Austin Chronicle's Scores

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For 8,783 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 41% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 57% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 58
Highest review score: 100 The Searchers
Lowest review score: 0 Gummo
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,778 out of 8783
  2. Mixed: 2,558 out of 8783
  3. Negative: 1,447 out of 8783
8783 movie reviews
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  1. Crank
    It's a sympathomimetic monoamine that stimulates the central nervous system! Hooray epinephrine! And that's all I'm going to say about Crank.
  2. American Hardcore
    American Hardcore encapsulates a largely forgotten (by the mainstream, that is) moment in maximum rock & roll history.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Daddy's Little Girls
    Unflinchingly addressing issues of class and race, Perry juggles multiple plot lines and the result emerges as (dare I say?) a surprising mix of Frank Capra and Douglas Sirk.
  4. Hilary and Jackie
    For all its knock-'em-dead acting and aggressively stylish direction, Hilary and Jackie is still best described as arthouse comfort food.
  5. The Autopsy of Jane Doe
    Essentially a chamber piece for Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch (and Olwen Kelly, who plays the lifeless Jane Doe), the film benefits from the actors’ skills and their believable father/son rapport.
  6. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
    Padilha's film offers no easy answers, but the title is a tip off as to where at least his sympathies lie.
  7. Rudy
    If you resist the ride, this will come across as saccharine and obvious, but powered by Astin and fueled by such fine performers as Beatty, Prosky, Taylor and Dutton, the film .
  8. Ghostbusters
    The actresses are so quick and so supple, the force of their individual personalities and their irresistible camaraderie hoik the film up from its middling story and scripted jokes. I would have happily stayed in my seat another two hours to continue keeping their company. Just in a better movie.
  9. Bittersweet Motel
    Manages to capture the essence of one of the world's most surprising success stories.
  10. The Ground Truth
    Foulkrod's film instead airs some of the hard-won truths learned by American soldiers from experience.
  11. Labyrinth of Lies
    Still, as a reminder of the banality of evil and the way a country can conveniently “forget” its casual barbarity (did someone say Guantánamo Bay?), Labyrinth of Lies is a more chilling tale than you’ll find in any horror film this season.
  12. American History X
    A violent, sober cautionary tale, strictly middle-of-the-road when it comes to its much-ballyhooed politics and grimly obvious in its telling.
  13. 8 Women
    Proves to be a pleasant romp. Girls just wanna have fun -- even onscreen.
    • Austin Chronicle
  14. Sin Nombre
    Fukunaga's images are striking, and his storytelling abilities are strong, but his screenwriting skills rely heavily on sappy formulas that add nothing to our understanding of the border-crossing experience.
  15. Shanghai Triad
    Shanghai Triad doesn't feel up to Zhang's usual standards.
  16. The Greasy Strangler
    Hosking has a keen eye for this type of cringeworthy comedy, as evidenced by every scene going on 30 seconds longer than it should, and enhanced by over-the-top, cartoony violence. But is The Greasy Strangler a contender for cult classic status? I guess that’s a question for the ages.
  17. Only the Brave
    Josh Brolin has rarely been better than in this role as the team’s leader, Eric Marsh.
  18. Don't Say a Word
    Murphy's screentime takes a back seat to Douglas', of course, but from that back seat she makes a very big noise.
  19. Pom Poko
    At its best, there's an undoubted thrill and wonder to Pom Poko, like the massive parade of phantoms the tanuki conjure up as one of their harebrained schemes. Takahata's misfire at least provides some wonderful sparkles.
  20. Best Worst Movie
    The piece is a tribute to the 1992 film "Troll 2" and its many fans, who have dubbed it the "best worst movie" ever made.
  21. The Contender
    A potpourri of issue-oriented drama enlivened by superlative performances and smart dialogue.
  22. Chinese Puzzle
    A charming, rambling, modern romantic comedy is so sloppy that it should be done in by its excesses, yet the large, excellent ensemble cast manages to make it all work.
  23. Under the Shadow
    Make no mistake: This is a horror film right to its core, although the nightmare comes both from without (the war, the state decrees regarding how Shideh must dress in public, even when fleeing incoming missiles) and within (the unknown but entirely evil Middle Eastern djinn).
  24. Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos
    Once in a Lifetime's only major failing is the fact that the iconic Pelé is seen only in period footage.
  25. Manhattan Murder Mystery
    Fast and funny, it makes you wish this would-be American master was more often lightweight.
