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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    • 37 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fun Size
    By the end of this romp, Fun Size actually accomplished something charming: sentimentality without normality.
  2. Private Peaceful
    Fans of PBS, history and a certain kind of old-fashioned moviemaking may fall in.
  3. Boxing Gym
    Wiseman films it all without comment, letting the rhythm of the place tell the story.
  4. Hotel for Dogs
    Even the youngest viewers, not to mention their parents, will appreciate the buffoonish villainy of the dogcatchers (still useful villains more than half a century after "Lady and the Tramp"), and the movie's nice anti-kill shelter message is as it should be.
  5. 22 Jump Street
    The laughs are what keep the film together, even when the conceit feels been-there-done-that.
  6. American Pastoral
    Alightly boring, but slightly moving film.
  7. Mademoiselle C
    As vanity projects go, this one’s unusually well-made — as any portrait of an iconic stylist ought to be.
  8. Nightcrawler
    It’s a pleasure to see Russo back on screen (she’s married to Gilroy). But Nina’s eager complicity is far too easy and every social critique flashes as bright as the neon guiding Lou around back-alley L.A.
  9. Parental Guidance
    Crystal and Midler are such confident pros that their crack timing elevates even substandard material.
  10. 1971
    This is a terrific time capsule with a resonant message.
  11. Winter's Bone
    Amid all the hokey hill stuff, Lawrence's hard eyes and manner draw us in.
  12. Gabi on the Roof in July
    Levine offers a mostly sharp takedown of middle-class hipsterdom, and he's terrific as a guy whose easygoing demeanor hides continuing growing pains.
  13. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
    Acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's meditative, at times maddening expression of human mystery and barren landscapes is gorgeous to look at, intriguing to think about and, at times, hard to sit through.
  14. Punching the Clown
    Every aspiring performer will appreciate Gregori Viens' unassuming comedy, which cheerfully skewers industry pretensions and media-fueled trends.
  15. For Ellen
    In a film that deliberately recalls 1970's "Five Easy Pieces," Dano's performance as a lost dreamer running from adulthood resonates beautifully.
  16. Roman J. Israel, Esq.
    Washington is terrific as Roman. The character may be unclear, but the actor’s commitment is focused, and his anger and indignation are sharp and painful.
  17. Footloose
    Oddly, Craig Brewer has softened the tone for his remake. But nearly everything else remains intact, and -- surprisingly -- that's just enough to win us over.
  18. The Hunter
    His story, like the current release "A Separation," shows a glimpse inside Iran of everyday reversals of fortune, and how easy it is to get caught in the crosshairs of bureaucracy, bad judgment and bad luck.
  19. August
    There's not much to it, but Austin Chick's hyper-focused indie does serve as a nicely assured showcase for lead Josh Hartnett.
  20. Bolt
    Though every frame is great to look at, Bolt's script - by the co-writers of "Mulan" and "Cars" - lacks the wit of its closest Pixar relative, "The Incredibles." Rhino and some goofy pigeons provide the few laughs once the tale goes cross-country.
  21. Secretariat
    Wallace layers on some era-specific meaning to Chenery, who seems to be simply following her lineage, thanks to Lane's quietly dignified performance. Malkovich is more fun, though Laurin isn't as outrageous as the movie thinks he is.
  22. Life in a Day
    There are dull spots, as with any other day, yet "Life" aims to be, and occasionally is, like a YouTube-y "Our Town," giving a sense of what it is to be alive on planet Earth.
  23. The Eye of the Storm
    Fred Schepisi's sly, stately comedy-drama that will please fans of BBC melodramas. But even on its own merits, its mild manner has sneaky stings.
  24. Declaration of War
    This isn't a therapy session on film; it's a visually stark, lively, organically engrossing movie with a very real handle on the mental processes, and interpersonal demands, that come with issues of life and death.
  25. The Universe of Keith Haring
    Utilizing copious film footage of her puckish subject and new interviews with Haring's contemporaries, gallerists and mentors, director Christina Clausen makes her fascinating movie as big-hearted, city-centric and energetic as its subject.
  26. Men in Black III
    A solidly entertaining summer movie is always welcome, even if it can't quite claim to be out of this world.
