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 Drop
    Like Gandolfini, the deep Brooklyn of The Drop is formidable, bona fide and memorable.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Am Eleven
    The kids almost universally express the need for peace, equality, tolerance, homes for all and a safe planet.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dolphin Tale 2
    No one over age 10 will flip for this sequel to the 2011 hit “Dolphin Tale.” But that doesn’t mean only kids will enjoy this gentle, moving family drama.
  4. The Green Prince
    More than just a morality tale, The Green Prince is a thrill-a-minute spy caper too strange to be real, though it is.
  5. Bird People
    The best moments in Bird People soar to such heights that you almost want to forgive the parts that amount to mere droppings.
  6. The Skeleton Twins
    We already know Kristen Wiig can act. So the real revelation in The Skeleton Twins is Bill Hader, who turns in a performance so overflowing with poignancy that he deserves to be considered on any early awards list.
  7. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
    The film rests, though, on the sturdy shoulders of Chastain and McAvoy. They don’t share the intense chemistry this couple really needs, but they commit to the individual stories with touching persuasion.
  8. Frontera
    The modern, gritty Western Frontera takes a lot of the clichés and delicately upends them to tell a tale about undocumented immigrants.
    • 26 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Innocence
    Sadly, the movie is weakly paced and sinister only when Pamela coos oh-so-sympathetically in people’s ears.
  10. The Identical
    The Identical is one wacky movie, based on a bit of truth.
  11. The Longest Week
    Just like the character of Conrad, the movie coasts on confidence without ever proving it has a soul.
  12. Last Days in Vietnam
    This fact-driven doc is eye-opening and at times thrilling. A sequence following a chopper pilot trying to get his family to an American aircraft carrier is like a short film unto itself.
  13. The Congress
    It’s almost painful to watch the immense promise of The Congress, Ari Folman’s spectacularly ambitious experiment, dissipate into nothing.
  14. Kelly & Cal
    This uneven directorial debut from Jen McGowan is notable mostly for a nicely understated turn from Juliette Lewis.
  15. As Above, So Below
    One of the world's top disturbing tourist attractions is now finally getting the spooky film it deserves
  16. Starred Up
    Thematically tough and emotionally rough, Starred Up is the kind of movie you might enter into with some reluctance. But because everyone involved does such an outstanding job, it's also the kind of movie you won't want to see end.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan-Kettering
    It's riveting stuff, but Merola might have strengthened his argument with a little journalistic balance.
  18. The Damned
    You won't get much back story, and the action is fairly generic. But The Damned still makes for a serviceable horror flick, with better performances than a movie of this caliber usually offers.
  19. The Last of Robin Hood
    Kline sinks his old smoothie teeth into the part of Flynn, but is careful not to draw blood too easily. The man’s pathetic nature, after all, doesn’t spring from his movies. (Flynn worked right up to his death, in 1959.) It’s deeper than that, but also more shallow. Walking that knife’s edge is a trick. Kline finds exactly the right path.
  20. The Calling
    There’s a potentially fascinating series waiting to be mined here, even if it is buried beneath bland visuals and a pedestrian script on the big-screen.
  21. Life of Crime
    Ultimately it’s the cast, more than the crime, that gives this story life.
  22. The Notebook
    Despite the human drama here, we’re kept at a remove by stolid direction and by-the-numbers storytelling.
  23. 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.
  24. The November Man
    Even in the lazy days of late August, this movie is hardly worth the price of popcorn.
  25. The Prince
    The Prince isn't just awful, it's depressing.
  26. When the Game Stands Tall
    “Hoosiers” this ain’t. The redemptive final game has some nice plays and bone-crunching sound effects, but no grit. Ultimately, it’s a ho-hum, bromide-filled production undeserving of a victory dance.
  27. Love Is Strange
    After a summer of robots, mutants and explosions, the beautifully honest, grownup Love is Strange is a treat.
  28. Kink
    There’s a surprising lack of provocation to this determinedly positive portrait. As a result, the movie often feels like a full-length ad for a great workplace, which just happens to stash whips and chains in the stationery closet.
