J.R. Jones

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Chicago Reader
For 1,513 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 6.5 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

J.R. Jones' Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 59
Highest review score: 100 The Baader Meinhof Complex
Lowest review score: 0 Bad Boys II
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 697 out of 1513
  2. Mixed: 598 out of 1513
  3. Negative: 218 out of 1513
1513 movie reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Bernie
    The story provides great roles for Jack Black as the sunny title character, Shirley MacLaine as his dyspeptic victim, and Matthew McConaughey as the good-old-boy D.A. who prosecutes the crime. But some of the best performances come from real-life residents of Carthage as they share their recollections on camera.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 J.R. Jones
    Bridesmaids
    Bridesmaids is hilariously funny, but what makes it exhilarating is how boldly it defies that conventional wisdom about what men and women like.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
    I appreciated its cogent history lesson, which details China's brutal treatment of Tibetan nationals from the late 1940s through the Cultural Revolution and into the '80s, when it executed 15,000 dissidents.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    The Muppets
    Unfortunately, this comeback movie, a labor of love for mush-headed screenwriter and star Jason Segel, errs on the side of sweetness and nostalgia; except for a few good zingers from balcony dwellers Statler and Waldorf, there isn't much here for mom and dad.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    An Inconvenient Truth
    An Inconvenient Truth may not save the planet, but it's already gone a long way toward rescuing Gore's public profile.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    The Bourne Ultimatum
    This adaptation of Robert Ludlum's third and last Bourne thriller doesn't have much story left, so director Paul Greengrass has to keep it moving all the time.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Lady Vengeance
    Chan-wook Park completes his "revenge trilogy" with this ravishing black comedy about a notorious child killer.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 J.R. Jones
    Zerophilia
    The gender-bending comedy of Billy Wilder and Blake Edwards gets a teenpic makeover in this 2005 debut feature by Martin Curland.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Shut Up & Sing
    The movie endorses the liberal conception of the Chicks as free-speech heroes, which doesn't quite wash: Maines shot her mouth off to a receptive overseas crowd, then issued an apology as soon as the backlash began back home.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Lawless Heart
    Tom Hollander gives a strong performance as the considerate and quietly grieving young man.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 J.R. Jones
    Shrek 2
    Like the first movie this is unassailable family entertainment, with a gentle fairy tale for kids and a raft of mildly satirical pop-culture references for parents.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 J.R. Jones
    An Unreasonable Man
    Through it all Nader, as ruefully funny as ever, comments on his adventures.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    The Invisible War
    Dick focuses on a handful of women who were sexually assaulted while on active duty, but they're only the tip of the iceberg; according to the film, which draws all its statistics from government reports, more than 20 percent of female veterans have been assaulted.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 J.R. Jones
    The Motorcycle Diaries
    It never conjures up any coherent drama of its own, focusing instead on the historical destiny of Bernal's beefcake messiah.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Little Children
    The characters are drawn with such compassion their follies become our own and their desires seem as vast as the night sky.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    Another Road Home
    Elon's documentary is fascinating precisely because its high moral tone is compromised by self-interest.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    The Square
    Some have called this neo-noir, but aside from the setting there’s nothing "neo" about it; as in classic noir, the characters are slowly but surely ensnared by their own baser impulses.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    Les amitiés maléfiques
    A biting academic fable about the importance of aggression over intellect.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    A Prairie Home Companion
    Good-humored and enormously entertaining but also sentimental and a little dishonest.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 J.R. Jones
    House
    This incredibly odd Japanese horror feature (1977) is like a Hello Kitty backpack stuffed with bloody human viscera.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    Baadasssss!
    Its mix of personal reminiscence (Mario made his screen debut playing Sweetback as a boy) and cultural history is fascinating. This engages in a fair amount of mythmaking itself, but its lesson in self-empowerment is both vivid and sincere.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    About a Boy
    Illuminating with their energy and wit.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 J.R. Jones
    In This World
    Winterbottom and screenwriter Tony Grisoni were clearly motivated by conscience, but I can't help thinking that Stephen Frears's "Dirty Pretty Things," a much more conventional and contrived movie about third-world refugees, will have a greater social impact than this murky art-house item.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    Blast of Silence
    With its finger-popping jazz score and beat-inspired interior monologue (in second person, no less), this might seem comical if it weren’t so rooted in existential dread.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Daddy Longlegs
    Ronald Bronstein, who wrote and directed the disquieting indie Frownland, steps in front of the cameras for this similarly lo-fi drama, and his loose-limbed performance as the brash, irresponsible father of two young boys establishes him as a genuine triple threat.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    Tabloid
    Morris's trademark device of superimposing giant type over his talking heads - Willing! Manacled Mormon! - often made me wonder if Morris were exposing the world of tabloid journalism or participating in it.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    For a Few Dollars More
    Leone's artful editing of close-ups to communicate the characters' spatial relationships is always a pleasure, and here he unveils his stylistic signature—extreme close-ups of the characters' eyes—as Van Cleef surveys the villain's wanted poster.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 J.R. Jones
    Rize
    Emotionally charged but not entirely honest documentary.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 J.R. Jones
    The Ground Truth
    It's become a critical cliche to say that everyone in the U.S. should see a particular war documentary, but even the most selfish citizen might want to check out The Ground Truth, because unlike the Iraqi victims of the war, the American ones are all around us.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 J.R. Jones
    Iron Island
    A fascinating allegory of modern-day Iran.
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