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 Decoy Bride
    If you've seen most any rom-com you know where this one's headed. Unfortunately, under director Sheree Folkson's unsteady hand, getting there is more frustrating than fun.
  2. Around June
    Once again, the premature loss of a loved one begets family dysfunction in the strangely uneven, yet occasionally resonant Around June.
  3. The Understudy
    It's all sharp, well-performed stuff until things go from darkly comic to just plain dark, derailing -- and dragging out -- the otherwise absorbing story. Still, this one's a cut above.
  4. The Kid with a Bike
    The ambiguity is refreshing. And despite the complicated emotional story at the center of this film, the Dardennes, who wrote and directed, have opted to handle it all with a minimalist narrative style.
  5. Casa de mi Padre
    The giddy laughs that ensue, though sometimes inspired, are too few and far between.
  6. 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.
  7. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
    Even if you don't fancy raw fish, "Jiro" is a captivating film.
  8. Footnote
    Intensely specific in story yet wide-ranging in themes, with a tone that turns on a dime from comic absurdity to close to tragedy, this is brainy, bravura filmmaking of the highest level, a motion picture that is as difficult to pigeonhole as it is a pleasure to enjoy.
  9. Jeff Who Lives at Home
    The writing-directing brothers are usually interested in the small stuff of everyday, but perhaps they've gone a little too small here.
  10. The Salt of Life
    Rueful, funny and wise, The Salt of Life is a comedy not of errors but of the tiniest of missteps. A warm yet melancholy film of quiet yet inescapable charm, it has a feeling for character and personality that couldn't be more delicious.
  11. Silent House
    The film is at its best as a fast-paced enigma. When Kentis and Lau start explaining what's actually going on, Silent House takes a turn not just for the worse but the ludicrous.
  12. Cirkus Columbia
    Despite its wobbly tone and stumbles into implausible melodrama, the film succeeds as a study of realignments among friends and family, a gently cracked mirror held up to the insanity that would soon devastate the region.
  13. Sound of Noise
    Without pounding home its avant-garde cred, this fresh ode to found sound and the music of silence casts an amused gaze at careerism, classical-music reverence and notions of artistic purity and ends with a pitch-perfect change of tune.
  14. Boy
    Writer-director and co-star Taika Waititi ("Eagle vs Shark") never builds much momentum for his largely uneventful if sometimes inventive story.
  15. Chico & Rita
    This is definitely animation for grown-ups - its look is voluptuous, sexy and sultry; its Latin-inflected Dizzy Gillespie sound is seductive; and its story of young lovers whose passions are tested is timeless.
  16. Friends with Kids
    The mildly engaging, often exasperating feature poses a few good questions and offers some well-observed moments. Yet even as it zeros in on radical shifts in the mechanics and mores of parenthood, it sits quite comfortably in a well-worn romantic-comedy groove.
  17. John Carter
    That John Carter is so hit and miss, and miss, and miss is unfortunate on any number of levels.
  18. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
    The film has a grand cast, with Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Amr Waked at the center of this very clever tale of modern eco-issues intertwined with old-style political intrigues and New Age romance.
  19. Project X
    The only way to describe this movie's trio of party-throwing protagonists is numbingly predictable, as if writers Michael Bacall and Matt Drake had "Superbad" on a loop in the background.
  20. Let the Bullets Fly
    Even with three charismatic leads, the talky, convoluted nature of the cat-and-mouse between Zhang and Huang and their respective gangs is impossible to follow or care about, and the mix of identity comedy, cartoonish violence, philosophizing and grief over killed loved ones is hardly smooth.
  21. Ranchero
    A 38-year-old man's coming-of-age story, the earnest Ranchero reaches for thematic resonance and ends up only cliché-deep.
  22. The Turin Horse
    Starkly beautiful and exceedingly demanding, The Turin Horse, which Hungarian master Béla Tarr has said will be his last film, is both easy and impossible to define.
  23. This Is Not a Film
    Fascinating for what it signifies as much as what it shows, This Is Not a Film illustrates how Panahi is struggling to stay alive creatively and, paradoxically, can't help but demonstrate how much of a natural filmmaker he is.
  24. Being Flynn
    Paul Weitz has dialed things down considerably for Being Flynn, writing and directing with an earnest sensitivity that at times suits, at times undermines, the complexities of the story at hand.