  26. Spider-Man 3
    In short, there are way too many storylines here, especially for a movie that turns stiff whenever it's on the ground. When cascading through the cityscape, Spider-Man 3 still makes us gasp with delight, but on Earth those gasps come solely in reaction to the cynical dreariness of the script.
  27. Palo Alto
    As lovely as it sometimes is, what this film needs is a little more shape and a little less ambience.
  28. Lantana
    While viewers who expect a conventional suspense film may be disappointed in Lantana overall, it does succeed on a smaller, more intimate scale.
  29. Tomboy
    This French import is as casual as the summer afternoons of childhood that it depicts.
  30. Megamind
    Megamind gets existential, but only in blips, and while it is never anything less than vibrant and exceedingly clever, it is also a rather slight thing for such mega-sized proportions.
  31. Kinsey
    Kinsey is too tasteful by half, and while it may have its gentle charms, it never thrills.
  32. Mission: Impossible II
    As pure a summer popcorn overdose as you're likely to find, M:i-2 is breezy, breathless, brainless fun, falling just short of Woo's own "Face/Off" but head and shoulders above anything else out there just now.
  33. El Crimen Perfecto (The Perfect Crime)
    Hitchcock and Almodóvar this film isn't, but it's a worthwhile and fairly amusing effort.
  34. Never Goin' Back
    Never Goin’ Back and its overworked tropes should, by all rights, be a trifle of a film, but what Frizzell and her two leads deliver is more fun than a floating party boat.
  35. Love's Labour's Lost
    The effect is weird but it, actually, kind of works, illuminating both Shakespeare and the artifice of musicals.
  36. VHYes
    Television is reality, and reality is less than television. And that is, by the end of the 72-minute-long VHYes’ gleefully immersive, intermittently profound “found footage,” a lesson Ralph osmotically absorbs through the VHS viewfinder of his life.
  37. Have You Heard About Greg?
    The film offers a familiar structure of family, friends, and experts speaking of O’Brien’s struggle, of the need for more awareness, and of the growing health care crisis that looms in the not too distant future.
  38. Censor
    As a simple story of a moralizer being brought down by their own bloody instincts, it works; but asides about the catharsis of gore, and the inner evil of humanity not needing horror movies to be seeded, imply the script wanted something deeper.
  39. Pecker
    As a whole, Pecker is enjoyable but also feels scattered and transitory.
  40. To Kill a Wolf
    What Taylor illustrates in this version of Little Red Riding Hood is a sensitive portrait of guilt, of the difference between people who simply want to bury it and those that are consumed by it.
  41. BlacKkKlansman
    For all its amazing high points (and this satirically minded takedown of the ludicrousness of the American racist right has many of those) BlacKkKlansman also shows Lee at his weakest. The slight running time drags, a sensation not helped by Terence Blanchard's underwhelming score.
  42. Presence
    Both Koepp and Soderbergh are to blame for the underdelivery of a pivotal, plot-defining, single line of dialogue that should have been a strand woven throughout the film.
  43. Intact
    Intriguing and stylish.
  44. SAS: Red Notice
    Anyone who spent the ‘90s in the Action-Adventure section of their local video store will find a kindred spirit in SAS: Red Notice. There’s more than a little Under Siege or Executive Decision in the film’s DNA, a prolonged, wrong-place-wrong-time gunfight featuring a creature of Western foreign policy’s own making.
  45. Galaxy Quest
    It's a one-note gag, but a superior gag performed with a minimum of cheese and a surplus of laugh-out-loud moments.
  46. Police Story 2 (1988)
    While neither as outlandish as its sequel, Police Story III: Supercop, nor as emotionally turbo-charged as the series opener, this second Ka-Kui adventure rests comfortably in-between the others, overflowing with Chan's patented stuntwork and comic high jinks, and as such, it's a fine introduction to the Jackie Chan phenomenon.
  47. Orphan: First Kill
    What makes Orphan: First Kill worthwhile is that it acknowledges the original before taking a hard left turn into overblown soapy madness. The modern gothic of the first film transforms here into a perfectly fitting explosion of operatic schlock.
  48. My Summer of Love
    When compared with most of what passes for honest teen drama these days, My Summer of Love is a real reprieve.
  49. Goat
    The film is another near-miss talking point in an endless deluge of reminders that this system creates a breeding ground for toxic masculinity.
  50. For a Good Time, Call...
    While its heart is always in the right place, the humor – especially in the sludgy first act – is hit or miss.
  51. Millennium Actress
    Millennium Actress has more layers to it than the proverbial onion, but Kon’s sure hand keeps things moving right along and into the next historical period.
