Los Angeles Times' Scores

For 16,536 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:
16536 movie reviews
  1. The movie achieves its own nervy sensitivity about youthful urban despair.
  2. The idea of transformation, that people can change and learn from their mistakes, growing to be better, makes Beastly not just sweetly romantic but also quietly hopeful.
  3. Fun for fans and a healthy primer for those previously unaware, the film's overall air of fawning worship makes it feel softer than befits such a gruff, roguish figure.
  4. It all hangs together, more or less, which seems like enough.
  5. An unexpectedly rich exploration of family bonds, blood rituals and the oftentimes zombie-like desire to assume the roles proscribed to each of us, played out with a sharp undertow of political allegory and darkly comic sensibility.
  6. Brotherhood isn't badly acted or without some skillfully tense moments, but it doesn't have much in the way of entertainment value either.
  7. The Grace Card becomes increasingly involving and assured, yet when the inevitable moment of truth arrives for the coming-apart Mac, the film lapses into melodrama, contrivance and improbability.
  8. The clumsily shot and scripted Now & Later is a hollow concoction of sex, politics and endless chatter that's just a few camera angles short of hard-core porn.
  9. Anderson spends most of his energy creating a mood - making "Vanishing" more cerebral than white-knuckle, though a few more shrieks (mine) might have been nice.
  10. A thrilling adventure of the spirit. Austere yet provocative, this is not only a film about faith, it also has faith that the power generated by complex moral decisions can be as unstoppable as any runaway locomotive.
  11. After scoring big in 1998 with "Mary" - the zipper issue, the "hair gel" mix-up, the roving troubadours - their (Farrelly brothers) raw inventive edge has never been quite as sharp. Hall Pass, starring Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis, continues that creative slide into everyday crude.
  12. A film so drained of entertainment or simple humanity it is difficult to relate to as anything other than industrial artifact.
  13. Beyond the love fest of talking heads is a compelling life story that courses through the Depression, World War II and swinging London, all evoked in well-curated archival footage.
  14. Although it contains its moments of doom and gloom about the potential effects of climate change, the excellent documentary Carbon Nation is an inspiring look at the many recent advances in clean energy and green technologies.
  15. Eventually, Immigration Tango throws away what little credibility it has in going for a finish of total improbability and silliness.
  16. Levesque has rough, in-the-moment charm but paltry characterization skills, Corrigan's natural edge feels out of place as a Disney-esque hoodlum and Winter seems hamstrung playing an adolescent only a fraction as compelling as her hilariously bookish daughter on the ABC sitcom "Modern Family."
  17. Mightily impressive to look at. What it's like to listen to is somewhat different.
  18. The appealing new kid-on-the-teen-angst block, reverberates with much of the same dark combustible mix of action and romance that's been fueling the "Twilight" vampire mega-franchise for a while now.
  19. A nifty international thriller of the "what if?" variety.
  20. Having created rich roles for his actors, Basir elicits from them inspired portrayals. Well-crafted in all aspects, Mooz-lum is not only rich in nuance, but also an engrossing entertainment made with skill and passion.
  21. Like an exquisite minimalist painting - its beauty will move you, its simplicity will fool you. For there are layers and complexities to be found in the film, like the many mysteries it slowly exposes.
  22. If that all sounds like a lot of good, clean fun, a word of warning. In what seems to have become the genre's raison d'etre, the dialogue is so blue at times that you'll probably feel the heat of the blushing cheeks on either side of you, especially whenever Reilly's fast-talking savant of smut shows up.
  23. Plays it straight down the middle, neither pushing its contemporary vantage point nor embracing the chance for B-movie glory.
  24. If you're a Sandler film buff, the comedy is classic Sandler and will probably satisfy. Still, the best thing about the movie remains Aniston - she is reason enough to just go with it.
  25. This gently amusing, genuinely sweet animated film makes you smile from start to finish?
  26. Strictly as a piece of filmmaking, Never Say Never is a bit of a mess.
  27. With two gorgeous, compulsively watchable stars doing their best to rise above middling material that often proves more a hindrance than support, Chen has perhaps inadvertently created a faithful Hollywood remake after all.
  28. The Roommate proves that the one thing worse than a crazy, stalker roommate is one that's boring, predictable and no fun.
  29. It's rare to find a movie protagonist who singularly fails on every count to be a compelling, sympathetic or even understandable figure.
  30. aAn ambitious ensemble piece in which every actor is able to shine and every character is a master of the well-turned phrase.

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