  25. Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
    Cult comedy team Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim take the mechanics of the Funny or Die website and stretch it past the breaking point with their movie.
  26. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
    This movie version adds a whole lot of other stuff, most of it not very good and not in keeping with the spirit of the Seuss original.
  27. Gone
    Gone is also your hard-earned money if you buy a ticket to this slack piece of work, a movie that makes "Murder on the Orient Express" feel like "The Silence of the Lambs" by comparison.
  28. Wanderlust
    If anything, the manic energy and aggressive sarcasm of Wain's "Role Models" (2008), which also starred Rudd, has become much more refined in Wanderlust, (well, as refined as something this raw can be).
  29. Act of Valor
    This intriguing hybrid is dramatically involving only when the shooting - with real bullets, naturally - gets underway.
  30. Hipsters
    The spirited young cast includes the luminous Oksana Akinshina, best known for her title role in Lukas Moodysson's devastating "Lilya 4-Ever," who still lights up the screen like few actresses in the world.
  31. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
    The first "Ghost Rider" film, directed by Mark Steven Johnson, was sort of a fizzy goof, the kind of movie where you don't expect much and then think, "Hey, that was actually kind of fun." Spirit of Vengeance, though, is undone by increased expectations, as promising more only makes it feel they are somehow delivering less.
  32. How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster?
    The film is an architecture lover's dream.
  33. Michael
    A strange and troubling little film, a hermetically sealed creep-fest that seems to have no desire to be anything more than just that.
  34. Thin Ice
    If you can get past the rough patches - a slightly sluggish start and a coda that feels like one punch line too many - there is some sinister fun to be had in watching Kinnear skating toward disaster on ice that is very thin indeed.
  35. Bullhead
    An intense, shattering film, a confident and accomplished, punch-in-the-gut debut by Belgian writer-director Michael R. Roskam that starts out like a thriller and turns into a disturbing tragedy in an unlikely and unexpected key.
  36. Undefeated
    Like all memorable sports documentaries - Undefeated is really an examination not of how games are won and lost but how lives are lived, how young people faced with daunting challenges come to see, often in the most dramatic fashion, what is important going forward and what is not.
  37. The Secret World of Arrietty
    Set in an enchanting locale where the potential for magic is everywhere, this impeccable animated film puts its complete trust in the spirit of make-believe.
  38. This Means War
    If you can get past the gross invasion of privacy issues that would exist if this were real life and not just a frothy confection, what you have is some bittersweet fun peppered by bursts of sharp patter, the best between the boys.
  39. Bombay Beach
    More lyrical tone poem than straightforward documentary.
  40. The Swell Season
    The Swell Season emerges as an incisive cut at fame's effect on the real-life music and romance of Hansard and Irglova. It's an accomplished piece of filmmaking from the trio, who are making their feature-length documentary debut.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Laredoans Speak: Voices on Immigration
    Misses opportunities to add much substance to the debate over immigration reform. Instead, it strings together the views of a few law enforcement officials, legal experts, agriculture industry representatives, politicians, one "coyote," or human smuggler, and others hailing from the south Texas town of Laredo.
  42. Kinyarwanda
    This ambitious first feature film about the period made entirely by Rwandans (shot in a remarkable 16 days), while hardly an all-inclusive look at this complex conflict, paints a heartfelt, fairly restrained picture of a nation under siege.
  43. A Warrior's Heart
    Perhaps most egregiously, director Mike Sears, working from Martin Dugard's awkwardly structured, subtext-free script, builds little excitement for the game of lacrosse, which comes off here as all sticks and legs and bad camera angles.
  44. Chronicle
    This mind-and-fork-bending sci-fi saga comes from the freaky imaginations of director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis, who've packed their feature debut with smartness.
  45. Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission
    It's a bit precious in its narcissistic point of view, but still a kick to watch the hopelessly devoted astronaut wannabe fulfill his wildest dream.
  46. Don't Go in the Woods
    An undercooked, "Glee"-like hybrid of grating indie pop songs and forest slasher flick.
  47. Safe House
    Though Safe House may be too violent and nihilistic for everyone's taste, it does have several crackerjack action sequences.
  48. Return
    With its modest scale and sharp observations, writer-director Liza Johnson's first feature has the quiet impact of a short story.