  52. Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
    You didn't actually think Stephin Merritt was going to cozy up to the camera and reveal his deepest-darkest, did you?
  53. Tainted
    Van Sprang is perfect as the bruiser carrying a lifetime of regrets and debts he can never settle.
  54. Bad Moms
    Jokes about anal sex and cameos by the likes of Martha Stewart and Wanda Sykes help or hinder as the case may be, but know that your level of enjoyment is directly proportional to how many drinks you’ve had. My advice: Make it a double.
  55. The Opportunists
    Not only are these characters beautifully underplayed, but they're underplayed by two of the most enthusiastic scene-stealers around: Walken & Lauper.
  56. Luxor
    There's an extraordinary immediacy to Luxor, born of director Durra's unromantic but loving view of the environment.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Good Son
    An above-average “killer kid from hell” picture. Not The Bad Seed but not bad.
  58. War Dance
    "It's difficult for people to believe our story," says one kid, succinctly, eloquently, "but if we don't tell you, you won't know."
  59. Walkabout
    Roeg's points about the contrasts between noble savages and civilized effetes don't stand up terribly well over time.
  60. Howl's Moving Castle
    The voice acting, from new Batman Bale to the almost unrecognizable Bacall is fine – even Crystal reigns in his usual Borscht Belt bravado – if a little plain.
  61. Thirteen Days
    A suspenseful breath of fresh air following on the heels of one of the dumbest Hollywood summers in recent memory.
  62. Scare Package
    When the segments do gel, they share a wickedly witty and suitably sickly, gory sense of humor that relishes insider horror jokes but never feels cliquey.
  63. Jet Lag
    Jet Lag's romantic fluffery is somewhat beneath these old pros, but they make its meet-cute scenario work, mostly -– and most especially when crusty, grumpy, grizzled Jean Reno announces he's "totally in love."
  64. My Bloody Valentine
    MBV 3D is full-on, old-school, Fangoria-approved, gorehound heaven – a supersaturated arterial goregasm with zero socially redeeming values for anyone other than first-year med students.
  65. Due Date
    In its best moments, the film's duo of Galifianakis and Downey Jr. remind us of a bickering Laurel & Hardy digging themselves out of another fine mess. And we're happy to be along for the ride.
  66. Bandslam
    Bandslam belongs to Connell. He has the unruly 'fro and endearing shamblingness of a young Daniel Stern, and he ably brings to life that rarest of cinematic qualities: decency.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday
    If you want a movie filled with kills, blood, fights galore, and more than a little Scott Adkins, Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday is for you.
  68. Sam & Kate
    Sam & Kate doesn't try to elicit big emotional responses, but that's exactly why it gets them.
  69. Frankie and Johnny
    Frankie & Johnny is an episodic romantic comedy of opposites attracting; there's a real joy in watching the courtship of these lovers and the consummation of their undeniable attraction for one another.
  70. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
    Not likely to become any landmark achievement, yet it's sure to earn a berth among the perennial Christmas film classics.
  71. Dog Days
    The film is funnier than it has every right to be, given the boilerplate premise of dogs bringing people together, but Marino and co. go for the brass ring.
  72. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
    Take this one for what it is, an entertaining Disney comedy of really large proportions, and you'll have a ball.
  73. Nocturnal Animals
    It’s a narratively audacious, ultra-stylish, and at times queasily violent film that’s likely to polarize audiences even as they find themselves unable to tear their eyes from the screen.
  74. Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge
    When it comes to the segments, Scare Package II is much more successful than the first film in striking a unified tone – maybe less outrageously funny, maybe a little drier, but still entertaining.
  75. Roman de gare
    It's contemporary French cinema without a dollop of Besson and Jeunet's beloved CGI theatrics, and all the better for it.
  76. Juice
    Dickerson's story of street kids at risk breaks no new ground. It is better than most, but not by much. Sure looks good, though.
  77. Nowhere Boy
    Nowhere Boy reveals the magnitude of the good women behind the grand icon.
  78. Giant Little Ones
    Bisexual coming out stories are basically nonexistent in cinema, and that would be enough to set Giant Little Ones apart from the pack. But that's just one element of a wider story, told with a charming earnestness, about sexuality as a spectrum.
  79. See How They Run
    If you're not au fait with the scandalous yet prim world of the 1950s West End, See How They Run is still a silly if slight affair, playful without ever being weighty, and mostly given a sense of giddiness by Rockwell's gruff detective and Ronan as his determined if doubting assistant.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Hunting of the President
    The film doesn't have the book's detail or range, and by turns it's portentous with trumped-up melodrama or overreaches for lame comedy.
