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 Last Gladiators
    He tells his story honestly, but with no great sense of self-awareness or insight.
  2. Who Killed Nancy?
    The eyewitness testimony of dozens of punk-era survivors and hotel denizens has a disorienting effect, and everyone gets sidetracked, though the colorful anecdotes are priceless.
  3. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
    With his (Cage) over-the-top delivery and operatically intense facial expressions, there's no way anyone could accuse him of phoning this one in.
  4. Stars in Shorts
    None of the seven shorts here is worth a single, well-made feature. But there are a few amusing moments to be found.
  5. Mr. Holmes
    Stories about mythic figures at the end of their days are compelling — but they still need some zing. That’s what Mr. Holmes is missing.
  6. The Notebook
    Despite the human drama here, we’re kept at a remove by stolid direction and by-the-numbers storytelling.
  7. Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
    If any life story should make for a compelling biography, it's certainly Hugh Hefner's. Unfortunately, this love letter is so lacking in any edge, the end result is not just unsexy but unforgivably staid.
  8. Lakeview Terrace
    The same boring routine gets played out again.
  9. Yes Man
    An appealing Deschanel does her best, but the pair is mismatched in every way, from age to attitude. The entire movie is hung on Carrey's shtick, so if you're a fan, you'll have a decent time.
  10. Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish
    But oy, such terrible jokes and choppy direction. Would it have killed her to share the credits with someone else?
  11. Paranormal Activity 3
    A few really weird things happen during Paranormal Activity 3, though unfortunately, they have nothing to do with being frightened.
  12. Get Smart
    While the whole cast -- including Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson -- is game, too much time was spent coordinating chase scenes and explosions, and too little fixing a slack script that relies on bathroom humor and snickering sex jokes.
  13. Funny Games
    Denying us any catharsis, Haneke becomes a stern, finger-wagging lecturer; he seems to mean his movie as punishment, conveniently forgetting his own role in the crime. [11 March 1998, p.38]
    • New York Daily News
  14. A Long Way Down
    The results are awkward and atonal.
  15. Cowboys & Aliens
    The sole treasure of Cowboys & Aliens is that director Jon Favreau ("Iron Man") has fashioned an actual rawhide ride from a graphic novel (that took six writers to wrangle to the screen).
  16. Cloud Atlas
    For all its strengths, the film is cursed by an ADD-style structure and a flashy but inevitably ineffective casting stunt.
  17. The Last New Yorker
    Wang tracks his guys like the documentarian he is, and if the movie feels a bit canned thanks to Adam Forgash's unoriginal script, classic NYC spots and a big heart make it feel like home.
  18. Small Time
    His (Surnow) unfocused script swerves all over the road, but Christopher Meloni and Dean Norris repeatedly get things back on track.
  19. The Smurfs
    Azaria channels his inner Charles Nelson Reilly, which helps, as does an evil emoting cat. Kids under 7 will likely giggle at some too-harsh pratfalls, not care about a grown man's fear of procreation, not get all the tiny innuendos and possibly miss how the movie is a fairly successful tourism ad for New York.
  20. Life of Crime
    Ultimately it’s the cast, more than the crime, that gives this story life.
  21. To the Wonder
    It feels like a high-end perfume ad.
  22. A Promise
    A romantic triangle featuring Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman and “Game of Thrones” costar Richard Madden has no business being this dull.
  23. The Dark Tower
    The Dark Tower is simply dim.
  24. The Witch
    Early on, it seems that The Witch is tapping a higher metaphor for coming of age...or religious intolerance...or man's uneasy balance with nature...or something. It doesn't take long into the film's hour and a half running time, however, to break that spell.
  25. Arthur Newman
    There’s never a moment when we forget that Mike and Wallace are just vacant personalities that two talented actors decided to try on for fun.
  26. Set Fire to the Stars
    High art swings sort of low in this watchable but thematically repetitive drama.
  27. Identity Thief
    The ensuing road trip should be hilariously chaotic, a classic misadventure between two ill-matched travelers. Instead of “Midnight Run,” though, we get another gloss on the recent “Guilt Trip,” in which the concept is all that counts.
