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. Dust
    Three movies in one: a spaghetti Western, an urban drama and a historical epic. All of them suffer from self-indulgent direction, a convoluted script and awkward acting.
  2. The Battle of Shaker Heights
    Surprisingly sweet and smart... LaBeouf does an excellent job, and the talented Beeney is one to watch.
  3. Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator
    Stoked supplies a unique perspective on the hazards of rock-star fame that went with the sport's explosion for a band of rebels who didn't see it coming -- or going.
  4. The Medallion
    Evans fumbles through painfully extended homophobic jokes, weak double entendres and agonizingly contorted double-takes.
  5. Thirteen
    One of the most honest and harrowing depictions of female adolescence ever put to film.
  6. Freddy vs. Jason
    Though a stickler might ask what's at stake in a fight to the death between two guys who are already dead, the hard-core fans aren't likely to be disappointed.
  7. Uptown Girls
    Frankly, you may prefer the company of cinematic serial killers (Freddy vs. Jason) after you meet the pair at the center of this story.
  8. American Splendor
    As inventive as "Being John Malkovich," as psychologically quirky as "Ghost World" and as honest as the day is long.
  9. Open Range
    A flawed but highly entertaining B Western blown up to John Ford scale.
  10. Grind
    Here's what's missing from Casey La Scala's film: Likable characters, a comprehensible script and any semblance of a good time.
  11. OT: Our Town
    Surely no other has done it quite like this group.
  12. Shaolin Soccer
    Proving there's always a new way to tell an old story, Stephen Chow pulls out all the stops for one of the silliest, sweetest and most fun family films in recent memory.
  13. Step Into Liquid
    What has changed most dramatically over the years is the camera's ability to shoot as if it were stationed on the wall of those rolling pipelines. For some, this is the next best thing to being there.
  14. Le divorce
    The French may be guilty of some bad behavior, but that's no reason to punish them with the shapeless, deceptively crass Le Divorce, a Merchant-Ivory production in which all things Gallic are reduced to quirks of snobbery, misogyny and haute selfishness.
  15. S.W.A.T.
    The standout in the cast is James Todd Smith, whose acting talent may soon persuade him to shed his adolescent stage name of LL Cool J and concentrate on mainstream film roles.
  16. Freaky Friday
    An unexpected delight.
  17. Zero Day
    A speculative re-enactment of the 1999 Columbine slaughter, told from the point of view of two suburban high school nihilists as they videotape themselves preparing for the last and "best day" of their lives.
  18. The Magdalene Sisters
    The whole system was sadistic and indefensible, and the church, looking the other way as long as profits rolled in from the laundries, deserves the scorn that Mullan and his fine cast heap on it.
  19. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...
    The tone moves from gently jocular (Irons appears in drag) to mystically morose (a female shaman tries to ululate up a cure), and that creates a jarring effect from which the movie does not recover.
  20. The Secret Lives of Dentists
    Ultimately, it's a compassionate view of marriage and its stressors. But the filmmaker and actors do their jobs only too well. Watching "Secret Lives" can be as uncomfortable as sitting in the dentist's chair.
  21. American Wedding
    There are a couple of surprises in the I-can't-believe-they're-doing-this vein, but mostly, "Pie 3" is an aimless charade of doggy poo, latex breasts and really, really bad language.
  22. Gigli
    Gigli is a disaster.
  23. Buffalo Soldiers
    Though the film, adapted from a novel by Robert O'Connor, is obviously trying to reference "Catch-22," it is far too dark and violent to be funny.
  24. Bugs!
    Here's one movie you'll want to see with an audience of squealing, excited, terrified kids, their arms extended greedily to grab, squish or ward off all things exoskeletal and beady-eyed. It's gross, but in the nicest way (meaning no roaches).
  25. Hotel
    Much talking, much sex, much to-do about nothing.
  26. Mondays in the Sun
    Though buoyed by excellent, unflinching performances, this melancholy drama reflects the dismally monotonous lives of its subjects just a little too well.
  27. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
    Stay through to the end credits, where the two child protagonists (Sabara and Vega) are shown as they were then and as they are now. Rodriguez's best achievement is in spotting the innate talent that would shine through in those two kids.
  28. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
    Competent in the extreme, the talented Jolie would make a great Jane Bond. But mired in this joyless orgy of preposterousness, her biggest challenge is simply keeping a straight face.
  29. Seabiscuit
    This rousing story of the comeback colt comes close to a modern-day Frank Capra film without the pandering or mawkishness. Yes, it's a bit hokey, but if you fight the movie's gait you'll miss the excitement of the race.
  30. Lucía, Lucía
    The attempt to make this intimate movie more exciting is misguided; we can find plenty of manufactured thrills at the multiplex. What's wrong with a little quiet, old-fashioned charm?
  31. Camp
    There's humor and expected back-story pathos.
  32. Dirty Pretty Things
    Frears story's grotesque subject offers an opportunity for a sick audience payoff that is more "Death Wish" than social commentary, and he takes it. It works -- you'll laugh! you'll gulp! -- but it's cheap.
  33. Garage Days
    Proyas creates an engaging, high-octane energy, boosted by an up-for-anything cast.
