The New York Times' Scores

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For 20,280 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 61
Highest review score: 100 Short Cuts
Lowest review score: 0 Gummo
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9,381 out of 20280
  2. Mixed: 8,435 out of 20280
  3. Negative: 2,464 out of 20280
20280 movie reviews
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  1. The Tin Drum
    The story it tells is so outsized, bizarre, funny, and eccentric, the movie compels attention. [11 Apr 1980, p.6]
    • The New York Times
  2. Words of War
    Some deviations are inevitable, but the expository dialogue — and the convention of having Russian characters speak English, with British accents — are distractions. Even so, Politkovskaya’s bravery, and Peake’s commitment to honoring it, is enough.
  3. Dora and the Lost City of Gold
    Like a child unwittingly navigating a jungle full of booby traps and deadly creatures, the film walks a treacherously fine line without ever seeming to break a sweat.
  4. Tokyo!
    Both in its parts and in the sum of them Tokyo! is playfully and sometimes disorientingly apocalyptic.
  5. Woman Is the Future of Man
    Mr. Hong is not yet the equal of Mr. Antonioni, but it has become increasingly difficult to see intellectually stimulating, aesthetically bold films like this in American theaters.
  6. Little Big Man
    The film tries to cover too much ground, even though Calder Willingham's script eliminates or telescopes events and characters from the Berger novel.
  7. Defending Your Life
    Within the larger context of the Brooks oeuvre, this pleasantly mortifying arrangement makes perfect sense. [22 Mar 1991, p.C12]
    • The New York Times
  8. Alone in the Dark
    Unobjectionable even when it doesn't work, and certainly amusing when it does.
  9. Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
    This third installment of the silly and often hilarious send-up of cop cliches is slower to start than the earlier Naked Gun movies. As always, it is a scattershot mix of throwaway lines, topical references and sight gags (a newspaper headline that reads: Dyslexia for Cure Found).
  10. Anna and the Apocalypse
    Anna and the Apocalypse is more sketch than developed movie. Directed by John McPhail from a script by McHenry and Alan McDonald, the movie is thinly plotted, its pacing slack, its staging uninspired; Anna remains merely an idea for a plucky heroine, despite Hunt’s smile and sweat.
  11. Dancer in the Dark
    Both stupefyingly bad and utterly overpowering; it can elicit, sometimes within a single scene, a gasp of rapture and a spasm of revulsion.
  12. Official Secrets
    The director Gavin Hood, who wrote the script with Sara Bernstein and Gregory Bernstein, fits the pieces together coherently, no small thing given the complications. But the characters are malnourished and Hood’s attempts to build suspense often fall flat because he leans hard on genre conventions, on dark shadows, ominous music and abrupt sounds straight from a horror flick.
  13. Seoul Searching
    Seoul Searching is rude, funny, silly and poignant. Above all, it’s kind; Mr. Lee understands that belonging is a feeling that many of us may never experience.
  14. 16 Blocks
    Mr. Willis has always been an acquired taste, but for those who did acquire that taste, riding shotgun on his good times and bad, it's a pleasure to see him doing what comes naturally.
  15. Caterina va in città
    Its rich, wide-angle view of Italian politics and society stays with you. The details may vary from nation to nation in the industrialized West, but the big picture is pretty much the same everywhere.
  16. Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale
    An engaging and colorful but somewhat overbalanced documentary.
  17. Yves Saint Laurent 5 avenue Marceau 75116 Paris
    Except for the access the director, David Teboul, had to Mr. Saint Laurent's inner circle, "Times" wouldn't be out of place on A&E.
  18. One True Thing
    Bluntly, poignantly believable.
  19. Songcatcher
    Songcatcher is a sweet, lyrical ode to rural America in the early 1900's.
  20. Sex Is Comedy
    The result is a minor, meandering film.
  21. Unfaithful
    Ms. Lane has the role of her career in Connie, and her indelible (and ultimately sympathetic) performance is both archetypal and minutely detailed.
  22. The Summer of Sangaile
    It’s all very heady and voluptuous, but it’s also painfully superficial.
  23. Under Our Skin
    Scary enough to make the faint of heart decide never to venture into the woods or to lie on the grass again without protective covering.
  24. Kids
    Mr. Clark's vision of these characters is so bleak and legitimately shocking that it makes almost any other portrait of American adolescence look like the picture of Dorian Gray...Kids is far too serious to be tarred as exploitation, and its extremism is both artful and devastatingly effective. Think of this not as cinema verite but as a new strain of post-apocalyptic science fiction, using hyperbole to magnify a kernel of terrible, undeniable truth.
