Peter Hartlaub

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San Francisco Chronicle
For 573 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 48% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 9.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Peter Hartlaub's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 56
Highest review score: 100 Alien
Lowest review score: 0 The Smurfs 2
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 246 out of 573
  2. Mixed: 189 out of 573
  3. Negative: 138 out of 573
573 movie reviews
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    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Twilight
    Twilight has a few gory plot turns - mostly offscreen - and one near-sex scene that may offend a few Amish people, but the rest is maybe 33 percent less wholesome than "High School Musical." It's almost certainly less risque than what you were watching when you were 14. (Cue the soundtrack to "Risky Business.")
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Wind Rises
    Miyazaki is arguably at the Kubrick/Polanski level, where his lesser films still yield great rewards. Even during the moments that don't soar, The Wind Rises continues to satisfy.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Peanuts Movie
    The Peanuts Movie delivers genuine happiness with the door left open for woe.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie
    Esrick spent 10 years on the film, and the result is a comprehensive portrait.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Eclipse
    With apologies to George A. Romero and the impending zombie apocalypse, The Eclipse may be the most realistic film where something dead comes to life and tries to feast on human flesh. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/15/MVST1CTGJ4.DTL#ixzz0lDuetYGS
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Abominable
    Abominable delivers all the notes you expect from family-friendly animation these days. And, thankfully, a little bit more.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Chimpanzee
    The stunning and mostly uncompromising visuals more than compensate for the frequent corny turns of phrase.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Scary Movie 4
    About five times as funny as "Scary Movie 3."
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The LEGO Batman Movie
    The Lego Batman Movie is less awesome than its predecessor, but it’s a clever, well-paced, self-aware and completely satisfying kind of less awesome.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Spider-Man: Far from Home
    It’s mostly delightful; a fun movie that successfully hits the reset button for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Black Mass
    A solid piece of filmmaking, from subtle beginning to the excessive end.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    21 and Over
    Writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore find a nice balance between the over-the-top high jinks and an emotional core, which unexpectedly crystallizes relatively late in the movie.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Off the Black
    There's nothing too small about Nolte's performance. He's the perfect companion for a rookie feature film director looking to make a good first impression.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Rocket Science
    Rocket Science has the makings of either a tragedy or a crowd-pleasing underdog story, but writer-director Jeffrey Blitz instead takes the movie on a different, and ultimately more rewarding, direction.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Animation Show 2005
    Very entertaining.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
    A nice surprise, surpassing the quality of the first film.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Descent
    Marshall takes a modest budget and a concept that isn't all that original and produces a frightening, intelligent and sexy thriller.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Peter Rabbit
    Yes, the two-minute trailers were an atrocious affront. But it turns out the other 91 minutes include thoughtful characters and some clever humor in between the pratfalls.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Light Between Oceans
    As much as Fassbender, Vikander and Rachel Weisz, the feelings of isolation, despair and self-reproach deserve top billing in The Light Between Oceans.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    How to Train Your Dragon 2
    It is by far the sharpest-looking DreamWorks Animation film to date.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Life 2.0
    An honest, fair and quite voyeuristic look into avatars and the real-life humans who control them in Second Life.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Heart of the Game
    The end result is an interesting documentary that is as unpolished and gutsy as the championship-caliber high school hoop stars at the other end of his camera.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    The Mist
    While it's riveting throughout, The Mist is a bit bloated.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Zootopia
    Throughout Zootopia, each bustling frame is packed with so much repeated-viewings-rewarded imagery that the screen must be sampled rather than taken in as a whole.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    City with No Mercy
    Has a solid story, which keeps things interesting during the quiet moments when nobody is getting kicked in the head.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Best Worst Movie
    Anyone can make a bad movie. But it takes a unique set of circumstances to make a movie so horrible that people are celebrating its badness two decades later.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Crazy Rich Asians
    The end result is flawed, but also funny, heartfelt and inclusive movie making.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Clerks II
    Dawson turns out to be a necessary ingredient, propelling the emotional core of the film forward, while somehow convincing the audience that a smart, attractive woman could find a schlub like Dante desirable.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Babies
    The similarity between the children is the most striking part of the movie.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Peter Hartlaub
    Darfur Now
    Instructive as a portrait of activism.
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