  28. Cheatin'
    Still, with a story this weak, arguing that the illustrations look cool feels like a cheat.
  29. It's a Disaster
    Berger’s got some clever ideas, but he does not push far in exploring them. And aside from Cross, there is virtually no one to like among these self-involved suburbanites. After an hour alone with them, we can’t help wishing The End would just arrive.
  30. Frances Ha
    Aiming for lightness but landing with a thud, Frances Ha is a well-meaning blunder. Director Noah Baumbach’s ode to Brooklyn twentysomething life is a flibbertigibbet fable that, like a self-absorbed flirt you meet at a party, grates on the nerves despite being easy on the eyes.
  31. The Boxtrolls
    Kids who get a kick out of the macabre will enjoy this exquisitely crafted but tedious film.
  32. Any Day Now
    Director Travis Fine gives his period details flourish and lets Cumming and Dillahunt create well-rounded characters, but Any Day Now winds up treacly.
  33. Quid Pro Quo
    While a good director can spin a worthy movie from any subject, first-timer Carlos Brooks does surprisingly little with the jaw-dropper of a topic he chose.
  34. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
    Even if he's slumming, Renner gets it best: his dry delivery fully acknowledges the movie's ridiculousness. If you're planning on entering this fractured fairy tale, you'll want to follow his lead.
  35. The Truth About Emanuel
    The most startling truth is about Emanuel is that she's a rather ordinary teen in a rather ordinary movie.
  36. Phyllis and Harold
    Engrossing, sad and heartbreaking.
  37. The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate
    Despite the presence of Jet Li, only the last half-hour of this chatty epic truly flies.
  38. Two Night Stand
    Teller is, by far, the best thing about this easygoing, stubbornly generic independent romance from Max Nichols (son of Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols).
  39. Megamind
    Plays out like a clunky, not-so-incredible "Incredibles," or a more-despicable "Despicable Me."
  40. No Impact Man: The Documentary
    The efforts of Beavan's clan are so extreme that they spark some interest, but their environmental commitment feels a bit too self-serving to have the impact that's clearly desired.
    • 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.
  42. Planes: Fire & Rescue
    Surprisingly dull.
  43. Here Comes the Boom
    All banality, though it delivers some goodwill even as it pulls a muscle trying to get its premise going.
  44. Stand Up Guys
    The script is undernourished, the supporting characters - including a horribly miscast Lucy Punch - ill-conceived, and Val increasingly hard to take. But when the movie ended, I wanted to watch Walken all over again.
  45. Leap!
    All three screenwriters either forgot or didn’t care that their heroine is 11. Even worse is when Félicie ends up dancing on tables in a bar — as in, a bar — “Coyote Ugly”-style. What? It’s not easy to take a message about taking leaps of faith from a movie that too often has two left feet.
  46. Red Tails
    George Lucas produced this candy-coated, fictionalized drama, and while its cast is first-rate and its flying sequences sharp, the movie is as glazed and wide-eyed as a 70-year-old comic book.
  47. Princess Kaiulani
    This somber but unexceptional drama is luxurious to look at but never gripping.
  48. Bottled Up
    The second film from Enid Zentelis (“Evergreen”) comes across as a heavy-handed message movie. And its presence in theaters can only be explained by the participation of Oscar-winning lead Melissa Leo.
  49. Blackhat
    Unfortunately, Mann’s newest film, Blackhat, fails to connect.
  50. The Best and the Brightest
    Riding in to save almost every scene, though, are recent Tony Awards host Harris and the wild and woolly Sedaris, who goes too far, but in a good way. Shelov could learn from them.
  51. The Help
    Emma Stone, for example, is no one's idea of an ugly duckling. And though she offers a sincere effort, she never quite settles into the role of Skeeter.
  52. Nitro Circus: The Movie
    Even if you appreciate the sight of grown men acting like idiots, the film's repetitive pacing and self-congratulatory air start to feel exhausting.