  25. Waiting for the Light to Change
    In her feature debut, Tran is intermittently successful at capturing the listlessness that defines that liminal space between adolescence and adulthood; as “Waiting” progresses, malaise envelops her characters like the gray fog over the shoreline.
  26. Monsters
    Monsters effortlessly compels. The ending may be pure sci-fi schmaltz, but it's schmaltz that this viewer, at least, could believe in.
  27. The Creator
    Despite the impressively sweeping C.G.I. running battles in Thai fields or seaside settlements, or the gritty “Blade Runner”-lite interludes in crowded metropolises, the story’s engine produces the straightforward momentum of your average action blockbuster — one thing happens, then the next thing, complete with punchy (sometimes tin-eared) one-liners.
  28. Backbeat
    Backbeat, directed by Iain Softley, is lively, galvanizing and unexpectedly well made, a far cry from the Madame Tussaud approach often used to enshrine contemporary celebrities.
  29. Good Kill
    Mr. Hawke’s anguished performance gives Good Kill a hot emotional center.
  30. Southern Comfort
    Though the film was photographed on what appear to have been extremely difficult locations in Louisiana and Texas, it never once convinces you that it's anything but pretentious moviemaking.
  31. To Kid or Not to Kid
    Candid and empathetic, the movie’s segments can feel rushed and unfocused; yet they have a ragged intimacy that argues implicitly for an individual’s right to choose, without interference or condemnation.
  32. Don't Come Back from the Moon
    The movie’s emotional potency is undeniable, its slow crescendo of wounded feelings and shimmering photography leaving unexpected imprints on the eyes and heart.
  33. The Parent Trap
    The visual illusion that Ms. Lohan is actually two characters has been accomplished so seamlessly that it barely diverts attention from one of the film's greatest passions, its product plugs.
  34. Babies
    But Babies just might restore your faith in our perplexing, peculiar and stubbornly lovable species.
  35. Rumble Fish
    The stunning black-and-white cinematography in Francis Coppola's Rumble Fish functions rather like a cold compress, subduing a film that is otherwise all feverish extremes.
  36. Nobody Else But You (Poupoupidou)
    If Nobody Else but You is smart and entertaining, it is a little too clever for its own good.
  37. Design Is One
    The information-rich film is enlivened by the charm of the intelligent, eccentric couple at its heart.
  38. The Suspect
    At 137 minutes, the film overstays its welcome with multiple concluding flourishes (and exceeds the sentiment threshold).
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    What's Up, Tiger Lily?
    The idea for this satirical adventure is so bright, it's a real pity that the picture doesn't hold up, even with some truly hilarious moments, specifically wisecracks, courtesy of Woody Allen and a battery of six comedy writers.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Three on a Match
    Three on a Match...is both tedious and distasteful.
  41. Return
    In this stratum of Middle American society during wartime and hardship, the movie suggests, life is tough and challenging. You admire these characters for their considerable resilience while understanding that even the best-intentioned people can break under the stress.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Omen
    It is a dreadfully silly film, which is not to say that it is totally bad. Its horrors are not horrible, its terrors are not terrifying, its violence is ludicrous—which may be an advantage—but it does move along. There is not a great deal of excitement, but we manage to sustain some curiosity as to how things will work out. The Omen is the kind of movie to take along on a long airplane trip.
  43. Lbs.
    Those concerned with obesity issues may find Lbs. authentic and inspirational. Otherwise it’s an earnest little low-budget indie without much to distinguish it beyond the appearances of Miriam Shor and Sharon Angela.
  44. Hard Target
    Mr. Woo's obvious gusto and his taste for myth making are readily apparent. But so is his fondness for the slow, lingering death scene coupled with sickening sound effects. Presenting Mr. Van Damme as reverentially as Sergio Leone did the young Clint Eastwood, Mr. Woo displays a real aptitude for malignant mischief, which is this story's stock in trade.
  45. The Imperialists Are Still Alive!
    If The Imperialists Are Still Alive! doesn't go much of anywhere despite its peripatetic characters, that stasis seems intentional.
  46. Flowers
    To its benefit, it has rich roles for, and splendid performances by, its three principal actresses. To its detriment, their characters are each in their own way pining for the same man, whose simple actions in life seem undeserving of their considerable exertions after his demise.
  47. Romancing the Stone
    An elaborately produced, mostly charmless adventure-comedy that intends to make fun of a kind of romantic fiction that's one step removed from what the movie is all about.
