Los Angeles Times' Scores

Select another publication »
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
view
per page
  1. The Dinner
    For all the actors’ commitment and ferocity, the experience they offer feels less like a confrontation with the anxieties of modern life than a plush, moody escape.
  2. Risk
    Risk is first and foremost an impressive cinematic coup, a triumph of access to an elusive and sometimes combative subject. It is also an unsettling and fascinatingly unresolved piece of work, with little of the moment-to-moment suspense and dramatic focus that made “Citizenfour” so riveting.
  3. Another Evil
    Mell never quite knows how to mine this conceit to best effect. The result: a tonal mishmash involving silly demon-trapping bits, supernatural speculation and lots of yakking that derails the film’s potential tension and credibility.
  4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    As a result of trying too hard to maintain the original's insouciant attitude, what was fresh now seems institutionalized, what was off the wall now feels carved in stone and the film's trademark irreverence has become dogma.
  5. How to Be a Latin Lover
    Its humor is broad, but most of the jokes work for the intended audience — with a few even breaking through to more resistant viewers.
  6. The King's Case Note
    As choreographed by director Moon Hyun-Sung, the adventure seldom gets sufficiently up to speed, and on the occasions it threatens to come to life, the pedestrian action sequences fail to compensate for that lethargic pace.
  7. Danger Close
    Ultimately, neither narrative receives sufficient attention, robbing the subjects and that unique p.o.v. of the focus and urgency that lent the previous two films their undeniable potency.
  8. Casting JonBenét
    Though a thoughtful reflection is occasionally allowed — sometimes humanity finds its way out — this indulgent, stylized slog is straight out of a well-worn aren’t-people-weird-and-awful playbook.
  9. Grey Lady
    The film’s narrative engine remains too choppy and clunky, and the characters too cursorily developed, to hold attention.
  10. Black Rose
    From start to finish, Black Rose is about as pro forma as a motion picture gets.
  11. Displacement
    For anyone unfamiliar with physics or averse to a while-you-watch cram course, this film might prove a mind-numbing slog.
  12. Voice from the Stone
    Howell’s inept pileup of would-be signifiers — a misty quarry, a family crypt, a philosophical beekeeper — gives way to frisson-free horror and unconvincing romance.
  13. One Week and a Day
    One Week and a Day keeps an impeccable balance between absurdity and sadness, comedy and heartbreak. Increasingly outrageous but always plausible, it applies its pitiless, pitch black sense of humor to a very particular situation.
  14. The Black Room
    The Black Room is unabashedly trashy — with scene after scene of nudity and gore — but doesn’t offer much beyond sensation.
  15. Below Her Mouth
    With wooden performances and a lack of character development, Below Her Mouth is more X-rated, late-night cable skin flick than trenchant exploration of female sexuality.
  16. Rupture
    Rapace’s daring performance and Shainberg’s unique approach make Rupture a surprising slice of schlock that you won’t soon forget.
  17. The Circle
    Despite appealing features, including stars Emma Watson and Tom Hanks (who morphs his patented affability into casually sinister, Jobs-ian salesmanship), The Circle never builds up a head of steam as either dark drama, modern satire or dystopian thriller.
  18. Slack Bay
    Though the combination of social critique and unhinged laughs doesn’t always jell, the movie is quite gloriously a thing unto itself, even as it draws upon obvious inspirations.
  19. Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
    The film delineates the rise and fall of conventional urban planning, but also lets us know that the battle is not completely over.
  20. A Dark Song
    The two leads are resolute soldiers about it all, but they’re dutifully edgy elements in a stylist’s frame instead of fully realized characters living out what is supposed to be the riskiest time of their lives.
  21. A Night Without Armor
    Though deeply personal and heartfelt, the overwrought film falls prey to too much melodrama and not enough realism or humor.
  22. Let It Fall: L.A. 1982-1992
    "Let It Fall" understands the value of allowing its interview subjects to talk at greater, more involving length than is usual for documentaries, a technique that illuminates the complexities of reality and gives listeners a sense of the emotional textures of these people's lives.
  23. LA 92
    By sifting through and tying together an enormous variety of footage, directors Lindsay & Martin (who also served as editor) create an experience that gives a full sense of the anarchy and rage of the post-King verdict days, thrusting us fully and disturbingly into events in very much of a You Are There manner.
    • Los Angeles Times
      • Posted Apr 20, 2017
  24. Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
    When “Chasing Trane” serves up mesmerizing footage of Coltrane lost in the middle of a long solo, the film communicates something beyond words.
  25. Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent
    A film that finally fascinates despite some initial bumps in the road.
  26. Finding Oscar
    Lucid interviews with human-rights activists, attorneys, anthropologists, authors and others help frame this multi-faceted portrait.
  27. Somewhere Beautiful
    Patagonian landscapes in 16 mm and Hollywood real estate shot in 35 mm provide a visually sleek backdrop for mighty uninteresting relationships in the pretentious indie Somewhere Beautiful.
  28. NOLA Circus
    The flaws of Nola Circus aren’t limited to its outrageous and offensive approach. It’s that it never succeeds in bringing viewers onto its wavelength, which is probably a good thing for humanity’s sake.
  29. Free Fire
    Free Fire is a savagely funny and viciously precise distillation of one of the pair’s favorite themes: Men are idiots.
  30. Tomorrow
    Laurent and Dion’s passionate, off-the-beaten-path primer advocates thinking globally but acting locally with community-driven, grassroots alternatives that aren’t affected by any executive orders.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »