The New York Times' Scores

For 20,312 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:
20312 movie reviews
  1. Wang once again works splendidly with actresses, and boy, does he have a lot to work with this time.
  2. Visually, and in its soundtrack of overlapping voices, the film sustains a mood of heightened consciousness.
  3. Though Ms. Jovovich's performance dominates the film, she remains pedestrian and underwhelming.
    • The New York Times
  4. Smith makes a big, gutsy leap into questions of faith and religion. He miraculously emerges with his humor intact and his wings unsinged.
  5. Turns out to be a pretentiously righteous drama that drowns any claim to serious attention in a sea of superficial characters.
    • The New York Times
  6. But the animation, with its rich colors and stylized angles, is fun to watch and at times does seem like a psychedelic "Sesame Street."
  7. Almost forbiddingly austere.
  8. The characters...are well cast, well directed and skillfully acted, if not a particularly admirable lot.
  9. Instead of feeling universal, the movie feels claustrophobic.
  10. Its satire is too broad to carry much of a sting.
  11. Serves as an eloquent coda to their unforgettable creative partnership.
  12. What saves Train of Life from sinking into sudsy Holocaust kitsch is its sustained comic buoyancy.
  13. The rare documentary that combines a wildly charismatic subject with an elegant structure...not-to-be-missed.
  14. A cinematic game that might be called Urban Creep Show, New York-style.
  15. Is still sleek, gripping entertainment with a raw-nerved, changeable camera style that helps to amplify its meaning.
  16. Softening that apocalyptic undercurrent is a counter-strain of quiet nobility.
  17. Given genuine life by the dimpled enchantress Nancy St. Alban, Nora makes palpable the bittersweet love at the honest heart of Some Fish Can Fly.
  18. It's cute and jokey and has no particular edge.
  19. Couldn't be more artless.
  20. A fascinating double-edged portrait of 1950s Los Angeles.
  21. An affirmation of the power of music to provide beauty, pleasure and a sense of accomplishment.
  22. Draws a curtain over her intimate personal life.
  23. A landmark feat of Japanese animation from the acknowledged master of the genre.
  24. Irresistable, nimble and very funny.
  25. All the special effects in the world cannot compensate for an inability to generate tension, establish and sustain pace or create any character whose survival is worth rooting for.
  26. Amusing one-joke film.
  27. Tells its glumly bodice-ripping tale with somber sensitivity.
  28. Another demonstration that current movies about upscale black characters have much more traditional values than ones about catty white teen-agers.
  29. In trying to be both bold and nonthreatening, the movie ends up seeming tame and mildly offensive.
  30. Cause for fright in only one respect: the possibility that it could spawn sequels.

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