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. Enchanted
    While Enchanted wittily updates traditional tales, it is, in the end, as carefully calculated in its appeal as any movie ever was.
  2. Hitman
    As a movie on its own, it's simple monotony. Olyphant, affecting Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry voice, is about as menacing as Mr. Clean, and the action scenes - whether the weapons are fists, feet, swords or guns - fly past without any tension or suspense. Hitman is a miss.
  3. I'm Not There.
    Some of it is brilliant, some is tedious and some is just plain incoherent.
  4. The Mist
    The brutally ironic ending, I might add, won't make anybody very happy about having chosen The Mist for their evening's entertainment.
  5. This Christmas
    No matter how silly the situation, each member of the uniformly strong cast creates a nice balance between sentimental and sweet - which is just how every holiday gathering should feel.
  6. Yiddish Theater: A Love Story
    This is an important New York story, and Spaisman makes an inspiring subject.
  7. Beowulf
    As dazzling a feast for the eyes as the hungriest eyes can take.
  8. What Would Jesus Buy?
    You know that deflated feeling you get after you've spent a lot of time and money shopping - and have little to show for your efforts? This disappointing biography, about performance artist Reverend Billy, does an awfully good job recreating it.
  9. Margot at the Wedding
    For Kidman, it is a one-note performance dictated by the script. Leigh had more dimension to work with and gives the film's most honest performance. Meanwhile, Black, whose job is mostly to deliver comic relief, is completely lost - that is to say, not funny - in the material.
  10. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
    It's hard to escape the feeling that what Zach Helm's directorial debut really wants to be is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." But where Roald Dahl's story was brilliantly eccentric and respectfully unsentimental, Helm's is heavy with strained zaniness and hazy morality.
  11. Redacted
    Like "Lions for Lambs," Redacted is more significant in its sense of purpose than its uneven execution.
  12. Smiley Face
    This is a midnight stoner movie if there ever was one.
  13. Love in the Time of Cholera
    "Love" would be intolerably boring were it not for the frequent injections of humor, thanks largely to Hector Elizondo as Florentino's uncle, and for Bardem's ultimately winning performance.
  14. Southland Tales
    Southland Tales does have enough energy and audacity to suggest significant potential. But was it ready for public consumption? The answer is no. It's as simple as that.
  15. Fred Claus
    The movie has a terrible premise compounded by a lame script and the miscasting of its surfeit of talented stars. You have to wonder why Dobkin, whose last film was the hilariously raunchy "Wedding Crashers," would be attracted to this tame material.
  16. Holly
    Half drama, half social tract, Guy Moshe's feature debut is meant to illustrate the horrors of child prostitution in Southeast Asia. The intentions, unfortunately, are more notable than the execution.
  17. The Life of Reilly
    If you think of Reilly as little more than a camp icon, you've got a lot to learn.
  18. Lions for Lambs
    This tactic, and the film's valid but familiar arguments, might have been fleshed out with better results onstage.
  19. No Country for Old Men
    If the structure is a tad out of whack, "No Country" does not lack for action or suspense. Some of the scenes of Chigurh's stalking of Moss are nearly unbearably tense. Bring your worry beads.
  20. Steal a Pencil for Me
    If Michele Ohayon's absorbing documentary didn't provide the proof, you'd never believe the story she tells about Holocaust survivors Jack Polak and Ina Soep.
  21. War Dance
    Overly polished, but deeply affecting, documentary.
  22. Fat Girls
    Christian infuses this familiar story with gentle empathy, which goes a long way in balancing out the more amateurish choices.
  23. American Gangster
    The problem is that the movie spends as much time on the boring detective chasing Lucas as on the drug lord himself.
  24. Bee Movie
    Kids are going to adore looking at this movie, living in it, flying through and above its brilliant landscape. It's an animated joyride over a relief map of Manhattan. I just wish the script was as good as the paint.
