The New York Times' Scores

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For 20,324 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: 9,408 out of 20324
  2. Mixed: 8,449 out of 20324
  3. Negative: 2,467 out of 20324
20324 movie reviews
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  1. The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
    To be sure, this loosely structured story needs a stronger outline; you’ll often wish for clarifying details on the group’s programming and its unfamiliar instruments. But then the music will play, and you’ll think this film wants for nothing.
  2. 'Til Madness Do Us Part
    This overlong (nearly four hours) but sporadically extraordinary portrait of a forgotten corner of society may be tough going even for fans of forbidding cinema.
  3. Germans & Jews
    Part psychology seminar and sociology course, “Germans & Jews” finds its sharpest insights as it examines the stress of communication, when both sides are so hyper-aware of the past that it hinders what’s said in the present.
  4. Breaking a Monster
    What’s troubling is the film’s slow and steady exposure of a music business machine that gobbles up individuality and spits out a sellable package.
  5. Department Q: A Conspiracy of Faith
    The closing scene of “Faith,” beautifully blunt, ends it on the perfect note. Sure, you could point out a few shortcomings here and there. But those sins are easy to overlook.
  6. Paint It Black
    It’s not an easy movie to embrace, but it lingers.
  7. Tracktown
    Fact and fiction blend nicely in Tracktown.
  8. The Academy of Muses
    While eavesdropping on these academics, you may be captivated by their exchanges while frustrated by their stasis while curious about their lives. Indeed, there are several ways to look at these scenes. But all you really have to do is listen.
  9. Almost Christmas
    The family comedy-drama Almost Christmas is an often disarmingly entertaining picture, in spite of its being a not particularly well-thought-out cinematic contrivance.
  10. Bazodee
    The title, by the way, is Trinidadian slang for being disoriented or dizzy or just a little bit crazy, possibly because of romance. And you might go bazodee over that contagious soca beat.
  11. Wicked
    Despite its bumps, the movie is consistently amusing simply because it is “The Wizard of Oz” and it’s fun watching colorful, off-kilter characters singing, dancing and sometimes flying through the air (without a superhero suit).
  12. Cold War 2
    It is a summer sequel worth its salt, a brisk exercise in suspense and high-gloss mayhem.
  13. Garnet's Gold
    Approaching the story for the traditional trappings — narrative, action, even logic — is to ensure disappointment. But look to it for beauty and lyricism, and you may find a deeper satisfaction.
  14. Yarn
    It isn’t perfect — it’s a little too airy and artsy in spots — but still, thread and string should be jealous.
  15. Ovation
    Dependably genuine, and suffused with Mr. Jaglom’s increasingly mellow intelligence, this lighthearted backstage drama will feel to his fans like a gathering of familiars.
  16. Hooligan Sparrow
    Hooligan Sparrow, which Ms. Wang also shot and skillfully edited, has the pulse of a mainstream thriller but without the pacifying polish and tidiness.
  17. Miss Sharon Jones!
    When [Ms. Jones] bounds onstage with a holler and a howl — and diction that nails every last word to the melody — it’s clear she deserves that exclamation point in the title. Even if the movie around her sometimes struggles to do the same.
  18. Transpecos
    Though rife with implausibilities, Transpecos is fortified by strong acting and a location whose desolate beauty is a gift to Jeffrey Waldron’s serene camera.
  19. Sand Storm
    As a director, Ms. Zexer has a fine eye for the texture of daily life, which she fills in with resonant physical details and sweeping, scene-setting views.
  20. Long Way North
    The frosty landscapes have a subtle beauty, pale and sometimes shrouded in mist, giving the film a very different look from what often comes out of the big studios — somber, which is appropriate to the story.
  21. Don't Worry Baby
    Despite an implausible ending devoid of consequence, “Don’t Worry Baby” benefits from tidy editing, cinematography and, most of all, the presence of the seasoned Mr. McDonald and Ms. Balsam. Their nuanced authority — and the vibrant Manhattan backdrop — make the trip worthwhile.
  22. The Lost Arcade
    Part scrappy, part sweet and wholly enjoyable, The Lost Arcade is a love letter to a vanished piece of New York, and a little wish for the future.
  23. Smithereens
    Eventually, it becomes clear that neither Wren nor the movie is going anywhere, since the character never becomes any more thoughtful or less selfish than she was to begin with, and since her bouncing between Paul and Eric has become both predictable and strained. But before it runs out of steam, Smithereens is ragged, funny and eccentric. It has as much life as the indefatigable Wren, and that's plenty.
  24. Floyd Norman: An Animated Life
    The humble Mr. Norman is always ready with a laugh, and it’s tough not to smile yourself when he reaches for a pencil and starts drawing. When that happens, it’s redundant to say he’s special. Anyone can see it.
  25. Ithaca
    Ms. Ryan’s muted approach may be what we’ve come to expect of looks back at this period — nostalgia always comes with a lot of browns and grays, and with plenty of voice-over (in this case, Marcus’s letters to Homer). But she executes the formula well.
  26. The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years
    The way to watch is to ignore the image burnishing and just feel the moment.
  27. Office Christmas Party
    Sometimes the movie, directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, is too obviously just a framework for its stars to deploy goofy schtick, but the overall package is naughty, inappropriate fun.
  28. The Tenth Man
    The Tenth Man, a modest charmer from Argentina, breathes considerable life into the rather trite scenario of a man discovering his religious roots, in part because it seems genuinely curious about the community in which it’s set.
  29. Olympic Pride, American Prejudice
    [A] deft and comprehensive documentary.
  30. Land of Mine
    Mr. Zandvliet is less interested in the stark battle between good and evil than in the shifting ground of power and responsibility, and the way that every person carries the potential for decency and depravity.
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