Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,524 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 16524
  2. Mixed: 5,809 out of 16524
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16524
16524 movie reviews
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  1. The Terminal
    Entertainment like this is too hard to find to second-guess for too long.
  2. The Aryan Couple
    This handsome film is a splendid, stirring feat of the imagination.
  3. Dangerous Liaisons
    In addition to its photography, the film's details of costuming (by "The Last Emperor's" James Acheson) and production design (by Stuart Craig of "Gandhi" and "The Mission") are ravishing. [21 Dec 1988, Calendar p.6]
    • Los Angeles Times
  4. Fahrenheit 9/11
    Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 has launched an unapologetic attack, both savage and savvy, on an administration he feels has betrayed the best of America and done extensive damage in the world.
  5. Finding Nemo
    The best break of all is that Pixar's traditionally untethered imagination can't be kept under wraps forever, and "Nemo" erupts with sea creatures that showcase Stanton and company's gift for character and peerless eye for skewering contemporary culture.
  6. They Live
    Has its share of underthought or overwrought moments. The tone keeps shifting radically. It has some silly lines, plot lapses and goofball action scenes. But you can forgive the movie everything because of the sheer nasty pizazz of its central concept. [4 Nov 1988]
    • Los Angeles Times
  7. The Keys to the House
    Though it is a work of fiction, we have the sense every minute that we are watching something real, something with the unmistakable taste of life.
  8. NASCAR: The IMAX Experience
    A splendid example of pure cinema.
  9. A Love Song for Bobby Long
    Among other things, the characters in A Love Song for Bobby Long really know how to turn a phrase, in itself a pleasure so rare it all but demands any flaws be forgiven.
  10. The Assassination of Richard Nixon
    It's a deeply affecting performance, and it drives this quietly powerful, unrelenting film.
  11. The Merchant of Venice
    What Radford above all accomplishes in his filming of The Merchant of Venice is to suggest that, in essence, it is that most modern of entertainments: a dark - indeed, very dark - comedy.
  12. Dead Poets Society
    Commands respect and affection. [2 June 1989, Calendar, p.6-1]
    • Los Angeles Times
  13. Spider-Man 2
    As played by Alfred Molina with both computer-generated and puppeteer assistance, Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go.
  14. 40 Days and 40 Nights
    Can be taken as a mildly risque frothy date movie, but there's serious subtext for those who choose to look beneath surface sheen.
  15. Bad Santa
    It unapologetically exults in its characters' glorious imperfection. It's good to know that oddballs, outcasts and people who don't look like Barbie and Ken still have a place in American movies and that not everyone in Hollywood pays lip service to the nice and polite.
  16. Coffee and Cigarettes
    Known for an elegant visual style, Jarmusch has a great gift for playing actors against one another, for finding complementary eccentrics (Murray and RZA) and uncovering rare gems (Bill Rice and Taylor Mead in "Champagne").
  17. Diamond Men
    A very small film but a sweet one, an easygoing venture of the feel-good variety. What sets it apart is something even larger pictures often lack: an excellent performance by its star.
  18. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
    This sleek and sunny comedy is an all-too-rare example of smart and inventive Hollywood filmmaking.
  19. Elf
    Directed by Jon Favreau from a script by David Berenbaum, Elf returns to the hip but warm-hearted spirit of "Swingers," which Favreau both wrote and starred in. It brings sophisticated glee and a sense of innocent fun to what could have been a moribund traditional family film.
  20. Flight of the Phoenix
    An excellent job of retaining key elements of the original plot but have created a whole new set of characters that gives the film an entirely contemporary feel.
  21. Ghost World
    Ghost World is above all a disquieting consciousness-raiser.
  22. Goodbye Lenin!
    Funny but not a comedy, serious but never overbearing, emotional in an engaging and bittersweet way, Good Bye, Lenin! is a wonderful film unto itself about a world unto itself.
  23. In Good Company
    Genial, generous-spirited and unmistakably entertaining.
  24. In the Realms of the Unreal
    Filmmaker Jessica Yu, in In the Realms of the Unreal, outlines Darger's lonely life and interviews Lerner's elegant, sympathetic widow Kiyoko and other Darger neighbors -- highlighted by enchanting animation of some of Darger's exquisite scrolls.
  25. Osmosis Jones
    Warts and all, Osmosis Jones is the year's ultimate bodily functions comedy.
  26. School of Rock
    Takes a clever premise and Black's unflagging manic energy and comes up with a pleasing mainstream comedy that uses new people and attitudes to entertain in old-fashioned ways.
  27. Secret Things
    The result is both merciless and darkly funny.
  28. Shower
    Beguiling and poignant.
  29. Taking Sides
    In compelling, suspenseful fashion, Taking Sides illuminates brilliantly the dilemma of a great, world-renowned artist flourishing in a totalitarian regime.
  30. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
    So gleefully vulgar, so eagerly offensive, it's tough not to get down on all fours and beg for more.
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