  25. Darfur Now
    A disquieting, and somewhat disjointed, call to arms, Theodore Braun's heartfelt documentary is undeniably important. But it may not be quite focused enough to ignite the passion he so clearly wants his audience to feel.
  26. Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
    The movie fascinates not so much because of Strummer, whose brooding temperament and flash-and-burn career arc seems pretty routine by rock standards, but because of the way Temple organized and edited the film.
  27. Martian Child
    The entire cast is fully committed to this squishily sentimental tale, which is especially impressive given that it's the kind of generic dramedy you'll swear you've seen a thousand times before.
  28. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
    Arguably Lumet's best film in 20 years.
  29. Dan in Real Life
    Sweet it is. Remotely connected to real life, however, it is not.
  30. Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
    There is no doubting Jonathan Demme's admiration for our 39th President: It's apparent from the opening scenes.
  31. Music Within
    The performances are all solid, but Sheen, last seen as Tony Blair in "The Queen," is so good in his incredibly demanding role that he makes the natural discomfort people feel at seeing someone so debilitated disappear completely.
  32. Mr. Untouchable
    It's not a pretty picture, but it sure is a compelling one.
  33. Saw IV
    If an hour and a half of so-called "torture porn" sounds like fun, you'll find Saw IV situated somewhere between the first in the cycle (a solid original with plenty of energy in it) and the last (a gasping copycat willing to do anything to stay alive).
  34. Slipstream
    Writer, director and star Anthony Hopkins releases his inner muse with Slipstream, and guess who shows up - David Lynch!
  35. 30 Days of Night
    Lighter on horror than it is on inadvertent humor.
  36. Gone Baby Gone
    The film's standout performance belongs to Ed Harris, who plays a Boston detective with decades of experience and an equal amount of built-up resentment toward people who would harm children.
  37. Out of the Blue
    As sensitive to its subject as it is stark in its rendering.
  38. Rendition
    There are some problems with the pacing, but this topical thriller about CIA-sanctioned torture is one of the most important "message" movies of the year.
  39. Reservation Road
    Unrelentingly bleak, the movie is nonetheless a riveting drama with some outstanding performances.
  40. Things We Lost in the Fire
    Berry gives a riveting performance, but as a deeply decent man trapped in a hell of his own making, Del Toro gives the kind of career performance Berry gave in "Monster's Ball."
  41. Wristcutters: A Love Story
    It's described as a black comedy, but you can forget the comedy part. There wasn't so much as a snicker at the screening I attended, though I may have heard a snore or two.
  42. Meeting Resistance
    Less a documentary than an unshaped document, this haphazard collection of interviews with Iraqi insurgents is both enlightening and frustrating.
  43. Canvas
    Though Harden has the showier role, a subdued Pantoliano is the movie's real star. Sometimes, the quietest performances are the most powerful.
  44. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
    The Golden Age is packed with distractions. But the biggest of all is the story itself, which works so mightily to tarnish the queen at its core.
  45. Khadak
    Even when their picture wanders from any reasonable path, it's never less than stunning to look at.
  46. Lars and the Real Girl
    Working with a doll can't be easy, but Gosling actually makes it feel emotionally real. A scene where he shares an imaginary dance with Bianca, with his eyes closed and a beatific smile on his face, is by itself worth the price of admission.
  47. Sleuth
    Even lousy adaptations have worth, if they attract attention to little-seen originals.
  48. Terror's Advocate
    While I understand Vergès' oft-repeated claim that he wants to use these sensational cases to point out that the French were no better than the Nazis in their treatment of colonial subjects, it's impossible to overlook his glib dismissal of his clients' crimes and the smug righteousness that rests in the smirk constantly on his face.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Why Did I Get Married?
    The problems are real; the solutions are ... well, really entertaining. Perry mixes heartfelt drama with bold-stroke, insult-slinging comedy.
  50. We Own the Night
    When it goes wrong, specifically when Bobby is given a badge like an angry Earp brother in "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," the story turns into something barely at the level of a TV cop show.
