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. Let's Go to Prison
    Odenkirk is an expert at the unexpected laugh. (This must be the first prison movie in which a cafeteria put-down involves the painter Lucian Freud.)
  2. Candy
    Because although there are some very striking moments in Neil Armfield's debut, there are simply not enough to keep us absorbed the way a movie should.
  3. Fast Food Nation
    Dispiriting, unsubtle and unpleasant.
  4. For Your Consideration
    This is Guest's fourth ensemble parody of showbiz subjects, and though his sketch-comedy style and acting troupe are now familiar, this is his most accomplished movie.
  5. The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes
    With the film's hypnotic emphasis on artistry and architecture, most viewers will probably get their satisfaction from the striking visual elements, particularly the stop-motion animation.
  6. Bobby
    This is simply too vast a task for a filmmaker as inexperienced as Estevez. Compared with, say, Robert Altman's similar but far more complex "Nashville," Bobby mostly comes off as a Hollywood public service announcement: passionate, righteous and strikingly removed from reality.
  7. The Aura
    The tension and intrigue between the pretender and his would-be associates is as dense as the woods surrounding their hiding place.
  8. Flannel Pajamas
    Ever been on a blind date that you knew would be dismal from the start? Well, this is the movie version of that date, stretched out over the slowest two hours imaginable.
  9. Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?
    Though the film does have the modest, human-interest feel of a "60 Minutes" segment, it grows stronger as it goes along.
  10. A Good Year
    Like a fragile Provence wine left too long in the sun, Ridley Scott's romantic comedy A Good Year spoiled somewhere between the publication of Peter Mayle's novel and this cockamamie adaptation.
  11. Harsh Times
    The result is an angry, violent mess of a movie with a central character threatening to implode right on the screen.
  12. The Return
    Since Adam Sussman's script is as lazy as Asif Kapadia's direction is disjointed, nothing ever makes sense, even after the anticlimatic explanation is revealed.
  13. Stranger Than Fiction
    It has a nifty premise and outstanding performances from Ferrell, as the protagonist-in-progress, and Emma Thompson, as his blocked creator.
  14. Iraq in Fragments
    Visually arresting and deeply disheartening, James Longley's impressionistic documentary explores the pain of a shattered country by homing in on a few tiny shards.
  15. Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
    The movie's considerable problems are not the fault of its dedicated star, Nicole Kidman. She does her job beautifully - which, come to think of it, may be something of a problem after all.
  16. Come Early Morning
    Both Adams and Judd have been let down by Hollywood. Here they have the freedom to express their uniquely Southern takes on music, faith, family and femininity. This intensely personal film may not bring either of them widespread acclaim, but it's a small triumph nonetheless.
  17. The Cave of the Yellow Dog
    It's the perfect antidote to overprocessed entertainment, for moviegoers of any age.
  18. Copying Beethoven
    There are two reasons to see - and hear - Agnieszka Holland's Copying Beethoven. One is Ed Harris' performance as the nearly deaf and totally egocentric Ludwig van; the other is a cherry-picked 10-minute chunk of the composer's soaring Ninth Symphony.
  19. Fuck
    Filmmaker Steve Anderson stuffs an astonishing 800-plus mentions of the F-word into this 90-minute documentary. When the spectacle ends, the same question lingers: Why?
  20. The Magic Gloves
    He may earn his living as a cab driver, but the blank hero of Martín Rejtman's sardonic Argentinean comedy is perfectly content to hitch his way through life.
  21. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
    Though Borat has been likened to "Jackass," there's a huge difference. The "Jackass" movies are about extreme stunts. Borat is about interaction and gullibility, and its success is unique to both Cohen and to this one-time-only movie.
  22. Flushed Away
    This computer-animated feature rivals "Cars" for the year's most visually exciting cartoon, but watch your step - most of the movie takes place in the London sewers, where the script may have been conceived.
  23. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
    Allen and Short seem to be having so much fun that their enthusiasm is entirely contagious. Let the season begin.
  24. Volver
    For a black comedy whose tangled sequence of events is completely improbable, Pedro Almodóvar's Volver feels absolutely authentic. So, think of everything as metaphor and enjoy one of the year's most delectably twisted treats.
