Los Angeles Times' Scores

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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:
  1. Positive: 8,706 out of 16536
  2. Mixed: 5,813 out of 16536
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16536
16536 movie reviews
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  1. East of Havana
    East of Havana is a rare glimpse of everyday life in Cuba, where big questions and obstacles confront the rappers at seemingly every turn. Some of their lyrical criticism of the government is downright brave. The artists don't live in utter squalor, but are certainly impoverished by American standards.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    In the Pit
    Equally as perplexing as its lack of perspective is the film's overall shortage of information.
  3. Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
    Like "Street Fight," Marshall Curry's account of the 2002 Newark, N.J., mayoral race, "Mr. Smith" captures ground-level political machinations in an utterly fascinating way. The question raised by the title makes for an interesting, if possibly disheartening, debate.
  4. An Unreasonable Man
    Though the second half contains the fireworks, it's the film's first hour that is ultimately most memorable. Mantel and Skrovan do a commendable job in covering a lot of territory, mixing pertinent and entertaining archival footage with interviews.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Blood and Chocolate
    It's a relentlessly silly horror/fantasy/romance that is merely the latest twist on a tired premise.
  6. Catch and Release
    An oddly appealing, if innocuous, movie of considerable charm.
    • 17 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Epic Movie
    The real problem with Epic Movie is that while it does a decent job imitating films, it never bothers to make fun of or have fun with them, which is what Friedberg and Seltzer did so well with "Scary Movie."
  8. Smokin' Aces
    It's a grindhouse-inspired concoction that may not contain a shred of originality, but it is executed with unbridled bombast and glee.
  9. Seraphim Falls
    Brosnan and Neeson make fine adversaries mining the terse dialogue for veiled dramatic fervor.
  10. Becket (re-release)
    While major stars thrust together on screen often end up undercutting each other, one of the pleasures of Becket is how easily and generously these two commanding actors play off each other, each allowing the other the space to make the most of their individual roles.
  11. Funny Money
    Once the farce finds its stride, however, it's generally worth the wait.
  12. G.I. Jesus
    The film has a weird, surrealistic feel abetted by a lack of conventional structure, keeping the viewer off-balance. On the down side, that means the movie occasionally rambles. The staging tends toward the static, the cast is uneven and the small film is technically limited.
  13. The Hitcher
    The original film was intellectually engaging as well as tangibly creepy, while the new remake is just plain bad, and boring to boot.
  14. The Italian
    A remarkably compelling presence, Spiridonov commands attention without pandering or appealing to pity. In fact, for a 6-year-old, he is possessed of an uncanny poise.
  15. Mafioso [re-release]
    A magnificent film almost no one knows about, this hidden classic offers a wider variety of pleasures than most contemporary works can even aspire to.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Alone with Her
    A pretty engaging tale, and it's refreshing to see a well-acted, suspenseful drama made without a bloated budget or a lot of bloodletting.
  17. Alpha Dog
    In a film with several over-the-top characters bordering on camp, Timberlake's Frankie is the only one who approaches three dimensions, adept at convincingly dishing out some of the movie's disturbing violence as well as registering subtle shifts in Frankie's allegiance.
  18. Primeval
    Strangely self-serious, and without covering the prerequisites of top-shelf nastiness that contemporary horror requires, this giant crocodile movie turns out to be neither fish nor fowl.
  19. Stomp the Yard
    Yes, stepping is an age-old tradition at historically African American schools, but this smells of desperation; one more misstep for a film with two left feet.
  20. God Grew Tired of Us
    Quinn discovers an unexpectedly funny, trenchant fish-out-of-water-eye-view of American life.
  21. Tears of the Black Tiger
    It is astonishing to realize that the highly confident Tears of the Black Tiger marks the directorial debut of Sasanatieng, after having written two movies hugely successful in Thailand, yet in truth he belongs to a long line of first-rate filmmakers who understand the wisdom of taking big chances the first time at bat.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Happily N'Ever After
    Putting a spin on classic fairy tales is nothing new, and unfortunately that's just what the "Shrek"-lite animated feature Happily N'Ever After brings to the big screen.
  23. Freedom Writers
    Dramatically, the movie never veers from its predictable course, but Swank's performance renders the point moot. There likely was a better, more original movie to be made focusing more on the Freedom Writers themselves, but if this more conventional direction had to be taken, it's hard to imagine a more affecting version.
  24. Code Name: The Cleaner
    Offers no surprises but is good-natured and funny. It's mercifully devoid of car chases, although it does have a truly inane gunfight -- did any of these trained killers ever hear of target practice? -- and some out-of-left-field martial arts.
  25. Pan's Labyrinth
    With Pan's Labyrinth, Del Toro has made his most accomplished film to date, a dark and disturbing fairy tale for adults that's been thought out to the nth degree and resonates with the irresistible inevitability of a timeless myth.
  26. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
    What's missing is less a sense of the protagonist's inner nose (which is very well-trammeled) as a sense of his inner life, motivation or desire.
  27. Miss Potter
    The movie is at once a flagrant piece of kitsch and an unexpectedly affecting story about an individual overcoming personal tragedy and brutally restrictive circumstances by talent and force of will.
  28. The Dead Girl
    If the segments are uneven, Moncrieff -- with the help of her excellent cast -- nevertheless crafts a gripping overall narrative that exposes a shared dissonance among the protagonists.
  29. Factory Girl
    It's more like "That Girl" on speed than anything else.
  30. The Flying Scotsman
    Scotsman not only lacks vision, a true sense of how to mesh Obree's sporting triumphs and personal setbacks, but it also lacks passion. What it needs, as strange and tacky as it may sound, is a bit more madness.
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