Ted Shen

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Chicago Reader
For 78 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 58% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 40% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 0.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Ted Shen's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 Lilo & Stitch
Lowest review score: 30 Beautiful
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 78
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 78
  3. Negative: 3 out of 78
78 movie reviews
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    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Freeze Me
    All this could've collapsed into empty shocks if not for Inoue's gripping performance as an exasperated single woman who senses her happiness slipping away with each vengeful blow.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Drumline
    Exuberant music and precision choreography furnish the thrills in this thoroughly enjoyable saga.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Together
    Chen tries to generate some suspense, but there's never any doubt which side has to win.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Ted Shen
    Better Living Through Circuitry
    It's as slick as anything you might find on the Discovery Channel, and the snippets of 3-D computer animation are too cool for words.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Late Marriage
    Despite its farcical moments, Late Marriage leaves an aftertaste as sobering as other recent films that critique cultural conservatives in the Middle East.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    xXx
    Director Rob Cohen supplies plenty of gore, attitude, loud music, and extreme-sports action -- in particular, a thrilling aerial drop that's followed by a crushing avalanche.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Manito
    Franky G.'s performance as the protective yet combustible older brother is as real as it gets.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Insomnia
    Pacino is typically excitable but also strangely sad, as if the case could take all he's got; Williams, on the other hand, tries playing against type but still goes over the top.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Freaky Friday
    The premise provides a fine showcase for the two appealing actresses, who appropriate each other's vocal and physical mannerisms with dead-on accuracy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Ted Shen
    The Barbarian Invasions
    Arcand's fondness for the good old 60s can be cloying, but despite an uneven cast, he finds a tonal balance between sentimental and cynical that keeps the conversations real and heart wrenching.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Promises
    Timely and informative.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Herod's Law
    Estrada references Welles throughout with his low-angle deep-focus shots, grotesque close-ups, and brassy sound track. The actors are uniformly excellent, embracing their arch roles without succumbing to caricature.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Bombay Eunuch
    Shiva's voice-over narration and the commentary from academics (all in English) are spiked with gender-studies jargon but illuminate the history of this peculiar underclass, over 1.3 million strong, which is beginning to gather political power.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Ted Shen
    Lilo & Stitch
    Smart, poignant, and utterly beguiling.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    ABCD
    Despite the familiar story, both kids are three-dimensional characters, and first-time director Patel embraces their generational dilemmas with feeling and wit.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    I Remember Me
    Its poignance and urgency are undeniable.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 90 Ted Shen
    Eight Legged Freaks
    A cunning and hilarious update of the giant-insect movies of the 1950s.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Biggie and Tupac
    A wily and dogged inquisitor, Broomfield cajoles and confronts a variety of witnesses, charting a web of intrigue that also involved the LAPD, the FBI, and assorted gangbangers and rogue cops.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Bánk bán
    Erkel's folk-flavored music sounds a lot like middle-period Verdi, but many of the melodies are ravishing.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Mule Skinner Blues
    Only the epilogue, a happy ending tacked on to counter the cascading disappointments, seems contrived.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    The Mystic Masseur
    A wry, nonjudgmental look at the blind faith and materialistic ambitions permeating the superstitious Indian subculture, though the tone becomes more caustic as the hypocrisy and corruption of colonial politics strip Ganesh of his moral authority. The cast is uniformly excellent.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    The Sum of All Fears
    Screenwriters Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne stick to Clancy's sure-fire formula -- building tension from the political infighting behind a worsening crisis.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 100 Ted Shen
    Ivansxtc
    Huston's performance is spellbinding. And the naturally lit digital cinematography (by Rose and Ron Forsythe) is both poetic and harrowingly intimate in depicting Ivan's impending death.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    On the Run
    Behind the camera Belvaux builds suspense with an austere tone and clever false alarms; in front of it he plays Bruno as chivalrous yet ruthless.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Black God, White Devil
    The fusion of European and Afro-Brazilian elements–dialogue, exquisite black-and-white images, and music by Villa-Lobos–is startlingly original and poetical in conveying the hope and despair of the oppressed.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Baran
    Despite its mawkish tendencies, the film is remarkable for the naturalistic acting of its cast, particularly the simple, tenderly expressive performances of the two leads.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Het ondergrondse orkest
    Honigmann assembles a mosaic of the postcolonial diaspora that populates the crowded ethnic enclaves of Paris, and the emotional, lovingly captured songs seem to turn the City of Light into a bazaar of world music.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Ted Shen
    Daughters of the Sun
    At times Shahriar succumbs to self-conscious poeticism, and her male characters are invariably thieves and oppressors, but the film draws a good deal of power from the passive anguish of the girl.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    Spellbound
    Blitz shows us these kids in all their quirkiness and dorkiness, letting them do much of the talking as he records them and their families at home.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Ted Shen
    My Neighbor Totoro
    Sheer enchantment, this 1989 animated feature is a key early work by Hayao Miyazaki. It exemplifies Ghibli's style of fanciful realism, paying close attention to minute details as well-drawn figures move across a fluid backdrop. It also deals straightforwardly with substantial emotions like fear of death, though at times it veers toward the heart-tugging cuteness of the Pokemon series.
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