Gene Siskel

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Chicago Tribune
For 511 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 0.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Gene Siskel's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 A Clockwork Orange
Lowest review score: 0 UHF
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 339 out of 511
  2. Mixed: 68 out of 511
  3. Negative: 104 out of 511
511 movie reviews
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    • 73 Metascore
    • 88 Gene Siskel
    River's Edge
    Based on a true story, the movie has a hypnotic, documentary like appeal despite outlandish performances by Crispin Glover as the ringleader of the kids and Dennis Hopper as a wacked-out former hippie who offers them shelter. River's Edge is challenging to watch if only because it doesn't lecture. It simply presents these young people as wandering, stoned souls; shows a few of them grappling with moral responsibility, and allows the rest to fail. As we leave the theater, we can't help but wonder how common their behavior may be.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Gene Siskel
    Volunteers
    It's a shame that this often cute script couldn't have better served, and been better served by, its actors.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 88 Gene Siskel
    Blue Velvet
    One powerful, mesmerizing thriller, a masterful exercise in controlling an audience's attention. [19 September 1986, Friday, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Gene Siskel
    Heartbreak Ridge
    The movie as a movie is a letdown, because all it consists of is Eastwood's hoarse, foul-mouthed complaining about today's "softies" and then his leading into battle in Grenada a bunch of rag-tag kids that he has molded into men. This is all material recycled out of films as varied as "The Dirty Dozen" and "Police Academy." [5 Dec 1986, p.A-C]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 65 Metascore
    • 88 Gene Siskel
    White Men Can't Jump
    A fresh and exuberant romantic comedy that is as smart about playground basketball as Bull Durham was about minor league baseball.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Gene Siskel
    Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
    One of the year`s boldest, most successful films, a film full of ideas that challenges us to examine how we conduct our lives, while at the same time dazzling us with extraordinary visuals.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
    The film with the year's funniest title turns out to be a basketball comedy about the Pittsburgh Pisces team transformed onto a winner by a young boy and an astrologer. Real-life basketball star Julius Erving stars in a trivial but entertaining picture filled with rhythm and blues pop music.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 100 Gene Siskel
    Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
    Good movies can take us to faraway places; great movies usually take us inside the human mind. "Jo Jo Dancer" is a great confessional movie.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 88 Gene Siskel
    Coming to America
    It's a sweet, oft-told story, and Murphy and Hall add a number of very sharp supporting roles-hidden by makeup-to add spice to the general level of gentleness. [1 Jul 1988, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    Mo' Better Blues
    A messy but nonetheless compelling movie.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 100 Gene Siskel
    Schindler's List
    What is surprising is how well Spielberg captures the horror, moving his camera with the fury of a combat photographer on the run. [17 Dec 1993]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 13 Metascore
    • 0 Gene Siskel
    Ski Patrol
    A most unfunny comedy about hijinks on the slopes, featuring a short ski patrol leader, a flatulent dog, assorted cutups and a stereotypical black patrol member who sings and dances a lot more than he skis. [19 Jan 1990, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 74 Metascore
    • 88 Gene Siskel
    The Muppet Movie
    Perfect for family viewing.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Gene Siskel
    *batteries not included
    This film is so harmless it`s boring.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    Dressed to Kill
    A stylish, violent thriller about a sexually frustrated woman (Angie Dickinson), whose fantasies lead to a murder mystery. Directed by Brian De Palma ("Carrie"). Effective, but not for the kids. [1 Aug 1980, p.4-10]
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Gene Siskel
    Midnight Cowboy
    There is no question that this film is flawed by the inclusion of the party scene and Ratzo's dream, but I cannot recall a more marvelous pair of acting performances in any one film. Dustin Hoffman deserves the Oscar for a role that is prickly on the outside, but tender on the inside.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    The Rose
    It's an old, cliche-ridden story made fresh by Middler's energy.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Gene Siskel
    Radio Days
    The brilliance of the film is the way in which Allen pays tribute to radio while subtly condemning television, which, he seems to be arguing, has partially robbed us of our imaginations.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Gene Siskel
    Raging Bull
    Filmed in black-and-white and shockingly well acted by De Niro, Raging Bull suggests that if you are looking for the source of evil in the world, you don't have to look any further than yourself. It's inside you or it isn't. And it comes out or it doesn't. [19 Dec 1980]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 47 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    Rambo: First Blood Part II
    In short, Rambo is very good at what it does, but what it does isn't always that good. [22 May 1985, p.1C]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    Rock 'n' Roll High School
    A freewheeling, up-with-kids-down-with-high-school picture featuring punk rock stars, The Ramones.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Gene Siskel
    The Mission
    This review is a mournful warning, because this film comes to town with all sorts of honors and an impressive line-up. And yet it turns out to be nothing more than a well-intentioned bore. [14 Nov 1986, p.AC]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 18 Metascore
    • 25 Gene Siskel
    Blue City
    A bad script. Bad casting. What`s left? How about the guilty party you can spot within minutes? Add a complete lack of suspense to that list and it ensures that Blue City will be on this critic`s list of the year`s worst movies.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 75 Gene Siskel
    Top Gun
    No doubt about it: Top Gun is going to be the hit that "The Right Stuff" should have been. They are not in the same class of films, but this much must be said: The aerial sequences in Top Gun are as thrilling -- while remaining coherent -- as any ever put on film.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Gene Siskel
    Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
    By using the author's name [Branagh] sets us up for something closer to the text of the Gothic thriller than James Whale's classic 1931 horror film. But Branagh's version is too respectful and ultimately, well, lifeless.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 25 Gene Siskel
    Desperate Hours
    We keep waiting for the movie to stand for something more than a manual of cruelty, but it never does, even though director Cimino makes a heavy-handed attempt through Western locations and Red River Valley on the soundtrack to recall the heroism of another age. [05 Oct 1990, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 51 Metascore
    • 63 Gene Siskel
    Bright Lights, Big City
    Save for the compelling oddity of seeing Michael J. Fox as a cocaine addict, this drama offers nothing special. [1 Apr 1988, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Gene Siskel
    Higher Learning
    John Singleton stumbles badly with a terribly awkward but well-intentioned drama about political correctness and race at a contemporary university. [13 Jan 1995, p.B]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 49 Metascore
    • 63 Gene Siskel
    Running Scared
    Crystal and Hines are immediately likable on the screen, so the fact that Running Scared isn`t all that we expect must be due to the script. The film`s ending does leave room for a sequel. If one is made, director Hyams should get Crystal and Hines a better story as well as that bar in Florida.
    • 19 Metascore
    • 0 Gene Siskel
    I Spit on Your Grave
    A hideously violent shocker about a woman who is repeatedly raped and castrates her victims. [18 July 1980, p.8]
    • Chicago Tribune
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