Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,520 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: 8,697 out of 16520
  2. Mixed: 5,806 out of 16520
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16520
16520 movie reviews
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  1. Daughter of Mine
    Mothers are complicated. Children are complicated. Daughter of Mine doesn’t try to explain this bond — it just wants to revel in its glorious, enriching messiness.
  2. Piercing
    Piercing is decidedly not for everybody, but it somehow avoids exploitative luridness, thanks in part to the peculiar aura of uneasy innocence that Abbott and Wasikowska create around their roles (which are really more constructs than characters).
  3. The Unicorn
    Directed by Robert Schwartzman (“Dreamland”), The Unicorn is more silly than sexy, but it also has moments of seriousness with an emphasis on the value of honesty and trust in relationships.
  4. Braid
    Peirone’s first feature is marked by a daring style and a willingness to dive deeply into the darker psychology of female friendship. A uniquely feminine horror film, Braid is a bold debut worth watching.
  5. The Golem
    A well-crafted and idiosyncratic supernatural thriller, the film plays like a mix of “Frankenstein,” “The Witch,” and some of the Coen brothers’ more explicitly Jewish movies.
  6. Jihadists
    Margolin says we should “fight with ideas,” but Jihadists misses an opportunity to make vivid how that method of struggle would look.
  7. Miss Bala
    It’s understandable that Hardwicke didn’t want to mimic her predecessor’s moves. But in chop-chop-chopping the action into standard Hollywood fragments, she has drained the material of its tension, its meaning and its purpose, to say nothing of its beauty.
  8. Velvet Buzzsaw
    While the art world caricatures are hardly fresh, there’s a lot about Velvet Buzzsaw that’s pretty savvy and even inspired.
  9. Arctic
    Somehow, despite that minimalistic approach, we are emotionally swept up in Overgård’s desperate fight to stay alive.
  10. Hunter x Hunter: The Last Mission
    Hardcore “Hunter” devotees may enjoy “Last Mission,” but the film lacks much of the good cheer and frisky élan of the broadcast series.
  11. The Gandhi Murder
    Its timely messages become muted amid a kaleidoscope of settings, characters, brusque action scenes, blunt speechifying and wan romance.
  12. Serenity
    The off-kilter, colorful, cartoonish fantasy of Serenity is just so odd and appealing that you want to spend time with the characters, aboard this ship, among the people of Plymouth in this crazy, upside-down world.
  13. Extreme Job
    It’s all quite amusing up to a point, but unfortunately that point arrives early on in this practically two-hour-long take on a one-gag premise.
  14. An Acceptable Loss
    There’s the kernel of an intriguing political thriller buried beneath all the strained exposition and pompous speechifying enveloping An Acceptable Loss, but writer-director Joe Chappelle never manages to find it.
  15. Heartlock
    Heartlock is a daring and well-acted drama that can’t quite get the timing right.
  16. In Like Flynn
    With its incoherent, episodic script, In Like Flynn lacks the worth of even a minor Flynn film.
  17. The Invisibles
    Although this movie’s unusual mix of first-person interviews, archival footage, voiceover narration and dramatic reenactments is a bit awkward, it still makes for a gripping, involving and affecting experience.
  18. King of Beasts
    Directors Tomer Almagor and Nadav Harel simply let the cameras roll, giving Neilson enough rope to hang himself with his actions and words.
  19. The Kid Who Would Be King
    The occasional creakiness of the narrative machinery is largely dispelled by Cornish’s flair for brisk, energetic action and his ability to keep the journey flowing from one mini-adventure to the next.
  20. Polar
    Too bad the only thrill you get from all the bloodletting is that you know each cartoony death brings you that much closer to the end credits.
  21. King of Thieves
    If only this post-heist section had more tension, suspense and surprise, “King” could have been a real contender.
  22. West of Sunshine
    In the modest but sneakily affecting Australian father-son drama West of Sunshine, your sympathies for a problematic dad come and go in waves, sometimes within the span of a few seconds.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ánimas
    The Spanish spook show Ánimas is so powerfully atmospheric that it barely matters when the rest of the picture turns out to be a bit sparse.
  24. Goodnight, Charlene
    Zuhdi’s story is ambitious; and there’s something poignant about the way these characters’ roundabout schemes keep pushing them further away from what they really want. But the audience rarely gets to see these plans play out.
  25. The Final Wish
    The film’s biggest issue is its balance between setup and payoff.
  26. Dead Ant
    The film is unapologetically “low art” … yet fun, in its own way.
  27. The Untold Story
    There’s not much story to tell in The Untold Story, a bland, rather old-hat take on male reinvention and redemption. That it’s as watchable as it is proves a testimony to star Barry Van Dyke’s committed turn.
  28. The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution
    Both awe-inspiring and mouth-watering, The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution celebrates seven female chefs forging ahead in a male-dominated industry.
  29. I Hate Kids
    Actions and emotions turn on a dime, chuckles are few and it’s clear this predictable film, directed by John Asher, doesn’t quite realize how retrograde and often offensive it is — which makes it all even worse.
  30. Unbridled
    John David Ware’s directorial debut is sloppy in its editing and camera angles, though the script from Bonné Bartron gave him little to work with. Unbridled stumbles further with clumsy product placement, making the film seem less sincere in its efforts despite its good intentions.
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