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. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
    Among an excellent cast, Douglas truly is the nexus; he and Stone make this sequel pay off big-time.
  2. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
    The script is merely serviceable and too reminiscent of similar fantasy tales. But kids will instantly relate to the gentle Soren, while watching wide-eyed as he faces each challenge.
  3. Howl
    A movie with no clear narrative. It pushes boundaries and feels like one man's fever dream. But all those traits would certainly make Allen Ginsberg happy.
  4. Easy A
    You'd be hard-pressed to find a misfit loner as confident as Olive, who bears her considerable tortures with remarkable grace. But Stone is so funny, smart and sweet that we relate to her anyway.
  5. The Town
    Affleck keeps the film as fluid as the "Mystic River," and never forgets that Renner is his ace in the hole. The "Hurt Locker" star charges up every scene he's in with feral power, and is rewarded with one of the most exciting sequences seen in any action movie this decade.
  6. Jack Goes Boating
    Hoffman has a nice eye for detail, painting an empathetic portrait of lost souls that recalls 1955's still-powerful romance "Marty."
  7. Never Let Me Go
    A film more moving than most but not as devastating as it should be.
  8. I'm Still Here
    The whole thing is such a tedious, foul-mouthed mess that it isn't even worth discussing as a riff on the Bob Dylan doc "Don't Look Back" or a meditation on slovenly semi-madness.
  9. Lovely, Still
    While all four leads deserve better, it's especially galling to see Burstyn - still so lovely - wasting her time and talents on a film with so little wisdom to share.
  10. The Romantics
    It's a shame, but perhaps no surprise, that Niederhoffer was unable to transfer her astute vision to the big screen.
  11. Heartbreaker
    Paradis - Johnny Depp's real-life love - is as blank as she is beautiful. But Duris is so gung-ho that he turns each ridiculous premise into a masterpiece of comic mayhem.
  12. Ahead of Time
    Richman's no-nonsense approach, which relies heavily on interviews with the eloquent, 98-year-old Gruber, feels more suited to a televised biography.
  13. Legendary
    Most of the acting is amateurish at best, and the tone is vintage "Afterschool Special." But it does aim to be family-friendly, and at least it succeeds there.
  14. Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)
    Director John Scheinfeld's film, utilizing interviews with friends and collaborators, hits a high note on Nilsson's friendship with Ringo Starr and his fear of stage performance.
  15. Machete
    So now we have a full-length Machete movie, and it turns out that, as usual, less is more.
  16. Going the Distance
    This empty, immature romantic comedy ultimately feels as if it's filled with all the hot air that separates New York and San Francisco, yet still manages to be a suffocating bore.
  17. The American
    The American, a movie as coiled as a snake and as still as a sleepy villa, is the rare grownup thriller that knows the link between peace and danger and the tension that comes from both.
  18. The Last Exorcism
    The Last Exorcism trods on previously stomped ground and has almost no good jump-outta-your-seat moments.
  19. Mesrine: Killer Instinct
    There's enough action to keep us watching, but little incentive to return when the movie's second half - yep, another two hours - hits theaters next week.
  20. Highwater
    There are plenty of outrageous characters, several surfing celebrities and a few truly compelling stories.
  21. Centurion
    Marshall shows off the breathtaking landscape, but with interiors, he populates the ale houses and encampments with cliches - like dueling female warriors, one a mute and the other a white-haired vixen.
  22. Nanny McPhee Returns
    This dour, hyperactive family film is joyless, overly busy and starchy.
  23. Piranha 3-D
    There are few real scares, though, and even fewer actual laughs. Despite several obvious gags, Aja never captures the spoofy fun of the 1978 original.
  24. The Tillman Story
    Mary's search drives The Tillman Story, and throughout this taut, true epic, we see a smart, sometimes angry, always loving family find their destiny: to speak truth to power, to call wartime myths what they are and to show how the American character is not about blind obedience.
  25. Lottery Ticket
    It's easy to see the potential in Lottery Ticket, which boasts an entertaining idea and a game cast. But you only win big if every number hits.
