Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,523 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 16523
  2. Mixed: 5,808 out of 16523
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16523
16523 movie reviews
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  1. Revolution #9
    Revolution #9, which is absorbing and terse, has some subtle, welcome comic relief from Spalding Gray.
  2. Ararat
    Egoyan's oblique, layered attack ultimately pays off, evoking a strong emotional connection between past and present, the historical and the personal, in a flowing, cinematic manner in collaboration with his frequent cameraman, Paul Sarossy. The film makes use of an intoxicating array of Armenian music.
  3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    The film's scary moments are too monstrous and its happy times have too much idiotic beaming, making the film feel like the illegitimate offspring of "Alien" and "The Absent-Minded Professor."
  4. Bánk bán
    It would take an opera expert to judge the merits of Bánk Bán and its renowned singers. But to the layman Erkel's music soars, and the singers' voices sound glorious.
  5. Hush!
    Most important, Hush! is like Chinese director Stanley Kwan's recent "Lan Yu" in that a gay romance becomes but a starting point for an all-encompassing view of human behavior.
  6. The Rising Place
    Deeply felt but flat and unimaginative.
  7. Etoiles: Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet
    You might expect its beauty but not its intelligence, its ability to reflect the texture of some extraordinary lives.
  8. Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite
    Far from great, and this off-putting French romantic comedy is sure to test severely the indulgence of fans of "Amélie."
  9. Far From Heaven
    The film's three leads are extraordinary, but what Moore does with her role is so beyond the parameters of what we call great acting that it nearly defies categorization.
  10. 'R Xmas
    Few directors can put loneliness on screen as persuasively or capture the eerie quiet of people waiting for something, anything to happen. It's in moments such as these, when all sense of time disappears and all that remains are bodies in motion and Ken Kelsch's limpid cinematography, that you remember just how good Ferrara can be.
  11. 8 Mile
    The film is never more real than when Jimmy unloads his anger on someone close to him, a frequent occurrence. Eminem is an actor with a rare gift for rage, and movie careers, even big ones, have been built on less.
  12. Leela
    The film is not without humor or conflict, but it is a complex coming-of-age story that places a premium on independence and attacks sexual hypocrisy.
  13. The Flip Side
    A small picture of many satisfactions.
  14. Femme Fatale
    Here, the message is the moviemaking and the unparalleled joy you get from a film that can carry you off so completely, making you forget about everything save for the beautiful lies in front of you.
  15. Treasure Planet
    The genre's recent past has set the bar quite high, and Treasure Planet doesn't quite make it over.
  16. The Weight of Water
    As a director, Bigelow knows how to get out of the house, but she can be impatient when it comes to humdrum reality. That may account for her interest in Shreve's novel, with its epic tragedies, and it may help to explain the misguided casting of Penn and Hurley, each of whom comes equipped with an oversized personality.
  17. Tully
    Although this is director Birmingham's first feature -- she has a very sure sense of what she wants out of her cast and the ability to put it on screen. Tully may go against the grain of hipness, but that proves to be very much of a blessing.
  18. Love in the Time of Money
    Sluggishly paced and shot in the sort of grubby digital video that renders even the dewiest skin tone liverwurst gray, the film comes across as little more than a series of acting workshop exercises wrapped in a tissue of cliché.
  19. The Santa Clause 2
    Tony Burrough's vast Toy Workshop and Elf Village at the North Pole is the film's strongest asset. The workshop is a dazzling and accurate display of the Art Nouveau style in sinuous full flower.
  20. I Spy
    Mostly I Spy, with more dead spots than a Jerry Lewis telethon, is content to mark time. That gives us, and perhaps the cast as well, the opportunity to reflect on how satisfying this film could have been if anyone had thought it worth their while to provide real material for the talent to work with.
  21. Santa vs. the Snowman
    Dazzling in its possibilities, but the holiday message of the 37-minute Santa vs. the Snowman leaves a lot to be desired.
  22. Food of Love
    An elegant work, Food of Love is as consistently engaging as it is revealing.
  23. The Bank
    The sleek, well-oiled, well-acted The Bank, while as meaty as a steak, is short on sizzle.
  24. Quai des Orfèvres [re-release]
    Brooding, beautifully made and almost impossible for Americans to see -- Quai des Orfèvres, makes a triumphant reappearance on theatrical screens after an absence of about 50 years.
  25. Looking Through Lillian
    Director Jake Torem swiftly moves beyond familiar first-feature artiness to create an illuminating portrait of a young woman (Jade Henham) brought to a crossroads in her life.
  26. All the Queen's Men
    Let's hope -- shall we? -- that the "true story" that allegedly "inspired" All the Queen's Men was a lot funnier and more deftly enacted than what's been cobbled together here.
  27. Frida
    (Hayek's) performance is far from a disgrace, but it lacks gravitas and soul, a sense of passionate purpose, a hint of obsession. The best Hayek can do with her lovely face is cloud it with worry, but the face of Frida Kahlo demands anguish.
  28. The Truth About Charlie
    Neither the script nor the direction nor the acting has been able to make these characters into ones we want to invest ourselves in. The Truth About Charlie is one very busy film, but it's really not going anywhere.
  29. Waking Up in Reno
    The one thing that can be said of Waking Up in Reno is that it's rigorously consistent. Every note rings false.
  30. Paid in Full
    a freefall into urban hell that doesn't give us The impetus to jump or the awful gratification of the ride.
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