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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  1. A Place at the Table
    Few are willing to publicly confess their hunger or undernourishment or place it on display. And the problem is kept hidden as long as charitable food banks and soup kitchens continue to disguise the depth of the hunger. A Place at the Table confronts the issue head-on and offers some solutions.
  2. Emperor
    The film bites off much more than it can chew, raising far more issues and personalities than it can successfully weave into one overall narrative.
  3. Oz the Great and Powerful
    Oz the Great and Powerful vacillates between visual wonders and earthbound duds. Is there enough here to make viewers believe? Most probably. Even though the film has no ruby slippers, we all know there’s no place like home.
  4. The Last Exorcism Part II
    The film, however, is short on genuine scares and ingenuity.
  5. 21 and Over
    Lucas and Moore aren’t savvy enough, or brave enough, to truly plumb the gallows humor embedded in their premise.
  6. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
    It’s not that Happy People is uninteresting – its presentation of previously unknown, distant lives is full of lots of interesting tidbits. It’s just that the one sensibility of which we were previously aware – that of Herzog’s – is indiscernible, as if frozen beneath all this movie’s ice.
  7. Jack the Giant Slayer
    A terrific cast, intelligent direction, state-of-the-art special effects, a strong story, and skilled narrative construction all end up being much ado about not very much.
  8. Koch
    The former mayor is an alert onscreen presence, but the film surrounding him is not always so lively.
  9. Dark Skies
    More chilling than terrifying, this movie’s predatory aliens are creatures that mostly mess with people’s heads prior to abducting them.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    John Dies at the End
    The whole movie is an inside joke, a shaggy-dog tale that asks us to pay close attention to its twists and turns, but never rewards us for doing so.
  11. Only the Young
    And yet that is what is so very remarkable about the film: In a slim 72 minutes, it heart-tethers us to these teenagers, paying tribute to their unique and private selves while allowing the audience to see its own reflection in them.
  12. Snitch
    Unfortunately, Snitch is torn between being an ideological drama and a more traditional action film – and Johnson’s presence only contributes to the confusion.
  13. Bless Me, Ultima
    Although Bless Me, Ultima can feel a bit overstuffed, it’s an honest and naturalistic kids’ story about growing up Mexican-American.
  14. Escape from Planet Earth
    This movie is a mess: It keeps doubling back on itself – a twisting pretzel of a plot that doesn’t really make sense.
  15. Safe Haven
    The leads project a sunny patina of wholesomeness and share marvelous tans, but beyond that, it’s a shrugging love match.
  16. Beautiful Creatures
    Beautiful Creatures is a fascinating amalgam that demonstrates that a movie can be smart and dumb at the same time.
  17. A Good Day to Die Hard
    Australian actor Courtney does the honors as the younger McClane, skillfully matching Willis in action sequences, one-liners, and more extended repartee.
  18. Side Effects
    You never really see any of it coming, which is what makes the film such a marvel – and so difficult to discuss.
  19. Identity Thief
    The film is ultimately unsatisfying, not as laugh-out-loud funny as it promises to be in the opening.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Stand Up Guys
    Does anyone, young or old, wish to see a 72-year-old Pacino sporting spiky hair and goatee, hollering in his "Tony Montana" voice about having a boner? Is he in a contest with Mick Jagger to see who can keep up the wild-man shtick into the triple digits?
  21. Warm Bodies
    With "50/50," his last stint in the director's chair, Levine upended convention to make a feel-good cancer movie. He's still defying expectations: In animating the inner workings of the undead, he's made a movie that is both clever and heartfelt.
  22. Bullet to the Head
    The film is a hoot and goes by quickly, but there's nothing here you haven't seen before.
  23. Parker
    I have never doodled during a movie before in my life, but holy hell, Parker's two-hour running time takes a lifetime. Plenty of time for mental doodling, too.
  24. Movie 43
    In Movie 43's better-suited afterlife in the home-entertainment market, those sort of quandaries can be hashed out between bong rips and bags of Cheetos.
  25. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
    In his English-language debut, Wirkola dabbles in everything but commits to nothing, making for an unmemorable brew best left untasted.
  26. Amour
    Love means being helpmates throughout all of life's stages. Death is part of love's bargain, and Haneke lays this fact bare.
  27. Quartet
    Charming, funny, and sentimental, the film is exactly what you expect it to be, but very satisfying in achieving that goal.
  28. Rust and Bone
    The filmmaker has created a haunting movie, one that connects on a visceral level that defies easy explication. The unembellished performances by Cotillard and Schoenaerts exude a raw authenticity that anchor the film's grander melodrama and embed the characters in the viewer's memory.
  29. Mama
    Haunting and extremely atmospheric, Mama is a horror film imbued with an unsettling and affecting power.
  30. The Last Stand
    Despite his acknowledged age, creaking bones, and reduced nerve, Schwarzenegger still delivers quite a performance in this fun, straight-ahead action film.
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