New York Daily News' Scores

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For 6,911 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 42% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 57
Highest review score: 100 Fruitvale Station
Lowest review score: 0 The Fourth Kind
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,885 out of 6911
  2. Mixed: 2,801 out of 6911
  3. Negative: 1,225 out of 6911
6911 movie reviews
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  1. Sarah's Key
    A dramatic tale of survival and horrific memories struggles against distracting melodrama in Sarah's Key, and unfortunately, melodrama wins.
  2. Friends with Benefits
    It's cute and funny and sweet, which - as any woman can attest - puts it way ahead of most Friday night options.
  3. Captain America: The First Avenger
    This muscular, red-blooded adventure has a decent heart and the stuff of Saturday afternoon serials running through its veins.
  4. Life, Above All
    Director Oliver Schmitz's rhythms take a while to ease into, and admittedly, there is never a bright moment.
  5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
    Unfortunately, its present-day tale, involving a career woman seeking to mend her 20-year bond with a girlfriend injured in an accident, is lax and clunky, and its story-within-a-story - a tale of two laotong, or soul sisters, in oppressive mid-1800s China - is gorgeous but simplistic.
  6. The Tree
    Falls short of being revelatory, yet has a mysterious, sturdy power that grows on you.
  7. Winnie the Pooh
    There's no bells and whistles here, no 3-D or useless grey fluff, just Pooh as he's always been, silly and true.
  8. Salvation Boulevard
    Loosely adapting Larry Beinhart's darker novel, Ratliff and co-writer Douglas Stone indulge in so many cheap shots and caricatures, their disdain drips off the screen.
  9. Tabloid
    It's all compelling, in the way reading trashy gossip usually is. But without any new perspectives, what's the point?
  10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
    It's wonderful. Epic and heartbreaking and just as grand as it needs to be.
  11. Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish
    But oy, such terrible jokes and choppy direction. Would it have killed her to share the credits with someone else?
  12. Project Nim
    If only this were a media-fueled tall tale and not one poor creature's lifelong nightmare.
  13. Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
    Even those who never joined the cult of A Tribe Called Quest will find this clear-eyed chronicle of their career irresistible.
  14. The Ledge
    Though Wilson tries hard, none of the actors - including Terrence Howard as the detective who unravels this story in flashback is able to overcome the script's considerable deficiencies.
  15. The Sleeping Beauty
    Breillat, seemingly inspired as much by C.S. Lewis and Hans Christian Andersen as by original author Charles Perrault, doesn't really make the most of her subversive premise.
  16. The Ward
    Carpenter's economical but mundane chiller is possessed more by previous ghoul-friend flicks than it is by his better work.
  17. Zookeeper
    A children's comedy about talking animals that feels as if it were written by children or, perhaps, by talking animals.
  18. Horrible Bosses
    All those who have to drag themselves to work every morning will surely find some comfort in Seth Gordon's cheerfully outrageous revenge comedy, Horrible Bosses.
  19. Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
    Has raw action and urgent performances, but loses power due to an amateur approach.
  20. Crime After Crime
    This story doesn't go well with popcorn, and you won't be able to shake it off like so many blockbusters. That said, it's likely to be the most unforgettable film you see all summer.
  21. Love Etc.
    With all of the city available, she made the curious choice to follow couples who are neither unique nor especially memorable.
  22. The Perfect Host
    Some of the shocks are way too broad, and the enclosed perspective suggests the material would better suit a play. But Crawford radiates charisma, and Pierce sells even the nuttiest moments.
  23. Aurora
    Maddeningly mundane, this Romanian drama aims for an antiseptic look at random violence and, unfortunately, achieves it.
  24. Terri
    If one performance could tilt a movie the direction it needs to go, John C. Reilly's expertly left-of-center turn in Terri is it.
  25. Monte Carlo
    If you are a 12-year-old girl, you are the perfect audience for Monte Carlo.
  26. Larry Crowne
    It put-puts along like a moped in busy traffic, content to amble around but not go anywhere.
  27. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    Anyone hoping to engage even a single brain cell, however, is out of luck. Which is too bad, since popcorn blockbusters don't actually have to be mind-numbingly stupid or soul-suckingly empty.
  28. The Best and the Brightest
    Riding in to save almost every scene, though, are recent Tony Awards host Harris and the wild and woolly Sedaris, who goes too far, but in a good way. Shelov could learn from them.
  29. The Names of Love
    Director Michel Leclerc's comedy plays like one of those foreign-movie spoofs Jerry and the gang would go to see on a "Seinfeld" episode. Only here, there's no "young girl's journey from Milan to Minsk" - just from madcap to moronic.
  30. Passione
    It can sometimes be hard to sit through, but another song is coming soon, and anyway, close your eyes and imagine you're on vacation, sipping vino in a piazza, soaking in the street life.
  31. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
    Full of unenlightening snippets and blithe but banal asides, what the movie is missing is edge.
  32. Leap Year
    A far cry from 2010's shallow rom-com of the same name, this Leap Year is a haunting portrait of loneliness in its starkest state.
