Chicago Reader's Scores

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For 6,312 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 42% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 56% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 60
Highest review score: 100 I Stand Alone
Lowest review score: 0 Old Dogs
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,983 out of 6312
  2. Mixed: 2,456 out of 6312
  3. Negative: 873 out of 6312
6312 movie reviews
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  1. Blossoms of Fire
    Ethnographic segments about the natives' daily life are bridged by expressive folk songs, though the film digresses to consider colonialism, homosexuality, and the effects of globalization on indigenous cultures. Gosling's schoolmarmish narration betrays the filmmakers' awestruck naivete toward the culture, which they seem to consider some sort of matriarchal utopia.
  2. The Real Dirt on Farmer John
    A beguiling combination of agrarian ode and “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” deepened by Peterson's square sincerity as he struggles to find himself in relation to his family's land.
  3. 24 Hours on Craigslist
    Even 82 minutes seems an eternity...The net effect is weirdly reminiscent of taking part in any online community, where a "relationship" is more like a juxtaposing of egos.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Fall of Fujimori
    To her credit, Perry isn't taken in by Fujimori's attempts to distance himself from the controversies that plagued his presidency. Helped by Kim Roberts's excellent editing, she succinctly chronicles his unlikely ascent and subsequent collapse.
  5. Glory Road
    First-time director James Gartner observes all the rituals--the coach busting chops, the team sneaking out to party--but the players are indifferently characterized and the civil rights story has a fake Black History Month feel.
  6. Last Holiday
    Likable as she is, Latifah can't overcome a tortured mistaken-identity plot, buffoonery on the ski slopes, and enough saccharine dialogue to induce shock.
  7. Tristan and Isolde
    Director Kevin Reynolds strikes a good balance between action and romance in this version of the medieval legend, but his leading man is upstaged by the supporting cast.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    That Man: Peter Berlin
    Despite Berlin's frankness about his personal love life and his preference for being watched when he's not having sex, the Garbo of gay porn remains elusive, largely because Tushinski doesn't seem to see the ironies and contradictions in his subject's life. He's much better when exploring Berlin's aesthetic and working methods.
  9. Following Sean
    What promises to be a standard postmortem on 60s ideology becomes a thoughtful essay on the choices we all make between work, family, and personal freedom.
  10. State of Fear
    Yates makes good use of her access to participants in Peru's Truth Commission, creating both an engaging historical survey and a timely warning about the perils of declaring war on terror.
  11. Fateless
    Long, heavy, and not particularly edifying Holocaust drama.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hostel
    Director Eli Roth is adept at building a sense of foreboding; unfortunately, once the bloodletting begins, all sense of drama and logic oozes out along with it.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Grandma's Boy
    The sex, fart, and pot jokes come so fast and furious that a white flag seems the most appropriate response.
  14. I Am Taraneh, I Am Fifteen Years Old
    Saved from bathos by Taraneh Alidosti's performance as the virtuous, wide-eyed girl.
  15. BloodRayne
    Just when you thought camp was dead, along comes this bizarre cross between a Tarantino knockoff and a Hammer horror film.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tau man ji D
    Slick though featherweight adolescent melodrama.
  17. The Promise
    Chen Kaige clearly intended this Chinese fantasy-action spectacle to top Zhang Yimou's "Hero," and I must admit that I prefer it to the earlier movie: the digital effects are sometimes excessive, yet Chen's story of a loyal slave, his master, and a wealthy, seemingly doomed princess is more affecting, especially in the closing stretch.
  18. Match Point
    An efficient genre piece with a few provocative metaphysical trimmings; the mainly English cast is effective.
  19. Wolf Creek
    Holiday counterprogramming at its finest. This gut-churning horror indie is based on true stories of tourists disappearing in the vast Australian outback... This scared the hell out of me.
  20. Casanova
    Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat) directs a sparking screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher (Stage Beauty) and Kimberly Simi; it starts as a frothy boudoir comedy but evolves into a masquerade by turns sweetly meditative and sharply satirical.
  21. Rumor Has It...
    Under the circumstances, MacLaine, Costner, and Ruffalo acquit themselves well.
  22. The New World
    Malick still has an eye for landscapes, but since "Badlands" (1973) his storytelling skill has atrophied, and he's now given to transcendental reveries, discontinuous editing, offscreen monologues, and a pie-eyed sense of awe. All these things can be defended, even celebrated, but I couldn't find my bearings.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Matador
    If he'd (Shepard) gone a few notches darker and deeper he might have had a formidable post-cold war thriller. Still, there's much to enjoy in Brosnan's enthusiastic scruffing up of his Bond/Steele image and in Shepard's energetic, if lightweight, direction.
  24. Munich
    Munich may have value as an act of expiation but not as entertainment or art.
  25. Caché (Hidden)
    This brilliant if unpleasant puzzle without a solution about surveillance and various kinds of denial finds writer-director Michael Haneke near the top of his game, though it's not a game everyone will want to play.
  26. The Ringer
    A flimsy setup dooms this from the start, though its sheer awfulness is something to see.
  27. Cheaper by the Dozen 2
    There's a discernible lack of enthusiasm from almost everyone involved, and Duff, who's gone from wholesome to haggard in two short years, is flat-out scary.
  28. Fun with Dick and Jane
    It's the angriest comedy I've encountered all year, though it's pretty well spoiled by Carrey, who insists on turning it into a star vehicle with his slapstick and spazz attacks.
  29. The White Countess
    Combines a delayed-gratification romance and rumblings of war.
  30. The Family Stone
    The potential for moral confusion in a liberal-minded family -- unpacked so ruthlessly in Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale" -- is scrutinized with more ambiguity in this good-natured comic subversion of the holiday get-together.
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