  81. Arrebato (1979)
    Even if it beat Videodrome to the screen by two years, it's not quite the same level of must-see programming. It's fascinating, but less coherent, less scathing, and far more meandering.
  82. Sunshine Superman
    Sunshine Superman is at times a bit too reverent with the material, and there are distracting reenactments (à la The Jinx and Man on Wire), some of which seem extraneous, but overall, the film is a sun-kissed tribute to a singular individual.
  83. Lucie Aubrac
    It's a love story, though, and all the more poignant for being one that actually survived under such tempestuous circumstances.
  84. The Dead
    The film provides a whole new way of looking at the same old dead things. Eat up.
  85. RED
    There's no denying the kick you get from seeing Borgnine (forever lovelorn Marty to me, when he's not tooling around my head as Cabbie, from John Carpenter's Escape From New York) and company kick ass, take names, and go batshit crazy one last time.
  86. Gloria Bell
    Gloria Bell is its own thing. Lelio inflects the film with a believably Californian vibe, all washed-out easiness, and the faint feeling that so much easiness must take an awful lot of work. And Moore can so exquisitely convey two emotions at once, the actorly equivalent of patting a head and rubbing a stomach at the same time.
  87. South of Heaven
    So often, romance subplots in Texas noir feel like afterthoughts, there to increase a little bit of tension. But South of Heaven’s most meaningful moments are in the interplay between Lilly and Sudeikis as the star-crossed lovers with time most definitely not on their side.
  88. Lies
    It's a film so filled with sex and violence that many critics have derided it as nothing short of hardcore porn.
  89. The 11th Hour
    While it's a well-constructed doc, full of relevant information and geared toward those people who still might be fence-sitters on the subject, there's something missing from The 11th Hour's lengthy procession of talking heads: a sense of maddened outrage.
  90. Waiting for 'Superman'
    Ultimately, it may be the case that Guggenheim is a better instigator than filmmaker, as the debate about our educational system appears to be on the upswing at present. For this, rather than all the specifics of its argument and what it leaves out, Waiting for 'Superman' is essential viewing.
  91. North Face
    North Face is a gripping, at times downright epic, account of men vs. mountain vs. other men (and, what the hell, one woman).
  92. Corsage
    Corsage has many things going for it, most of them being the virtuoso performance from Vicky Krieps. She imbues Elisabeth with a restlessness that comes off her in waves, and as her fury percolates, so too does her shrewdness. And so would the dramatic tension, but Kreutzer wields metaphors so bluntly that any emotional poignancy quickly evaporates.
  93. First Position
    It's a wealth of material at odds with a scant running time and shallow focus.
  94. Wayne's World 2
    Surjik's skewed Canadian vision keeps WW2 from descending to the level of Thanksgiving leftovers, with frequent touches of out-and-out weirdness and the sure-footed knowledge that this is a comedy, period. It doesn't have to try to be anything more, and that, I think, is why it works so very well.
  95. A Street Cat Named Bob
    If you’ve ever felt the same about a Felis catus, you’ll cut A Street Cat Named Bob some slack for the same reason I did. You won’t be able to help yourself. And stock up on some Kleenex beforehand. You’re gonna need them.
  96. All My Friends Hate Me
    Social anxiety abounds in velvet-black British college reunion comedy All My Friends Hate Me, a seething sneer of a satire that swirls around angst-plagued Pete (Stourton), the milquetoast member of a group of friends who come together to celebrate his birthday.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Reservation Road
    Connelly, in particular, soars as the nail-biting mother trying desperately to put on a brave face and keep her family together, while Ruffalo and Phoenix, two of Hollywood’s best brooders, are excellent as wounded young fathers.
  98. Planet B-Boy
    It turns out globalization has its good points after all, and they're sporting Chucks, Kangols, and post-Gomi DIY gear. Spin again.
  99. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
    Adamson's pulled a more morally nuanced rabbit (or badger, actually) out of his directorial hat this time out, and the result is a far more engrossing film than its predecessor.
  100. Stars at Noon
    The rainswept city streets overflowing with graffiti and half-torn leaflets are poignant tableaux of melancholy, the jazz-infused soundtrack by Denis’ house band, Tindersticks, unifying each moment. But as evocative and intoxicating as these elements are, they never quite fit into a cohesive whole, as Trish and Daniel tryst their way to the Costa Rican border.
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