  49. Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus
    By making the movie as much about the women as Yunus and his theories, the filmmaker brings a sense of balance to Bonsai People that would have been easy to lose given the international economist's long and much-honored career.
  50. Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston
    A self-indulgent pilgrimage to the shrine of '70s fabulousness, Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston assembles a fine assortment of archival material but falls far short of its stated goal.
  51. The Vow
    This is a movie that leaves you wanting more. To care more, to cry more, to love more.
  52. Crazy Horse
    If Frederick Wiseman's involving new documentary Crazy Horse is any indication, that old rule about how you get to Carnegie Hall - "practice, practice, practice" - applies equally well to that Parisian temple of self-described "nude chic" known to its intimates simply as "Le Crazy."
  53. Kill List
    This is a far more brutal film than Wheatley's first, 2009's "Down Terrace." Though it had crime at its center as well, it was balanced by a dry irony and far less blood. There is no offset in Kill List, with one scene so relentless in its gore that it makes the notorious elevator scene in "Drive" pale in comparison.
  54. 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.
  55. One for the Money
    Most depressing is the spectacle of Debbie Reynolds in the de rigueur Betty White role - Hollywood having relegated seniors to the category of adorably "outrageous" while it caricatures single women as desperate updates on romance-novel heroines.
  56. All's Well Ends Well
    All cartoon and no charm.
  57. Lula, the Son of Brazil
    Fábio Barreto's film is an act of hero worship, not a multifaceted exploration of a charismatic leader.
  58. Man on a Ledge
    In Man on a Ledge, Leth does well in taking us to dizzying heights. If only he had found a way to ground that thrill in some real pathos as well.
  59. Underworld: Awakening
    A brisk creature-feature that ditches the series' dreary mythology in favor of a more direct, action-oriented approach.
  60. The Front Line
    Jang and screenwriter Park Sang-yeon recognize the situation's senselessness but can't resist ramping up the melodrama and celebrating the heroism of the battle-fatigued soldiers. These contradictory impulses, combined with the film's undercooked characters, make The Front Line a war movie not quite worth engaging.
  61. Loosies
    Loosies (slang for singly bought or bummed cigarettes - and a nod to Bobby's commitment phobia) proves a largely enjoyable ride.
  62. The Viral Factor
    A uniquely frenetic hodgepodge of story lures.
  63. Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos
    Fans, go be with your people. Others, approach cautiously.
  64. 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.
  65. Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
    A terrifically entertaining, smartly constructed trip down memory lane with one of the American stage's most legendary troupers.
  66. Miss Bala
    What the film captures so effectively is the cultural reality of Mexico's ubiquitous underclass.
  67. Haywire
    Haywire doesn't measure up to the best of the director's work - like, say, his Oscar-winning drug drama, "Traffic." But watching Carano kick, spin, flip, choke, crack and crush the fiercest of foes - mostly men about twice her size - is thoroughly entertaining, highly amusing and frankly somewhat awe-inspiring.
  68. Pina
    Whether you're familiar with Pina Bausch's work or not, the new film Pina is a knockout.
  69. Contraband
    So super complicated (implausible?) that in the wrong hands it would be laughable. Instead, this very gritty bit of greased action does a decent job of shaking the sluggish out of January.
  70. Angels Crest
    Depressing and airless.
  71. Addiction Incorporated
    The film's bigger problem is that after a certain point the way in which Evans allows DeNoble to narrate his own story comes to feel self-congratulatory and makes Addiction Incorporated seem a bit more like an advertisement or an endorsement than an investigation or exploration.
  72. The Divide
    Director Xavier Gens seems to have set out to fashion a taut, under-siege thriller, but he never lets the innate drama of the situation play out; too often, events are accompanied by loud thumps and whooshes on the soundtrack.
  73. Sing Your Song
    Really more of an effusive autobiography of the 84-year-old singer-actor than a traditional documentary, so be prepared for something close to sainthood in its tone.
  74. In Heaven Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery
    It may not sound like it, but In Heaven, Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery is a playful, poetic and all-around charming documentary, an off-center look at an unusual institution.
  75. Beneath the Darkness
    Yet that deeply strange and agitated performance by Quaid is the only thing that makes the film remotely bearable.
