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 8.1 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. Black Snake Moan
    At heart, "BSM" is no different from the midnight movies of the '60s and '70s that reveled in a head-spinning blend of blatant exploitation, provocative racial commentary and overwrought performances.
  2. The Astronaut Farmer
    It's hard not to like a movie so determined to make you feel the love of a family, to make you feel that every dream can become a reality and that every mortgage - no matter how close to foreclosure - can be rescued by the sudden death of a family member and his inheritance.
  3. Reno 911!: Miami
    Come to think of it, 84 minutes isn't much of a sacrifice for a few laughs, even if the material is almost as hit-or-miss as our heroes' shooting skills.
  4. Amazing Grace
    Compelling and highly informative.
  5. Gray Matters
    This exhausting romance feels more like a long-lost episode of "Three's Company" in which Jack Tripper decides he is actually gay.
  6. Starter for 10
    This is cheeky sitcom in a minor key, and fated to be a mere footnote on McAvoy's resume.
  7. Breach
    Ray and his writers found plenty of material to fill Cooper's capable hands. They've turned what must have been a tedious investigation into a sharp cat-and-mouse game between Hanssen and Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe).
  8. Bridge to Terabithia
    Csupo needed two very gifted leads to do this beloved story justice, and found them in AnnaSophia Robb and Josh Hutcherson.
  9. Ghost Rider
    What sticks is a colorful, mesmerizing, at times breathtaking mess - it's like watching a bonfire on acid - and what slides to the floor is, well, you probably don't want to know.
  10. Avenue Montaigne
    Rarely has Paris seemed more enchanting than in Danièle Thompson's optimistic ode to Gallic romance.
  11. Close to Home
    Filmmakers Vardit Bilu and Dalia Hagar don't seem as interested in taking sides as they do in exploring universal themes.
  12. Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams
    Jasmila Zbanic's poignant drama reminds us that the aftershocks of war linger for generations.
  13. Daddy's Little Girls
    Subtlety has never been Perry's strength, but his previous films balanced the sermonizing with good humor and sincerity. Perhaps next time, he'll ease up on the lectures, and bring back the love.
  14. Music and Lyrics
    As a premise, this is thinner than a strand of cotton candy, but fairy tales have been hung from less, and what keeps this one together is the surprisingly easy chemistry between Grant and Barrymore.
  15. Bamako
    Heated speeches about the International Monetary Fund, debt relief and global responsibility may not sound like your idea of Friday-night entertainment, but Sissako makes a strong case.
  16. Hannibal Rising
    This strikes me as the final nail in the franchise's coffin. I can't name an actor who could have made young Lecter as interesting as the older one, but Ulliel does not come close.
  17. Norbit
    It's hard to know who is the intended audience for this misguided mess.
  18. Because I Said So
    Keaton is so over-the-top, so loud and so physically animated that when Daphne develops a case of laryngitis mid-way through the movie, it's as if a neighbor's car alarm has finally been shut down. However, in those silent moments, when Daphne is communicating with notes, you realize how much you like this actress.
  19. The Situation
    Shot in Morocco with hand-held cameras, the movie has the urgency of a heart attack. Clearly tilted against the war, and heavy on explanatory dialogue, it paints a bleak picture of a desperate country that is being exploited by extremists at the expense of the despairing citizens. The situation is dire.
  20. Puccini for Beginners
    Awkward, unconvincing bisexual roundelay.
  21. Constellation
    Writer-director Jordan Walker-Pearlman can't adequately handle either of his tasks: The script is as sappy as the direction is awkward. Fortunately, he was smart enough to enlist a cast of pros who can ably sidestep the project's many potholes.
  22. An Unreasonable Man
    Naive or wicked, idealist or egomaniac: Nothing in Ralph Nader's character is agreed upon by everyone in this fascinating biography - with one exception. And the title says it all.
  23. Blood and Chocolate
    Though technically a werewolf movie, the silly Blood and Chocolate is really just a toothless love story about the bad stuff that can happen when two very different people fall in love.
  24. Catch and Release
    Really, women drag their husbands and boyfriends to films like writer-director Susannah Grant's emotionally bogus Catch and Release and I feel their pain. They should get a free Boys Night Out pass every time they make the sacrifice.
