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
  1. Surrogates' morality is less Asimov than asinine, although it's bizarrely reassuring, in a nihilistic sort of way, to believe that in the future, when the world is ready to play The Sims for real (so to speak), our avatars are all going to look like generic porn stars with shitty airbrush jobs.
  2. Don't believe the hype: Paranormal Activity may be a lot of things, but the words "scary" and "movie" are not among them. It is instead nothing more or less than an excruciatingly tedious YouTube gag cleverly marketed to go viral in the broadest and most box office-friendly way.
  3. In all fairness, the sheer, overwhelming mediocrity of everything about Pandorum – Travis Milloy's hackneyed, ultra-derivative script, Alvart's plodding pacing and dull direction, even the eventual crimson tide of gore that duly arrives just in time to keep audience members over the age of 13 from dozing off – may well constitute a new breed of horror: In space, no one can hear you snore.
  4. It's not a total wipeout: Czuchry embodies the Tucker Max(-ims) to a self-obsessed fault, and there are moments of rough comic brilliance scattered throughout, but really, this particular antihero is all anti- and zero hero.
  5. It’s a perfectly nice period piece and biographical backgrounder, but the film feels as though it’s a meal of tasty side dishes that lacks a main course.
  6. It’s distinguishing the trickle from the treacle that becomes the problem.
  7. The opening montage is a jazzy, grabby thing, artfully layering the kids’ auditions to mimic the frenzied pace of the day. But that freneticism never really goes away, nor does the staccato timing.
  8. They’re not all hideous, the men who sit for interviews with a graduate student (Nicholson) and unload their dirty laundry. Sometimes they’re just feckless, or crass; some are even pitiable.
  9. This time the acclaimed filmmaker tackles an entire “ism” and, much like its ambiguous title, Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore’s film is an unmethodical survey of a gargantuan topic, one that has only grown more so in the year since he began work on the project.
  10. Maybe Soderbergh felt as though he already did a straight-ahead version of this story with "Erin Brockovich" and therefore decided to revamp the tune in the key of Richard Lester.
  11. The sights are ingenious, impressively rendered in 3-D, and the sounds – including cheeky voice work by Mr. T, Neil Patrick Harris, and Benjamin Bratt – are a blast.
  12. Love Happens? It depends on your definition of “love.” And “happens.” There isn’t much of either in this predictable, putzy drama.
  13. An attempt to infuse some girl power into their mash-up of cheeky horror films and teen-angst movies. The result is more mash than smash as Jennifer’s Body squanders its initial good will by failing to deliver the goods on either score.
  14. To a one, they're terrific. But in this overpacked ensemble cast, it's Binoche you want to see more of.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    It’s not a movie. It’s a two-hour infomercial for biodiesel.
  15. Campion’s story of a tubercular poet and his lady love recasts the hackneyed old stanza in refreshing new verse.
  16. It's a bit surprising that a documentary with such an unwieldy title offers such a streamlined and resonant account of history.
  17. This latest offering continues a trend toward increasingly mature moviemaking from the actor/writer/director.
  18. The film moves swiftly and vividly, but in retrospect, numerous plot holes come to mind. Not Forgotten presents a fascinating microcosm but ultimately loses believability when placed in a larger context.
  19. What makes this documentary work is that the Beavan family is so relatable.
  20. Brings absolutely nothing new to the autopsy table that wasn't previously covered.
  21. 9
    This expanded version only suffers, albeit in grim visual splendor, from the extrapolation.
  22. Crude's moving testimony and careful documentation make it hard to turn away from this issue. It will certainly remain in your mind the next time you stop for gas.
  23. Considerably less of a thrillgasm than playing "Frogger" blindfolded.
  24. Indisputably awful comedy.
  25. It’s a vivid indictment of the way in which we all stumble along, yet the film never musters full-throated chagrin at our dull complacency.
  26. Amreeka is anything but a depressing digression on American wartime paranoia.
  27. As mesmerizing as watching bread toast. Death, be not proud, indeed.
  28. The twentysomething talents behind Mystery Team are still in the comedy minors, but this nerdy, nutty, perfectly pitched first swing suggests there are major things to come.
  29. Like a time capsule from another era of journalism, The September Issue chronicles a distant past that flourished not but two years ago.

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