  34. The Embalmer
    At moments, the story skirts uncomfortably close to the grotesque. But this atmospheric oddity delivers a surprisingly sensitive take on the overwhelming ache of loneliness.
  35. How to Deal
    Unlike pop rival Britney Spears, Moore does project star quality on the screen, but she gives Halley an edge of nastiness that makes her harder to empathize with than she should be.
  36. Bad Boys II
    If you think you're tough enough, go ahead and sit through the endurance test that is Bad Boys 2, a brutal, 2 1/2-hour display of production overkill.
  37. The Sea Is Watching
    There's plenty to appreciate here but the story is tedious and some of the overacting runs into cultural translation problems.
  38. September 11
    Some segments are anti-American, but to concentrate on that is to miss the variety, depth of opinion, and fierceness of the emotions that drive each director.
  39. Johnny English
    There weren't enough good laughs for me to recommend it to anyone other than the most devoted Beanheads.
  40. Km. 0 - Kilometer Zero
    A light-footed comedy that suggests that for even the most desperate, love is just around the corner.
  41. The Cuckoo
    By the time you've worked through the allegorical implications, you may be wondering why you didn't just go see "Charlie's Angels."
  42. The Holy Land
    Masterly coming-of-age drama.
  43. I Capture the Castle
    A Jane Austen-like tale of sense and sensibility, with some of the wit, but, alas, none of the linguistic legerdemain.
  44. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
    Having these characters interact is both the joke and raison d'etre of "League." Its story is beyond banal.
  45. A Housekeeper
    No one makes something out of nothing like the French, and in this wispy tale about a jilted middle-age man and the very young housekeeper who briefly lights up his life, writer-director Claude Berri's got plenty of nothing.
  46. Northfork
    An improvement over "Jackpot," but not much. The best thing about it is Nolte, playing the grizzled priest as an angel in his own right. Everyone else- - save the young boy playing the orphan -- seems to be in on a joke we just don't get.
  47. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
    Letting any other actor run wild like this could have been a disaster, but Depp's peculiar buccaneer is an instant classic of actorly charisma.
  48. Madame Satã
    The movie covers only the early years of his (Joao Francisco dos Santos) rise to fame and apparently enduring legend, but the camera never pulls back to provide a social or historical context.
  49. Confusion of Genders
    Despite a plethora of "naughty bits," it's a yawn.
  50. Gasoline
    Stambrini puts so much weight on shock value, she overlooks the matter of emotional resonance.
  51. 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.
  52. Swimming Pool
    Whether the movie leaves you confused or angry, you will be stimulated to long discussion afterward. How often does that happen these days?
  53. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
    Director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld ("Kissing Jessica Stein") misses several opportunities to go all out and be, as Elle would say, "superfun."
  54. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
    The effects in "T3" are spectacular, and the action sequences -- particularly the fights between the good and bad terminators -- are exhilarating.
  55. Friday Night
    It is driven by the finely expressed -- if nearly mute -- performance of Lemercier. We learn a lot about this woman and her emotional state from Lemercier's subtle body language. As for Lindon's Jean, well, it's enough that he's there and doesn't require batteries.
  56. On_Line
    Weintrob's shallow analysis of virtual reality might have been more resonant in the mid-'90s, but he seems well aware that some things are timeless: By the end of his film, he has firmly shifted focus, concentrating far less on the cyber than on the sex.
  57. 28 Days Later...
    [Boyle] shrugs off any intellectual pretense to rollick in a dead-on scare fest. On that level, 28 Days Later is indeed a frightfully good time.
  58. 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.
  59. Human Weapon
    It's frightening because it's so effective in fomenting fear and because it's so easy to recruit bombers among repressed and hopeless societies.
  60. My Terrorist
    Gerstel's efforts are a testament to her own humanity and a ray of inspiration for some ultimate peace. But it also speaks to the near futility of individual forgiveness in a continuing tinderbox of hatred.
  61. From Justin to Kelly
    More than awful, more than dreadful, and easily the worst beach movie ever made.
  62. Alex & Emma
    This is a movie full of tin-eared humor and situations too contrived to give romance a toehold.
  63. Francis Ford Coppola Presents: The Legend of Suriyothai
    Yukol has spread a huge canvas, gloriously costumed and photographed, but the staging and acting are often awkward and the saga is simply too dense for good drama.
  64. Hulk
    I wanted more. I expected more. The filmmakers said it was going to be smart - really smart - like all of Lee's movies. Instead, it's big, dumb and fun.
  65. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
    The movie's really about the impressions of the original performances by newcomers Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson. Olsen does an uncanny Carrey, and Richardson vaguely resembles Daniels.
  66. The Hard Word
    I may be wrong, but I think Guy Pearce is wearing Nicole Kidman's false nose in The Hard Word. Whatever it is that's on his face, it looks like a dead cod and won't win him an Oscar.
  67. Rugrats Go Wild
    Though the energy occasionally flags, the movie does a nice job of exploiting the crossover potential.
  68. Hollywood Homicide
    It's a humiliating comedown for Ford, and he looks creaky and grumpy, obviously aware that he is miscast and dreading every scene.