  33. A Better Life
    Feels more earnest than real. Still, its sincerity is admirable, and often touching.
  34. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
    Despite their efforts to address most sides of this complex story, each new interview leaves us wanting to know even more. Of course, that's the sign of a compelling film - but in this case, not an altogether satisfying one.
  35. Cars 2
    This savvy and sensitive company has unapologetically made a movie for (very) young moviegoers.
  36. Bad Teacher
    Barely makes the grade in either humor or provocation.
  37. Jig
    Director Sue Bourne belabors the judges' final decision to such an excruciating length, it makes the whole movie feel a bit more cloddish than it should.
  38. Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times
    Emphasizing the importance of new media, Stelter is ready to bring the paper back to the future, though this terrific tale of an establishment in transition ultimately plays like "All the President's Men," with the intrigue coming from inside the building.
  39. Battle for Brooklyn
    A gripping documentary about how unnecesary real estate development can change the soul of New York, brings us inside the lives it touches.
  40. The Art of Getting By
    Well-meaning but dreadfully executed movie.
  41. Mr. Popper's Penguins
    There is something infectious about the old-fashioned innocence of Mark Waters' comedy.
  42. Buck
    Even if we can't live his cowboy life, Buck Brannaman's world is well worth visiting.
  43. Green Lantern
    The effects are so omnipresent it's like Reynolds' perfect hair is floating in CGI limbo. Yet when they need punch, as in a "Superman"-ish display-of-powers scene involving a helicopter, there's no flair.
  44. Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?
    This hard-working film may not be a balm, but it can help.
  45. Viva Riva!
    Unfortunately, despite the sweaty, tense atmosphere, Viva Riva becomes derivative of the duller scenes in other gangster flicks.
  46. Trollhunter
    This is what happens when the Norwegians try to make their own "Blair Witch Project": We get three-headed trolls that hate Vitamin D and references to "Deliverance."
  47. Road to Nowhere
    The biggest flaw is the casting: only Shannyn Sossamon delivers a performance of even modest depth.
  48. Bride Flight
    The plotlines are clichéd and the score overbearing, but uniformly strong turns go a long way towards shaping the lush, nostalgic atmosphere. Don't forget to bring tissues.
  49. The Trip
    As smart as it is side-splittingly silly.
  50. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
    A young Aussie actress who seems as all-American as a Magic 8 ball, successfully walks the tightrope from precocious to exuberant, never once falling into obnoxiousness. That could describe this crackerjack of a kids' movie as well.
  51. Super 8
    This uneven but often charming movie produced by Spielberg gets so many things right, including its practiced naivete. What's missing, however, is a crucial sense of connection to itself.
  52. Rejoice and Shout
    Its straightforward approach is notably lacking the divine inspiration of its subject. But Don McGlynn's gospel documentary delivers so many moments of artistic ecstasy, we can forgive the plain wrapping.
  53. Film Socialisme
    Designed as their own entity, the brief subtitles convey so little that to get the full experience you won't only need to understand Godard's language. You'll also have to speak French.
  54. Empire of Silver
    The most interesting threads aren't political but personal, with a melodramatic romance providing some well-earned tears. Your final thoughts, however, are likely to concern Jennifer Tilly, who's so bizarrely miscast as a severe missionary that her presence becomes its own distraction.
  55. Love, Wedding, Marriage
    What's most baffling is that such a canny actor is so unable to direct his own cast.
  56. Mr. Nice
    So what we're left with is a sort of contact high, drifting gently over to our seats in the back row.
  57. Submarine
    A charming indie that combines dreamy aspiration with mucky, hilarious reality.
  58. Beautiful Boy
    Actors are left with too much time to play emotional symphonies, while inevitably having to hit too many required notes.
  59. Beginners
    Beginners is filled with crises of identity, but underneath it all is a beautifully humane, sweet and intelligent movie that knows exactly what it is at every moment.
  60. X-Men: First Class
    It's big, bright, savvy, and so expansive you'll undoubtedly leave feeling you got your money's worth.
  61. Hello Lonesome
    The parts are ultimately greater than the whole, but Adam Reid's offbeat debut suggests a talent worth watching.
  62. The Tree of Life
    Like so much in this astounding, consistently beautiful and challenging movie, the answer depends on what you bring to it. Think of it as the Ultimate Anti-Summer-Blockbuster.
  63. Kung Fu Panda 2
    Kung Fu Panda 2 plunks down squarely in the spot marked for "chop-socky action with heart."
  64. The Hangover Part II
    Phillips sticks so close to the formula of his original that even the characters are given to saying things like, "I can't believe this is happening again."
  65. Louder Than a Bomb
    There can never be too many stories of human grace and perseverance like those of Nova, or Nate, or Adam, all teens who've been encouraged to channel their resentments and desires into art.
  66. Cost of a Soul
    Though it's rough around the edges, it is also, undeniably, a nervy, confident debut.
  67. Midnight in Paris
    As in "Purple Rose," the film works best when tweaking the disparate worlds thrown together, though "Midnight" is frothier, and so Wilson shines.
