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. The Incredibles
    Clever, buoyant and surprisingly human.
  2. A Silent Love
    Strong, subtle performances elevate A Silent Love, a slow-moving drama about an unlikely love triangle from first-time director Federico Hidalgo.
  3. Farmingville
    Offers only the smallest glimmer of hope that the two sides can work things out through ingenuity and compromise.
  4. Ray
    Every once in a while, a performance pops out of a Hollywood movie that is so brilliant and unique to the matching of actor to role that it's impossible to imagine anyone else achieving it.
  5. Saw
    A gore movie with no teeth.
  6. Birth
    It's corny, plodding, implausible and - on occasion - seriously creepy. At the same time, it contains a couple of this movie year's most sublime sequences, and features one of Nicole Kidman's bravest and best performances.
  7. Enduring Love
    Movie love is usually so idealized it ennobles behavior that ordinarily would be considered stalking. Enduring Love deliberately smudges the line between what is bizarre and what is simply human nature.
  8. 800 Bullets
    Take away the violence, ribald humor and salty language, and 800 Bullets is actually a touching tale about family, love and honor.
  9. Voices of Iraq
    The latest - and really last-minute - documentary hoping to affect the presidential election is a deceptively partisan view of the Iraq War.
  10. It's All About Love
    Surely, Vinterberg was high on some inert gas when he embarked on it.
  11. Malevolence
    The acting and dialogue is as silly as the potato sack the killer wears on his head.
  12. Home of the Brave
    Does a meticulous job of summarizing these notorious events, but it is the stories of Liuzzo's five children that gives it fresh emotional power.
  13. Sideways
    The best comedy of 2004. In fact, it's so far the best movie of the year.
  14. The Grudge
    Like a good horror movie, the images, jolts and artistically directed disorientation will keep your stomach clenched...Like a bad one, it doesn't make a lick of sense.
  15. Surviving Christmas
    Ben Affleck's goose is cooked with Surviving Christmas, a movie that makes "Gigli" look like one of the crowning moments in his career.
  16. Lightning in a Bottle
    Fuqua's passion for the music comes through in the clear, unobtrusive style of the film, which mixes generous footage of the event's performances with interviews and archival footage, all adding up to a luscious historical snapshot of one America's original art forms.
  17. The Machinist
    Bale gives a near-great performance as a man with all the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and the film weaves an ingenious psychological web.
  18. Stella Street
    Some of the jokes will elude Americans while the movie's hip quotient gradually fades away.
  19. Undertow
    Undertow becomes unbearably imitative and predictable. It's a kids-in-peril B horror movie in the guise of an art film.
  20. Fish Without a Bicycle
    Jenna Mattison gives a charming performance.
  21. Happy Hour
    Unfortunately, what you'll remember most about the movie is its banal script and dialogue so ripe it almost laughs at itself.
  22. Sex Is Comedy
    A strange creature, a narcissistic mock documentary.
  23. Team America: World Police
    It turns out that puppets can tell us more about who we are as a nation than the most meticulous documentary. In Team America: World Police, the potty-mouthed, crazily brilliant musical from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the result is hilarious, shocking and bound to offend nearly everyone.
  24. Shall We Dance
    This is a "What were they thinking?"-size disaster, with the wrong actors in the wrong roles in a project that had no reason to be remade in the USA.
  25. Being Julia
    It's a virtual clip reel of grandly comic moments that remind us what a good actress can do when parts are scarce.
  26. Eulogy
    In the expanding genre of quirky comedies, first-time writer-director Michael Clancy's messy, fitfully funny Eulogy is among the quirkiest.
  27. Hair Show
    Mo'Nique, co-star of TV's "The Parkers," gives a loud, brassy performance as Peaches Whitaker.
  28. P.S.
    Its premise had me worn out by the second reel.
  29. Moolaadé
    It's a deceptively simple tale that tackles, serenely and with surprising humor, issues of gender, power, custom and change.
  30. Saints and Soldiers
    In his feature film debut, Little uses washed-out color and a you-are-there immediacy to tell a powerful wartime tale of survival, morality and honor.
  31. In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed
    Bannon's film makes good use of historical footage to show how a B-list Hollywood actor made the unlikely ascension to commander-in-chief.
  32. The Final Cut
    Can't cope with its own weirdness.
  33. The Scandal
    Through a subplot dealing with Catholic missionaries, an underlying theme of Western encroachment on ancient Korean culture permeates this lushly filmed tale.
  34. Vera Drake
    A marvel of character-driven drama that no serious filmgoer should miss.
  35. Friday Night Lights
    Rousing, action-packed.