  53. Brother's Justice
    While Shepard and Tuck earn a few laughs spoofing the celebrity/enabler relationship, the high points come from the game cameos: Ashton Kutcher, Jon Favreau, and Bradley Cooper are drolly entertaining as A-listers who make it perfectly clear that they're doing their buddy a big favor by appearing in his movie.
  54. Tanner Hall
    Most of the actresses are appealing, but ultimately not even the gifted Mara can keep the film from feeling like a gauzy portrait of privilege.
  55. Crossing Over
    Writer-director Wayne Kramer adds what could be called mainstream threads to his messy script, but the result is simplistic across the board.
  56. HairBrained
    Early potential fizzles away too quickly in this underachieving buddy comedy, which just barely skids along on the charm of its co-stars.
  57. Disgrace
    The film, unfortunately, hasn't the depth Malkovich brings to his performance.
  58. Contagion
    There's a sense of dread in Contagion, but it never spreads to us. When Day 1 is finally shown, it makes you want to eat better, which isn't the same as saying this is a great movie.
  59. The Counselor
    Ultimately, this dull tour of a thieving, primal underworld is just a lot of high-talking hogwash.
  60. Free Ride
    On the bright side, the charismatic Liberato is one to watch. And de Matteo (“The Sopranos”) brings a crucial jolt of assertive energy. Both seem to be in another, more exciting movie entirely.
  61. Thor
    No matter how the filmmakers move Heaven and Earth, this comic-book adaptation looks cool but contains very little thunder. The fault is a script by a five-headed beast which contains fateful missteps.
  62. The Wolverine
    Good thing the Aussie star has the role down to a science, since the rest of The Wolverine is a howler.
  63. The Night Flier
    A grade better than the made-for-cable market whence it came.
    • New York Daily News
  64. Berberian Sound Studio
    Fans of Dario Argento and Mario Bava will appreciate the references. Even for newcomers, there are minor chords to enjoy. If only there were less screaming.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Lullaby
    Sadly, Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard are wasted in tiny parts, as is Amy Adams as the lost love of the sulky rocker.
  66. Red Roses and Petrol
    Solid performances and a literary feel help turn a standard family-rift drama into a dry but saucy narrative.
  67. Passengers
    A clunky, dead-on-arrival scary drama that proves that even people with good taste need a good script or direction.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Rover
    On the bright side, Robert Pattinson’s pretty good in The Rover. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t.
  69. Celtic Pride
    Combining the sports obsessiveness of "SNL's" venerable "Da Bears" routine with the buddy bonding of Wayne and Garth, Mike and Jimmy might make great sketch material. But as the central characters in a feature film, they wear thin quicker than a cheap suit. [19 Apr 1996, p.65]
    • New York Daily News
  70. The Proposal
    It's impossible to guess why Bullock was ever attracted to this insulting role, and the eternally confident Reynolds is miscast as a young, bullied underling.
  71. Stranded
    The kind of middling thriller you might stop to watch if you came across it on cable, director Roger Christian’s “Alien” knockoff is presumably only in theaters because Christian Slater’s contract demanded it.
  72. Race
    A movie that really mined that story would be worth the gold. This one barely doesn’t even capture the bronze.
  73. The Hunter
    The idea of Willem Dafoe, one of our most watchable actors, playing a man stalking a thought-to-be-extinct animal in the wild is gripping in theory. In execution, however, The Hunter loses its way.
  74. Wish I Was Here
    One problem with “Wish” is that Braff tries to cram so much into it, no scene ever exists for its own sake, to establish rhythm or help us know these characters outside of the ongoing family crises.
  75. Dream House
    Dream House is the full magilla, with imaginary images, sanity questions, peek-a-boo startles and the usual are-they-real-or-not? characters.
  76. Welcome to the Rileys
    If Welcome to the Rileys were a thicker-skinned movie -- if it were the movie it thinks it is -- so much of the outcome wouldn't be telegraphed the minute you read the premise.
  77. Off Jackson Avenue
    While Montias' actors do their best, even good intentions have limits. Still, it never feels false. And remember, even Martin Scorsese (born in Queens) had to start somewhere.