  25. Wondrous Oblivion
    Good intentions and some nicely playful moments go a long way toward balancing out Paul Morrison's uneven story of British immigrants in the early 1960s.
  26. Commune
    Jonathan Berman's documentary about California's famous Black Bear Ranch is a trip.
  27. Unknown
    It all comes together at the end, logically and with a twist. But it's not a game that allows the audience to play along. When the story is controlled by whatever memories the writer and director choose to put in the characters' heads, you're always on the outside looking in.
  28. Romántico
    It will be a long time before you forget the deep pain etched into the weary face of Carmelo Muñiz, the mariachi singer at the center of Mark Becker's immensely moving documentary.
  29. Catch a Fire
    The movie belongs to Luke, who brings the heroic Chamusso to life as richly as Forest Whitaker does the evil Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."
  30. Saw III
    Just like its increasingly wan antihero, this blood-soaked series is on its last legs.
  31. Babel
    A powerful movie that should win all the year's ensemble acting awards. Pitt has never done better dramatic work, Blanchett is as convincing as always, and - in introducing themselves to American audiences - veteran Mexican actress Barraza and Japan's Kikuchi are revelations.
  32. Climates
    Like Ceylan's earlier films, Climates is as gorgeous as it is self-consciously composed, but an hour and 40 minutes is a long time to spend with Isa, forget three seasons.
  33. Conversations with God
    One of Walsch's precepts is that you should never make a living doing something you hate. If I'd known that, I might not have felt obliged to sit through every excruciating minute of this sanctimonious infomercial.
  34. Shut Up & Sing
    As insightful as it is entertaining.
  35. Death of a President
    D.O.A.P. would be more effective, and more entertaining, if it took a cue from "Dr. Strangelove" and used Sterling Hayden's paranoid, quick-triggered Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper as the model for Cheney to get more outlandish behavior from him.
  36. Cocaine Cowboys
    If "The Godfather" movies were based on real gangsters and some of them were still around to talk about the good old days, they might be as fascinating as the characters in Billy Corben's documentary about the cocaine import business in 1970s Miami.
  37. The Bridge
    Eric Steel's documentary has more than a whiff of exploitation about it.
  38. The Wild Blue Yonder
    A meandering, amusing trifle, Werner Herzog's latest film is as cheekily flaky as his recent "Grizzly Man" was sharply down-to-earth.
  39. Marie Antoinette
    Coppola won't win any Oscars, but the movie is a contender for cinematography, costumes and production design, and it's a lock for Prettiest Pastries.
  40. Running with Scissors
    A reasonable facsimile of a perversely funny book whose odd characters are given life by a terrific cast.
  41. Flags of Our Fathers
    Eastwood's sepia-toned combat scenes are as graphic, if not quite as jolting, as those in "Ryan." And without a Tom Hanks-size star in the cast, "Flags" is not likely to do "Ryan's" blockbuster business. But "Flags," a true story directed by someone with far more faith in the audience's ability to empathize, is the better movie.
  42. Flicka
    With some movies, you know exactly what you're going to see before you even enter the theater, and Michael Mayer's Flicka is one of them: You've got your girl, you've got your horse, and you've got your strict father trying to keep them apart.
  43. The Prestige
    By describing the structure of a great trick in a movie about a great trick, The Prestige makes a promise it can't keep. Its third act is about as convincing as a photo of a cow jumping over the moon.
  44. Sleeping Dogs Lie
    Goldthwait explores his themes more thoughtfully than you'd expect, but ultimately, we know just how things will end. And what's subversive about that?
  45. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
    Meticulously researched documentary.
  46. Conventioneers
    It is a sign of the times that audiences will watch these equally selfish lovers and find one infinitely more sensible than the other.
  47. Sweet Land
    Selim's script doesn't hit new territory, but beautiful cinematography takes it just far enough.
  48. 51 Birch Street
    The intimate history of Doug Block's parents becomes fodder for a broader look at family secrets in this complex documentary.
  49. The Grudge 2
    While The Grudge 2 feels like a second-generation copy - a little faded, with less impact than the first - there are still plenty of moments that will linger in your nightmares.
