Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,550 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 2.2 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: 8,714 out of 16550
  2. Mixed: 5,819 out of 16550
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16550
16550 movie reviews
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  1. 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.
  2. Aliyah
    Tense, smartly crafted and highly resonant, Aliyah is one of the best films so far this year.
  3. Unfinished Song
    Unfinished Song is a movie so geared toward hitting its spots, it amounts to emotional Muzak rather than something truly played live.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Stepping High
    Stepping High is both a trifle and an impassioned argument that dance is a direct route to character, ethics and world peace.
  7. Big Men
    When on-the-ground reality is conveyed with the complexity and fascination it is here, unforgettable documentaries are always the result.
  8. Hey Bartender
    For all his attention to the exactitude of creating righteous cocktails, Tirola never quite nails a specific structure, focus or theme.
  9. 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.
  10. Vehicle 19
    A serviceable if silly B-movie.
  11. The Guillotines
    An action fan could be forgiven for the medicinal taste that this slick but dissipating exercise leaves behind.
  12. The Rambler
    It's a handsome nothing, at least until you get sick of the screaming.
  13. 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.
  14. The Wall
    The Wall is a remarkably involving film, especially given its brave, self-imposed limitations.
  15. 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.
  16. Man of Steel
    While its ambition and scope pull one way, its pinched and unconvincing sense of drama pull the other.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. The Lesser Blessed
    Pensively shot, painfully and poetically told.
  23. Hannah Arendt
    Barbara Sukowa's performance in the title role is the kind that reverberates long after the screen goes black.
  24. The Prey
    For moviegoers who prefer cheeky wit, down-and-dirty mayhem and grown-up suspense in their air-conditioned escapism, The Prey deserves to light up the summer art house.
  25. Violet & Daisy
    Violet & Daisy comes out of the gate guns blazing. Too bad it ends as a misfire.
  26. The Girls in the Band
    Director Judy Chaikin, who co-wrote the film with its deft editor, Edward Osei-Gyimah, infuses this fine portrait with grace, nostalgia and a well-calibrated dose of social commentary.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Welcome to Pine Hill
    Mixes real-life situations and characters with fictionalized narrative threads to create a highly authentic slice-of-life drama.
  28. Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie
    Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie is as fair a portrayal the weak-chinned warrior will get — and fairer than he deserves.
  29. Lost and Found in Armenia
    The lowbrow comedy Lost and Found in Armenia so shamelessly wallows in its broad humor, silly contrivances and retrograde stereotypes it almost dares you to be annoyed. Mission accomplished.
  30. The History of Future Folk
    The movie could have made its points — war is bad; music is the universal language — in half the time. But the harmonies are sweet, the acoustic picking impressive.
  31. Wish You Were Here
    Wish You Were Here is mystery moviemaking at its most intriguing.
  32. One Mile Above
    As the deliberately paced film never gets under the character's skin, it doesn't quite get under ours. Still, it's a physically impressive, visually compelling journey.
  33. Hello Herman
    We're not sure what director Michelle Danner, who plays Herman's defensive mother in an uncredited role, wants us to get besides a reminder that angry boys act out for a host of half-defined reasons.
  34. Tiger Eyes
    The movie, though uneven, benefits from a strong sense of place and an exceptionally well-cast lead.
  35. The Purge
    A routine home invasion movie more interested in B-horror tropes and bloodletting than a thought-provoking look at "Hunger Games"-ish class warfare.
  36. Dirty Wars
    The ambitions toward '70s-era paranoia thrillers aside, as a connect-the-dots narrative, Dirty Wars is eye-opening, a fierce argument that there are chilling ramifications to endless, vague aggression.
  37. Rapture-Palooza
    Chris Matheson's script focuses its energy on small, wickedly funny gags, half of which Robinson seems to have sputtered out as improv.
  38. The Internship
    The movie is not exactly a laugh riot. But its comedy is amiable enough — and surprisingly clean.
  39. Fame High
    It's not only this idealism that makes the subjects of Fame High so compelling, it's also their honesty, their willingness to open a window into their lives at that pivotal moment when they're taking their first tentative steps toward becoming their own person personally and professionally.
  40. From the Head
    From the Head settles into an enjoyably miserablist episodic rhythm.
  41. American Mary
    Writer-director siblings Jen and Sylvia Soska allow their film to turn slack and unfocused after an enticingly lurid, wickedly tense first half.