  36. Raise Your Voice
    What is unusual and exciting about the movie is the assemblage of raw talent in the cast.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Arna's Children
    The film provides a rare glimpse into the other side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and serves as a chilling reminder that the hostilities aren't about to end anytime soon.
  38. Around the Bend
    Might as well have been titled "That Kentucky Fried Chicken Movie." That's how it will be referred to, anyway, though some people may insert an adjective such as "convoluted," "disappointing," or "anti-climactic" before the name of the fast-food franchise.
  39. Primer
    One of those purposely head-scratching films meant to be viewed more than once. The extra ticket sales should easily cover Carruth's initial $7,000 budget.
  40. Go Further
    Offbeat, engaging documentary.
  41. Stage Beauty
    It's not as clever, or as consistently funny, or as well-cast as "Shakespeare in Love," but Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty is the most fun I've had with the Bard since that 1998 Oscar winner.
  42. The Hillside Strangler
    Here's one for the Sick Voyeurs Club.
  43. Vodka Lemon
    Saleem makes clever use of imagery, with the beautiful, snow-filled vistas representing his characters' personal and social isolation. But "Vodka" moves about as fast as the distant ice caps melt.
  44. Taxi
    Bad as he is, Fallon cannot claim Taxi's worst moment. That belongs to Ann-Margret.
  45. Tarnation
    Tarnation represents a breakthrough in the possibilities of the personal film as a mix of poetry and journalism. It's also harrowing as hell.
  46. Ladder 49
    There's a lot of flashy acting going, notably by Travolta, who has not been more engaging on-screen in a decade, and by newcomer Barrett, a willowy Aussie who, as a woman living with the specter of death, gives the film's most complete performance.
  47. Shark Tale
    Not wildly imaginative, and it has a tepid mix of movie references. But the physical environment and characters make it irresistible.
  48. I Heart Huckabees
    The cinematic equivalent of the mad-scientist experiment gone awry. It seems to be grooving on its own strangeness, at the expense of its connection with a paying audience.
  49. Dig!
    A riveting rock documentary.
  50. Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry
    Does an excellent job of telling Kerry's side of it.
  51. Woman Thou Art Loosed
    If you're looking for cinema, skip this. But as a religion-based self-help workshop for victims of ­childhood abuse, it'sa deadly accurate button-pusher.
  52. Tying the Knot
    Besides the personal stories, de Sève deftly puts the issue in historical and political perspective through an overview of the evolution of marriage, plus a slew of talking heads representing both sides of the battle.
  53. Infernal Affairs
    The plot is intricate and tight. The preamble is a bit challenging to sort out. But the movie's engine is the relationships and the characters' inner lives, all of it boiling with emotional intensity.
  54. Shaun of the Dead
    Its social satire is so dead-on.
  55. First Daughter
    There are plot holes you can fly Air Force One through.
  56. The Forgotten
    The last act, when the movie falls apart like a cheap toy, is both a deus ex machina and an anticlimax.
  57. The Motorcycle Diaries
    There is no great story being told here. Mostly, it is a conventional road movie - a buddy comedy even - about the quests of two likable guys. The memoirs exist only because of Guevara's subsequent fame as a revolutionary leader in Cuba, Congo and Bolivia.
  58. The Last Shot
    But there's no affection in this mean-spirited sendup of "the business" and nothing to mitigate its sour taste.
  59. Hollywood Buddha
    This off-putting satire is a jumble of misguided ideas that gather like lint in the navel of self-obsessed director Philippe Caland.
  60. Incantato
    Neri Marcore gives a beautifully understated performance.
  61. Mind the Gap
    Everyone somehow ends up in Manhattan for a contrived and predictable conclusion. In his last film role, the late Alan King is reduced to a stereotype of a cantankerous Jewish senior.
  62. Moog
    Moog mostly has the amiable, 70-ish inventor recounting his story, from his teen years as an electronics whiz in the Bronx to his development of a smaller, cheaper synthesizer.
  63. Anatomy of Hell
    The award for hardest-to-watch movie of the year.
  64. A Dirty Shame
    All trash, all all the time, a run-on burlesque of lust.
  65. September Tapes
    The results are often exciting and, except for occa­sional overacting by Calil, feels authentic. But the whole notion of exploiting a war and its victims to shoot a commercial feature is reprehensible.
  66. The Yes Men
    A sobering documentary done in a whimsical style.
  67. The Take
    Their ultimate success is a classic victory for the little guy.
  68. Mr 3000
    Bernie Mac gives surprising wisdom and heart - along with the laughs - to what could have been just another generic baseball comedy.
  69. Wimbledon
    As a love story, Wimbledon is a washout. As a meditation on sports psychology, it might help improve your game.
  70. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
    Missing beneath its fabulous surface, however, is anything like a beating heart.
