Chicago Sun-Times' Scores

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For 8,158 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 73% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 25% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6.1 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Falling from Grace
Lowest review score: 0 Jupiter Ascending
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6,087 out of 8158
  2. Mixed: 1,243 out of 8158
  3. Negative: 828 out of 8158
8158 movie reviews
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  1. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
    Everything that "Sex and the City" wanted to be. It follows the lives of four women, their career adventures, their romantic disasters and triumphs, their joys and sadness. These women are all in their early 20s, which means they are learning life’s lessons; "SATC" is about forgetting them.
  2. Chéri
    The success of Stephen Frears’ film Chéri begins with its casting. Michelle Pfeiffer, as Lea de Lonval, is still a great beauty.
  3. Friends with Benefits
    The news about this movie is that it makes it clear that both Timberlake and Kunis are the real thing when it comes to light comedy.
  4. Muriel's Wedding
    And the casting of minor characters (including Muriel's sister with the naughty-naughty smirk) is flawless.
  5. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
    The special effects are all there, nicely in place, and the production values are sound, but the movie is dead in the water. It tells an amazing and preposterous story, and it seems bored by it.
  6. Citizen Ruth
    A satire with the reckless courage to take on both sides in the abortion debate.
  7. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie
    There must be more. We will not discover it here.
  8. Reel Paradise
    The Piersons went, they showed movies, they returned. Taveuni is more or less the same. But by living and coping together for a year, the family is probably stronger and richer.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Human Capital
    Virzi tends to illustrate his ideas rather than dramatically shape them, and what he has to say about money, power and the nature of greed is rarely invigorating.
  10. Howl
    One of the qualities I like about this film is that the writer-directors, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, are aware of the time when Beat scene was new.
  11. Hot Tub Time Machine
    Succeeds beyond any expectations suggested by the title and extends John Cusack's remarkable run: Since 1983, in 55 films, he's never made a bad one.
  12. Spy Game
    It is not a bad movie, mind you; it's clever and shows great control of craft, but it doesn't care, and so it's hard for us to care about. To see it once is to plumb to the bottom of its mysteries, and beyond.
  13. Two Brothers
    The result is a reassuring fairy tale that will fascinate children and has moments of natural beauty for their parents, but makes the tigers approximately as realistic as the animals in "The Lion King."
  14. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    Most of the time, though, Anchorman works, and a lot of the time it's very funny.
  15. Changeling
    Jolie, Malkovich and Geoff Pierson, as a lawyer who takes Collins' case before the Police Board, are very good at what they do very well. The film's most riveting performance is by Jason Butler Harner as the murderous Gordon Northcott.
  16. Knock at the Cabin
    While my guess is this will be pulverized by some critics and fans for its big swings and logic-defying premise, I found it to be an admittedly loopy but tightly spun, at times wickedly funny and consistently involving psychological thriller that dares to try something different.
  17. The Summit
    Unfortunately, the film’s more moving and memorable moments are mixed in with a king-size (if not quite K2-size) jumble of too much information.
  18. The World According to Garp
    The movie version of Garp, however, left me entertained but unmoved, and perhaps the movie's basic failing is that it did not inspire me to walk out on it. Something has to be wrong with a film that can take material as intractable as Garp and make it palatable.
  19. Pee-wee's Big Holiday
    Pee-wee is still a startling and original and strangely endearing creation. He just deserved a funnier, more intriguing holiday.
  20. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
    For the most part, thanks in great part to Benson’s rich screenplay and Chastain’s nomination-worthy work, I was immersed in this story no matter who was telling the tale.
  21. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
    It's a good thing that Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp are on hand to jack up the acting department. Their characters, two world-class goofballs, keep us interested even during entirely pointless swordfights.
  22. The Congress
    It’s fascinating and boring, intriguing and exasperating, but ultimately it felt like a jambalaya of ideas that didn’t quite mesh into a satisfying experience.
  23. Tallulah
    This is one of the most moving films of 2016. Every 20 minutes or so, it grabs you and puts a lump in your throat.
  24. Biggie and Tupac
    Compulsively watchable and endlessly inventive as it transforms Broomfield's limited materials into a compelling argument.
  25. Eating
    The movie makes its point early and often: That its characters are hung up on food, and eat for unhealthy and obsessive reasons. It's true. We know it's true. We wait in vain for additional insights.
  26. Green Zone
    It is a thriller, not a documentary. It's my belief that the nature of the neocon evildoing has by now become pretty clear. Others will disagree. The bottom line is: This is one hell of a thriller.
  27. The Assassination of Richard Nixon
    Does the film have a message? I don't think it wants one. It is about the journey of a man going mad. A film can simply be a character study, as this one is.
  28. King of California
    When you stand back a step from the movie, you admire Douglas and Wood for starting with potentially unplayable characters, and playing them so well we actually care about a quest that, in a way, seems more designed for Abbott and Costello.
  29. Damsel
    Nearly every scene takes a sideways turn, and nearly every expectation we have doesn’t work out the way we anticipate it working out, and that’s what makes the journey so much fun.
  30. Thomas in Love
    The movie itself isn't as interesting as the conversations you can have about it. It duplicates Thomas' miserable world so well we want to escape it as urgently as Thomas does.
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