Chicago Tribune's Scores

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For 7,601 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 62% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 66
Highest review score: 100 Autumn Tale
Lowest review score: 0 Car 54, Where Are You?
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5,106 out of 7601
  2. Mixed: 1,473 out of 7601
  3. Negative: 1,022 out of 7601
7601 movie reviews
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  1. Wedding Crashers
    Walken is an odd choice for a D.C. power player, wasting his creepiness on this straight, respectable role.
  2. God's Sandbox
    If you're looking for purple romance with a social conscience, it doesn't get much more purple than God's Sandbox.
  3. Happy Endings
    Roos does an admirable job balancing the tragedy and comedy, but he bogs down every character with so much baggage that it's impossible to render them honestly without the captions.
  4. The Warrior
    Most of all, it's a film for moviegoers who love powerful stories and ravishing imagery: timeless, eternal, the kind of tales handed from one generation and culture to the next -- and alive in all of them.
  5. Dark Water
    As a sheer ghostly thriller, it's mostly a spell-binder, but I was disappointed at the ending.
  6. Fantastic Four
    I don't think it will seriously disappoint longtime fans, but it made me itchy as I watched it unfold in ways that the comics never did when I read them in the '60s.
  7. The Beautiful Country
    In the end, it's a heartening, rewarding experience to watch this journey--and, especially, its end.
  8. Saraband
    If it's not an actual masterpiece, it's at least the next best thing, a fully characteristic, fully alive work by a master of his art.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Chronicles
    This is an all-Latino film--a rarity and a pleasure--but what's most curious and refreshing is that Cordero allows the Latinos to naturally embrace their nationalities, accents and cultural peculiarities.
  10. Murderball
    Think "Mad Max" in wheelchairs.
  11. Rebound
    Bewilderingly bad.
  12. The Beat That My Heart Skipped
    It's a thriller that comes at you with gut-clutching ferocity, spewing blood and sex, shaking you up and scrambling your responses.
  13. The World
    With rich irony, The World juxtaposes the teasing, grand images of the outside world's wonders with the insular community and the mundane lives of the park employees.
  14. Undead
    If only they didn't cannibalize their source material so much, then take an extreme rule reversal just before the end credits, they might have achieved something original, rather than just a fan-fiction derivation of George A. Romero's canon.
  15. War of the Worlds
    Rivets and amazes, even if it falls just frustratingly short of the mind-expanding grandeur it could have had.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tropical Malady
    Extremely slow--unbearably so at certain points. And even when there's no action, there's very little dialogue, and we're asked to follow the disjointed and dreamlike story line without the help of anything resembling a narrative.
  17. Bewitched
    An uninspired misfire of a TV-series knockoff that, despite its great cast and smart filmmakers, never manages to scare up much magic.
  18. Land of the Dead
    Romero's newest is a horror movie for hard-core fans of the gory and the gruesome and a classic genre film for genre aficionados.
  19. Rize
    A compelling, bittersweet hybrid of a movie.
  20. Yes
    This is the kind of movie that nice people call ambitious. Let's just leave it at that.
  21. March of the Penguins
    Mostly it's an incredible tale of ritual and perseverance.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Lila Says
    Far less interesting than its premise, primarily because we never know what anyone is really thinking.
  23. Herbie Fully Loaded
    If "Mean Girls" was Lohan's debutante ball, "Herbie" sits her back at the kiddie table. She's matured, and no longer fits in the Disney mold.
  24. The Deal
    Has the worst happy ending I've seen in a while.
  25. The Perfect Man
    I've had the unique pleasure of reviewing almost all of Duff's movies, and if there's one thing to say about the girl, she's consistent: nice, sweet, blond, inoffensive and uninspiring.
  26. Heights
    These are not people me and you and everyone we know know--these are "short version" people, characters who comfort each other by quoting Shakespeare.
  27. Me and You and Everyone We Know
    It's a familiar dance, but something only July could invent, a vignette much like her characters: beautiful, flawed, organic--fine alone but better with the others.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    My Summer of Love
    It's all very mesmerizing, for them and us.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Talent Given Us
    One fears, however, that not every uncomfortable scene was scripted, and that we have just been privy to some awfully private moments. It makes for uneasy viewing, sure, but it's one of the most compelling rides around.
  30. King of the Corner
    Moments of this film reminded me of Alexander Payne's great library of male dysfunction -- "Election," "About Schmidt," "Sideways" -- not because King of the Corner actually reaches Payne's plane, but because I wish it had tried.
  31. Batman Begins
    Nolan is a fascinating, offbeat choice for a huge movie franchise such as this. Just as Bale turns Batman into a near-tragic obsessive -- a Scarlet Pimpernel with the soul of a Hamlet and Monte Cristo -- Nolan turns Batman Begins into something much closer to Miller's "Dark Knight" interpretation.
