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. Stargate
    Stargate is a clever adventure that should find its audience.
  2. The Last Seduction
    A devilishly entertaining crime story with a heroine who must be seen to be believed, is as satisfying an ensemble piece as Red Rock West.
  3. Love Affair
    Cary Grant's shoes aren't fillable, but Mr. Beatty could have come closer if Love Affair had given him half a chance.
  4. Clerks
    [Smith] also has an uncommonly sure sense of deadpan comic timing.
  5. Pulp Fiction
    A triumphant, cleverly disorienting journey through a demimonde that springs entirely from Mr. Tarantino's ripe imagination, a landscape of danger, shock, hilarity, and vibrant local color. Nothing is predictable or familiar within this irresistably bizarre world. You don't merely enter a theater to see Pulp Fiction; you go down a rabbit hole.
  6. Hoop Dreams
    Hoop Dreams affirms the role of film as a medium for exploring social issues. And like any important documentary, this one raises crucial questions beyond what is on screen.
  7. Wes Craven's New Nightmare
    An ingenious, cathartic exercise in illusion and fear.
  8. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
    Its own efforts to be tongue-in-cheek, as with a backwoods gunman who quotes Emerson and Machiavelli, fall seriously flat. But should anyone have the patience to look closely, the two leading players do show signs of what would soon make them famous.
  9. See How They Fall
    The script, which he wrote with Alain Le Henry, is as confusing and tiresome as the direction. What is meant to be a touching, comic relationship between Marx and Johnny is simply flat.
  10. Dear Diary
    As both a skillful director and a lovable oddball, [Moretti] commands interest. It's easy to follow him anywhere.
  11. The River Wild
    [Hanson] does another deft job of conveying a heroine's secret anxieties, at least during the first half of his story.
  12. Ed Wood
    If Ed Wood has a major failing, it's the lack of momentum. Wood's career had nowhere to go, and to some extent the film has the same problem.
  13. Timecop
    Years of tireless persistence have begun to work in Mr. Van Damme's favor. It's hard not to enjoy his energy, even if his acting gifts still leave a lot to be desired. The fact is that he looks good, behaves affably and kicks with gusto, which is quite enough to satisfy the demands of Timecop.
  14. The New Age
    What sustains The New Age through these falterings are its edgy stars, its lively unpredictability, and the essential seriousness of Mr. Tolkin's thoughts. Even when working in an atypically upbeat mode, in a film that never dares follow its dark prophecy to the bitter end, he sustains a disturbing frankness. [16 Sept 1994, p.C5]
    • The New York Times
  15. Quiz Show
    A supremely elegant and thoughtful parable.
  16. The Next Karate Kid
    The Next Karate Kid doesn't even try to achieve surface credibility. Under the patient ministrations of Miyagi, Julie metamorphoses from an angry tomboy into a loving, disciplined beauty in a matter of weeks. [10 Sep 1994, p.14]
    • The New York Times
  17. What Happened Was...
    In performance, as in the rest of this film, Mr. Noonan only haltingly captures what he seeks.
  18. Arizona Dream
    Arizona Dream is enjoyably adrift, a wildly off-the-wall reverie. It's more than a fish out of water.
  19. Fresh
    Fresh features delicate and sympathetic work from both Mr. Esposito and Mr. Jackson, whose fine characterizations say a lot about the originality of this film's vision.
  20. The Shawshank Redemption
    There are times when The Shawshank Redemption comes dangerously close to sounding one of those "triumph of the spirit" notes. But most of it is eloquently restrained.
  21. Killing Zoe
    Mr. Avary's debut feature, fiercely ambitious but way out of control, is an orgiastically violent exercise in hand-me-down nihilism, much more firmly rooted in cinematic posturing than in real pain.
  22. Natural Born Killers
    Natural Born Killers never digs deep enough. Mr. Stone's vision is impassioned, alarming, visually inventive, characteristically overpowering. But it's no match for the awful truth.
  23. Color of Night
    The enthusiastically nutty Color of Night has the single-mindedness of a bad dream, and about as much reliance on everyday logic.
  24. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
    The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert presents a defiant culture clash in generous, warmly entertaining ways.
  25. Airheads
    The idea has anarchic possibilities, but the film itself is awfully tame.
  26. The Little Rascals
    The main trouble is that The Little Rascals is caught in a time warp, lost between the ingenuous ragamuffins of the early talkies and the more willfully streetwise children of today. So even working the title into the screenplay becomes a strain.
  27. Clear and Present Danger
    Another fast, gripping spy story with some good tricks up its sleeve.
  28. Eat Drink Man Woman
    Its thoughts about its characters don't go much deeper than the bottom of a soup bowl, but those thoughts are still expressed with affection, wit and an abundance of fascinating cooking tips.
  29. The Mask
    An astonishingly lazy and perfunctory effort that does little to realize his (Carrey) comic potential.
  30. Barcelona
    Barcelona, like "Metropolitan," indulges in long, hair-splitting discussions without resorting to broad gags or worrying about wearing out its welcome.
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