Austin Chronicle's Scores

For 8,778 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 6.7 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:
8778 movie reviews
    • 49 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    There's absolutely nothing here you haven't seen before, and while some kids might be mildly entertained, they would probably be even happier just staying home for the daily Power Rangers re-run.
  1. Maybe it's indicative of my end-of-the-year brain-fry, but this dopey comedy about two of the dumbest guys in the universe on a road trip to misadventure is a hoot.
  2. In its rush to push hot buttons, Disclosure neglected some essentials of good storytelling.
  3. You end up feeling -- despite Jones' dead-on performance -- like you've been cheated. It looks good. It feels right. It gets the job done…. But there's nothing there. Just like Cobb. Maybe that's the point.
  4. Interminably unfunny, this holiday offering about how the three Firpo brothers learn the true meaning of Christmas from the inhabitants of the quaint small town whose bank they've robbed is something of a crime itself.
  5. Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance is so incredible that witnessing it is reason enough to take a look at this movie.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The film courses with vitality -- and makes you glad to be alive. Kieslowski's deft touch gives Red its real magic; in the end, the subtle nuances are what stay with you.
  6. Junior is passable entertainment, but it could hardly be called fully developed.
  7. Gory, spastic fun, Love & a .45 is a broken roller-coaster ride of Texas trouble. It's not anything you haven't seen before, but it might remind you why you liked those other movies in the first place.
  8. Besson's visuals are, as always, vibrant and decidedly European. He fills the frames with odd-angled shots and alarming riots of color that catch you off-balance.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Star Trek: Generations is a successful entry in the series, and a darn good film on its own.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Benny's Video renders the viewer complicit in the actions unfolding so nightmarishly, forcing us to ask ourselves why we watch.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The sidekicks Jean-Bob, the dandy French frog (Cleese), and Speedy, the true-blue turtle (Wright), are mildly amusing, but knowing the talent behind the voices, you can't help but wish that they'd had a hand in the writing as well. Still, the picture has a certain sweetness about it that melds nicely with its old-fashioned look (the cels are all hand-drawn and hand-colored) and the characters are not totally without charm. What it boils down to is that The Swan Princess just doesn't have that old bibbity bobbity boo.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    Fueled by witty imagery, wonderful performances, and careful direction, Heavenly Creatures is a must-see for those who like their films a little on the adventurous side. And while many will feel that they are discovering the work of an intriguing new director, die-hard fans may fear that Jackson is “selling out” to a mainstream audience because the picture isn't loaded with severed limbs and spurting arteries -- but, rest assured, this is hardly the case: Heavenly Creatures is the director's most unconventional movie to date -- and is coupled with both a delicate maturity and confidence that makes his evolution as a filmmaker all the more thrilling to observe and lead one to wonder what this unpredictable talent will come up with next.
  9. It is, however, a very satisfying film, and surely the first in a long franchise (it does, after all, bear the subtitle The Vampire Chronicles).
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Actually, this souped-up sled is a perfect vehicle for TV star/comedian Tim Allen and, despite its formulaic chassis, he takes us through a few interesting twists and turns.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Mamet's layering of issues -- academic freedom, violence to women, political correctness, materialism, elitism -- is masterful, as is his use of broken dialogue -- the sentences stretch out here like a row of jagged stones.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Writers Steph Lady and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) retain much of the source's action and all of its spirit, but still make the work speak to our age.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    On screen, Wolf and Dacascos have a remarkable chemistry. They bounce cheesy lines off of one another like they were reciting Shakespeare or Tarantino or whatever passes for great writing these days. Both are surprisingly good actors. Unfortunately, there are no further surprises.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Roland Emmerich hasn't bettered us as a culture with Stargate, but he hasn't corrupted us, either.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    A carefully constructed thriller whose clever dialogue keeps pace with its fascinating lead actress.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Beatty and Bening are pleasurable to watch, but their onscreen rapport seems to lack just a bit of the fire they had in Bugsy.
  10. Although a few bits (the film is done in blackout sketch style) fall flat and a good ten minutes could be shaved off the running time with no visible damage, it's an impressive and irascible debut that rings true even when you're laughing too hard to hear it.
  11. Very satisfying. Classic storytelling, modern techniques. And the images: This movie has embedded so many strange and new mental pictures in my head that I'm not able to shake free. Yet, neither would I want to be free.
  12. The self-reflexive nature of New Nightmare is a twist we haven't seen before, and it works well, up to a point.
  13. Bits and pieces of the story will, on occasion, leave you scratching your head but it, nevertheless, moves rapidly enough to keep you scurrying to keep pace with the new business at hand.
  14. After spending time with Moretti during the course of this movie, one discovers that he makes an interesting and entertaining companion.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The trailer for the film is more gripping than the feature itself.
  15. The strangest biographical film ever made is also one of the most charming, melancholy and quirkily humorous films of the year.
  16. It's dumb, to be sure, but then again, so were most of the old movie cliffhangers, from which Timecop is obviously derived.

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