  78. Struck by Lightning
    One can't blame Colfer for wanting to expand his range, but he's created a character who is neither hero nor villain, in a black comedy that is neither dark nor funny enough.
  79. The House
    Ferrell, Poehler and Mantzoukas eventually lean into their neo-gangster personas, and the movie takes the easy route, slipping in parodies of “The Sopranos,” “Terminator 2” and even “The Six Million Dollar Man.”
  80. Now You See Me
    For a while, Leterrier does manage to conjure up a little bit of magic between all these charming actors. And then, presto: Just like that, it’s gone.
  81. Repo! The Genetic Opera
    Check out the trailer before you commit to this one; if it's for you, you'll know instantly. And if it's not, you'll know that, too.
  82. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
    There is a serious lack of action here, which might be overlooked if the script were as smart as in the previous films. What passes for parable here is merely overplotting.
  83. Rampage
    Some movies are feasts. Some films are desserts. This picture is cheese in a can, and if it only accepted that, it would be a lot more fun — like “Alligator,” the tongue-in-cheek classic that had a toothy terror climbing out of a city sewer.
  84. Virginia
    The movie as a whole falls victim to a dewy kind of Tennessee Williams-itis, as Black plops too many wanna-be, colorful twists - imminent illness, botched robberies, fake pregnancies - into what is at heart a gently heartbreaking rendering.
  85. The To Do List
    Everyone thinks sex is easy to do, but that doesn’t mean they’re good at it. The To Do List is exactly that type of movie, one that thinks a sex-obsessed version of a John Hughes comedy by its very nature is hilarious. It’s not, but there are still some things to like here.
  86. Escape from Tomorrow
    Moore shows promising ingenuity in shooting parts of the movie covertly, within the notoriously restrictive Disney World resort. But his script never takes the same sort of risk.
  87. The Phantom
    Based on the comic strip created in 1936 by Lee Falk, The Phantom is a handsomely produced, numbingly impersonal adventure film that fails to do anything new with the format. [7 June 1996, p.49]
    • New York Daily News
  88. A Walk in the Clouds
    A Walk in the Clouds might have been helped by a more charismatic starring couple. They lack the character to stand up to such veteran scenery chompers as Quinn and Giannini. Instead, Reeves and Sanchez-Gijon seem like quivering Bambis in a lion's den. [11 Aug 1995, p.37]
    • New York Daily News
  89. What's Your Number?
    This comedy is empty.
  90. Special Forces
    It's an odd showcase for Diane Kruger. She is never very believable as Elsa, a war correspondent who has been kidnapped by the Taliban.
  91. Comet
    Sam Esmail’s fractured romance is beautifully shot and creatively structured, but he never gives us a single reason to root for his mismatched couple.
  92. Just a Sigh
    If you’re wondering how much heat you’ll find in this French romance, the title offers an unexpectedly frank clue.
  93. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
    Real films breathe, alive with imperfections, accidents, with everything that Lee's worked so carefully to guard against. Billy Lynn's Long Half Time Walk is long, all right, but only half-alive — as careful as a diagram, as chilly as a statue.
  94. Frozen River
    Has moments of honesty, but more often the barren landscape - both outside and inside - drains the emotions out of the film.
  95. Willets Point
    As for that unpolished screenplay, the less said the better.
  96. The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death
    The darkened rooms and spooky fog are undeniably gorgeous. Teen horror buffs will be bored but design majors and sketchpad artists may find themselves inspired.
  97. Kelly & Cal
    This uneven directorial debut from Jen McGowan is notable mostly for a nicely understated turn from Juliette Lewis.
  98. A Cure for Wellness
    The story submerges and drowns in preposterous gothic nonsense.
  99. The Congress
    It’s almost painful to watch the immense promise of The Congress, Ari Folman’s spectacularly ambitious experiment, dissipate into nothing.
  100. Rudo y Cursi
    Luna and Bernal have amiability, but not enough to earn a recommendation for this clichéd movie.
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