The New York Times' Scores

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For 20,303 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: 9,393 out of 20303
  2. Mixed: 8,445 out of 20303
  3. Negative: 2,465 out of 20303
20303 movie reviews
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  1. Chocolat
    Miss Denis's mastery of film-making technology, which is something that can be learned, is equaled by her splendid control of narrative, a more elusive talent. She is astonishing. There are no dark corners in the story. Everything that happens is vivid and clear, though subject to the kind of speculation that tantalizes and rewards.
  2. K-9
    K-9 doesn't have a shred of credibility. And Mr. Belushi, despite some rough edges, lacks a strong enough macho growl to make Dooley seem like a police dog in human clothing. But with its surefire dog tricks and breezy pacing, K-9 is at least mildly diverting.
  3. Loverboy
    Lover Boy should have had the courage to admit it is hopelessly tacky.
  4. Miss Firecracker
    A superficial and sporadically witty piece aimed at such easy targets as family squabbles, small-town folk and beauty contests. The film is not actively awful; just dull and banal. [28 Apr 1989, p.C12]
    • The New York Times
  5. Field of Dreams
    A work so smartly written, so beautifully filmed, so perfectly acted, that it does the almost impossible trick of turning sentimentality into true emotion.
  6. Let's Get Lost
    Chet Baker's face, and the extraordinary ways in which Bruce Weber has photographed it, encapsulate the story of Baker's life in a succession of ghostly, indelible images that are at once hauntingly beautiful and desperately sad.
  7. Pet Sematary
    The movie fails mostly because it doesn't trust the audience to do any of the work. What the dialogue doesn't carefully explain or predict is explained or predicted by ominous music and special effects. The movie seems to be playing to itself.
  8. She's Out of Control
    Anyone who has watched television for even a night will be able to predict every scene in She's Out of Control with total accuracy. It is an extended version of familiar, bland sitcom situations, with Mr. Danza playing a smoother-edged version of his character on the endlessly running hit ''Who's the Boss?''
  9. Major League
    Major League trots out the standard formula, but has the wit to make fun of it now and then. The film is so loopy that it glides over its cliches and indulges in some congenial movie-baseball silliness.
  10. Dead Calm
    Disturbing for all the wrong reasons.
  11. The Dream Team
    There's nothing dreadfully wrong with The Dream Team, Howard Zieff's new comedy, except that it's not funny too much of the time. On those occasions when it is funny, the humor less often prompts laughter than mute appreciation of the talents of the principal performers - Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd and Peter Boyle.
  12. Cyborg
    The movie's endless action sequences are so stylized and overedited that they lack any visceral punch. And Mr. Van Damme's Gibson is so opaque that he makes Mel Gibson's Mad Max seem weepy by comparison.
  13. Say Anything...
    The predictable surface of Say Anything is constantly being cracked by characters who think and talk like real people and by John Cusack's terrifically natural, appealing Lloyd.
  14. Castle in the Sky
    Its detailed fantasy world, including a dark turn-of-the-century mining town and candy-colored futuristic space bikes, is as alluring as any live-action film. Yet this two-hour story about a lost princess, a flying island and space pirates is liable to strain the patience of adults and the attention spans of children.
  15. Heathers
    As snappy and assured as it is mean-spirited. Its originality extends well beyond the limits of ordinary high school histrionics and into the realm of the genuinely perverse.
  16. Troop Beverly Hills
    Only fleetingly amusing, but Miss Long does make it fun for a while.
  17. Fletch Lives
    Fletch Lives looks less like ''Fletch 2,'' which it is, numerically speaking, than ''Fletch 7,'' the bitter end of a worn-out series.
  18. Leviathan
    Leviathan compares favorably with the other recent aquatic horror film Deepstar Six but probably not with anything else.
  19. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
    With their remarkable contributions, ''Baron Munchausen'' is full of moments that dazzle, just for the fun of seeing the impossible come to life on the screen. What the Folies-Bergere once was for the foot-weary tourist, ''Baron Munchausen'' is for the television-exhausted child. Nothing much happens, but you can't easily tear your eyes away from it.
  20. Chances Are
    Romantic comedies, of which Chances Are is nominally one, are better off making their characters appear glamorous and attractive than making them look like ineffectual, long-suffering nincompoops, which is the case here.
    • 16 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
    There are some witty moments, as when the straight man, Proctor, played as usual by Lance Kinsey, uses a squeaky rubber squeegie to wash a window while his partner, Harris (G. W. Bailey), holds a stethoscope to the window to eavesdrop on a conversation taking place on the other side. But most of what takes place in Police Academy 6, from the flying billiard balls to the exploding cigars, are things you have seen someplace before. [3 March 1989, p.1-17]
    • The New York Times
  22. Dream a Little Dream
    This is one incoherent movie; I have a hunch that the writers could not figure it out, either.
  23. Lean on Me
    Audiences are apt to root for the film's Mr. Clark even when they aren't entirely enthusiastic about what he's doing. Much of this is attributable to Mr. Freeman's fiery and compelling performance, but a lot of it also comes from the director John G. Avildsen (''Rocky''), who has stacked the deck in every way he can.
  24. Skin Deep
    Mr. Ritter is an engagingly comic actor, but the women in his life are so uncharacterized, in the writing, casting and the playing, that the comedy fizzles. All that's left is a movie about a seriously alcoholic writer making a mess of things.
  25. High Hopes
    High Hopes manages to be enjoyably whimsical without ever losing its cutting edge.
  26. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
    Meant to be funny, but it only swells the sinus passages. It is a painfully inept comedy.
  27. The Mighty Quinn
    The Mighty Quinn is an entertaining, touristy sort of movie that manages to be lighthearted without being soft in the head.
  28. True Believer
    The film's view of Eddie Dodd is occasionally on the facile side, but Mr. Woods's performance is crackling and passionate enough to give the character depth despite that; it's also laced with snappish, self-mocking humor that Mr. Woods delivers particularly well. This performance is so razor-sharp that Eddie can be seen coming alive with each little triumph, reveling in each little maneuver and taking each little disappointment terribly hard. His enthusiasm is irresistible.
  29. The Fly II
    The Fly II is competent but hardly clever. The only respect in which it matches Mr. Cronenberg's Fly is in its sheer repulsiveness, since this film degenerates into a series of slime-ridden, glop-oozing special effects in its final half hour.
  30. Her Alibi
    A romantic melodrama of a boringness to make your average tooth extraction seem preferable.
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