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. Welcome to the Punch
    Unfortunately, the rest of writer-director Eran Creevy’s film just shows that the Brits, too, make good-looking but empty thrillers, just like in Hollywood.
  2. Jamie Marks Is Dead
    Writer-director Carter Smith got his start as a successful fashion photographer. But you wouldn’t know it from the murky look of this generic thriller.
  3. An Unfinished Life
    It's no great thing, but in their (Weinstein brothers') heyday as Oscar campaigners, they could have made Redford a contender.
  4. Blood Done Sign My Name
    Though it can't quite transcend its filmmaker's earnest intentions, this solemn history lesson offers several powerful moments.
  5. 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.
  6. The Children of Huang Shi
    Never achieves the David Lean style of epic it aims for - exterior vistas and interior dramas - but it has two charismatic performances, beautiful Chinese locations and an admirable lack of sentimentality.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Family That Preys
    Perry's notoriously overstuffed plots have sometimes been top-heavy, but this movie, like Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters," hangs on an elegant structure that doesn't feel forced.
  8. Stagedoor
    The problem is, Shiva found so many inspirational moments that she wasn't able to edit them into proper focus. As a result, the movie jumps from scene to scene, too scattered to make a strong connection with anything, or anyone, in particular.
  9. Azumi
    It's a bad idea to get too fond of any character, no matter how worthy he (or she) may appear.
  10. 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.
  11. Lola Versus
    Don't be fooled by the indie trappings: despite its downtown vibe, Lola Versus is as clichéd as any Hollywood rom-com.
  12. The Promise
    The awkward love triangle feels forced and unnecessary and distracts from and dilutes the power of the historic drama.
  13. Me, Myself & Irene
    Carrey's performance is a tour de force of physical mime.
  14. Zhou Yu de huo che
    A ticket to this movie is a season's pass on that train - and you must complete every ride.
  15. The Thorn in the Heart
    The connection they share is clear; the reason we're invited to sit in is foggy at best.
  16. Thérèse
    Audrey Tautou trades in Amelie’s wide-eyed sprite look for le sourpuss in this sober yet fascinating take on aristocratic social mores between the wars.
  17. Despicable Me 3
    The film has to rush at the end, to wrap up all these different stories, and it still leaves one of them open-ended. It’s possible that they ran out of time. But it’s more likely that another sequel is already planned.
  18. Nomad
    Though it has a familiar inevitability, the journey is generally compelling, thanks to fierce battles, a gorgeous landscape and heartfelt performances.
  19. Nine
    The magic simply isn't there.
  20. 30 Minutes or Less
    A darkly comic underachiever that manages to charm almost in spite of itself, Ruben Fleischer's 30 Minutes or Less is probably best watched as it was made: without much evident effort. In other words, wait until it hits DVD, order a pizza and Netflix it.
  21. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
    True, the movie's intense, and Jovovich is certainly in fighting shape. But after 15 years of this franchise, it's getting hard to tell Alice from the things she's fighting. It's all squint and grunt, slash and groan.
  22. Soul Men
    The script is basically a retread of every other AARP comedy, from "Grumpy Old Men" to "Wild Hogs." The laughs, in other words, are of the Viagra and kidney stone variety.
  23. Silent House
    The tricky camera moves that fill up Silent House make for one-half of a nerveracking horror film – before the movie's obviousness just gets on your nerves.
  24. Hart's War
    Hart's War has its priorities clear, but delivers them with insulting simplicity.
  25. K-PAX
    Not worth the rocket fuel.
  26. The Price of Milk
    A modern-day fable about love and commitment — it's different.
    • New York Daily News
  27. The Emperor's Club
    The ethical issues driving Michael Hoffman's The Emperor's Club almost outweigh the improbable arc of its story, and Kevin Kline's endearing performance as a prep school classics teacher is almost worth the price of admission.