  29. To Be Takei
    Director Jennifer Kroot’s good-natured biography is so appealing that even non-Trekkies may be convinced we needed a full-length documentary about the man who was Sulu.
  30. Are You Here
    The compelling Draper’s the creation of “Mad Men” mastermind Matthew Weiner, the writer-director of Are You Here. Which begs the question: how could Weiner make, as his debut comedy, a movie as amateurish and off-putting as this one?
  31. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
    The sequel to one of the most visually striking movies of the last 10 years continues the graphic novel-inspired landscape of its predecessor. But the characters don’t click, and the action feels dull.
  32. Expedition to the End of the World
    There’s an introspective quality here, and the gorgeous vistas tilt toward melancholy rather than educational. All on board are curiously resigned to mankind’s death by environment, and take the long view that another life form will one day take our place.
  33. Jersey Shore Massacre
    This is a washout lacking jokes or scares.
  34. If I Stay
    The movie is designed not to explore the experience of illness, or first love, or adolescence, but merely to make us swoon, sigh, and sob.
  35. The One I Love
    To sing the praises of the movie but not give away the revelations is difficult. Let’s just say this: The less you know about what happens in this funny, tasty twisteroo, the better.
  36. The Giver
    The Giver was ahead of its time as a book. But as a movie, it’s too late.
  37. The Trip to Italy
    Coogan and Brydon make terrific companions for us partially because, at least as they appear onscreen, they’re so amusingly incompatible themselves.
  38. Dinosaur 13
    Begins as a vibrant and uplifting tale about exploration and discovery, then quickly turns into a soul-crushing lament about bureaucracy and defeat.
  39. The Expendables 3
    The Expendables 3 lets down its cast with a film that’s about as thrilling as the arrival of a monthly Social Security check.
  40. Jealousy
    Quiet moments after big decisions are where the power lies in this absorbing French drama.
  41. Let's Be Cops
    This alleged comedy takes a long time before it gets its first laugh in. The first half is a complete slog and the ending is insulting, but there are a few semi-arresting sketch comedy moments.
  42. The Dog
    And always there’s Wojtowicz himself, who died in 2006. His patter and persona must be seen to be believed. This guy was a piece of work, and so is The Dog.
  43. Deepsea Challenge 3D
    Seeing unexplored parts of our natural world in state-of-the-art 3-D is great. Listening to James Cameron explain how wonderful he is, while we see all that, is not.
  44. What If
    Anyone looking for a date-night flick will be inclined to fall for Michael Dowse’s aggressively adorable What If. Just be warned: The single-minded determination to win you over may wind up pushing you away.
  45. Into the Storm
    Once Quale and writer John Swetnam get their generic setup out of the way, they can loosen up and treat the tornadoes like the villains they are. The effectively simulated storms, with their massive wreckage, start to feel like monsters stalking the heroes.
  46. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    The cloddish, confusing action scenes make no sense. Young viewers’ eyes will glaze from the first-person video-game style. Nonaction scenes feature people sniping at each other, or, in Arnett’s case, croaking out the script’s half-assed witticisms, until the Turtles show up.
  47. The Maid's Room
    It’s admirable that writer/director Michael Walker wanted to make a socially conscious thriller. But surely he didn’t have to replace all the thrills with broadly moralizing messages.
  48. About Alex
    On the bright side, the actors are experienced enough to anchor their free-floating characters. But if you’d like to see this sort of thing done well, watch 2011’s infinitely superior Channing Tatum dramedy “10 Years” on Netflix instead.
  49. The Hundred-Foot Journey
    Any movie with food as a motif runs the risk of pouring on the metaphor, and that happens here, too.
  50. Calvary
    Calvary is like a philosophical Agatha Christie mystery. That’s certainly not the worst thing to be. But it’s also the film’s undoing, because the reliance on specific genre cliches undermines the movie’s more serious intentions.
