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. Dope
    The tone is fast and funny, with a modern “Risky Business” or “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” vibe, but there’s an additional layer that stems from the violence of the neighborhood.
  2. 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets
    Marc Silver’s documentary is mostly hands-off in terms of gun politics. There’s no voiceover other than the Greek chorus of talk radio, as footage from the trial is used to document the case. Mixed in are interviews with Davis’ friends and family, plus recorded phone calls from Dunn while he was awaiting a verdict.
  3. Infinitely Polar Bear
    Saldana has a harder lift, as Maggie is striving for something better yet has to often be reactive. In scenes with the adorable Wolodarsky and Aufderheide, she listens and acts intently. But there are too many times when she’s forced to just look worried. Still, Saldana, like so many things in Forbes’ likable but tricky film, does her best in a tough situation.
  4. An Open Secret
    Most of the young men interviewed by Berg will be seen, and heard, by many audiences for the first time. Their voices are hard to forget.
  5. Rubble Kings
    The era deserves far better than hipster nostalgia.
  6. The Face of an Angel
    How do you make one of the decade’s most sensational crimes boring? It’s an odd trick, but director Michael Winterbottom manages it in The Face of an Angel, a stubbornly dull retelling of the famous Italian case.
  7. Inside Out
    Inside Out is the year’s best film so far. After you see it, you’ll say that’s a no-brainer.
  8. The Stranger
    The movie touts a “Presented By” credit for modern horror maven Eli Roth, but there’s none of that director’s shock or sly subversion. Don’t bother getting to know this stranger.
  9. The Wolfpack
    There is a train-wreck quality to this film. The story is so astounding, you can’t look away. But as a documentary, there are so many questions both unasked and unanswered that it feels more like reality TV, mostly about the spectacle.
  10. The 11th Hour
    This Ill-Conceived fertility thriller is overwrought, underwritten and pure cynicism.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Madame Bovary
    Sophie Barthes directs this gloom-laden English-language version of Gustave Flaubert’s novel. The tragedy accelerates impressively, but the well-acted film doesn’t leave us wiser about the enigmatic, ever-doomed figure at the center of things.
  12. Set Fire to the Stars
    High art swings sort of low in this watchable but thematically repetitive drama.
  13. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
    The charming, soulful Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a movie that loves movies — which is great, because you’ll love this one.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jurassic World
    For much of its running time, Jurassic World plays like a great theme park ride. In an age of blockbusters that lumber like herbivores, it’s refreshing to see a movie as lean and mean as a velociraptor.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Freedom
    It’s a restrained performance, but director Peter Cousens should have unleashed some of the “Jerry Maguire” Oscar-winner’s energy for this solemn tale.
  16. Love & Mercy
    To capture the artistic process in this way is extraordinary, and in many ways unprecedented. The scenes are not shot in documentary style, but flow with bits of inspiration, conflict and nuance. We see and listen to some of the era’s greatest songs being made.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hungry Hearts
    As the couple’s life becomes more and more insular, Costanzio subtly builds the drama into suspense that’s utterly natural and smart.
  18. Spy
    The moments when Spy falls apart are when the film fancies itself the real thing. The times when it works are due to its leading lady.
  19. Insidious: Chapter 3
    You jump out of your skin the first few times the skeleton pops out at you. By the end of the ride, you’ve gotten a good look and it’s not so much scary as hokey.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Unfreedom
    Director Raj Amit Kumar's bold but ultimately muddled attempt to address extremism and intolerance.
  21. Barely Lethal
    This mashup of a teenage assassin lark and high school misfit comedy misses the chance to add a supercool heroine to pop culture.
  22. Every Last Child
    Mostly, though, there’s hopefulness here, and determination to win a fight worth fighting.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Dawn Patrol
    Dawn Patrol has a lot on its plate and manages to drop it all. The movie deals with themes of xenophobia, murder, revenge and forgiveness, and not one aspect is handled with anything approaching competence. What a dud.
  24. Entourage
    Entourage plays like a solid, if slightly too long, episode. But even given the bloat, the cast’s easy camaraderie and a “play it as it lays” atmosphere wins you over.
  25. Heaven Knows What
    There’s never a false moment.