  42. I Do
    A sweet, sincere, yet ultimately tepid story.
  43. The Kings of Summer
    The filmmakers are a bit like their boys of summer, plowing into new terrain in promising ways but rough around the edges.
  44. Now You See Me
    For all the talent up on the screen — and one can't fault the performances — the movie just doesn't deliver.
  45. Free Samples
    Free Samples is a film about wasting time, and it feels like it. Despite clocking in at 79 minutes, Jay Gammill's comedy drags by no fault of its delightfully sour lead.
  46. Shadow Dancer
    The character mechanics... leave the viewer always feeling a step ahead of the story and its too-late-to-excite twists. As a portrait of violence-riven motherhood, however, Riseborough gives Shadow Dancer most of its grave power.
  47. Free China: The Courage to Believe
    Though his treatment of the subject is often superficial, Perlman makes a clear argument for the broader implications, especially for Western consumers.
  48. After Earth
    The script has no nuance, none. And when Shyamalan moves into the director's chair, the script problems are magnified. Everything is spelled out, underlined in red.
  49. Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
    Even if you may not be putting a Pussy Riot song on your next playlist, there is something so of-the-moment and exciting about the group that Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer feels important, if not fully complete.
  50. One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das
    Insights are few in this fan letter of a documentary.
  51. The East
    For the most part, The East is a dizzying cat and mouse game with all sorts of moral implications.
  52. Vampire
    After the quiet, dread-filled punch of the first half-hour — when it seems vampire culture is going to get turned on its head — Iwai's character study mostly descends into a pretentious slog.
  53. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
    Make no mistake, "We Steal Secrets" is a sprawling, ambitious, major work — a gripping exploration of power, personality, technology and the crushing weight that can come to bear on those who find themselves in its combined path.
  54. Epic
    When the movie should touch the heart, it just misses. When moments should produce gales of laughter, it struggles for a smile. When panic and fear should set the heart racing, it doesn't.
  55. Before Midnight
    The films have only gotten better by letting the relationship marinate. "Midnight's" more disgruntled edge reflects what creeps up on couples as years pass, regrets stack up, kids factor in, real life intervenes.
  56. Fill the Void
    A transfixing, emotionally complex Israeli drama.
  57. The Painting (Le Tableau)
    Laguionie's animation is a lovely jumble of thick lines and saturated pastels...But while the artist-as-deity concept was flattering enough to get The Painting nominated for a 2012 Cesar Award, its big ideas about equality and friendship are flatly 2-D.
  58. A Green Story
    Though it's not that gracefully told and sometimes seems to exist just to plug eco-friendly cleaning supplies, A Green Story holds interest as a gentle, old-fashioned look at achieving the American dream.
  59. Becoming Traviata
    Zeroing in on the art of rehearsal, Becoming Traviata is an exquisitely observed look at performance and the creative process.
  60. Fast & Furious 6
    What really sets "F&F6" apart is the blinding speed with which it shifts between over-the-top action, that speedometer inching toward 800 mph at times, and soap opera emotions that bring everything to a screeching halt. It's enough to give you whiplash … in a good way.
  61. The Hangover Part III
    Chow is actually an apt metaphor for the movie - indescribably irritating and only in it for the money.
  62. 3 Geezers!
    3 Geezers is painful.
  63. The Second Meeting
    This mission, well intended as it may be, proves a no-go from the get-go.
  64. Pieta
    Pieta, which won last year's Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, is disturbing, for sure, but its larger points save it from being a quick and dirty wallow.
  65. 33 Postcards
    The climactic collision of agendas is even more contrived than everything leading to it.
  66. Free the Mind
    There's something healing about simply watching Free the Mind, Danish filmmaker Phie Ambo's gentle, compassionate documentary.
  67. Erased
    Erased is eminently forgettable.
  68. State 194
    With a two-state solution still elusive, "State 194" may feel a bit like yesterday's news — literally and figuratively. But as an aid to better understanding this vital, complex dispute, the film is definitely worth a look.
  69. Augustine
    The film's dark beauty and the quiet intensity of the performances have a discomforting pull.
  70. Java Heat
    The film's anthropological interest in Indonesia is the smartest thing in an otherwise familiar scramble of kidnapped babes, expensive jewelry and millions of bullets.