  76. The Devil Inside
    The Devil Inside plays like a horror film conceived on graph paper.
  77. It's About You
    The result is an unhurried, visually compelling look at a man and his music - as well as of a bygone America filled with shuttered downtowns and the ghosts of such late musicians as Elvis Presley and blues pioneer Robert Johnson.
  78. A Separation
    A Separation is totally foreign and achingly familiar. It's a thrilling domestic drama that offers acute insights into human motivations and behavior as well as a compelling look at what goes on behind a particular curtain that almost never gets raised.
  79. The Iron Lady
    The film catches her long after she's left the public eye, and rather than an examination, or an assessment, of her politics, it instead offers up an affecting if not always satisfying portrait of the strong-willed leader humbled by age.
  80. Pariah
    At its soulful heart, Pariah is a stinging street-smart story of an African American teen's struggle to come of age and come out - to the father who still calls her "daddy's little girl" and the mother who quotes the Bible and buys her pink frills.
  81. The Flowers of War
    Flowers abounds with well-worn movie archetypes and slathers on schmaltz.
  82. Don 2
    Fitfully enjoyable, the film's leaden pacing and drawn-out running time make the twists of the plot less hairpin turns and more like bends in a river - moving so slowly you can see everything coming from the distance.
  83. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
    Director Stephen Daldry has taken great care in looking at it through the eyes of a precocious New York City boy in a film filled with both sentiment and substance.
  84. The Darkest Hour
    Capable and compelling performers like Hirsch and Thirlby seem left to their own devices to make some connection with the material. The idea of semi-invisible aliens, an unseen enemy, should mean the film has a lingering sense of paranoid abstraction (not unlike "Right at Your Door"), but Darkest Hour never gets beyond rote efficiency.
  85. War Horse
    Has the sweep of a classic John Ford movie, the sentiment of Frank Capra and a spirited steed named Joey who will steal your heart. The film itself is more difficult to love.
  86. We Bought a Zoo
    An intelligent family film, a rarity, and while not quite Crowe at his absolute best, it carries his humanistic imprint and benefits from a strong acting ensemble that keep emotions in check.
  87. In the Land of Blood and Honey
    Unfortunately, "Blood and Honey" has script problems: Its core story is less compelling than its overall atmosphere.
  88. Albert Nobbs
    When the filmmakers move into Nobbs' isolation, though, the movie flags - a surprise given Garcia's excellent work on HBO's minimalist personality study "In Treatment," on which he wrote and directed extensively.
  89. 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.
  90. The Adventures of Tintin
    Think of The Adventures of Tintin as a song of innocence and experience, able to combine a sweet sense of childlike wonder and pureness of heart with the most worldly and sophisticated of modern technology. More than anything, it's just a whole lot of fun.
  91. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
    This film's cold, almost robotic conception of Salander as a twitchy, anorexic waif feels more like a stunt than a complete character, and so the best part of the reason we care enough to endure all that mayhem has gone away.
  92. Carnage
    Not only is Polanski very much in his comfort zone with this material, he also has cast it impressively, staying away from any of the actors who played the parts in either its London or New York productions and finding players who match up well with Carnage's juicy dialogue.
  93. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
    A few shades brighter than its predecessor, and the action bits certainly closer to the full-throttle "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" mode director Guy Ritchie didn't quite capture the first time.
  94. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
    I fear the furry singing sensations may have finally run completely aground. If only they were truly stranded on that desert island…
  95. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
    Bird has done a stylish and involving job here, turning in an entertaining production that's got considerable visual flair, especially in its action-heavy Imax sections.
  96. Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl
    One's diminishing interest in the nuts and bolts of cheating a cheat can be forgiven when the sheer star wattage of the peppy cast is in close-up overdrive.
  97. 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.
  98. The Sitter
    I'm going with the filmmakers as the folks most responsible for perpetrating this terribly unfunny and overwhelmingly raunchy film that stars the normally likable, or at least comically forgivable, Jonah Hill. He is neither here.
  99. I Melt with You
    I Melt With You assuredly marks itself as one of 2011's most ludicrous releases.
  100. We Need to Talk About Kevin
    It's a domestic horror story that literally gets to us where we live, a disturbing tale told with uncompromising emotionality and great skill by filmmaker Lynne Ramsay.
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