  26. The Switch
    His (Bateman) performance is fun. Too bad The Switch is not.
  27. Mao's Last Dancer
    Noble but dull.
  28. Vampires Suck
    "Vampires" doesn't suck, exactly, but the laziness and lack of imagination kinda bites.
  29. A Film Unfinished
    A kind of historical detective story made up of haunting montages, including a theater performance featuring a heartbroken musician that's absolutely chilling.
  30. Eat Pray Love
    Director Ryan Murphy achieved a major casting coup in landing Julia Roberts to play Gilbert - or Liz, as she's called here. As it turns out, though, a lesser star may have been a better choice.
  31. The Expendables
    The three icons ham it up, do some verbal towel-snapping and have fun, which also describes most of this self-conscious adventure movie.
  32. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
    Talk about style over substance: The sheer volume of musical, comic-strip and video-game influences, riffs and licks in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" can get exhausting, but they also are what lift this romantic coming-of-age tale from this world to someplace totally ... else.
  33. Animal Kingdom
    Most crime stories are content to simply exist, wallowing in their own base violence. But David Michôd's fierce debut takes the genre apart, finding a reason for the madness that propels it.
  34. Peepli Live
    Peepli Live may not consistently hit the mark, but it's savvy and humane, which goes a long way.
  35. Salt of This Sea
    Both written and played in broad strokes, each character quickly devolves into the most simplistic of symbols. The results comes across more as an agenda than art.
  36. La Soga (The Butcher's Son)
    There's nothing about Josh Crook's cop saga that will strike you as new, but he and his talented lead do build an epic feel into this gritty tale of corruption.
  37. Neshoba
    Moving, intelligent documentary.
  38. The Other Guys
    Wahlberg is surprisingly committed to the ridiculousness.
  39. Middle Men
    Director George Gallo seems so enamored of Martin Scorsese's Mafia classic, he's borrowed everything from the use of voiceover to the Stones-centric soundtrack to the insistent editing style. What's missing, alas, is the artistry.
  40. Step Up 3-D
    Step Up 3D is so lacking in any kind of edge, it might as well be "High School Musical: The Hip-Hop Edition."
  41. Cairo Time
    Writer-director Ruba Nadda's film is ultimately like a summertime flirtation that never quite comes to anything.
  42. Lebanon
    Director Samuel Maoz's gripping you-are-there feel does for tanks what "Das Boot" did for submarines, and that chokehold only gets tighter as this taut drama about the 1982 Israeli-Lebanese war goes on.
  43. The Wildest Dream
    This National Geographic production mixes two amazing adventures, neither of them quite what you expect.
  44. Twelve
    "If you don't want something," Twelve informs us, "you've got nothing." Well, I wanted to watch a good movie. But Joel Schumacher's shallow teen drama gave me nothing, instead.
  45. Flipped
    There's barely half a film here, stretched and pulled so thin you can nearly see through it.
  46. Dinner for Schmucks
    While the climactic dinner is a bit too much like a circus audition, Roach -- who helmed the "Austin Powers" movies as well as "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers" -- knows how to enjoy each sideshow.
  47. The Extra Man
    Kline has a ball, while Dano turns in a pitch-perfect performance. He never mocks his character's desires, or undersells his fears.
  48. Charlie St. Cloud
    Though it was directed by Burr Steers, Charlie St. Cloud feels more like a misguided collaboration among Nicholas Sparks, M. Night Shyamalan and Billy Graham.
  49. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
    The James Bond parodies and genre riffs feel at least 20 years past their prime, and most will fly right over the heads of audience members 7 and under
  50. Who Killed Nancy?
    The eyewitness testimony of dozens of punk-era survivors and hotel denizens has a disorienting effect, and everyone gets sidetracked, though the colorful anecdotes are priceless.
  51. Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
    If any life story should make for a compelling biography, it's certainly Hugh Hefner's. Unfortunately, this love letter is so lacking in any edge, the end result is not just unsexy but unforgivably staid.
  52. Smash His Camera
    There's no denying that paparazzo Ron Galella is a New York character. What's at issue in Leon Gast's entertaining documentary is whether he's an artist or a creep.