  25. Epic Movie
    Still, if it gets little else right, at least Epic Movie is accurately titled: It may be only 86 minutes long, but it feels as if it lasts forever.
  26. Smokin' Aces
    There's no question Carnahan has an eye for composition, an ear for dialogue and a sense of pace that, if put to better use, could make an audience beg for relief. But the characters in Smokin' Aces are about as lifelike as the occupants of vehicles destroyed in a car-safety test.
  27. Seraphim Falls
    This is an entertaining Western with some earnest ideas about forgiveness, redemption and the loss of innocents.
  28. From Other Worlds
    There are a few funny jokes scattered throughout, but the halfhearted direction and clunky script are underscored by performances that feel like they belong in community theater.
  29. G.I. Jesus
    Passion this profound can't help but make an impact.
  30. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Him
    Some of this is elemental psychology; blood is thicker than water, etc. But the movie also reveals how the privileged class ignored, condoned or denied the reality of the Holocaust.
  31. The Italian
    There are too many familiar faces in this story, from kindhearted whores to street-urchin bullies. But even if circumstances edge toward the unlikely, Kravchuk and Spiridonov make an effective team, exploring the realities that lead to so much heartbreak for so many children.
  32. Alone with Her
    Made for $1 million, its production values are raw and Nicholas makes at least one too many obvious choices himself. But its very rawness adds to its creepiness and keeps us in suspense in ways most studio movies don't.
  33. Alpha Dog
    Who would have thought that a real-life tale of sex, drugs and murder could be so instantly forgettable?
  34. Stomp the Yard
    So, yes, the story is bland and predictable and disappointing. But here's the thing about dance movies (or cheerleading movies, or even marching band movies): All that really matters is the action.
  35. Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story
    Spellbinding.
  36. God Grew Tired of Us
    Narrated by Nicole Kidman, this poignant documentary tells only half the story of three Sudanese "lost boys" who emigrate to America. Though it doesn't delve as deep as it should, this movie will still break your heart.
  37. Tears of the Black Tiger
    Director Wisit Sasanatieng uses every trick imaginable to create surreal postmodern nostalgia. Has he wound up with pure camp, or a cult classic? As he clearly understands, the best B-movies are both.
  38. Comedy of Power
    Draggy for long stretches, and never funny, Comedy of Power is a showcase - as if she needed another - for Huppert's chameleon qualities. She's an actress who can make a phone-book reading interesting, and that is pretty much the challenge she meets here.
  39. Happily N'Ever After
    While the cast members, Dick and Prinze in particular, have fun with Robert Moreland's sassy script, the exaggerated, unappealing animation seems to belong to another movie altogether.
  40. Freedom Writers
    I say bring 'em on, if the stories can be told as well, as convincingly and as inspirationally as Richard LaGravenese's Freedom Writers, an educational fantasy that happens to be mostly true.
  41. Code Name: The Cleaner
    How do films this stale and generic continue to get made, let alone with topflight talent? Cedric has been stealing scenes from bigger names for nearly a decade; he deserves better than a few amusingly-improvised minutes at the end of his own movie. And so do we.
  42. Thr3e
    A pretty run-of-the-mill B suspense movie.
  43. Sacrifice
    Best of this trio is Bruno's 50-minute Sacrifice, a series of vivid and heartbreaking interviews with girls and young women who have been sold or drafted out of rural Burma into sexual bondage at Thai brothels.
  44. Miss Potter
    Maybe Miss Potter will be best appreciated on video when you will intuitively know when to turn it off. On the other hand, Potter's pastel illustrations, which often come to life to her and to the camera's eye, deserve the larger canvas. Tough call.
  45. Pan's Labyrinth
    A critic trots out the word "masterpiece" at his own peril, but there it is.
  46. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
    This is a crazy, gorgeous, disturbing, darkly comic horror story about an early-18th-century Frenchman born in a Paris fish market without any odor of his own but with a sense of smell that would make a pack of bloodhounds wail with envy.
  47. The Dead Girl
    Darker than the shadow of death.
  48. Arthur and the Invisibles
    Luc Besson, a sort of French version of Steven Spielberg without the intuition, has tried a lot of genres in his young career and has had his greatest success with slick action films like "The Fifth Element" and "La Femme Nikita." Animated movies for kids he should stay away from.