  51. Happy Christmas
    Each viewer is likely to connect with a different character initially, but don’t be surprised if you switch allegiances several times before the story ends.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Finding Fela!
    There’s nothing like seeing Fela himself — blowing his sax, expressing his unbridled sexuality and living a life like no other.
  53. Rich Hill
    Inside these average American lives are futures far too often passed over or, worse, written off. This terrific film gives the teenagers their due.
  54. Louder Than Words
    Duchovny tamps down his sardonic style to play a quiet guy, but the result is blandness. Timothy Hutton gives a solid turn as a standup businessman. In all, director Anthony Fabian isn’t sure how to build a nontreacly movie out of an inspiring true-life story.
  55. War Story
    An excellent Keener commits reliably to the role and does give us moments worth savoring. But the underwritten script and misguided direction leave her stranded.
  56. Child of God
    It’s McCarthy’s complex use of language, rather than the plot’s grueling imagery, that elevate the book. There’s simply not enough insight here to make the punishment worthwhile.
  57. Guardians of the Galaxy
    To see an expensive, big-studio movie freed from creative constraints and directorial cynicism is always a rare and wondrous experience. In a season of bloated indulgence, it’s also fair to call it a marvel.
  58. Get On Up
    Like Brown, the movie is dynamic and entertaining as hell.
  59. Boyhood
    This bold movie may sound like a stunt, but it’s so much more than that. Linklater is an effortless, genial auteur, and his passions are woven through “Dazed and Confused,” “School of Rock” and the “Before Sunrise” trilogy. Here, his mellow groove becomes an everyday rhythm.
  60. The Killer Inside Me
    Affleck is playing someone split down the middle, but we're stuck seeing only one side of him.
  61. Hercules
    Fast-paced, funny, and packed with – to indulge in a bit of ad-speak — eye-popping action.
  62. And So It Goes
    If director Rob Reiner’s AARP-aimed comedy stumbles on several fronts, at least it provides a stage for some seasoned pros to strut their stuff.
  63. Very Good Girls
    The only real reason to see it is for a luminous leading turn from Dakota Fanning as Brooklyn teen Lilly.
  64. Magic in the Moonlight
    Stone, last seen in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” is served best. Gliding through the film in sailor-girl outfits that evoke film stars of the 1920s, Stone’s big kewpie eyes and long-limbed gamine appeal fit in this era of silent films.
  65. Lucy
    A brazenly mindless thriller about the infinite capacities of the human brain. That said, sometimes we just want to shut down and give in to bombastic summer entertainment. In that regard, as usual, Besson delivers.
  66. A Most Wanted Man
    Whether you call Anton Corbijn’s adaptation of John le Carré’s 2008 novel “deliberately paced” or “so slow I can feel my hair growing,” there’s no denying the power behind the central performance.
  67. Planes: Fire & Rescue
    Surprisingly dull.
  68. 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.
  69. I Origins
    Cahill, who did the equally heady, intriguing drama “Another Earth” (2011), keeps the tone consistent. He makes certain his cast walks a savvy tightrope, keeping things taut.
  70. Mood Indigo
    There’s a lot of heart in his creativity. But this particular effort, delightful as it often is, lacks some essential soul.
  71. Video Games: The Movie
    The modern stuff is undeniably fawning. But given the eye-popping visuals, you understand the enthusiasm. Especially if you left your heart, and thousands of dollars in quarters, in an arcade.
  72. The Purge: Anarchy
    The film’s “What if?” scenario takes the germ of an interesting social-science idea and lets it rot in a nasty, ethically questionable cesspool of junk cinema.
  73. Sex Tape
    How could a movie that offers Jason Segel riffing on sex and Cameron Diaz regularly disrobing be so dull?
  74. A Long Way Down
    The results are awkward and atonal.
  75. Rage
    As for our leading man, he’s clearly just messing with us now. Who else would make a revenge thriller called Rage and then sleepwalk his way through it?
  76. Road to Paloma
    Monument Valley makes an appearance, and there are soulful moments of slow motion. There’s enough heart here to make up for whatever first-timer miscalculations ride along too.