  53. The Dry Land
    There's nothing in director Ryan Piers Williams' script that elevates this film above others with similar themes. But his heartfelt approach can be seen in the committed cast -- led by O'Nan but also including ­Valderrama, whose quietly ­authentic work is a nice surprise.
  54. The Concert
    How much control are you willing to cede when you see a movie? Because director Radu Mihaileanu is fiercely determined to manipulate your every emotion.
  55. Salt
    Fast-moving, exciting and contains more twists than a tunnel under Checkpoint Charlie.
  56. Ramona and Beezus
    It won't change anyone's world, but it'll keep kids happy - and cool - for a couple of hours.
  57. Spoken Word
    The self-conscious poetry and Cruz's diagnosis of bipolar disorder threaten to add too many notes to this quiet drama.
  58. Countdown to Zero
    There are suggestions to help us sleep more easily, but the point is to wake us up.
  59. Life During Wartime
    You will find a few glimmers of humanity in Todd Solondz' latest exercise in acerbic observation. But Solondz continues to mistake judgment for honesty, and empathy for weakness.
  60. Farewell
    Their mundane meetings underscore how easily secrets are leaked, but unfortunately, scenes of meetings between Presidents Reagan (Fred Ward) and Mitterrand seem hollow and naive. Kusturica and Canet are strong, though, as is Willem Dafoe as an American intel officer.
  61. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
    It doesn't dip much below the surface, but Tamra Davis' biography of her friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died in 1988, offers an informative introduction to one of contemporary art's most complex figures.
  62. Inception
    When was the last time you had your mind blown by a movie? Because when Inception ends and the lights come up, you'll be sitting in your seat, staring at the screen, wondering what the hell just happened.
  63. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
    A frenetic, overstuffed but imaginative fantasy.
  64. Despicable Me
    Granted, it's a far cry from the Pixar classics. But Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud's nicely quirky, animated comedy has just enough edge to entertain every member of the family.
  65. Predators
    Predators tries to spice up the hunt-or-be-hunted thesis, but from the get-go, director Nimrod Antal's movie has nowhere to run.
  66. [Rec] 2
    This Spanish sequel to a 2007 cult hit uses the way-overdone conceit of videotaped terror.
  67. The Kids Are All Right
    Every scene has its highlights, from amusing observations about sex to poignant truths about parenting and partnerships. But what you'll remember most is the exquisitely lovely final scene, in which Cholodenko reminds us that all we need is a single moment of perfection -in a family, or even in a film - to believe that somehow, things will always be all right.
  68. The Girl Who Played with Fire
    Those who've read and loved the book should be satisfied, but it's reasonable to hope for more from the final entry.
  69. Great Directors
    To eavesdrop on Bernardo Bertolucci, Stephen Frears, Ken Loach and John Sayles, as they talk politics; David Lynch and Todd Haynes, discussing inspiration; and Catherine Breillat, Agnès Varda, Richard Linklater and Liliana Cavani as they riff on controversy and aspiration, even for a little while, is a real treat.
  70. Only When I Dance
    A more probing exploration of the subjects' diverse challenges would have been welcome. But your heart connects to these young artists. When they soar - onstage and off - you feel it.
  71. The Last Airbender
    Unfortunately, its positive attributes are thrown out of balance by its abundant negatives - including chintzy effects, lumbering storytelling and an overstylized, earnest incompetence that evokes "Speed Racer."
  72. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
    The truth is, almost everyone planning to see Eclipse will know how things end before the opening credits even appear. So Slade and his cast can be proud that they consistently keep us involved anyway.
  73. The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector
    This absorbing film isn't an apology or an explanation, but it nonetheless holds plenty of answers - including an amusing dissection of that infamously wiry hair-bear 'fro from the man who wore it.
  74. Love Ranch
    Though based in truth, Mark Jacobson's script is built on age-old clichés. And nobody knows how to end the film, so it just fizzles out.
  75. Grown Ups
    The movie devolves into a series of clichéd bits, none of which are that funny.
