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 1.4 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. Facing Windows
    Ozpetek brings a straight love story and world politics into the mix, but it's his brilliant cast which completes the connection.
  2. Raising Arizona
    The film has an easy target in poking fun at rural folks, but it also has a warm message about individuality. It's also beautifully photographed. [8 May 1987]
    • Chicago Tribune
  3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
    Is the movie fun? Well, Furiosa’s story doesn’t really welcome that word. It’s gripping, even when it’s a bit of a trudge. Miller’s a visual genius. And a pile-driver. He’s also an adult, with a mature master filmmaker’s sensibility and serious intentions to go with his eternal-adolescent love of speed and noise.
  4. Tarzan
    As a ride, this Tarzan succeeds. As a pop myth, it needs more jungle fever. [18 June 1999, Friday, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  5. Our Brand Is Crisis
    Jane is a genius, but she's deeply flawed and complicated, struggling with substance abuse, mental illness, her own past regrets. That dark underbelly adds depth and dimension to the ironic humor of Our Brand is Crisis.
  6. Arachnophobia
    Arachnophobia marks the directing debut of Frank Marshall, who has worked as Steven Spielberg's producer on many films. He has learned one lesson from Spielberg very well-namely, that getting the small details right about contemporary life can make the most fanciful story seem credible. He also has cast his horror film very unusually well.
  7. Then She Found Me
    A strength of Then She Found Me, from Elinor Lipman's novel, is its straightforward, uncomplicated storytelling that keeps the threads untangled and blends the everyday and the absurd with natural ease.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Strangers
    Bertino's taut, spare thriller is plenty scary without relying on pseudo-historical context. Anchored by convincing performances from Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler, both of whom elevate their roles above the standard horror-movie caricature, this is an enormously unsettling movie.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Under the Sea 3D
    In addition to the romantic music for the cuttlefish courtship, the several musical selections are a step above the usual IMAX fare.
  10. A Tale of Two Sisters
    It's a stunningly creepy specimen of Asian horror.
  11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
    The new film is a fast, funny, engagingly unpretentious 88 minutes that, moving between martial-arts dustups and random satirical jibes, achieves a more successful mix of action and humor than the first. There is plenty for adults here as well as children.
  12. Christopher Robin
    The core human/bear connection is treated with respect. Pooh’s wisdom and kindness cannot be denied. The same impulses worked for the two “Paddington” movies, God knows. Christopher Robin isn’t quite in their league, but it’s affecting nonetheless.
  13. Belushi
    Cutler’s documentary skip-walks a fine line between a great, unstable talent’s rise and fall, and between the un-tender trap of addiction and the joyous energy of a Chicago-bred giant.
  14. Scrooged
    The film works very well, providing lots of laughs, in its first half, setting up the Bill Murray character and his callousness. For a Christmas Eve special he wants to staple antlers on a mouse. [25 Nov 1988, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  15. The Iron Lady
    Meryl Streep excels as Margaret Thatcher. And the movie itself does not work.
  16. Bride & Prejudice
    It's "knowingly" off-the-rails--and if you're in a tolerant or adventurous mood, very entertaining.
  17. Seducing Doctor Lewis
    It's not revolutionary filmmaking. But Seducing Doctor Lewis sails by on charm and confident character acting, even if it's navigating well-charted waters.
  18. Plane
    It’s the junky, janky mid-winter Liam Neeson thriller we used to get with that first flip of the calendar, only this one stars Gerard Butler, and is directed by Jean-Francois Richet, whose two-part gangster biopic “Mesrine” was pretty juicy. This one’s more pulp than juice, but it’s enjoyable.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
    Subtle lessons on friendship, materialism and cooperation along with clever touches.
    • Chicago Tribune
  20. A Room for Romeo Brass
    Offers an honest, understated and unsentimental look at a small incident in the course of a friendship - but it is the kind of incident that defines most childhoods.
  21. Down from the Mountain
    A delightful concert documentary that proves once more what a neglected masterpiece the Coen Brothers gave us last year in their Depression chain-gang odyssey, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
    • Chicago Tribune
  22. Year of the Horse
    Fans of Young's rocking excursions with Crazy Horse -- as opposed to his more polished pop, folk and country-tinged work -- should have a gas at Year of the Horse. [17 Oct 1997, p.F]
    • Chicago Tribune
  23. The Northman
    It’s a hearty stew of influences and rewards and, yes, some gristle.
  24. Legends of the Fall
    There's a lot of beauty and excitement in Legends of the Fall - not least from the actors. [13 Jan 1995]
    • Chicago Tribune
  25. Tower Heist
    For what it is - recessionary wish-fulfillment escapism, with a lot of highly skilled familiar faces in its amply qualified cast - it's fun.
  26. Vice Versa
    Shoulders sloping, not quick on the uptake, utterly agog at the adult world of sex and high-powered business, Reinhold's character is a wonder to behold. And Fred Savage is completely inoffensive as the officious boy-man, which is quite an achievement for a child actor. [11 Mar 1988, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  27. Service (Serbis)
    The theater building is a four-story monster, and by the end of the picture we know it very well, in all its broken-down glory.
  28. The King of Staten Island
    Apatow's greatest strength as a filmmaker is an eye for charismatic performers who are just fun to be around, and The King of Staten Island is a testament to that. In Davidson, Apatow has a uniquely compelling young comedian.
  29. Baby Driver
    It's a thrill to watch it unfold, but the slick filmmaking combined with familiar tropes precludes most spontaneity.
  30. Secret Ballot
    Reserves its sharpest jabs at the harshly circumscribed lives of women in Iran.