  28. Jeepers Creepers
    Horror fans will still find it worthwhile. The ending is also a nice twist on the slasher genre.
  29. Dr. Dolittle 2
    Pure situation comedy, and it's still fresh enough to provoke laughs.
  30. Dark Matter
    Director Chen Shi-Zheng's film has a graceful energy, and three strong performances help make this serene drama - and its shocking conclusion - quietly moving.
  31. The Mechanic
    The only bit of machinery that makes the film move is Jason Statham, who's provided the steely saving grace in so many modern action movies.
  32. The Over the Hill Band
    Calculated Belgian crowd-pleaser.
  33. Protektor
    Though it remains a little too enigmatic, Marek Najbrt's Holocaust drama is atmospheric enough to keep us edgy on its heroine's behalf.
  34. Gold
    Turning McConaughey into a wreck through makeup and lighting is not an adequate substitute for character development. But it underscores something that the film gets right — the fact that underneath many pretty surfaces is ugliness.
  35. Son of a Gun
    Without Ewan McGregor in the lead, this flashy but aggressively superficial Aussie thriller would likely disappear without a trace.
  36. Griff the Invisible
    There have been so many movies about aspiring superheroes in recent years, they practically constitute their own genre. Though hardly ground-breaking, this whimsical Australian entry is just endearing enough to stand out from the pack.
  37. Rio 2
    Most impressive: the striking vibrancy of the animation. This is the rare movie that earns the extra cost of 3-D glasses.
  38. Live by Night
    Although Affleck's been a decent director - capturing real local color in "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town," building tension nicely in "Argo" - his work here is dim and dull. Live by Night may be about rum, but the pacing is like molasses.
  39. Scary Movie 3
    The jokes come in endless flurries, and if they're working - even at a ratio of 1 in 4 - you're laughing more than you're not. The Zucker-Proft team simply has a higher batting average than the Wayans.
  40. Oldboy
    Leave it to Spike Lee to deliver one of the strangest, most off-putting movies for the Thanksgiving holiday.
  41. Inkheart
    A kids' adventure movie can be a lot of things -- wild and woolly, loosey-goosey, full of foolishness -- but they should never be shabby. And that's the best word for Inkheart.
  42. Pitch Black
    It has a distinctive look but a few too many recycled ideas; better luck on the next crash-landing.
  43. Romance
    No other mainstream movie has so openly tackled the subject of female sexual experience.
  44. Scotland, Pa.
    As Shakespeare adaptations go, Scotland, PA. is just a McNugget, but the actors help sustain the satiric tone right up until McBeth's lady finally gets that stain out the old-fashioned way, with a cleaver.
    • New York Daily News
  45. Down and Out with the Dolls
    A great idea that never gets off the ground.
  46. Rosenstrasse
    Director Margarethe von Trotta nearly buries the drama of the protest itself within the awkwardly sentimental framework of a contemporary New Yorker's quest to learn the truth of her widowed German mother's grief and history. But while the film concentrates on Lena, eloquently portrayed by Katja Riemann, the movie earns your empathy.
  47. Return to Never Land
    You may want to wait and watch "Never Land" the way it was meant to be seen -- as a straight-to-video baby-sitter.
    • New York Daily News
  48. Cake
    Aniston is fine, and sometimes good even, in director Daniel Barnz’s maudlin and overly obvious drama. She has layered moments of sympathy as a woman afflicted with chronic pain. And unlike in the bad rom-coms she does too often, Aniston absolutely shows some serious chops.
  49. Angel-A
    The beautiful black-and-white photography - and disappointingly sappy ending - are the only remotely sober elements here, thanks to Besson's loopy script and Debbouze's very funny turn as a loser who simply can't believe his luck.
  50. Run, Fatboy, Run
    Every ounce of comedy is so forced and full-on ridiculous that when characters express even a smidgen of sentiment, it feels like a parody. That's because nothing in "Fatboy" feels real.
