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. My Favorite Blonde
    Bob is the hub of the picture, and Director Sidney Lanfield has kept the confusion spinning around him. That is entirely gratifying, for, in these times, we can't have too much Hope.
  2. Humpday
    The movie’s unblinking observation of a friendship put to the test is amused, queasy making, kindhearted and unfailingly truthful.
  3. Shakespeare Behind Bars
    The filmmakers, Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller, encourage us to marvel at the transformative power of art. In Shakespeare Behind Bars, the most restricted people in society find freedom in performance and release in words.
  4. A Crooked Somebody
    Often uncomfortable and all the better for it, A Crooked Somebody doesn’t mind watching its characters squirm a little. That’s tough for them but good for us in this highly enjoyable thriller.
  5. Burning Cane
    Burning Cane is short and difficult. It does not aspire to entertain. Its realism is shot through with a constant dull ache.
  6. The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga
    This two-track meditation wraps ethereal glimpses of age-old Slavic locales around a fairy tale told through hand-drawn illustrations.
  7. The Heartbreak Kid
    The Heartbreak Kid occasionally goes for laughs without shame (which is what has always bothered me about Simon's brand of New York comedy), but behind the laughs there is, for a change, a real understanding of character — which is something that I suspect, can be attribued to Miss May.
  8. Scarlet
    One of the attractions of Scarlet is that it doesn’t fit obvious categorization, which means that you’re not always sure where it’s headed or why. The vibe is by turns sober, warm, melancholic and playful to the point of near-silliness.
  9. The Burial
    Directed by Maggie Betts from a script she wrote with Doug Wright, The Burial develops into a lively courtroom drama with wide-ranging pertinence. Of course its two lead actors give the bravura performances you’d expect from them, but they don’t eat the scenery — they take the material seriously and invest in it with welcome nuance.
  10. My Mother's Smile
    Though the narrative is spotty, and occasionally confounding, there is an epic warmth in the way it's rendered.
  11. Oliver!
    The focus of the movie is so wide, and the logistics of the production so heavy, that Oliver himself, dutifully played by 9-year-old Mark Lester, gets flattened out and almost lost, as if he had been run over by a studio bulldozer.
  12. Backspot
    Its early execution strains and wobbles some, but “Backspot” sticks its landing.
  13. Porfirio
    Vividly depicting the indignities of the flesh, Porfirio offers a harshly sensual portrait of a man imprisoned by paralysis and the callousness of the state.
  14. Jawline
    A “Grey Gardens” for Generation Z, Jawline underscores the contrast between Austyn’s optimism and his drab surroundings.
  15. Polisse
    The messiness of the film seems appropriate to its subject, which is the attempt to bring at least a measure of order - and even a touch of grace - to a chaotic and frequently ugly reality.
  16. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
    Because she lacks a conception of colonialism, Davidtz sometimes struggles to negotiate the film’s fidelity to her point of view with a more complete picture of the war.
  17. Miracle Mile
    As Harry and Julie, Mr. Edwards and Ms. Winningham make an unusually refreshing pair.
  18. The Sea Inside
    The film fails to convey the claustrophobic terror experienced by a man who called his book "Letters From Hell."
  19. Smoking Causes Coughing
    Welcome back to the zany world of Quentin Dupieux, a French director who cranks out (his previous film, the time-travel fable “Incredible But True,” came out just months ago) low-budget absurdist comedies with preposterous premises that he always takes at face value, no matter how demented. His latest might be his funniest yet.
  20. The Others
    The icy reserve that sometimes stands in the way of Kidman's expressive gifts here becomes the foundation of her most emotionally layered performance to date.
  21. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
    It places Basquiat's art in a cultural context with an enthusiasm and zest that make the many pictures shown come blazingly alive.
  22. Fake It So Real
    The taunts in the ring may be make-believe, but the slams against the mat are agonizingly genuine in Robert Greene's vivid documentary Fake It So Real.
  23. Tuner
    It’s a little silly, and yet, watching Woodall finally let loose then snap back into his sly and sexy cool, you can’t help but be lulled into the melody.
  24. Flushed Away
    It is a relief to encounter such exuberant and infectious silliness.
  25. Awakenings
    Awakenings both sentimentalizes its story and oversimplifies it beyond recognition. At no point does the film express more than one idea at a time. And the idea expressed, more often than not, is as banal as the reality was bizarre.
  26. Catherine Called Birdy
    Dunham prevails in convincing audiences that coming-of-age in a so-called simpler time was equally tumultuous, and crams the corners of her movie with images of other female characters discreetly seizing their own moments of satisfaction — glimpses of joys which realize that it’s in the margins of a medieval tale where the best stuff happens.
  27. Mary and The Witch's Flower
    The spell Mr. Yonebayashi casts is effective, but also ephemeral. It’s minor magic.
  28. The Measure of a Man
    Mr. Lindon’s physically reserved, inward turn as Thierry (wrinkled brow, downcast eyes) dovetails with Mr. Brizé’s restrained realism.
  29. Liv & Ingmar
    [A] small, likably sentimental film.
  30. McCullin
    McCullin is not a groundbreaking documentary, but it wears its conventional format well, taking its cues (and its power) from the photographs themselves.
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