  71. Head in the Clouds
    Charlize Theron's Gilda in Head in the Clouds invites comparison to Rita Hayworth in 1946's "Gilda," which adds a touch of the ludicrous to this already strained material set in wartime France.
  72. Zelary
    Zelary succeeds as moving indictment of war.
  73. Silver City
    It comes off as a fairly straightforward assault on the kind of political corruption that has crossed party lines in movies since the dawn of the medium, and in books before that. The pleasure here is in the dialogue, the characters and the cast.
  74. Merci Docteur Rey
    With a plot laden with mistaken identities, voyeurism, marijuana-laced brownies and even a cameo by Vanessa Redgrave playing herself, "Merci" tries too hard to be madcap.
  75. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
    The love and attention Oshii poured into animating Batou's pet basset hound proves that the human instinct dominates even in a movie dependent on technology.
  76. Goodbye, Dragon Inn
    A droll gem that celebrates movie love with feeling and deadpan humor.
  77. Incident at Loch Ness
    Herzog, who deadpans his way through the high jinks, is the best thing about the movie, but even he gets wearisome before Nessie has sunk the boat.
  78. Particles of Truth
    If ever a cast of characters needed a good dose of Prozac - or maybe just a hug - it's in this downbeat, low-budget indie.
  79. National Lampoon's Gold Diggers
    It all makes Nat Lamp's recent "Van Wilder" look like an instant classic.
  80. Cellular
    As Ryan, Evans attempts to graduate from "Not Another Teen Movie"-type fare to more adult stuff. He holds his own, but he has no edge.
  81. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
    Witt, who cut his teeth as a second unit director on action thrillers "Speed," "XXX" and "The Bourne Identity," instead pours all his energy into stylized, blood-spattered fight scenes that come at a breakneck pace and should please the target audience, who grew up blasting the walking undead on Nintendos.
  82. Criminal
    The movie is fast and fun. Best of all are the actors, who likewise seem to know they've lucked into a rare good gig.
  83. Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire
    If you're in the mood for a horror movie, this ought to do you.
  84. Reconstruction
    This languorous art movie is somewhat like "Memento," with its narrative fragments and memory mixups. It never explains itself, which means that the audience, like the protagonists, must take a leap of faith.
  85. Testosterone
    Veering between black comedy and intense psychological drama, David Moreton's bizarre thriller never manages to get its bearings.
  86. When Will I Be Loved
    Toback is a smart guy with kinky tastes who has nothing left but to tempt actors into performing in his sex fantasies.
  87. Unlikely Heroes
    Some stories are more compellingly told than others, but all, like Trank's film, are deserving of attention.
  88. A Letter to True
    The resulting movie is a mixed bag, not quite a documentary and yet as "true" to Weber's fascinations as a dog named True can be to his master.
  89. Paparazzi
    Paparazzi is for anyone who's ever wondered how good it would feel to knock down a photographer with his car and then back over him.
  90. Virgin
    Shot with an annoyingly jerky hand-held camera, Virgin is a test to stick with, and despite the best efforts of Moss, it wore me out.
  91. Wicker Park
    Structure overwhelms everything, but it's not as if Wicker Park has nothing to say. It's full of ugly truths about emotional frailty, and implies that stalking is a bad thing only when you're not charming enough about it.
  92. Warriors of Heaven and Earth
    A magnificent looking and occasionally very silly Chinese Western.
  93. Persons of Interest
    In a clear case of substance over style, this stark, clumsy documentary tells the heart-breaking stories of a dozen law-abiding Muslim or Arab immigrants and visa workers.
  94. The Cookout
    There isn't a genuine laugh or a character who isn't a stereotype in The Cookout, a lifeless comedy featuring a cast of familiar faces who must have needed the paycheck.
  95. Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War
    It's hard to remain unmoved by Kang's deeply heartfelt homage to his nation's past.
  96. Remember Me, My Love
    Laura Morante gives a fiery, layered performance as the frustrated matriarch struggling to keep her clan together.
  97. Vanity Fair
    The movie crams in so many of the events and characters of Thack­eray's 900-page novel that the story often seems to be moving on fast-forward, pausing here and there to introduce a character, then skipping ahead — from London to the country to Brussels and on, eventually, to India.
  98. The Brown Bunny
    It is not the worst movie ever made, as some critics claim, but it does a passing imitation.
  99. Hero
    As gorgeous and contemplative as it is, Hero is a genre picture and needs to deliver the action goods. To that end, there are plenty of clever, lovingly choreographed sequences.
  100. Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
    It's never a good sign when the creepiest moment in a movie about monstrous 50-foot snakes is the sight of 2-inch leeches sucking on someone's back.
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