  26. San Andreas
    San Andreas is a disaster — literally. That’s not to take a piece out of Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson. His charm and family-man-style fearlessness as the movie’s star is the only saving grace in this thuddingly repetitive, badly written crash-a-thon.
  27. Aloha
    Aloha isn’t horrible, but it does have a pitiable odor about it, like a dog that’s sat too long on the beach. Crowe aspires to Golden Age of Hollywood repartee, but something feels off, just as it did in “Elizabethtown” (2005) and “We Bought a Zoo” (2011). Everyone just seems to be trying too hard.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Club Life
    Club Life is a flat, disjointed drama that’s buoyed by a couple of good performances. Your mileage may vary depending on your interest in dance montages.
  29. Gemma Bovery
    The emotions are florid and the entanglements heated. But the film become preoccupied with, as Flaubert would say, the pettiness and mediocrity of daily life. Arterton, though, is plushly magnetic. She draws us in despite the overly lyrical atmosphere.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    I Believe in Unicorns
    It’s easy to roll your eyes at this slapdash film-school reject — though director Leah Meyerhoff can be forgiven a bit. She’s still in film school.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Poltergeist
    It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but Poltergeist is a solid, surprisingly effective chiller.
  32. Sunshine Superman
    An informative, if not engrossing, history of a sport.
    • 5 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence)
    Neither Scary nor eye-rollingly fun, The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) is the dullest entry in an atrocious trilogy.
  34. When Marnie Was There
    Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi did a wonderful job adapting “The Borrowers” into “The Secret World of Arriety.” But this slow-moving film, also from a book, tends to plod rather than float.
  35. Aloft
    Deep — deep! — in this impenetrable block of ice is an actual, OK story. But the patience it takes to get to it? The return on investment just isn’t there.
  36. Tomorrowland
    This fantasy adventure lacks focus when it should be laser-sharp, and stumbles when it could soar.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In the Name of My Daughter
    Best of all is Deneuve, who brilliantly justifies her position as French cinema's First Lady.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pitch Perfect 2
    Pitch Perfect 2 follows the same template as part one, but it’s unmemorable.
  39. Every Secret Thing
    Diane Lane has about 15 minutes of underwritten screen time as Helen, Alice’s tart, art-teacher mother. A wooden Elizabeth Banks is the detective who cracked the original case and now heads up the new one. She thought she could handle it. She can’t.
  40. Slow West
    Slow West isn’t a grand epic of that genre. It’s more like “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Dead Man” or the recent “The Homesman,” using familiar signposts to tell a simple, compelling, terrific story.
  41. Good Kill
    Because it's so rooted in real life, the drama Good Kill is even more terrifying than “The Purge,” Ethan Hawke’s horror film from two years ago.
  42. The Seven Five
    Director Tiller Russell sometimes get sidetracked — a dangerous thing in a story that already has a lot of twists, turns and off-ramps. But it’s a story you have to hear, from the guys who lived it and may never live it down.
  43. Maggie
    Its creepy atmosphere aside, Maggie is a slog of the living dead.
  44. Playing It Cool
    Screenwriters Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair’s script feels like a first draft that was written in one night as they got pumped up on Red Bull and speed-watched Netflix. Guys: Another few polishes could only have helped.
  45. Saint Laurent
    Fashion junkies and junkie junkies are the only audiences likely to enjoy Saint Laurent.
  46. The D Train
    In this dramatically disappointing comedy, Dan (Jack Black) is a loser. And not a lovable one, either.
  47. I'll See You in My Dreams
    The movie is by turns a romance, a chick flick, a coming-of-age film and even a stoner movie. There’s something for everyone, with the possible exception of cretins who don’t appreciate great writing, casting, directing and especially acting.
  48. Mad Max: Fury Road
    Strap in, load up and hang on because Mad Max: Fury Road is a freaky, ballsy, phenomenal ride.
  49. Piku
    While the movie has far more toilet humor than you might expect, the locations and overall sweetness of the performances make Piku a good winding-road pick.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Bravetown
    This isn’t Bravetown. It’s Crazytown.