  50. Man of the Year
    You know a comedy's in trouble when the only laughter the audience can hear is coming from the speakers. There are other problems with "Man," notably its abrupt shifts from farce to romantic comedy to suspense thriller, and the near absence of a political edge.
  51. The Marine
    Granted, this movie is unlikely to threaten "The Departed" at Oscar time. But for mindless entertainment, you could do a lot worse.
  52. Deliver Us from Evil
    Amy Berg's riveting documentary, tracks O'Grady's predatory trail from San Andreas, Calif., to Ireland, where he is now living on a church pension that was apparently meant to buy his silence.
  53. Driving Lessons
    Linney hits a single note for her uptight character, while Walters travels the scale indiscriminately. Her outsized eccentric darts from amusing to grating. Only Grint is just right, as the boy they, and the film, can't do without.
  54. Infamous
    I don't know if that makes Infamous a better movie, but it's certainly as good and a lot more fun. British actor Toby Jones is so physically right in the role, you'll think Capote is playing himself.
  55. Nearing Grace
    The performances by Smith, Brewster and veteran David Morse, as a morbidly depressed widower, elevate Nearing Grace to something near grace.
  56. The Ritchie Boys
    Still witty and eloquent, these cerebral boys became the haunted men who do their best to share their experiences with us, even as they know we'll never truly understand.
  57. Tideland
    A murky swamp of a movie, Terry Gilliam's defiantly surreal Tideland finds every good idea drowning in an excess of indulgence.
  58. Zerophilia
    Oddest-of-the-year romantic comedy.
  59. Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker
    Despite a relatively paltry $40 million budget, Stormbreaker has the sheen and special effects of a Bond movie, and the ambition as well.
  60. One Night with the King
    This preposterous adaptation of the Book of Esther is recommended viewing only for those impressed that it comes endorsed by the American Bible Society.
  61. Little Children
    Built from a perfect story-telling collaboration.
  62. The Departed
    A movie-movie of the first rank.
  63. Employee of the Month
    Ultimately, we're looking at a discount "Office Space."
  64. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
    Just another trip down a very dusty road.
  65. 49 Up
    One of the best things about Michael Apted's uniquely ambitious and continuing documentary series on the lives of a group of British schoolchildren is that you don't have to have seen the last one to enjoy the next.
  66. Black Gold
    Some documentaries are so well-made they transcend the nature of their subjects. This is not one of them.
  67. One-Third
    Nearly devoid of both dialogue and narrative cohesion, Yongman Kim's first feature - Part 1 of a planned trilogy inspired by Dante's "Inferno" - suggests that the founder of the popular downtown Kim's Video store should not give up his day job.
  68. Kettle of Fish
    Writer-director Claudia Myers' clunky debut feature makes the case that first-timers should probably focus on either writing or directing.
  69. Shortbus
    Some viewers will call the whole business pornography, though it doesn't really qualify. The sex is blunt and enthusiastic, but arousing it ain't. In fact, when Shortbus arrives on DVD, viewers may be fast-forwarding through the sex to get to the acting.
  70. Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner
    Freida Lee Mock's adulatory portrait makes for pleasant viewing - but should it?
  71. ...So Goes the Nation
    George Bush supporters may think this dissection of the President's narrow and decisive 2004 election victory in Ohio is better than sex. But Democrats and Bush voters who have come to rue the day are more likely to compare it to losing the World Series on a seventh-game walkoff home run.
  72. The Queen
    In some ways, The Queen is a comedy of manners - bad, good and archaic. The formal bowing and scraping surrounding Her Majesty is as hilarious as it is (apparently) accurate.
  73. The Guardian
    At its best when its heroes race furiously toward their missions, most of which involve jumping out of a helicopter into surging waves.
  74. Open Season
    Given that so many people have dismissed Ashton Kutcher as a superficial pretty boy, it seems a little ironic that his best work this week is two-dimensional: He makes a passable action hero in "The Guardian," but he's downright adorable in Open Season, a cheerful animated comedy built on his winningly loose voice performance.
  75. School for Scoundrels
    In the funniest and, coincidentally, most "Jackass"-like scene in Todd Phillips' School for Scoundrels, a planned game of paintball gets off to a bad start when the players begin shooting each other at point-blank range.
