editing is especially artful with Maya Hawke and Casey Brooks doing the nipping and tucking.
  97. Post Tenebras Lux
    Post Tenebras Lux is that real rarity in cinema, a visually striking archaeology of the psyche that benefits both the moviegoer primed to engage Reygadas' ideas, and the ones open to being swallowed in an art film wave.
  98. Much Ado About Nothing
    It feels like a blessing to have this production at all and we are fortunate it turned out as well as it did.
  99. The Lesser Blessed
    Pensively shot, painfully and poetically told.
  100. Hannah Arendt
    Barbara Sukowa's performance in the title role is the kind that reverberates long after the screen goes black.
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