  68. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
    Despite Sparrow's ongoing flashes of charm, Depp himself seems to know he's coasting.
  69. Priest
    It appears that turning the John Ford/John Wayne classic "The Searchers" into the church-vs-vampire adventure Priest was not an altogether god-awful idea. As long as we don't get "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" as an elegiac zombie drama, this adaptation of a graphic novel has some bite.
  70. Forks Over Knives
    Hey, isn't summer a good time for a salad?
  71. Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
    Murphy also reveals one more gem when she interviews the New York couple who gave their friend Nell Harper Lee a financial gift in the '50s that allowed her to quit her job and finish the book, an act of generosity that is also one more kindness surrounding this most humane of artworks.
  72. The First Grader
    Director Justin Chadwick ("The Other Boleyn Girl") shows admirable restraint bringing this true story to the screen, and Litando does much with glimmers of emotion and wells of dignity.
  73. Hesher
    Any way you slice it, writer-director Spencer Susser's movie is bad company, full of wanna-be-outrageous anecdotes from the fringe.
  74. Bridesmaids
    If this sounds like a typical date movie, worry not. It's very much an Apatow production-though the crasser additions, like his already-notorious food poisoning scene, feel painfully forced.
  75. An Invisible Sign
    Alba certainly tries her best at portraying not just a beauty but also a beautiful mind, yet very few things add up despite director Marilyn Agrelo's efforts.
  76. The People vs. George Lucas
    Nonetheless, if you're a Force completist, this is as crucial as a bootleg of 1978's "Star Wars Holiday Special." Which, by the way, was awesome.
  77. There Be Dragons
    History can be an equalizer, so director Roland Joffe ("The Killing Fields," "The Mission") makes sure saints and sinners all get painted with the same uninteresting brush in this fact-based drama.
  78. Daydream Nation
    Writer-director Michael Goldbach fills the story with too many distractions, but Dennings, known for "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist," is feline and fun.
  79. Last Night
    Knightley and Canet make a far more compelling pair. As they wander through the city after hours, doing nothing more than talking, they generate the kind of romantic heat that's all too rare onscreen.
  80. Jumping the Broom
    Director Salim Akil has found actors skillful enough to enhance Elizabeth Hunter and Arlene Gibbs' conventional screenplay.
  81. The Beaver
    Oddly engrossing, off-kilter drama.
  82. Something Borrowed
    Even if you've got a soft spot for silly rom-coms, know that this one is as empty-headed as it gets.
  83. Thor
    No matter how the filmmakers move Heaven and Earth, this comic-book adaptation looks cool but contains very little thunder. The fault is a script by a five-headed beast which contains fateful missteps.
  84. Prom
    A movie that's so anachronistically mushy and awkward, it earns extra credit simply for being so innocent.
  85. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
    Director Werner Herzog's latest cinematic mind trip blows you away with its beauty.
  86. Sympathy for Delicious
    Though Bloom feels like he dropped in from another movie, it all spins on screenwriter Thornton's charismatic performance, which also accounts for the survival instinct inside the film.
  87. Madea's Big Happy Family
    Perry's characters have always been drawn with broad strokes, as heroes or villains. In this case, all the villains are young women, and all the young women in this film-without exception--are monstrous.
  88. The Bang Bang Club
    The story has heat, even if the movie is more entranced with its subjects than in what they're trying to achieve.
  89. When Harry Tries to Marry
    This sweet if limited film has an agreeable attitude.
  90. POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
    Only the extremely naive will be shocked, shocked by director Morgan Spurlock's dissection of product placement in movies.
  91. Incendies
    Filled with striking images and the ghosts of lives lived in hardship and war, Incendies is tough but impactful.
  92. Dumbstruck
    An earnest but undeniably eye-rolling documentary about the denizens of this odd pocket of show business.
  93. African Cats
    African Cats, while often adorable and at times gripping, is more of a TV-ready experience.
  94. Water for Elephants
    The primary drawback is the lack of chemistry between the leads, Reese Witherspoon and "Twilight's" Robert Pattinson.
  95. Fly Away
    Rickards tries hard in a difficult role and Greg Germann offers nice support as an empathetic neighbor. But like her character, it's Broderick who keeps things from falling apart.
  96. A Screaming Man
    Haroun is achingly conscious of day-to-day decisions that seem small when they're made but can suddenly loom large.
  97. Footprints
    Sometimes a bit of befuddlement is exactly what you need. That's the driving idea behind writer-director Steven Peros' off-kilter, off-the-beaten path comedy, which owes a lot to 1980s indie cinema.
  98. The First Beautiful Thing
    A streak of "Cinema Paradiso" runs through this Italian dramedy - and while it lacks that film's overflowing emotion, it's filled with its own artfulness and warmth.
  99. The Double Hour
    A twisty Italian thriller that takes some liberties with its now-you-see-'em/now-you-don't plot points, but no matter; the way director Giuseppe Capotondi keeps us guessing is deliciously, maliciously deft.
  100. The Princess of Montpensier
    The cast and crew render every detail so exquisitely that there's almost too much to take in at once. Repeat viewings will be required.
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