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 Piano
    Prepare yourself for something very special...Here's a severely beautiful, mysterious movie that, as if by magic, liberates the romantic imagination. [16 Oct 1993]
    • The New York Times
  2. Return of the Living Dead III
    Return of the Living Dead 3 has more visual than dramatic flair, with the actors most memorable for their sharply-lit cheekbones and upstaged regularly by the macabre special effects.
  3. Fatal Instinct
    Carl Reiner's hit-or-miss film noir parody, a collection of gags that vary much too wildly in terms of timing and wit. All that hold this comedy together are a playful outlook and a conviction that detective stories are intrinsically funny, especially if the detective is as much of a blockhead as Ned Ravine.
  4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
    The Nightmare Before Christmas is a major step forward for both stop-motion animation, which is stunningly well used, and for Mr. Burton himself. He now moves from the level of extremely talented eccentric to that of Disney-style household word.
  5. Rudy
    Rudy shamelessly manipulates the heartstrings and pumps the adrenaline. There are many moments in which it seems like nothing more than a promotional film for Notre Dame...For all its patness, the movie also has a gritty realism that is not found in many higher-priced versions of the same thing, and its happy ending is not the typical Hollywood leap into fantasy...Most important, it has a tough, persuasive performance by Mr. Astin that keeps the role firmly in perspective.
  6. The Beverly Hillbillies
    It is by no means the dopiest thing on the big screen.
  7. Judgment Night
    A tight, energetic sleeper in the action-adventure genre, manages to pack a few anti-machismo sentiments into an otherwise brawny tale.
  8. Farewell My Concubine
    A vastly entertaining movie. It's also one of such recognizably serious concerns that you can sink into it with pleasure and count it a cultural achievement.
  9. Totally F***ed Up
    This feisty, disjointed film finds something compelling in its characters even when they're so druggy they can barely stand.
  10. Mr. Jones
    But the screenplay, by Eric Roth and Michael Cristofer, can sound pat enough to diminish the characters.
  11. Short Cuts
    It raises the spirits not by phony sentimentality but by the amplitude of its art. From time to time, it is also roaringly funny... A terrific movie. [1 Oct 1993, p.C1]
    • The New York Times
  12. M. Butterfly
    M. Butterfly as idiosyncratic as Mr. Cronenberg's work always is, is sometimes too flat and ambiguous for its own good.
  13. Cool Runnings
    A cute, buoyant sports fantasy, jolted along by a reggae soundtrack and playfully acted by an appealing cast. This new Disney comedy is slick, funny and warmhearted, very much in the old-fashioned Disney mode.
  14. Malice
    Though light of weight, it hugs the road around every hairpin curve in its cruel and twisty narrative.
  15. For Love or Money
    Barry Sonnenfeld...proves that he does not need the Addams family to develop a wry, cartoonish atmosphere filled with funny, well-etched minor characters.
  16. Freaked
    Freaked, which was directed by Mr. Winter and Tom Stern from a screenplay they wrote with Tim Burns, has the candy-colored glow of a goofy psychedelic comic book and the irreverent sensibility of Mad Magazine.
  17. Dazed and Confused
    Dazed and Confused has an enjoyably playful spirit, one that amply compensates for its lack of structure.
  18. Bopha!
    Bopha! is so firmly grounded in physical reality (it was shot in Zimbabwe), in the looks and passions of its characters, even in its music, that its deliberate progress from one obligatory scene to the next still carries surprising emotional weight.
  19. The Good Son
    The Good Son has a handsome, scenic look that sustains interest, and a suspenseful ending that is quite literally gripping. The film's final scene is one of its few suspenseful and original moments.
  20. The Program
    A routine Joe College movie.
  21. A Bronx Tale
    A Bronx Tale offers a warm, vibrant and sometimes troubling portrait of the community it describes. Almost everyone within that community sounds a little bit like Robert De Niro except Mr. De Niro himself.
  22. The Age of Innocence
    Ms. Pfeifer is lovely, the visual focal point of the film, but also much more. With her soft voice, her reserve and her quickness of mind, her Ellen has emotional weight. She's the film's heart and conscience. [17 Sept 1993, p.C1]
    • The New York Times
  23. Into the West
    Picturesque and warm-hearted, Into the West moves enjoyably toward the inevitable family reconciliation, and an ending with a supernatural spin. Along the way, it manages to sustain a high level of interest, thanks to fine acting and plenty of local color. [17 Sep 1993, p.C17]
    • The New York Times
  24. Striking Distance
    If Striking Distance were a book, it could be called a good read. Instead, it's a painless watch.
  25. Airborne
    Slackly directed and thinly written, "Airborne," which opened yesterday, exists mainly for its scenes of the big race, in which two teams rocket down a series of winding hills, jumping over cars, scooting under trucks and bouncing down stairs. The camera work in this extended sequence has a nice gliding energy, but the participants are so thickly encased in helmets, goggles and padding that it is impossible to see how the two sides are doing as they elbow each other around the course's hairpin turns.
  26. Household Saints
    Household Saints, a warmhearted fable spiced with magic realism and zesty performances, may be the most endearing of multigenerational Italian American family sagas and is likely the most mystical.
  27. True Romance
    A vibrant, grisly, gleefully amoral road movie.
  28. Undercover Blues
    A most genial surprise, a comic update of cold war espionage movies that, because of the New Orleans location, has the enhanced charm of a stolen holiday...This movie is a breeze.
  29. The Joy Luck Club
    Those unfamiliar with the book will simply appreciate a stirring, many-sided fable, one that is exceptionally well told.
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