  51. Scoop
    To see Allen, now 70, trying to reclaim the persona he's been handing off is like watching Willie Mays fall down trying to hit a slow curve during his last season. Woody may go on to direct many great films, but it's time for him to retire Alvy Singer.
  52. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
    Sure, Bay indulges some signature cinematic fetishes. But he shows restraint with the slowed-down, sexed-up shots. War is gritty here, not glamorous. Result: characters, stakes and emotions feel authentic — all the more so thanks to terrific actors including James Badge Dale and Pablo Schreiber as actual ex-military men and family men who battled terrorists.
  53. The Judge
    Speaking of committed: Duvall, at age 83, nearly steals the show. Always the most inscrutable of the great ’70s actors, Duvall uses his great, unassuming American face to convey pride, confusion, pain and compassion — sometimes all at once.
  54. A Touch of Spice
    Don't expect to taste anything surprising.
  55. A Lot Like Love
    In A Lot Like Love, there is no doubt - nor suspense, nor depth.
  56. Secuestro express
    Jakubowicz successfully portrays a country corrupted beyond repair by financial inequality. But the sadism that drives the story is so gleefully nasty, it overshadows any rational arguments he's trying to make.
  57. Titan A.E.
    The real star of the movie is the background work.
  58. The Banger Sisters
    Forget the awful trailer that makes the movie look like chalk screeching on a blackboard. The Banger Sisters is sheer fun, and a great showcase for Hawn.
  59. Charlotte Gray
    The setting and circumstances of the war overwhelm the personal story and diminish the dilemma of the title character's love life.
  60. Scarlet Diva
    Italian actress, writer and director Asia Argento's performance in the godawful Scarlet Diva is one of those bawl, spit, scream and vomit exhibitions that provoke admiring applause in acting classes and great gales of laughter in theaters.
  61. Remember the Titans
    History as filtered through the faux-liberal prism of Hollywood's dream factory, and an insult, I believe, to the people who actually carried the fight and endured the pain for civil rights.
  62. Kingdom Come
    The cartoonish characters and outsize performances don't make a smooth transition from stage to screen.
  63. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
    This heavenly sequel, again directed by "McG" (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol), is infused with an irresistibly joyous spirit that simply cannot be faked.
  64. Brothers in Arms
    Clearly meant as an endorsement of the Democratic presidential nominee's character.
  65. We the Party
    It's a shame, though, that the movie also features stereotyped or retrograde attitudes towards Jewish, gay, and female characters. Perhaps Van Peebles' kids could school their dad on the virtues of across-the-board respect.
  66. Decoding Deepak
    Like its subject, the movie is not as calculating as it seems.
  67. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
    The result ends up like an "SNL" skit: knowingly over-the-top but still fun.
  68. Death Defying Acts
    Though all the elements are in place, there's not much magic to be found in Death Defying Acts, an intermittently entertaining but surprisingly modest romance from Gillian Armstrong.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    October Gale
    This dramatic thriller is a ball of confusion, but with barely any bounce. The one reason to see it: Patricia Clarkson’s subtle star turn.
  70. Bartleby
    Does little more than re-create the oppressive feeling of suffocating employment. And why put yourself through that experience without the promise of a paycheck at the other end?
  71. My First Mister
    Drifts from goofy situation comedy to pop culture parody to a last-act load of sentiment that would sink a trash barge.
  72. Brother Bear
    Though Brother Bear is as beautiful as any of Disney's hand-drawn features, the gang-written script is deadly flat.
  73. Bush's Brain
    The movie feels like a rush job and at times its tactics are as suspect as those attributed to its subject. But when it comes to political strategy trumping policy in the Bush White House, it makes its case.
  74. Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
    A lot of gleeful audience members are interviewed in Glee: The 3-D Concert Experience, though the source of their happiness could be a lot of things.