  51. Hot Pursuit
    Hot Pursuit gets cold quickly. That’s certainly not the fault of stars Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara, who work to keep this blessedly brief action-comedy shaking and cruising to an unthrilling end. The blame lies with a dopey script, director Anne Fletcher and a lazy Hollywood assumption that female buddy flicks should be as half-assed as their male counterparts.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Director Thomas Vinterberg’s romantic rollercoaster honors Hardy’s rustic vibe. Remarkably, too, he’s made a thoroughly modern film anyone can relate to — it’s like a “what a woman wants” discussion set in Victorian times. It’s also an instant classic.
  53. Welcome to Me
    Kristen Wiig is scary. That’s a good thing. It’s part of her appeal as a comedian, and crucial in the funny-weird comedy-drama Welcome to Me, which uses the working-without-a-net aspect of Wiig’s humor to unsettling effect.
  54. Gerontophilia
    Comely Lajoie plays the part of catnip admirably, with bing cherry eyes and a Quebec accent. And as Mr. Peabody, Walter Borden gives better than the stock flamboyant roué that the role deserves.
  55. The Water Diviner
    Despite the incongruous romance and abrupt action beats, Crowe gives a likable, sympathetic performance. But it all starts to dry up before our eyes. Emotions feel false or melodramatic, flashbacks are drawn out and coincidences and connections are forced.
  56. Avengers: Age of Ultron
    Avengers: Age of Ultron is a kinetic, wicked mix of muscle and magic. Look no further if you want a world of superpowered freaks and geeks. But be aware: It comes at a cost. Vaporized in the parade of action and characters is the wonder and simplicity of its first, superior entry.
  57. The Age of Adaline
    Plausibility, shmausibility. This is pretty schmaltz done right.
  58. Misery Loves Comedy
    Explaining humor is usually like boiling water — it evaporates. But the funny folks in actor Kevin Pollak’s well-structured doc can actually break down what they do.
  59. The Forger
    Travolta’s face looks immobile, while Plummer and Jennifer Ehle, as Cutter’s estranged, strung-out wife, look out of place. Sheridan (“The Tree of Life”), though, does seems comfortable in a movie where the colors blur sloppily.
  60. Little Boy
    Somewhere amid the storytelling rubble in Little Boy there’s a decent message against racial prejudice. But it’s suffocated beneath a hokey premise and hopelessly square execution.
  61. Adult Beginners
    The not-funny-enough dialogue can’t mask writer Kroll’s unoriginal plot.
  62. Just Before I Go
    The former “Friends” star clearly wanted something special, but sadly the result is ... this.
  63. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
    James' everyman appeal is stretched to the limits here, like that polyester shirt he wears.
  64. The Dead Lands
    National Geographic meets the WWE in this brutal, brawling revenge tale set in pre-Colonial New Zealand, mixing insight into indigenous Maori culture with barked dialogue and vicious arterial sprays, making for a simple but exciting adventure.
  65. Félix And Meira
    Felix and Meira is tender and sad, and wonderfully shot in snowy Quebec, but ultimately fails to connect. It’s such a gentle whisper of a film, it’s hard to hear what it wants to say.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Road Within
    They don’t come more clichéd than this indie road movie about three runaways who bond as they drive. But riveting, full-blooded performances from the young leads and a tough-love ending raise it above what you may expect.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Unfriended
    Unfortunately, the engine underneath that gloss is woefully familiar, offering the same jump scares we’ve seen a thousand times before.
  68. Child 44
    The mystery at the heart of the film is a riddle wrapped in an enigma covered in dullness.
  69. Monkey Kingdom
    If you don’t love monkeys already — and really, we all should — then Monkey Kingdom will swing you in the right direction.
  70. True Story
    True Story is a prisoner of its own dull storytelling.
  71. Beyond the Reach
    This film, though, lacks any spine. Director Jean-Baptiste Leonetti isn’t sure if he’s making a Hemingway-lite faceoff or a hemmed-in horror flick.
  72. Lost River
    "Mad Men" co-star Hendricks’ radiant beauty works in striking contrast to the near-apocalyptic surroundings. Even though this movie is unusual, Hendricks emanates classic Hollywood movie-star appeal.
  73. Kill Me Three Times
    This Australian movie reminds you what can happen when directors pretend to be Quentin Tarantino, complete with snark masquerading as style, slippery timelines, blood and guts and guns everywhere.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Desert Dancer
    Desert Dancer is a conventional protest drama, but it offers many magic moments — especially when co-stars Freida Pinto and Reece Ritchie perform sinuous routines. Or simply gaze into each other’s eyes.