  76. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
    The framing sequences with Downey and the climactic scenes between father and son are a mess. Downey, at 41, is too old to be playing a character who can be no more than 31 or 32, and 50-year-old Eric Roberts is an even greater distraction as Montiel's imprisoned friend Antonio.
  77. The Last King of Scotland
    The story is fanciful, with grotesquely improbable twists involving the fictional Garrigan (James McAvoy) and one of the dictator's three wives (Kerry Washington). But as Amin, Forest Whitaker's command of the screen is so thorough, so frightening, so ripe with malice that you won't move in your seat for fear of catching his eye.
  78. All the King's Men
    Failures on the scale of writer-director Steven Zaillian's All the King's Men are as rare as falling sequoias, and they make a noise even if no one's in the woods to hear them. This sequoia is very noisy indeed.
  79. Jackass Number Two
    There's a certain morbid fascination, and perverse humor, in watching grown men enthusiastically turn themselves into human cartoons. (For better or worse, these guys are their generation's Stooges.)
  80. Fearless
    Li's performance is stronger here than it has been in previous films.
  81. Jesus Camp
    What most interests the directors is the way young minds are shaped by adults with clear moral and political agendas.
  82. The Science of Sleep
    The result is a charming, inventive, ambitious, surreal mess.
  83. Renaissance
    With its halfhearted script, stiff performances and overlong running time, this is the kind of movie that's simultaneously dazzling to look at, and increasingly tough to sit through.
  84. American Blackout
    The movie includes a postscript about her (McKinney's) loss, blaming it on more dirty tricks. That may be true, but it doesn't put the steam back in the film.
  85. Old Joy
    Features some of the year's most beautiful scenery and two of its most wooden characters.
  86. The Black Dahlia
    In writer Josh Friedman and director Brian de Palma's attempts to condense the book's convulsively odd final chapters, they've created an even loonier melodrama.
  87. Everyone's Hero
    Whoever wanders into the theater should leave a winner.
  88. Gridiron Gang
    The Rock commits himself admirably to this trite tale, but by the end, even his enormous shoulders buckle under the weight of so many clichés.
  89. The Last Kiss
    Paints itself into a corner from which it cannot escape. By the end, the movie is still in that corner, tossing out overlapping notes of hope and gloom and counting on viewers to write the ending they want. I'd leave the movie in the corner.
  90. Aurora Borealis
    The latest "Dawson's Creek" alumnus to break out of his WB bonds, Joshua Jackson proves himself all grown up in this sweetly scrappy indie.
  91. Confetti
    Like the average best-man toast, Debbie Isitt's amiable mockumentary has many funny moments, a few touching ones and some that fall just slightly flat.
  92. Haven
    Like a mango rotting in the sun, Frank Flowers' squishy Caribbean thriller has been sitting on the shelf long enough to attract suspicion. Bite into it at your own risk.
  93. The U.S. vs. John Lennon
    While there is nothing particularly new in the film, it is a stirring celebration of a man of enormous talent, humor and humanity, laid waste by an assassin in New York in 1980.
  94. Keeping Mum
    A giddy black comedy about a homicidal housekeeper in rural England, is a hilarious reminder of that 1944 Frank Capra classic about two old maids whose cellar is cluttered with the bodies of would-be suitors.
  95. Al Franken: God Spoke
    Humorist and liberal radio talk-show host Al Franken is a funny guy, and most of the people he attacks - Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney - are not. But the joke was on him when George Bush won re-election in 2004.
  96. Hollywoodland
    It's a bit of a hodgepodge - unnecessarily complicated, clumsily structured, uncertainly directed and, as a whodunit, ultimately unsatisfying.
  97. The Protector
    While the story's silly, the stunts, choreographed by Jaa and popular Thai filmmaker Panna Rittikrai, are spectacular.
  98. The Covenant
    Profoundly mediocre supernatural thriller.
  99. I Trust You to Kill Me
    More vanity project than full-fledged film, Manu Boyer's modest chronicle is best left to diehard Kiefer Sutherland fans.
  100. SherryBaby
    The movie is full of freshman mistakes, but Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in the title role is the gutsiest thing she's done since her breakout in "Secretary," and she succeeds despite serious contradictions in the writing of her character.
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