  48. Dai si gin
    It's a slam-dunk of an opener in a film filled with terrifically choreographed action and very little on its mind.
  49. Bad Posture
    Mr. Murray creates a beguiling, visually rich canvas.
  50. Splinters
    A real-life examination of competitive surfing in Papua New Guinea, the film derives tension from the proverbial big tournament but also from how the event helps foster a worthy morality.
  51. It's Me, It's Me
    Though the film is occasionally frustrating and confusing, the modern life it is commenting on is certainly that, too.
  52. The Hand That Feeds
    The Hand That Feeds is an effective portrayal of the intricacies of activism — and of a situation in which victories seem all too brief.
  53. They All Laughed
    It's aggressive in its ineptitude. It grates on the nerves like a 78 rpm record played at 33 rpm.
  54. Waydowntown
    A smart, sardonic satire.
  55. Wendigo
    For those in search of something different, Wendigo is a genuinely bone-chilling tale.
  56. Out of Time
    Although it is briskly directed and enjoyably stylized, the film is shallow -- but empty.
  57. He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not
    Like "The Sixth Sense," He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not reaches for a crowning final twist, but in this case it falls flat.
  58. Secretary
    A wholesome self-help fable about the unlocking of shame and its magical transformation into pleasure and personal liberation.
  59. Drumline
    If all this does not quite add up to a coherent movie, it does produce a bouncy, boisterous and charming one, which becomes downright thrilling when it shows the bands in action.
  60. Chaos
    The film's mechanical workings are still impressive, but between the unsympathetic characters and the coldly precise direction, there is little here for an audience to clutch to its heart.
  61. The Patriot
    Shamelessly stirring, brandishing Mr. Gibson's anguished masculinity like a musket. It may be effective, but you leave the theater feeling used.
  62. Children of Love
    Leaves a sour aftertaste since it's obvious that the filmmaker's intrusion on these unhappy people, fictional or not, only further worsens their discomfort and their difficulty communicating.
  63. Misha and the Wolves
    Misha and the Wolves plays best on first viewing, with its surprises intact.
  64. A Perfect Getaway
    A B-movie-style throwback that’s consistently diverting and blissfully free of morals and messages, A Perfect Getaway is just the thing for the summertime movie blahs: it’s a genuinely satisfying cheap thrill.
  65. The Fortune Cookie
    The Fortune Cookie is no more sunny--and, if possible, even less romantic--than Kiss Me, Stupid, Mr. Wilder's last film and a comedy of unrelieved vulgarity, but it has style and taste.
  66. Love Crime
    It is interesting and ingenious, even if some of the kinky, queasy fascination that had been so intoxicating in the earlier scenes ebbs away.
  67. A Bridge Too Far
    The movie is massive, shapeless, often unexpectedly moving, confusing, sad, vivid and very, very long.
  68. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
    The film is more funny ha-ha than LOL; it’s a smarty-pants satire that mocks and embraces almost every cliché in the biography playbook.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Planet B-Boy
    From moment to moment, Planet B-Boy is fun, sometimes thrilling and packed with illuminating details and striking personalities.
  70. Unlocking the Cage
    Part courtroom drama, part rumination on what separates human beings from other animals, the film is above all a sympathetic portrait of an advocate.
  71. The Guilty
    Essentially a one-man show, The Guilty necessarily vibrates to the rhythms of its lead.
  72. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
    When the source material was so fun, the cover is bound to be enjoyable, and this one is, even if it sags a little around the two-thirds mark. There’s punning, and contraptions, and ducks that shoot lasers out of their eyes. It’s a good time.
  73. Don Juan DeMarco
    It benefits not only from Mr. Brando's peculiar presence, but also from Johnny Depp, who again proves himself a brilliantly intuitive young actor with strong ties to the Brando legacy. The movie is cheesy, but its stars certainly are not.
  74. Reel Injun
    Absorbing and amusing for as long as it looks back at those Hollywood westerns, recounting their sins against American Indians.
  75. Peyton Place
    Except that they take a long time at it, Scriptwriter John Michael Hayes and Director Mark Robson construct a drama of personal tensions and incongruities that has something of the irony and terror of the film version of "An American Tragedy."
  76. Irma la Douce
    Mr. Lemmon is little short of brilliant — vigorous, incisive and deft.
  77. Hold the Dark
    The movie keeps moving, the story keeps flowing, but these images — which feel suspended between cinema and still photography — create a pause in the action that your anxious imagination can’t help but fret over. That’s especially true because Mr. Saulnier’s images are often in service of spooky, blood-drenched tales.