  27. The X Files: I Want to Believe
    The truth is, the mystery pales next to the best "X-Files" plots. But fans will appreciate sly references to past episodes, an unexpected appearance from an old friend and the still-poignant bond our heroes share.
  28. Norwegian Wood
    Fans of the book may resist the efforts of director Tran Anh Hung ("The Scent of Green Papaya"), simply because it would be impossible to capture the essence of Murakami's prose. But this exquisitely filmed, often haunting tragedy is worth taking on its own terms.
  29. The Taqwacores
    The actual Taqwacore movement is distilled in blatantly simplistic fashion, but Zahra does capture the novel's adolescent excitement, in which a new generation rediscovers rebellion all over again.
  30. Katyn
    A pensive and searching drama that explores how deep into the national psyche these murders in the Katyn forest went.
  31. Is Anybody There?
    More deft than it first appears, director John Crowley's gentle-but-not-sappy drama features another late-day masterpiece-in-miniature from Michael Caine.
  32. The Housemaid
    Korean director Im Sang-soo can't improve on Kim Ki-young's 1960 original, a jarring and operatic cult favorite. Still, he does tweak the themes in intriguing fashion.
  33. Blood Father
    The movie is pretty good.
  34. Tabloid
    It's all compelling, in the way reading trashy gossip usually is. But without any new perspectives, what's the point?
  35. The Bourne Legacy
    The introduction isn't as smooth as it could be, but eventually everyone settles into the right groove.
  36. Interior. Leather Bar.
    We see brief, graphic shots of naked actors performing sexual acts. But it’s the conversations about what those depictions represent that truly provoke.
  37. Man of Steel
    The serious-minded result has many super-cool moments. But when it gets clunky, it’s super-meh.
  38. Wiener-Dog
    There will be movie-goers who enjoy the misery of it all. They may even laugh. I couldn't.
  39. Domain
    Writer/director Patric Chiha brings a knowledgeable weariness to his feature debut, as his story heads toward an end that feels familiar in all the right ways.
  40. Avatar
    Avatar clears the hurdle in terms of being optical candy. Its story, though, is pure cheese.
  41. John Carter
    What director Andrew Stanton has brought forth from Burroughs' limited, hoary source material is actually kind of fun.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Road Within
    They don’t come more clichéd than this indie road movie about three runaways who bond as they drive. But riveting, full-blooded performances from the young leads and a tough-love ending raise it above what you may expect.
  43. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
    There is indeed much beauty on display, from the icy Taiga landscape to the age-old trapping techniques passed on through generations. But this does feel like a lesser Herzog project (he joined on after it was shot). For viewers who don't share his awe, a short film probably would have sufficed.
  44. Journey to the West
    Chow’s movies are always as sweet as they are silly, a combination he once again balances — alongside cool effects — with typically deft irreverence.
  45. Félix And Meira
    Felix and Meira is tender and sad, and wonderfully shot in snowy Quebec, but ultimately fails to connect. It’s such a gentle whisper of a film, it’s hard to hear what it wants to say.
  46. Vanishing on 7th Street
    It's a slow time at the cineplex, and the sinister scares served up by Brad Anderson are just spooky enough to freak out undemanding horror fans.
  47. Cold Souls
    Giamatti is one of the few guys who could take a joke about a chickpea-sized soul and make a meal of it.
  48. Trucker
    Writer-director James Mottern's drama has a lived-in feel, but is notable mainly for Michelle Monaghan's glam-less turn as Diane.
  49. The Dead Lands
    National Geographic meets the WWE in this brutal, brawling revenge tale set in pre-Colonial New Zealand, mixing insight into indigenous Maori culture with barked dialogue and vicious arterial sprays, making for a simple but exciting adventure.
  50. Infinitely Polar Bear
    Saldana has a harder lift, as Maggie is striving for something better yet has to often be reactive. In scenes with the adorable Wolodarsky and Aufderheide, she listens and acts intently. But there are too many times when she’s forced to just look worried. Still, Saldana, like so many things in Forbes’ likable but tricky film, does her best in a tough situation.
  51. The Music Never Stopped
    Often static and follows a familiar trajectory. Yet it has power, partly because Simmons does a fine job of showing how hurt Henry is that his taste didn't imprint on Gabe beyond grade school; what was their music became, simply, dad's music.
