Austin Chronicle's Scores

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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:
  1. Positive: 4,774 out of 8778
  2. Mixed: 2,557 out of 8778
  3. Negative: 1,447 out of 8778
8778 movie reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    Black Widow
    The plot is gripping and relatively fast-paced, and Winger and Russell are excellent counterpoints to each other -- Winger is earthy and likable, and Russell is sexy and sinister.
  2. Sid and Nancy
    Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb dramatically and unforgettably burst from nowhere onto the screen with their searing portrayals of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious and American groupie Nancy Spungen. Their performances in this embellished docudrama are so intense and definitive that they leave little room for any other memories of these doomed junkie lovers.
  3. Blue Velvet
    You either think it's dementedly wild at heart or a lost highway to nowhere.
    • Austin Chronicle
  4. Manhunter
    Michael Mann is in top form here helming this bone-chilling thriller.
  5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    When people think fondly of John Hughes, it's movies like Ferris Bueller that they're thinking of.
  6. The Toxic Avenger
    This is the main movie that built the house of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman's production company devoted to low-budget camp. The Toxic Avenger tells the humorous story of a geeky weakling who is turned into a superhero when he is slimed by some toxic waste.
  7. Ran
    One of the 10 best films ever made, period.
  8. Brazil
    This modern cult classic is a triumphantly dark comedy directed by one of the film world's truly original visionaries, Terry Gilliam. "Imagination" is this futuristic film’s middle name.
  9. Young Sherlock Holmes
    The more one knows about Holmes lore, the more the film's foreshadowings of future cases will be evident. Set in a boys boarding school, the film's imaginings about the life of the young detective are quite entertaining.
  10. Tomboy
    The film's ostensible support for a woman's right to self-expression is undercut by the notion that it doesn't matter what a woman does, anyway, so long as she has a nice ass. Still, there doesn't seem to be much point in getting hot and bothered about a movie that's so poorly-crafted it's going to have a hard time garnering any kind of audience.
  11. Back to the Future
    Back to the Future entertainingly deals with the child's eternal question: If my parents had never met, where would that leave me?
  12. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
    And the rest of the movie? Same screaming, same endless chases, same breasts, same blood, same axe, same lack of explanation, same ending primed for another sequel. Is there a pattern emerging here? In short: same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
  13. The Breakfast Club
    Before lapsing into the land of the insipid,... John Hughes actually made a few movies that shined some light on the trials of modern adolescence. The Breakfast Club is one of them.
  14. Blood Simple
    As good as it ever was, and improved slightly by hindsight, experience, and extra cash.
  15. Tuff Turf
    If Tuff Turf had used a little more of Downey's relaxed intelligence and amiability, and a little less teenage angst and sense of violence as retribution, it might have been tough stuff. As it is, it's a lightweight in a genre populated with featherweights.
  16. The Terminator
    Director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd (both of whom co-wrote the script) demonstrate their storytelling virtuosity.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Red Dawn
    The film has some truly great right-wing anarchic moments, bur for the most part its politics are all too predictably – and only – militaristic, misogynist, racist, and xenophobic; for too much of its running time, it’s just a childishly simplistic masturbatory fantasy for right-wing hebephrenics that’s mostly safe enough to play the White House.
  18. The Element of Crime
    Unsettling and odd, it's the perfect film for a dreary, rainy day.
  19. Sixteen Candles
    Molly Ringwald is radiant here as the eternal teen looking for love.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    Repo Man
    Cox, who wrote and directed the film, creates a strange but hilarious view of our culture, a brilliant satire on modern society...deserves the same respect and attention given to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "This Is Spinal Tap," two films that define the cult category.
  21. Silkwood
    Wonderful performances steal the show in this film based on the real life of Karen Silkwood, a worker in a plutonium factory in Oklahoma, whose health and safety concerns prompt her public exposure of the company's practices which, in turn, lead to dire personal consequences.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 89 Critic Score
    A Christmas Story
    There are countless hilarious scenes in this film. Even if you didn't grow up in the Midwest, you'll still be able to appreciated the anticipation of the holidays and all of the tension and happiness that accompanies the most eagerly awaited and equally dreaded time of the year.
  23. The Beyond
    Does it make any sense? Nope. Does this detract from the film? Not at all. It's classic Italian Grand Guignol at its most disturbing; a car crash, autopsy, and disembowelment all wrapped up in a nice, soggy package.
  24. Star 80
    When all is said and done, director bob Fosse (Cabaret, Lenny, All That Jazz) delivers a sluggish movie that exhibits none of his usual flash and even less psychological drama.
  25. Born in Flames
    Beautifully made, courageously edited, and swift-moving, this challenging, provocative film is a work that is both humanist and revolutionary.
  26. The Big Chill
    Each member of the well-chosen cast not only creates a distinct character with unique and memorable resonances but also meshes these separate personalities to form as satisfying an example of ensemble acting as we are likely to see for quite some time to come.
    • 4 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Smokey and the Bandit Part 3
    Director Dick Lowry and scenarists Stuart Birnbaum and David Dasheu's idea of a good time is so crude, they probably think Caveman was a comedy of manners.
  28. Son of the White Mare
    As a narrative work, it undeniably drags: but then, that's not really its intent. This is a spectacle to be absorbed and analyzed.
  29. Chained Heat
    Linda Blair finds herself locked-up in this women-in-prison cheez fest. The warden has a hot tub in his office and Stella Stevens cracks the whip.
  30. Valley Girl
    Coolidge has no axe to grind with Valley Girls. They’re simply teenagers subject to the classic problems of love and peer pressure, albeit spiced with their own distinct valley jargon. Coolidge directs all this with a light hand and the non-stop musical score features music by the Plimsouls, Josie Cotton, Clash, Men at Work, Sparks, and many more.
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