  75. Saw III
    Just like its increasingly wan antihero, this blood-soaked series is on its last legs.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Ted 2
    Ted 2 is the equivalent of a middle school bully. It's not as funny as it thinks it is. Its penchant for casual cruelty masks a hollow soul. And it will be totally forgotten once we move onto bigger and better things.
  77. The Theory of Flight
    Theory of Flight follows the standard inspirational formula. [23 Dec. 1998, p.43]
    • New York Daily News
  78. Divergent
    Too bad this would-be heir, Divergent, is so unimaginative and bland.
  79. The Greatest Showman
    Alas, a winning lead performance isn’t enough when it is at the center of a flawed movie. The Greatest Showman can only hoodwink for so long before the tent collapses. This is an enjoyable film, but its rags-to-riches tale in a sanitized 19th century is extremely by-the-numbers.
  80. And While We Were Here
    Though the film plays like late-era Woody Allen — not necessarily a good thing — and Goldberg’s rambunctiousness is more annoying than liberating, there’s a serious depth of feeling here. Bosworth, thankfully, is attuned to that, and makes the most of it.
  81. Last Vegas
    Though coming off at times like Adam Sandler’s “Grown-ups,” only with Oscar winners, Last Vegas is a genial little comedy for the crowd it’s intended for.
  82. Trudell
    Rae does offer a riveting introduction to the American Indian civil rights movement.
  83. HairBrained
    Early potential fizzles away too quickly in this underachieving buddy comedy, which just barely skids along on the charm of its co-stars.
  84. The Bang Bang Club
    The story has heat, even if the movie is more entranced with its subjects than in what they're trying to achieve.
  85. Spanglish
    An unusually shallow and facile work for Brooks, but the writing and the performances - other than Leoni's - keep us at least halfway involved.
    • New York Daily News
  86. My Amityville Horror
    Lutz, who was a boy when his family fled the Long Island home, is full of belligerence in this chronicle of his family’s alleged run-in with a ghoulish home where a murder had occurred.
  87. Lucky Break
    Without the surprise, realism, audacity and upstart cheekiness -- pun intended -- that made "The Full Monty's" blue-collar strippers so irresistible.
    • New York Daily News
  88. Taxman
    Brutal but somewhat endearing.
  89. Tears of the Sun
    A preposterous action movie in which a Navy SEAL makes the world safe for democracy one continent at a time.
  90. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
    All the magic at the disposal of today's filmmakers cannot bring to life this unappealing animated children's movie.
  91. The Young Girl and the Monsoon
    A fine example of how a character-based story can be so compelling you don't miss the frills.
  92. Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times
    With Chomsky as its star, this documentary cannot go far wrong, even though filmmaker John Junkerman intersperses Chomsky footage with some really bad Japanese pop music.
  93. 50 First Dates
    A terrible movie by all reasonable standards -- yet it leaves a sweet taste.
  94. 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.
  95. Ju-on: The Grudge
    Its shapelessness and the cultural differences in acting style will keep this version filed under "cult oddity."
  96. Every Day
    There are too many overwritten moments designed solely to make the movie more interesting -- when, in fact, they undercut the low-key relatability that serves as its strongest asset.
  97. The Counselor
    Ultimately, this dull tour of a thieving, primal underworld is just a lot of high-talking hogwash.
  98. Song One
    For her debut drama, Song One, filmmaker Kate Barker-Froyland snares Anne Hathaway. It’s a stroke of luck. Hathaway’s doe-eyed sincerity provides just enough weight to keep this sweet but slight romance from floating away.
  99. The Hawk Is Dying
    Goldberger's stubbornly insular script - adapted from a novel by Harry Crews - might have fared better on stage, where the story would feel more contained than suffocating. But by the time you crawl across this finish line, you'll know just how those sluggish the birdsfeel.
  100. Red Hook Summer
    We have little to hang onto once the film falls apart. Between the ongoing sermonizing and that final, sharp shock - which is gravely mishandled - we feel cowed into submission, rather than led towards enlightenment.
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