  32. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
    This romantic-comedy action movie is a fizzle.
  33. The Honeymooners
    The movie suffers from a devastating flaw for a comedy: It isn't very funny.
  34. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D
    There's really just not a lot here. I'm sure Racer's story will entertain the very wee ones -- but so do keys.
  35. Howl's Moving Castle
    Perfect for anyone with a youthful heart and a rich imagination.
  36. 5x2
    When you piece it all together, it becomes mildly fascinating.
  37. Café Lumière
    It's a film objet d'art to contemplate and treasure.
  38. High Tension
    Like all horror films, High Tension builds to a final, sobering flash of chaos that settles all scores. Some viewers will hate Aja's movie for its end-game reveal; others will love it for the very same reason.
  39. Lords of Dogtown
    The look and feel here is classic Hardwicke: gritty and dark, so as to fool you into thinking this film is serious business.
  40. Rock School
    Hilarious, inspired, frenzied.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Apres Vous (After You)
    A sweet, if dramatically overlong trifle.
  42. Milwaukee, Minnesota
    Maybe if Mindel had focused more on his characters, less on the silly "noir" trickery, his film would do Garity justice. As it is, go find better work, kid.
  43. Caterina va in città
    Though "Caterina" is unusually well-acted and crafted for this kind of movie--and both more than casually insightful and irreverent about modern Italian school life, teenage mores and politics--Giancarlo is the one character who makes the movie special.
  44. Cinderella Man
    Ultimately, it's Paul Giamatti ("Sideways"), playing Braddock's manager Joe Gould, who shines. In another actor's hands, Gould would be a secondary character lost in Crowe's shadow, but Giamatti outshines his co-stars at times with his everyman looks and delivery.
  45. Deep Blue
    In terms of pure visual scope, Deep Blue might be one of the best IMAX films never created for the IMAX screen.
  46. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
    More often then not, the relationships and performances are strong and moving, with an effect both breezy-fun and profound.
  47. The White Diamond
    One of the year's best documentaries.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    The Longest Yard
    Where the original was a serious film with funny moments, this movie isn't sure if it's a drama or comedy, too incompetently rendered to be both. What it accomplishes instead is to be nothing at all. An excessive, stupid, empty-headed nothing.
  49. Madagascar
    The film never gets going. It's too slow and plodding for kids--even too obvious.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Ninth Day
    Though The Ninth Day longs for a grander scope, it never lifts much beyond Kremer's personal dilemma.
  51. Genesis
    Capable of enthralling.
  52. Saving Face
    Younger viewers might be annoyed with Saving Face for not being more in-your-face progressive and edgy. Older audiences will be happy that it's not.
  53. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
    All the "Star Wars" movies will continue to entertain us for many years to come. They were grand fun, and this last one's a corker.
  54. Mindhunters
    Mark my words: Mindhunters will do for psycho-thrillers what "Showgirls" did for stripper movies.
  55. Monster-in-Law
    It would take the dark wit of a Billy Wilder or a Coen brother--or at least a Neil Simon--to put across this kind of material.
  56. Unleashed
    Unleashed is like an old dog: No new tricks.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    My Mother
    If you are at all squeamish about incest and/or prefer sex scenes without violent undertones, you should avoid this movie.
  58. Layer Cake
    Don't let the fast-and-loose vibe fool you: Right up to its operatic finale, this is one tight one last job.
  59. Tell Them Who You Are
    Chicago-bred Haskell is such an intense, contentious, prickly figure, he would tend to take over any film portrait, and he definitely dominates here.
  60. Kicking & Screaming
    It's Ferrell who is the vehicle, a mow-you-down comic engine, and everyone else is just along for the ride in this marginally effective, starkly unoriginal family comedy.
  61. Kingdom of Heaven
    A gargantuan epic, a historical adventure-drama of overwhelming visual grandeur.
  62. Mysterious Skin
    An absorbing story. Even though it takes you to places you may not want to go, the film never loses its human touch--that feel of skin on skin or of the past inescapably invading the present.
  63. House of Wax
    Gratuitous gore and young, nubile flesh bind together a cardboard plot.
  64. Brothers
    While the film's strength lies in an ensemble effort, it's really Sarah and Jannik who provide the film with its most compelling characters, its momentum and, ultimately, its heart.
  65. Crash
    Like Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," it is an all-star fresco, but the stars--none of whom carries the movie--get to play the kind of morally ambivalent, sometimes unlikable parts that big-name actors usually avoid.
  66. xXx: State of the Union
    What isn't scary--or exciting, amusing or fun--is XXX: State of the Union, a movie so preposterous, cliché-packed and over the top that it makes the original "XXX" seem as good as the original "State of the Union."