  51. Control
    Morton's as good an actress as any working today and in Control, she overcomes an age gap to give one of the year's most heartbreaking and honest performances.
  52. Golda's Balcony
    Once again, we chart the growth of a woman and a country at the same time, a tough assignment that Harper tackles with humor and passion (even if her Kissinger impersonation could use a little work).
  53. Feel the Noise
    The plot is contrived, the performances are all over the board, and Chomski's camera ogles his actresses just a little too much.
  54. The Good Night
    As thin and wispy as a dream you can't quite remember in the morning, writer-director Jake Paltrow's The Good Night wastes the ample comedy talent of Martin Freeman, turns his famous sister Gwyneth into a shrew, and makes you wish Danny DeVito had directed the movie instead of acting in it.
  55. The Heartbreak Kid
    Though the sitcom humor of this is much broader and funnier than in May's film, it is also the part most faithful in spirit to the original.
  56. Michael Clayton
    Tony Gilroy, co-author of the superb Jason Bourne film trilogy, makes a stunning directorial debut with Michael Clayton, an out-of-courtroom drama that helps solidify George Clooney's acting bona fides.
  57. My Kid Could Paint That
    Everyone involved, from Marla's defensive parents to the cynical journalists who promoted and then turned on her, seems to have some sort of agenda.
  58. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
    This is a reasonable choice for bored tweens - as long as they don't demand too much magic from their movies.
  59. The Darjeeling Limited
    Wilson, Brody and Schwartzman have their charms, but the script gives them little to work with. Anderson and his co-writers have come up with an ordinary road movie.
  60. Trade
    The story of the victims on the road is harrowing, but the tale of the kind cop and the teenager with an attitude is a string of big brother clichés.
    • New York Daily News
  61. The Price of Sugar
    The film is unabashedly supportive of Father Hartley, presenting him as a stubborn saint, and depicts the wealthy owners as soulless villains. Presumably they have a different story to tell, but we wouldn't know: When the camera's on, none can be found.
    • New York Daily News
  62. Feast of Love
    You'll find more authenticity listening in on conversations at your corner diner. But this is a gentler alternative, especially if you prefer your coffee with extra cream and sugar anyway.
  63. The Game Plan
    Director Andy Fickman seems to have thrown everything into this artificial comedy, in the hopes that something might stick. Almost nothing does.
  64. The Kingdom
    Berg has an excellent eye for violent extravaganza and the action - especially a 10-15 minute set piece midway through - is as cleansing as a high colonic.
  65. Lust, Caution
    I didn't feel the love between the flowering idealist and the ruthless killer. If I did, I would have given the movie four stars. Everything else is wonderful.
    • New York Daily News
  66. Outsourced
    Josh Hamilton gives a marvelously engaging performance in this fish-out-of-water comedy.
    • New York Daily News
  67. The Last Winter
    Among cautionary tales of gloom-and-doom, it may out-gore Gore, but it doesn't entertain.
  68. Good Luck Chuck
    There's still time, but for now, Fogler gets my vote for the worst performance of the year.
  69. Into the Wild
    Penn is projecting heroic qualities onto a young guy who simply got in over his head.
  70. Resident Evil: Extinction
    If it weren't for retro-gartered Milla Jovovich, I don't know why anyone would want to survive the virus that is turning humans into zombies and destroying the Earth in Resident Evil: Extinction.
  71. Sydney White
    Unfortunately, though, Bynes' persistent mugging only emphasizes Nussbaum's relentlessly cartoonish direction.
  72. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
    Does something no other Jesse James movie has done: It tells the truth.
  73. The Jane Austen Book Club
    There are no surprises here, in other words, but there aren't supposed to be: This is a comfort film, the on-screen equivalent of mac and cheese - though with a splash of truffle oil to class things up.
  74. Beauty Remains
    If aesthetics are a prime factor in your movie choices, you may get something out of Ann Hu's overwrought, but beautifully atmospheric, period romance.
