Chicago Sun-Times' Scores

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For 8,156 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: 6,085 out of 8156
  2. Mixed: 1,243 out of 8156
  3. Negative: 828 out of 8156
8156 movie reviews
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  1. The Canyons
    The best acting in The Canyons is done by the porn star. That might be all you need to know about this film, which is the kind of vapid, self-consciously artsy, waste-of-time movie that might never have seen the light of day (or the dark of theater) and would have gone straight to VOD were it not for the triple-threat name-recognition trio of the actress Lindsay Lohan, the director Paul Schrader and the writer Bret Easton Ellis.
  2. Prince Avalanche
    Prince Avalance is frequently funny in a subdued sort of way, but it’s primarily contemplative and eventually intimate.
  3. Lee Daniels' The Butler
    This is an important film presented as mainstream entertainment. It’s a great American story.
  4. Planes
    Planes moves along quickly at a running time of 92 minutes, occasionally taking flight with some pretty nifty flight sequences. The animation is first-rate, and the Corningware colors are soothing eye candy.
  5. Lovelace
    Perfectly capturing the tenor of the times and the grimy underworld of the porn industry, Lovelace is the kind of movie you’ll appreciate and respect but never enjoy.
  6. The Spectacular Now
    Here is the best American movie of the year so far.
  7. Elysium
    Damon’s everyman workhorse is tragically sympathetic, plodding ahead against all odds. Copley is brilliant as the sadistic villain. Foster is … well, you gotta see it to believe it. In the meantime, you’ll be treated to one of the most entertaining action films of the year.
  8. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
    The big action set pieces fizzle. And that’s not good for a fantasy adventure movie, especially when the fantasy component is frequently undercut by sub-standard special effects.
  9. We're the Millers
    We’re the Millers is just good enough to keep you entertained, but not good enough to keep your mind from wandering from time to time. This is an aggressively funny comedy that takes a lot of chances, and connects just often enough.
  10. Blue Jasmine
    Woody is still capable of writing and directing one of the liveliest, funniest and sharpest movies of the year.
  11. The Hunt
    Vinterberg has created a modern horror story about a man’s descent into a Kafkaesque nightmare.
  12. 2 Guns
    With a sharp and funny if sometimes convoluted script by Blake Masters and slick, pulpy direction from Baltasar Kormakur, and of course that first-rate cast, 2 Guns rises above standard action fare.
  13. The Smurfs 2
    The Smurfs 2 probably isn’t any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it’s almost certainly not any better. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much punishment you’re willing to endure for the sake of the small child you’re taking to the movies.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Still Mine
    In a summer populated with comic-book superheroes, ersatz “Transformer” types and stupid buddy comedies, Still Mine lets viewers spend some quality time with real humans for a change.
  15. The Attack
    The Attack is not just about an incident targeting Israelis. This is also the story of not knowing Palestinians.
  16. Blackfish
    Dispiriting as Blackfish is at times, it offers beautiful advocacy for orca freedom. Anecdotes and data indicate these mammals are highly sensitive and social. Treating them as we do for our entertainment and profit is unconscionable.
  17. The To Do List
    Writer/director Carey clearly has some talent, and she and Plaza deserve credit for never pulling their comedic punches. They’re all in. Problem is, it’s mostly a bluff.
  18. The Wolverine
    The Wolverine is one of the better comic-book movies of 2013, thanks in large part to an electric performance by Hugh Jackman.
  19. Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus
    Chilean writer-director Sebastian Silva re-creates a youthful road trip with a head trip at the end in Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, more character sketch than psychedelic sojourn.
  20. Only God Forgives
    This is one of the most shocking and one of the best movies of the year.
  21. Girl Most Likely
    A forgettable movie with a forgettable title about forgettable characters I’d just as soon as forget.
  22. The Conjuring
    The Conjuring manages to place individuals in one isolated situation after another, where the editing and music are perfectly timed to capitalize on the payoff scare moment. We also get a level of writing and acting rarely seen in this genre, particularly when the mothers bond over the fiercely protective love that a parent feels for a child.
  23. Fruitvale Station
    The intimacy of debut writer-director Ryan Coogler’s approach to the film and the no-frills, believably real quality of the main performances combine to drive the senselessness of Oscar’s killing home with visceral impact.
  24. RED 2
    Red 2 not only delivers the action, laughs and thrills of the original — in many ways it surpasses it.
  25. Turbo
    The movie gets a bit slow, with too much time spent on the human characters, who are dreary and underwritten, compared to the big dreams of the little snail. But the film picks up when the racing snails come back onscreen, thanks to the adorable character design, with expressive use of those googly eyes, and especially to the voice talent.
  26. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
    [A] thoroughly detailed (though a bit long) doc that charts the band’s thwarted expectations.
  27. The Look of Love
    In his press notes, Winterbottom adds: “We didn’t make the moral too obvious, or too heavy-handed.” And they don’t. But the bottom line is unmistakable.
  28. Dealin' with Idiots
    The film is a consistently funny gem with moments of inspired lunacy.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    20 Feet from Stardom
    From front to back stage, 20 Feet From Stardom is a compelling look at the spirit of these giving artists as they navigated the rapid musical and social change of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
  30. Grown Ups 2
    An average Adam Sandler comedy, which, sadly, means it’s a below-average comedy — because whatever comedic fire and bursts of genuinely inspired humor Sandler once possessed have long ago burnt out.
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