  52. Melancholia
    Lars von Trier's end-of-days drama Melancholia feels as if it's something from another world...but even by his standards this remote yet lovely funereal dirge is in its own orbit.
  53. Yossi
    You'll want to see Eytan Fox's acclaimed 2002 drama "Yossi & Jagger" before watching this intimate, often-moving sequel.
  54. Mr. Peabody & Sherman
    Burrell doesn’t quite capture the wry deadpan of the original, but then, neither does the movie. That’s okay.
  55. 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets
    Marc Silver’s documentary is mostly hands-off in terms of gun politics. There’s no voiceover other than the Greek chorus of talk radio, as footage from the trial is used to document the case. Mixed in are interviews with Davis’ friends and family, plus recorded phone calls from Dunn while he was awaiting a verdict.
  56. The Commuter
    As it speeds along, the film delivers its share of popcorn-style entertainment, curves and thrills. But it stalls due to plot holes and murky storytelling, willful inaccuracies (like an invented Upper East side train station), wasted talent and conductor’s cap tips to better railway-based movies like “Strangers on a Train,” “The Fugitive” and “Unstoppable.”
  57. The Strangers
    Bertino does an excellent job building dread, especially during the first half of the movie. Every silence, pause and sudden noise startles - and the results, frankly, are more frightening than the graphic torture scenes in movies like "Hostel" and "Saw."
  58. The Last Lions
    Riveting, especially since these animals' population has horrifyingly dropped from 450,000 to 20,000 in a half-century.
  59. Dope
    The tone is fast and funny, with a modern “Risky Business” or “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” vibe, but there’s an additional layer that stems from the violence of the neighborhood.
  60. The Tree
    Falls short of being revelatory, yet has a mysterious, sturdy power that grows on you.
  61. The Ambassador
    His outlandish story feels only half-told - though still twice as fascinating as most.
  62. My Best Enemy
    The script relies on too many unlikely twists, but Bleibtreu manages to sell them all.
  63. Cadillac Records
    There are certain films - let's call them Road Map Movies - that drive you directly from point A to point B to point C, with barely a stop for gas. Cadillac Records is such a film: You see all the major landmarks, but how enlightening can a road trip be if you never even get off the highway?
  64. Thin Ice
    So with a wink, a nudge and a heaping portion of Midwestern charm, Thin Ice reels us in. Comparisons to "Fargo" and other convoluted little capers like "House of Games" are fair, but when taken on its own terms, this quirky drama thrums along in a low-blood-pressure way.
  65. Sweetgrass
    The filmmakers' motivation couldn't be clearer: They needed to capture a way of life that may soon exist only on film and in memory.
  66. Smashed
    Winstead and director James Ponsoldt add something gripping and modern to the cinema of recovery, a well-mined genre that can still, it seems, yield thoughtful surprises.
  67. Killing Bono
    Director Nick Hamm's movie is sparky and fun, and full of affectionate pokes at the '80s music scene. It's also, in terms of music biopics, probably better than the real thing.
  68. The Bye Bye Man
    The young cast is generally okay. The real pleasure is the rare appearance by Oscar winner Faye Dunaway, who plays as a woman who may know how to defeat this spirit.
  69. The Interview
    Real-life geopolitical blunders aside, The Interview generally hits its marks. And every time it does skid into juvenile idiocy — with too much scatological humor, for instance, and an overuse of “you-go-bro!” attitude — it follows it with a stride or two toward uproarious meta-satire.
  70. Clandestine Childhood
    Avila has a tough task, visualizing violent and complicated events through a child's eyes. The calmer scenes are staged in staid and somewhat clunky fashion, but the graphic animation depicting the worst moments is starkly effective.
  71. The Campaign
    Like the politicians it skewers, it knows the real winner is the stupidity, stupid.
  72. Black Mass
    The movie itself is an intriguing but ultimately unspecial Feds-vs.-hoods drama. But as the sinister, snakelike South Boston criminal Whitey Bulger, Depp delivers.
  73. An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
    As a wry, knowing narrator guides us in and out of their symphonic affair, there’s no doubt the trip is worth it.
  74. Even the Rain (Tambien la Lluvia)
    More serious-minded than expected, with a unique and savvy point of view.