  69. Tycoon: A New Russian
    With more than a passing nod to the Hollywood mob movie, Pavel Lounguine ("Luna Park") crafts this superb post-Soviet "Godfather" movie loosely based on the exploits of bad boy billionaire Boris Berezovsky.
  70. The Heart of Me
    It has the feel of those romantic movies of the '40s that no one thinks are made anymore.
  71. Manito
    Toward the finish, the movie takes a regrettable curve into melodrama, but the excellent performances never waver.
  72. Jet Lag
    Who knew that Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno could be unlikable? And yet, there they are, grating on each other's nerves (and ours) as strandees at Charles De Gaulle airport.
  73. Garmento
    Has amusing moments, but falls apart as quickly as a cheap knockoff.
  74. Love the Hard Way
    Brody does have a mesmerizing presence and is the only reason to see a film that likely would have gone straight to video if he hadn't won that Oscar for "The Pianist."
  75. The Eye
    It's unabashedly derivative and spooky enough to keep you up at night.
  76. 2 Fast 2 Furious
    Lacks the charismatic presence of Vin Diesel, who has priced himself right out of the franchise. Without Diesel, there's not much gas, at least not from the nonvehicular elements.
  77. Whale Rider
    Pai is resourceful and in harmony with the natural world in a way that will charm and enthrall young viewers.
  78. The Weather Underground
    The documentary plays it down the middle, neither condemning nor romanticizing the political outlaws, but making sense of who they were and what they did.
  79. The Three Marias
    Abranches intends for a religious parable by way of Greek tragedy, but the film drowns in a morass of portentous signs and poetic symbols.
  80. The Era of Vampires
    Pleasantly cheesy but undistinguished martial-arts and horror fare.
  81. Wrong Turn
    In these movies, it's always easy to figure out who's going to survive and make the killers cough up their own blood, but you still hope that the victims will go in the order of their performances -- worst actor first, etc. No such luck.
  82. Capturing the Friedmans
    This extraordinary film refracts truth through the prism of memory, until what you get is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, full of sacrifice and betrayal.
  83. The Italian Job
    A slicker, faster-paced, high-tech upgrade that lifts the sprightly spirit and the main action set piece from the original while developing its own twists and a new ending that, though a bit too pat and eager to please, is a vast improvement.
  84. Finding Nemo
    This stirring children's movie about separation anxiety is swimming with comic references only adults will catch, thus greatly expanding the potential audience.
  85. The In-Laws
    Big, bloated and only intermittently amusing.
  86. Bruce Almighty
    When Carrey is doing his thing as the Almighty, histrionically whipping up one miracle after another and relishing the power, "Bruce" has you spring-cleaning your lungs with laughter. But you are made to pay for it with a third-act sap-rising that's as thick as the final reels of "Patch Adams."
  87. Grazia's Island
    A beautifully composed tone poem about unspoken group dynamics in an isolated community. It is also, in its way, about how love endures.
  88. Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
    A fan's dream, A.J. Schnack's worshipful documentary about the musical duo They Might Be Giants does a nice job reflecting the thoughtful, quirky sensibility of its subjects' songs. Just don't expect to learn much about the guys themselves.
  89. Ichi the Killer
    This time around, the cult director dispenses with the feminism, the satire, and even the issues, so he can concentrate on his true passion: the dissecting.
  90. The Sea
    Dysfunction seeps from every pore of this family, and the anger and ugliness of the characters overwhelm not just the story but the movie's stunning National Geographic location.
  91. Sweet Sixteen
    Compston, with Loach's uncanny guidance, gives a performance of such natural power you'd think you were watching a drama-class prodigy like James Dean rather than a moonlighting high-schooler.
  92. Cinemania
    Both compelling and disturbing, this tragicomic documentary follows five dreamers as they pursue romance.
  93. Pokémon Heroes
    Clearly, interest has waned - both because children grow up and because they move on. It might be time for the folks behind this particular fad to do the same.
  94. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
    Sometimes painful, often joyous, and altogether illuminating.
  95. L'Auberge Espagnole
    Beware of movies whose creators boast of the little effort involved. Little reward is what you're likely to get.
  96. The Matrix Reloaded
    The philosophy is even less plausible. But the action -- oh, the action! There's nothing else out there like it.
  97. Daddy Day Care
    Though topnotch actors often can elevate mediocre material, they need a topnotch director to help them do it. Steve Carr ("Dr. Dolittle 2") is not that director.
  98. The Shape of Things
    Besides repeating his premise that only fools fall in love and deserve whatever circle of hell they enter for it, he seems to really believe that morality has no place in art. Certainly, he's keeping it out of his.
  99. Down with Love
    Doesn't so much crackle as pop. It has enough double entendres to fill a D-cup, but it has a premise that would have burned a hole in the screen in 1962, when its story is set.
  100. Man on the Train
    One of the small pleasures of the movie is likely to escape American audiences. The bank robber is played by Johnny Hallyday, a pop icon of great magnitude in France, and the old man is played by Jean Rochefort, an acting staple of that country's cinema. The mere juxtaposition of these two personalities forms a comic set of expectations.
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