  76. Restrepo
    Even after experiencing the film, what they've gone through - and how they deal with it - deliberately remains a mystery.
  77. Dogtooth
    The father is the only one who can leave the house to go to his factory job, and that seems like a paradise for viewers trapped watching this clinically shot claptrap.
  78. South of the Border
    Unabashedly one-sided, this biography of Chávez - and several other Latin American politicians - does raise some valid concerns about what Stone calls the "manipulative power of the media." So it's too bad he's as guilty of partisanship as the right-wing outlets he reviles.
  79. Wild Grass
    Likely to draw a range of responses. Many will be transported by its gorgeous construction and breathless emotion. Others will find it patently ridiculous.
  80. Knight and Day
    Despite its impressive pedigree and unshakable assurance, Knight and Day is nothing more or less than an average popcorn flick.
  81. Toy Story 3
    While the vocal performances of Hanks, Allen and company make up a perfect ensemble, and its visual leaps astound, TS3's real power sneaks up on you.
  82. Jonah Hex
    If all you want is a bullets-and-bombs B-movie, you'll get your money's worth: Somehow, Hayward makes 82 minutes feel like hours.
  83. Cyrus
    The comedy of discomfort that runs through Cyrus is often about several things at once. But the most prevalent emotion in this quirky yet genuine movie is the awkwardness that comes with trying to fit into someone else's life.
  84. 8: The Mormon Proposition
    Cowan, a gay Mormon himself, deftly melds facts with emotions, alternating between a history of the church's anti-gay drive and interviews with those directly affected by it.
  85. I Am Love
    Though it's Swinton who grounds the film, Guadagnino is really telling the story of an entire family and their unquestioned way of life.
  86. Let It Rain
    It's all a little insular and very conversational, but the setting is cozy and the performances all pleasantly low-key.
  87. Wah Do Dem
    Though the mumblecore esthetic is familiar and the movie's ultimate impact slight, the filmmakers do find a fresh and modestly amusing twist by tossing their hipster out of his natural habitat.
  88. Stonewall Uprising
    Many witnesses offer emotional recollections of the ensuing riots, but equally powerful moments come courtesy of old footage, in which anti-gay "experts" expound with a confident ignorance that sounds chillingly familiar even today.
  89. The Karate Kid
    It has heart and a good kick.
  90. The A-Team
    Both in name and spirit, The A-Team drags the Eighties into the 21st century, and you might be surprised to find -- if only briefly -- that you've missed them just a little.
  91. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
    Where the film fails, ironically, is in the central love affair. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is undeniably gifted, but his Stravinsky is a blank, stoic presence only comfortable at a piano.
  92. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
    If you're looking for an incisive portrait of self-generated stardom, you won't do better than this.
  93. Winter's Bone
    Amid all the hokey hill stuff, Lawrence's hard eyes and manner draw us in.
  94. The Lottery
    Every parent in New York should see this movie and then ask why, when solutions exist, our woefully broken school system has yet to be fixed.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ondine
    Jordan's screenplay aims for a romanticism that the beautiful but stiff Bachleda is unable to fulfill. And the ending, which injects the film's dreamy sensibility with an ugly note of realism, crashes over everything like a frigid wave.
  96. Splice
    Splice is an unholy mess because it fuses together the worst parts of every bad medical-monster thriller, and then boldly cranks up the ridiculous.
  97. Get Him to the Greek
    This is very much Brand's movie, with Hill playing a surprisingly subdued straight man. Still, the strong supporting cast - including Rose Byrne and Elisabeth Moss as the guys' girlfriends - easily holds its own.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cropsey
    Disturbing and flavorful, with a real sense of S.I. atmosphere.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Finding Bliss
    Though the story is semi-autobiographical, Davis' judgmental script alternates cheap humor and clichéd characterizations with nuggets of faux wisdom about sex, love and film. At least porn doesn't pretend to be something it's not.
  100. Marmaduke
    If Marmaduke achieves anything, it's that it makes this past spring's "Furry Vengeance" look like a masterpiece by comparison.
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