  49. Factory Girl
    Miller and Pearce are admirably determined to do their complex characters justice, but the generic script turns them into enigmatic symbols, locked in a hollow time capsule.
  50. The Tiger and the Snow
    Benigni clearly intends to make some impassioned statements about the futility of war, the power of romance, the enduring strength of optimism. However, the once-appealing innocence of his exuberant persona has become curdled over time.
  51. The Flying Scotsman
    For a much better film about a similar story, rent "The World's Fastest Indian," with Anthony Hopkins on a motorcycle.
    • New York Daily News
  52. Notes on a Scandal
    As the relationship between the two British schoolteachers begins (quietly), builds (deceptively) and dissolves (spectacularly), Dench and Blanchett give a master class in acting. Pick your own sports metaphor, but watching them go at each other is the match of the year.
  53. Black Christmas
    Where the first film was a seminal forerunner of early stalker classics like "Halloween," this version feels as stale as old gingerbread.
  54. Children of Men
    Cuarón relies on his ample visual style, and he has indeed created a film you cannot tear your eyes away from.
  55. The Good Shepherd
    Even with its first-rate cast, current political relevance and tangled mysteries, The Good Shepherd remains as remote as Wilson himself. But frankly, if the lives of CIA spies are really this dreary, they may as well keep their secrets to themselves.
  56. Night at the Museum
    Night at the Museum takes a can't-miss comedy premise and misses by a country mile.
  57. We Are Marshall
    We Are Marshall is less a movie than a commemoration.
  58. Venus
    Peter O'Toole, looking frail beyond his 74 years, gives what may be his farewell performance as a leading movie actor in Roger Michell's Venus. It's one for the books - and maybe the Oscars, too.
  59. Curse of the Golden Flower
    Chinese director Zhang Yimou has made some of the most beautiful movies of the last 20 years, and with his latest, Curse of the Golden Flower, he has also made one of the most deliciously nutty.
  60. Letters from Iwo Jima
    "Letters" isn't about numbers or the battle or even the morality of war. It's about the sanctity of life and how we value our own.
  61. The Painted Veil
    The Painted Veil may begin too slowly, but it also ends too soon.
  62. Rocky Balboa
    Think you're too tough for a sentimental comeback story? Well, a few minutes with Rocky Balboa might just knock the cynic out of you.
  63. Dreamgirls
    Hudson, taking over the role of Effie played on stage by Jennifer Holliday, is in charge of Dreamgirls from her opening scene, blowing away Grammy-winner Beyoncé Knowles, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and anyone else who gets in her way.
  64. The Good German
    If you feel anything other than admiration for its craftsmanship, let me know; The Good German is as emotionally cold and unconvincing as any movie I've seen this year.
  65. Breaking and Entering
    There's a great deal of potential here, but like Will, Minghella loses his bearings whenever he wanders too far from home.
  66. Charlotte's Web
    What it is, to borrow a word from the ever-eloquent spider Charlotte, is average. Don't misunderstand: While never quite enchanting, this "Web" is perfectly entertaining. But it could - and should -have been so much more.
  67. Eragon
    Turns out to be as heavy and earthbound as an injured dragon.
  68. The Pursuit of Happyness
    You may have to go back to 1973's "Paper Moon" and the father/daughter work of Ryan O'Neal and 10-year-old Tatum for equal excellence in nepotism.
  69. Home of the Brave
    While Mark Friedman's script is as unsubtle as Winkler's direction, their sincerity and the subject's sharp immediacy lend the film a certain power.
  70. The Secret Life of Words
    Given the physical limitations of their characters, Polley and Robbins give remarkably compelling performances, and though the resolution of their slowly evolving relationship is a bit too pat, it is one you won't soon forget.
  71. Memoirs of My Nervous Illness
    Mays throws himself into the role of a man who attempts to transform into a woman, but his efforts feel like futile flailings: The actor - and his character - are so much bigger than any story we're allowed to see.
  72. The Holiday
    A harmlessly cheery confection.
  73. Blood Diamond
    Blood Diamond is, in the vernacular of Old Hollywood, a rip-roaring adventure, the kind made in the '30s with Clark Gable and the handiest leading lady on contract at MGM.