  75. Ex Machina
    This exquisitely acted, genuinely creepy minimalist drama does spin its wheels a bit before a cool conclusion. But the movie has a spark of creativity not seen in “Chappie” or “Eva,” two of the recent robots-among-us flicks.
  76. About Elly (2009)
    About Elly is remarkable for both its universal observations about human nature and its specifics.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dior and I
    Made in the spirit of similar docs, such as “Valentino: The Last Emperor” and “The September Issue,” this film contains intimate moments and scenes of high pressure. The emotional highs and lows make the designer’s success seem satisfyingly hard-won.
  78. Clouds of Sils Maria
    This is the film that fulfills whatever promise Kristen Stewart has shown for more than a decade.
  79. The Longest Ride
    If this is your particular poison, it won’t kill you. But anyone averse to Sparks’ sappy touch may get sick from all the bull.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    5 to 7
    Nostalgia only works if the audience buys into the act. As a writer-producer for “Mad Men,” Levin should know this.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lambert & Stamp
    Many great docs have been made about The Who (including the ecstatic “The Kids Are All Right”), but Lambert & Stamp gets closest to the band’s fragility and unlikely story. It captures the real-life mania that surrounded a group whose music came to embody it.
  82. Ned Rifle
    Just when it seemed Hal Hartley was going to be forgotten, along comes the Long Island-based auteur’s terrific new feature. It’s a follow-up to his opus “Henry Fool.”
  83. Cheatin'
    Still, with a story this weak, arguing that the illustrations look cool feels like a cheat.
  84. The Barber
    What remains rote is how easily the fiend’s victims fall for his tricks. It’s almost as if they’ve seen too many movies like The Barber, and shaved away all common sense.
  85. Serena
    The atmosphere surrounding them both is enveloping. While the story falls a bit into melodrama, that can’t chop away at the solid drama the stars and director build beautifully.
  86. While We're Young
    Noah Baumbach’s sensational satirical drama While We’re Young is, finally, a movie for grownups to run out and see.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Furious 7
    Furious 7 never even pretends to be a stand-alone movie. This is a fan event through and through, filled with references, inside jokes and a loyalty to continuity that may baffle newcomers.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Riot Club
    Don’t bother with The Riot Club unless you enjoy watching filthy rich young Englishmen conduct an orgy of violence while vilifying the poor.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Growing Up and Other Lies
    Only Adam Brody is compelling here.
  90. Cupcakes
    If this Semitic “Strictly Ballroom” and its campy, colorful characters (including a hummus baron!) don’t win you over, you may want to check your pulse.
  91. Get Hard
    Get Hard isn’t edgy enough to be offensive or witty enough to be challenging. It’s just dumb.
  92. Home
    Jim Parsons is the sole bright spot in the cast as the alien hero, giving him the same halting confusion as he gives Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory.”
  93. Backcountry
    Just when you thought it was safe to stand up to a bear in the woods, this jarring indie horror drama will make you scurry back indoors.
  94. Jauja
    There’s a line between artfully contemplative and just plain boring. This film eventually crosses it into Snoozeville.
  95. Tracers
    True, the energy level is high, and there are some pretty faces and toned bodies. But Tracers cannot live by pecs appeal alone. And pretty soon, Lautner won’t be able to, either.
  96. Accidental Love
    The movie is played fast but lacks wit. The script, written by Kristin Gore — daughter of Al, and author of the book on which it’s based — mistakes frantic for funny.
  97. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
    There’s some cross-cultural deadpan comedy, but unfortunately, the main character is too removed from reality to be truly sympathetic. The specifics of this movie are engaging, but the big picture stays buried.
  98. Danny Collins
    Leave it to Al Pacino to find the good in the mediocre.
  99. She's Lost Control
    There’s a lot left unsaid in director Anja Marquardt’s chilly yet intimate and thought-provoking indie drama. But what should be said loud and clear is that actress Brooke Bloom is riveting. Emanating everyday grace and real depth, she plays a sex surrogate handling several needy and emotionally wounded clients.
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