  67. Another Road Home
    Politics hovers over every moment of Another Road Home, Elon's layered, loving and deeply personal documentary about her quest to find the Palestinian caregiver who raised her.
  68. À Tout de Suite (Right Now)
    Its gorgeous black-and-white photography, dirty and matte, will almost convince you that anything this slow, small and bereft of dialogue must be important.
  69. The Holy Girl
    Takes a potentially explosive subject and does it subtly and perceptively.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Wild Safari 3D
    One caution: If you get motion sickness, beware, as much of the ride is bumpy and there's some hill-climbing and -descending that some might find disturbing, even in the comfort of an IMAX theater seat.
  71. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    Even if this new version of "Hitchhiker" doesn't quite capture it all, you'll still want to stick your thumb out and catch a ride.
  72. The Interpreter
    As beautifully designed, swift and sleek as a classic sports car, throbbing with emotion and intelligence, it's a neat suspense film that's also dramatically and sociologically potent, with two supremely talented stars, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, delivering beyond the emotional call of duty.
  73. A Lot Like Love
    A poor man's "When Harry Met Sally."
  74. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
    Should hold you spellbound.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Madison
    The result is a feeling of quiet heroism--people doing things because it's right to do them, even if it's not easy.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    The Man Who Copied
    A sad, wasted movie.
  77. House of D
    The fatal flaw in David Duchovny's big-screen directorial debut, House of D, is not Robin Williams as a retarded janitor. It's David Duchovny, the man who chose to cast Robin Williams as a retarded janitor.
  78. The Year of the Yao
    Corny as it may sound though, it's all true-except, of course, for that mythical movie last-second championship bit.
  79. Palindromes
    As bizarre, provocative and almost deliberately off-putting an indie picture as anything that's popped up in theaters recently.
  80. Fever Pitch
    The gall of Peter and Bobby Farrelly. To think that a romantic comedy might work absent a sleazy wager or maddening miscommunication takes a lot of chutzpah.
  81. Eros
    A classy triple shot of film erotica from three brilliant writer-directors.
  82. Winter Solstice
    All three men turn in superb and understated performances.
  83. ...And They Lived Happily Ever After
    With husband and wife starring, you can't help but wonder which details here are autobiographical. No matter: This is obviously a deeply personal work for Attal, whose comic timing and passion can only serve him well both on screen and off.
  84. Sahara
    Action films can't be this consistently absurd, can't paint their heroes into such dangerous corners, from which only cocktails of luck and divine intervention can save them, over and over. It's a bad-faith bargain with the audience and bad storytelling.
  85. Kung Fu Hustle
    Chow's savagely funny cinematic love letter places Hong Kong legends Yuen Wah, Leung Siu Lung and former Bond girl Yuen Qiu in well-cast pivotal parts, establishing Kung Fu Hustle not only as an endearing homage to a genre's history, but an astonishing piece of cinema in its own right.
  86. Sin City
    Sin City is an evil place, full of awful people, an obsessive movie full of monomaniacal tough guys. Yet when Miller and Rodriguez move it into gear, noir lives.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dust to Glory
    Filmmaker Dana Brown's major error is that he doesn't just shut up and get out of the way.
  88. Control
    A highly exciting, visually alive thriller.
  89. Look at Me
    A witty and psychologically perceptive look at the Parisian literary scene.
  90. Beauty Shop
    The diversity of the Beauty Shop ensemble is a large part of what makes it so much fun to watch;
  91. Guess Who
    Just doesn't have the same zing.
  92. The Ballad of Jack and Rose
    But the film disappoints, partly because it inspires such large expectations.
  93. D.E.B.S.
    So what started as a female "Agent Cody Banks" happily and seamlessly becomes so much more, with style and substance existing in unusual harmony for a spy spoof.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Nina's Tragedies
    Watching Nina's Tragedies, an Israeli film that pocketed 11 of its country's Oscar-equivalents, is a rare but almost perverse experience.
  95. Oldboy
    It's a movie of such jaw-dropping violence, wild improbability and dazzling style it overpowers all resistance.
  96. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous
    An exhausting, predictable, even maddening moviegoing experience.
  97. Mondovino
    It's such a knowledgeable work and so pleasantly obsessed with its subject that it will interest even audiences whose attraction to wine is only casual.
  98. Ice Princess
    I'll describe the central characters in Disney's new ice-skating flick, Ice Princess, and you guess the plot.
  99. The Ring Two
    Despite some impressive technical achievements, it too looks like a movie with little reason for being.
  100. Melinda and Melinda
    Allen gives us at least half a classic comedy - more than we usually get at the movies these days - while having some elegant fun with an idea that has intrigued poets and smart alecks through the ages: the interchangeability of comedy and tragedy.
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