  74. Apocalypto
    Apocalypto exists solely as an action-adventure and a deft cinematic demonstration of man's capacity for cruelty. This is the true passion of Mel.
  75. Unaccompanied Minors
    A Christmas headache looking for an audience.
  76. I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal
    The scourge of the 20th century has become a sage and hero to a new generation of haters.
  77. Family Law
    Burman tends to focus very tightly on the details of individual identity - religion, nationality, gender. It is all the more striking, then, that his restrained and unassuming films are wise enough to speak to every adult.
  78. Off the Black
    As good as Nolte is, the relatively unknown Morgan matches him scene for scene. And he's not the only impressive newcomer. Remarkably, this confident indie is the first feature from writer-director Ponsoldt, who shuns any slickness to embrace the rough edges of his low-budget, bare-bones story.
  79. Screamers
    Fans are, obviously, most likely to appreciate the concert footage that's woven throughout the film. But the most powerful moments come offstage, when we see young audience members burn with the fresh outrage of the newly enlightened.
  80. Snow Blind
    Though some of the action cinematography is stunning, and practicing snowboarders will love the sense of camaraderie established, it's not riveting entertainment for the rest of us.
  81. Days of Glory
    Conventional, but intensely passionate, war movie.
  82. The Nativity Story
    As dull and inert as the ink used to print the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that informed Mike Rich's script.
  83. Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
    If you liked "Van Wilder," which starred Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid, be warned: The only person returning from the cast is the boring Indian kid Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn).
  84. 3 Needles
    When 3 Needles premiered at Toronto last year, the stories were overlapping, in the style of "Babel" but without a unifying theme. It's less cumbersome as three separate stories, but they do not add up to much.
  85. 10 Items or Less
    Every potentially worthwhile or amusing moment in writer-director Brad Silberling's 10 Items or Less could be told in 10 minutes or less, with credits included.
  86. The Architect
    There are too many characters undergoing life changes in the story for each to be properly developed in an 82-minute movie. But for the most part, the actors get the work done.
  87. The Lives of Others
    Except for Hempf, every character is under incredible duress, and the performances are exceptional. With his first feature, an Oscar nominee for foreign-language film, von Donnersmarck has certainly left his mark.
  88. Turistas
    As the latest in a never-ending chain of thrillers about young people lost and dying in a hostile land, John Stockwell's Turistas at least offers the visual benefits of exotic settings and a cast of barely clad hardbodies.
  89. Two Weeks
    Casting choices seem oddly random (only Cavanagh and Nicholson have any familial chemistry). And the humor, which is vital to a movie this inherently grim, falls flat.
  90. A Touch of Spice
    Don't expect to taste anything surprising.
  91. This Filthy World
    Tossing off one-liners about drugs and porn to a New York audience, even Waters sounds a little bored.
  92. The Fountain
    It's often maddening, because of its structure, and some of its visuals are pretentious nonsense. But, as a story of undying love, it's certainly unique.
  93. Deck the Halls
    Broderick is uptight; DeVito is obnoxious; and, somewhere, Nathan Lane is thanking his lucky stars he didn't get roped into this dreck.
  94. Deja Vu
    It takes chutzpah to title this movie Déjà Vu; every scene in it rings a bell. Certainly, I had just seen the same affable-righteous performance from Washington in Spike Lee's "Inside Man."
  95. Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
    Proudly, and often hilariously, juvenile, "Destiny" is packed with typically grandiose Tenacious D anthems - the sort that thrill 15-year-old boys listening alone in their bedrooms.
  96. Backstage
    Director Emmanuelle Bercot's film offers a fascinating account of how a vulnerable star might mistake fan worship for something real.
  97. Opal Dream
    Though there are no Montys, full or otherwise, the finale will lift you up.
  98. The History Boys
    The play's most acclaimed performance - rotund Richard Griffiths as the closeted teacher Hector - is great in the movie, too.
  99. Casino Royale
    Fans of anyone other than Sean Connery who has played James Bond may want to look away, because admirers of Ian Fleming's 007 novels are almost bound to agree that Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean.
  100. Happy Feet
    In the year of the animated movie, this one soars above them all.
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