  75. Across the Universe
    Julie Taymor says the idea for her Across the Universe was "to create an original musical using only the songs of the Beatles." That's like saying you're going to create a new element using only gold.
  76. December Boys
    The movie is mildly notorious for a (relatively chaste) scene in which Radcliffe's character loses his virginity. But if you're looking to watch this former child star grownup, track down his classic guest turn on TV's "Extras" instead.
  77. Eastern Promises
    The first must-see adult film of the young fall.
  78. Great World of Sound
    The joke is that the salesmen believe they're actually trying to discover talent and - like the people they're encouraging - are victims.
  79. In the Valley of Elah
    What Haggis obviously wants to explore is what the war in Iraq is doing to the humanity of our soldiers there. By approaching it indirectly, he simplifies it to a degree that I expect will anger many Iraq veterans.
  80. King of California
    Cahill deserves major credit for keeping the story from becoming mawkish or twee. He was also wise enough to realize it's Douglas' show, and as soon as he steps into the frame, you'll know it, too.
  81. Mr. Woodcock
    You can guess how it all ends, but getting there is a repetitious parade of put-downs and smackdowns that suggest you can't go home again - not when your mom's sleeping with a monster from your past.
  82. Silk
    By the end of Francois Gerard's plodding, uninvolving melodrama, his boredom will have nothing on yours.
  83. The Brave One
    Not enough to overcome the proven axiom that although you can make a bad movie from a good script, you can't make a good one from a bad one.
  84. The Rape of Europa
    A veteran who was in the Allied force trying to drive Germans out of a landmark Italian monastery asks, "What is more important, a great piece of art or a human life?" That it has taken more than 60 years to get this incredible story told answers the question.
  85. Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
    It's a tribute to both the subject and his biographer that this story of one man's experience is also a vital chronicle of the times in which he's lived.
  86. 3:10 to Yuma
    Unlike Glenn Ford, a soft-spoken studio star who was cast against type as Wade 50 years ago, Crowe is a perfect fit. Not because of his bad boy behavior offscreen, but because he can blend charm and menace better than anyone.
  87. Fierce People
    What might have read as a dense allegory comparing the rituals of the super-rich with the tribal customs of the violent Ishkanani tribe in the Amazon becomes a tedious, over-ripe soap opera on screen.
  88. In the Shadow of the Moon
    And oh, what stories these heroes have to tell - and what incredible sights they brought back with them.
  89. Romance & Cigarettes
    If you're game for something different, it's worth a few giggles.
  90. Shoot 'Em Up
    This is likely the fastest-moving intentionally funny action movie ever made. It's as if the 21 Bond movies and four "Die Hards" had been distilled to remove their body fat (that is, character development, buildup, rest stops, etc.) and left us with only the killing and the punch lines.
  91. The Brothers Solomon
    The upbeat brothers are full of sweetness and love, but the script is made of taffy, and if you can chew and laugh at the same time, you're welcome to it.
  92. The Bubble
    Fox stumbles a little at the end, which is unnecessarily exaggerated. He should have trusted his own talent - it's the attention to minor details that makes his work so memorable.
  93. The Hunting Party
    Everything about this political thriller is ridiculous.
  94. The Inner Life of Martin Frost
    Paul Auster's suffocating romance makes you feel as if you're helplessly stuck inside the head of the most pretentious person you know.
  95. I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
    Garlin, like Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine in "Marty," is good company, even when his out-of-control eating and self-loathing threaten to overwhelm him.
  96. Death Sentence
    Bacon's performance in "Saw" creator James Wan's laughably extreme revenge thriller Death Sentence is six degrees of ham.
  97. Exiled
    The Macao settings are beautifully rendered, and the dark humor is often very funny. But it is noisy.
  98. Halloween (2007)
    There is just no tension built prior to the murders.
  99. Self Medicated
    The vision of him pretending to be a sullen teen is a distraction the movie never overcomes.
  100. The Nines
    It's an intricate, at times incoherent, but often funny and consistently fascinating trio of stories with the same actors in different but related roles.
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