  77. Affluenza
    The movie’s ennui feels like so much posing, and the Bret Easton Ellis-lite characters are monotone. It’s rich in effort, but it all comes to diminishing returns.
  78. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is awe-inspiring.
  79. Closed Curtain
    Pahani’s films have become increasingly indistinguishable from his complex life, making them a challenging but often thrilling experience.
  80. Land Ho!
    The lack of narrative fireworks is, oddly, the movie’s big gimmick.
  81. Premature
    The blatantly misogynistic treatment of the female characters, who exist solely to service Rob and his best friend (Craig Roberts), would have felt retrograde in a movie made decades ago.
  82. Wrinkles
    Ferreras is similarly frank, but heavy doses of humor and empathy, along with gorgeous hand-drawn animation, keep things from getting too morbid.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Beyond the Edge
    Though impressively shot, the doc is a weak advertisement for 3-D. Hillary's bees pop out during a background episode, but that's old hat. It's the story of that final ascent is the real stirring stuff.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Me and You
    The director's "Stealing Beauty" and "The Dreamers" were both sympathetic but prurient films about teenage sensual awakenings. Me and You is sweeter and more resonant, and a potent comeback for the 73-year-old director of "Last Tango in Paris" and "The Last Emperor."
  85. Life Itself
    The irony is that Ebert famously lost his actual voice. Yet as the extraordinary documentary Life Itself shows, that couldn’t quiet one of America’s most beloved critics and cultural commentators.
  86. Deliver Us From Evil
    Actually, Ramirez should probably have been cast in the lead, since things flatten out whenever he disappears.
  87. Earth to Echo
    Earth to Echo is a copy of a copy. The movie feels less like a weak “E.T.” than a substandard “Mac and Me.” And you may not even remember the latter, a 1988 flop — the fate likely to hit this well-meaning but underwhelming effort.
  88. Tammy
    The fact that it stars the extremely funny Melissa McCarthy is both its saving grace and incredibly frustrating.
  89. Snowpiercer
    The film features plenty of elements that seem familiar from previous cinematic dystopian visions — class warfare, decrepit living, a feeling of terminal velocity — yet you can’t help but admire director Bong Joon-ho’s high-wire act.
  90. Postman Pat: The Movie
    The 6-year-old I watched it with summed it up perfectly: “It starts out fun but then it’s kinda sad and scary. And sorta boring, too.”
  91. Bound by Flesh
    Most of all, she (Zemeckis) brings generosity and compassion to the Hiltons’ tragic story.
  92. Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
    Filled with horrific but colorful anecdotes, director Joe Berlinger’s incisive look at the mobster life of Boston career criminal and FBI informant “Whitey” Bulger is essential viewing for fans of lurid, true underworld tales.
  93. The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
    Melancholy, often muddled documentary.
  94. The Pleasures of Being Out of Step
    This mellow chronicle of Nat Hentoff is like a tour through New York’s past.
  95. Begin Again
    Knightley does fine work, but she’s been miscast. Her innate sophistication undermines the movie’s intentions right off the bat. We never believe her as Greta.
  96. Transformers: Age Of Extinction
    If you're not an 11-year-old boy, or a grown-up in the mood to feel like one, the endless "wow!-that-car-is-now-a-deep-voiced-robot" scenes lack thrill. In fact, the action scenes, as in the previous films, are downright headache-inducing.
  97. Think Like a Man Too
    The actors make the raucousness feel as easy as the cinematic couples therapy.
  98. Jersey Boys
    As the most comfortable performer among this inexperienced cast, Walken brings a crucial maturity. In contrast, Young seems to have been hired primarily for his uncanny falsetto.
  99. Le Chef
    Daniel Cohen’s genial French comedy is as airy as a soufflé. Alas, it’s not nearly as satisfying.
  100. Coherence
    Byrkit and his actors successfully build a sense of tension, and then dread, from what appears to be an extremely limited budget. Indeed, the movie was shot primarily in his own living room.
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