  75. Advantageous
    This is dark stuff, but a striking humanity shines through.
  76. Red Flag
    Owing a debt to Albert Brooks’ early comedies, Red Flag might be too much if it weren’t just right.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Reincarnated
    Director Andy Capper crafts a surprisingly moving story, particularly in Snoop’s reactions to the deaths of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.
  78. The Runaways
    Fanning's Currie grabs the spotlight immediately, and never lets go.
  79. The Hitman's Bodyguard
    The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a movie for anyone who just wants to see Samuel L. Jackson curse, Ryan Reynolds smirk and Salma Hayek kick butt while looking absolutely incredible. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
  80. Life, Above All
    Director Oliver Schmitz's rhythms take a while to ease into, and admittedly, there is never a bright moment.
  81. Final Destination 5
    Quale has brought this anemic franchise back to life, with an unexpected infusion of humor and energy.
  82. Brick Lane
    Well-acted and grounded in reality, Brick Lane is never overly emotional, even when it deals with the days after 9/11.
  83. High School Musical 3: Senior Year
    It's hard to complain about a pop culture phenomenon built on unabashed innocence. And anyway, we might as well get used to it: Neither the movie nor the passionate tween squeals at a recent preview leave any doubt that "HSM 4" is on its way - or that the inevitable "College Musical" will be far behind.
  84. Fast Five
    Sure, a lot of the dialogue is dopey, and the eternally stiff leads once again compete for blankest delivery. But Lin distracts us well, packing deftly-shot races, explosions, and getaways into every corner.
  85. The Kings of Summer
    Built on dry one-liners, off-kilter timing and self-conscious nostalgia, The Kings of Summer seems expressly designed to delight quirk-loving Sundance audiences.
  86. The Look
    This well-made, elegant doc follows the British actress as she travels and discusses life, art, fashion, sex and death with various friends and collaborators, including novelist Paul Auster and photographer Peter Lindbergh.
  87. Enough Said
    Enough Said doesn’t have the intimacy of Holofcener’s “Walking and Talking” or “Lovely & Amazing,” but it still cuts close the bone. Often so close we have to smile in self-defense.
  88. The Fitzgerald Family Christmas
    Burns has assembled such a fine cast that we leave feeling satisfied, as if we didn't get the iPad mini we wanted, but a pretty good novel instead.
  89. Ponyo
    Trippy in the right way, and wholly enchanting.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mistaken for Strangers
    The movie reveals plenty about the budding relationship between Matt and Tom. In the end, the film offers a portrait of fraternal commitment that’s both strange and sweet.
  91. Appaloosa
    Though the leads do fine work, their efforts often feel slightly futile. Despite a few flashes of the darker tone percolating under the surface, the movie remains too well-mannered to truly pull us in.
  92. The Fairy
    The persistent whimsy gets a bit wearisome, but it's hard to dismiss any film so determined to make us happy.
  93. Skin
    A little more variation in the script, though, might have yielded something truly great.
  94. Secret Sunshine
    Director Lee Chang-dong's soulful, affecting film is as quiet as a tomb and has a disturbing, critical underside that's hard to shake off.
  95. The Heat
    Every foul-mouthed joke [McCarthy] cracks, every unexpected physical gag she underplays, is so funny you forget how often we’ve seen this setup. Or, when it comes to women, how rarely.
  96. Philip Roth: Unmasked
    Philip Roth turns 80 next week, and what better way to celebrate than to serve as the hero of his own story? It’s too bad, though, that this dully conventional biography doesn’t do justice to its subject.
  97. Waiting for Lightning
    Colorful folks and cool stunts abound, but casual viewers may still utter a big "Why?"
  98. Predestination
    Predestination may have the trippiest, weirdest take yet on the time-travel concept.
  99. Breathe
    This beautifully observed drama creates an intimate feel and gently observed moments of connection and angst. Then things move forward with almost too heavy of a heart.
  100. Newlyweeds
    Despite the hard lessons learned, King seems to have a pretty deep appreciation for Lyle and Nina’s drug of choice — and you’ll probably enjoy the movie a little more if you feel the same. Just think twice if you’re planning to sneak some homemade brownies into the theater when you see it.
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