  71. Black Rock
    [Aselton's] disregard for her male characters causes Black Rock to spiral into dudette "Deliverance."
  72. Frances Ha
    Effortless and effervescent, Frances Ha is a small miracle of a movie, honest and funny with an aim that's true.
  73. Valentino's Ghost
    It's a provocative, absorbing — and at times dicey — study.
  74. Deceptive Practices: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay
    This documentary provides an elegant, enthralling peek behind the curtain and into the you-won't-trust-your-eyes world of this celebrated contemporary conjurer.
  75. Stories We Tell
    An invigorating powerhouse of a personal documentary, adventurous and absolutely fascinating.
  76. The English Teacher
    The English Teacher is a tragedy masquerading as a comedy and doing a disservice to both.
  77. What Maisie Knew
    This is a beautifully rendered film.
  78. Star Trek Into Darkness
    So many things are done right that even with the bombast, "Into Darkness" is the best of this summer's biggies thus far. It's a great deal of brash fun.
  79. Leviathan
    Though it's a decidedly arty piece, Leviathan, named after the biblical sea creature, also lacks much in the way of traditional beauty or splendor. However, the immersive shots of those swooping and circling sea gulls are quite something.
  80. The Typewriter (In the 21st Century)
    The death of the typewriter has been greatly exaggerated, at least according to the fun, compact love letter of a documentary The Typewriter (in the 21st Century).
  81. White Frog
    Like getting a half-dozen undercooked after-school specials at once, Quentin Lee's White Frog serves up a medley of messages and themes while generating no discernible dramatic heft.
  82. Desperate Acts of Magic
    While the plot is a non-starter, the margins of Gold and co-director Tammy Caplan's debut feature are scattered with other real-life magicians who make quarters vanish every time our attention does the same.
  83. How Sweet It Is
    Piscopo...isn't just too good for this film, he's too good to be giving it this much effort.
  84. No One Lives
    No One Lives is a cheap horror prank that's ultimately not clever or accomplished enough to sustain its eccentricities, and they are very bloody eccentricities indeed.
  85. The Source Family
    Baker's transformation from "spiritual father" to megalomaniac follows a familiar path of brainwashing and hedonism.
  86. Aftershock
    Lopez is a middling ringmaster of doom at best. But there's so little context to the litany of ugliness — some played for laughs, some meant to shock — that it's hard to discern where the entertainment value lies in any of this.
  87. Assault on Wall Street
    It's not the worst idea for a revenge fantasy, but Jim's payback is so lacking in logic and reality, not to mention tension, that it proves more laughable than cathartic.
  88. And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
    With the nimble Greenwood and a kinder, gentler-than-usual Posey in charge, "And Now" proves a thoroughly engaging lark.
  89. Venus and Serena
    This is a story as involving as you'd imagine it would be.
  90. Sightseers
    It is the almost accidental way Tina and Chris go about going bad that provides Sightseers with its twisted humor and its unexpected charm.
  91. Peeples
    An infectious, warm comedy of family and communication and a promising debut as writer-director for Chism. These Peeples are people one should be happy to meet.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Great Gatsby
    The director has steadfastly proclaimed his passion for the novel, but the film he's made of it too often plays as no more than an excuse to display his frantic, frenetic personal style.
  93. Paradise: Love
    The film is, perhaps, intended as a deadpan burlesque of race and class and beauty ideals...but it plays more as a boorish, overextended punch line.
  94. Paris-Manhattan
    The conceit grows more strained, its Talmudic potential unrealized, while the comedy never rises above bleh.
  95. Midnight's Children
    A flavorless feast, with the movie's few mystical leaps clunkily handled.
  96. Greetings from Tim Buckley
    With many languid scenes and little narrative momentum, Algrant may have been aiming for a more ethereal father-son heartbreaker. But all that comes across is twee hipster romanticism.
  97. Generation Um...
    Neither the film, nor the film within the film, hold our attention. Bummer, Keanu.
  98. The Iceman
    The great failing of The Iceman is not in giving us a monster, but in not making us care.
  99. Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner
    [It's] too bad Cindy Kleine, the documentary's producer-director-narrator — and Gregory's wife — didn't better organize this rangy survey of the eclectic actor, theater director, artist and raconteur.
  100. Kiss of the Damned
    The confident, female-driven sensuality of Kiss of the Damned anchors this handsome nonsense.
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