  78. My Cousin Rachel
    It’s all very pretty, but too often the movie’s beauty isn’t tethered to deep feeling or strong ideas, one reason you may often find your eyes and thoughts drifting away from the quietly escalating drama toward the vast green fields, the majestic horses and nice detail work.
  79. Hors Satan (Outside Satan)
    Despite its pictorial intensity and the extremity of some of its scenes, the film proceeds in a mood of detachment, turning the suffering physical beings under its scrutiny into abstractions.
  80. The Lincoln Lawyer
    There are modest pleasures in a familiar story told differently enough that you're happy to keep guessing and watching.
  81. Young & Beautiful
    What is most striking about this movie is how un-self-conscious it is as it conducts a prurient and superficial inquiry into adolescent female sexuality.
  82. Wild Style
    Wild Style lacks a lot of the style of the people in it, but it never neutralizes their vitality.
  83. Piece By Piece
    Piece By Piece sidesteps feeling rote by doing something that seems, frankly, bizarre. That it works at all is a product of the quirky form fitting the subject well. It’s chaotic, sure. But that’s the fun of it.
  84. The Merchant of Venice
    Btter-than-average screen Shakespeare: intelligent without being showily clever, and motivated more by genuine fascination with the play's language and ideas than by a desire to cannibalize its author's cultural prestige.
  85. Nyad
    Diana wants our respect — and by the end of the movie, she’s earned it. While she’s one of the prickliest protagonists you’ll see this year, she’s so raw and earnest and apologetically herself that you adore her anyway — from the safe distance of the screen.
  86. Star 80
    Make no mistake about it: Miss Hemingway, a beauty who looks a lot like Miss Stratten, is not giving an impersonation but a true performance, as fully realized as the somewhat limited circumstances allow. There is an alertness, humor and intelligence to her work that immediately identifies her as one of our best young film actresses, someone who reinvents character in her own image rather than simply miming it.
  87. Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets
    A kooky, affectionate tribute that’s happily superficial.
  88. Kingdom of Heaven
    Scott's ravishing visual style, characterized by a fetishistic attention to surface detail and unrelenting beauty, can work wonders with big subjects, but this is also a director who needs actors powerful enough to shoulder narrative and emotional extremes.
  89. Ash
    The high-concept sci-fi horror film “Ash,” a hazy story about an amnesiac deep-space explorer who awakens to discover her entire crew was killed, is light on answers but heavy on style.
  90. A Common Thread
    Unfortunately, Ms. Faucher's screenplay, written with Gaëlle Macé, never finds its focus or reason for being, and Ms. Naymark just doesn't have enough screen presence to make up for the lack of a story or to justify all those tenderly attentive close-ups.
  91. On Swift Horses
    It doesn’t always work, but you won’t mind that much, because it’s so beautiful to look at.
  92. Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
    Ms. Silverman is a skilled performer, and Jesus Is Magic is occasionally very funny, but don't be fooled: naughty as she may seem, she's playing it safe.
  93. Bombón: El Perro
    That El Perro is so unassuming is part of what makes its humane, sympathetic story so satisfying.
  94. Invisible
    The insensitivity of the news media and law enforcement is an implicit acknowledgment of the gap between men and women on the issue; in the film's view men just don't get it. And the submerged rage that wells up in Nira and Lily is boiling hot. The film is less successful in depicting their personal lives.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Vampire Lovers
    The Vampire Lovers, praise be, does manage to be a departure from a hackneyed, bloody norm. It also is professionally directed, opulently staged and sexy to boot.
  96. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
    Louis is a funny, complicated character, and while the movie could have expanded its horizons (particularly in view of the changes roiling the art world), Cumberbatch fills in this expressionistic portrait exquisitely.
  97. Chronicles
    A film divided against itself. The more the cat-and-mouse game between prisoner and reporter points it in the direction of "The Silence of the Lambs," the closer it inches toward the sort of exploitation it condemns; for me, that's too close for Crónicas to be taken without a big grain of salt.
  98. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    Mr. Jennings and Mr. Goldsmith have held onto a genuine sense of childlike wonder, which works as a nice corrective to what might otherwise come across as an overabundance of hip.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Home Alone
    Kevin has the potential to be the mawkish child or the obnoxious little adult so common on screen, but he is neither. Played with great glee by Macaulay Culkin, he is a totally endearing, up-to-the-minute little boy.
  100. A Cat in Paris
    This movie is graceful, subtle and sure-footed, much as its English title implies.
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