  31. The Last Emperor
    A hesitant, conservative approach that yields great elegance and a rhythm that carries the viewer along. Yet the film is haunted by a sense of opportunities not taken, of an artist deliberately reining in his artistry. [9 Dec 1987, p.2]
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
    Much of this strikingly human, rapidly paced and laudably well-rounded film is fascinating.
  33. Time and Tide
    Gives you your money's worth and then some.
    • Chicago Tribune
  34. Dazed and Confused
    For a while, I resented the sexist, cruel behavior in the film, much of it revolving around the hazing of underclassmen. But gradually, I saw the movie turn into a brash expose of stupid adolescent traditions. [24 Sept 1993]
    • Chicago Tribune
  35. Carnage
    A lot of people have no use for Carnage, especially in its unapologetically hemmed-in film version. And yet there isn't a sloppily or casually considered shot in any of the 80 minutes.
  36. Shrek 2
    Shrek is something of a poignant hero here and not terribly ogre-like; Myers obviously wasn't being paid per giggle generated. Diaz's Fiona feels increasingly fleshed out, while the "annoying talking animals" provide most of the laughs.
  37. The Fountain
    It's possible to admire or respect a movie without enjoying it too much, and that's partly the reaction I had to Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. It's an incredibly ambitious film of sometimes thrilling visual achievement, but it didn't connect fully to my mind and nerves.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Wristcutters: A Love Story
    Quite a bit darker than most mainstream romantic comedies. As you might not expect, it’s also quite a bit more inventive and far wittier than most mainstream romantic comedies.
  39. The River
    The River is nothing more than a conventional, albeit pretty, melodrama. [11 Jan 1985, p.4N]
    • Chicago Tribune
  40. Need For Speed
    When the actors are in cars, the movie's fun. When they get out to argue, or seethe, it's uh-oh time. Happily, director Scott Waugh comes out of the stunt world himself, and there's a refreshing emphasis on actual, theoretically dangerous stunt driving over digital absurdities.
  41. Dean
    Martin's a smooth enough director to make fuller and more ambitious pictures than Dean. This one's a promising start.
  42. Beaches
    I heard some sniffling among some audience members, but the story goes for one situation that is guaranteed to produce sympathy. Aside from that, we never accept Midler in her relationship with John Heard. Only her occasional singing redeems an otherwise emotional roller coaster that travels in slow motion. Barbara Hershey is wasted in a boring role.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Return to Me
    These characters deserve more than storybook plotting, as do we. The movie has won our hearts. It shouldn't be so timid about challenging our minds.
  44. San Andreas
    I enjoyed large chunks of San Andreas, largely because the actors give it a full load of sincerity, and there's some bizarrely effective comic relief thanks to Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson as Brits who picked the wrong week to visit the Bay Area.
  45. Street Fighter
    It is beautifully shot and the production design is first-rate. Another strong point is the presence of some excellent actors in small roles. Unfortunately, they all have to work opposite Van Damme, who keeps trying to be witty and smart, but still comes across as a bit of a lunk.
  46. Robin Hood
    While it plays fast and loose with loaded political iconography, this Robin Hood brings a whole new dimension to this age-old tale.
  47. Out of the Furnace
    Affleck, in particular, finds something fierce and noble in uneven material and in his character's rage. He's not like any other actor in American movies.
  48. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
    Despite my McConaughey resistance I got more guilty chuckles from Ghosts of Girlfriends Past than "Failure to Launch" or "Four Christmases."
  49. The Eagle
    The Eagle becomes more interesting the further north it travels.
  50. Levity
    A film of almost paralyzing gravity and large ambitions that, almost inevitably, it can't quite meet.
  51. Steal This Movie
    Feels more like a music video than a serious look back at a time, a place and a very smart, funny and unconventional man.
  52. Young Adult
    Cody would likely acknowledge she's working through her own contradictory feelings toward her protagonist - and that she may have been a draft or two away from shaping those feelings into a terrific black comedy, rather than a pretty interesting one.
  53. Swing Vote
    This one may be soft and derivative. But the actors establish a groove and stay on-message.
  54. Funny People
    50 percent good and 50 percent close.
  55. Maleficent
    This is almost entirely Angelina Jolie's show...this is a performance that goes from point A to point B without seeming rote, or ho-hum.
  56. Injeong sajeong bol geot eobtda
    A flashy, splashy and violent chase thriller.
  57. The Singing Detective
    Despite intelligent, sympathetic direction by Gordon, a brilliant lead performance by Robert Downey Jr. and an adapted script written by Potter himself before his 1991 death, this "Detective" pales next to its predecessor.
  58. Year One
    It's the knockabout biblical lark Mel Brooks never got around to making.
  59. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
    Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead is surprisingly authentic and fun for this kind of nostalgia-baiting remake material, which is naturally formulaic. It’s the focus on character and allowing the actors to shine that makes this one sing, and it should make a star out of Jones, who, like her character, manages to hold it all together.
  60. Cradle Will Rock
    Cradle Will Rock is the masterpiece that wasn't, a magnificent opportunity blown to hell.
    • Chicago Tribune
  61. The Architect
    It's a fairly well-written piece and an even better acted one. And these days, when independent films are increasingly the salvation of the serious American dramatic movie, it's heartening to see something like The Architect, which tries to reawaken a major American dramatic tradition and sometimes succeeds.
  62. Chi-Raq
    If Chi-Raq disarms even a small percentage of those who see it, and provokes any reflection about a gun culture, the uses of satire and the plight of a sadly emblematic city, it was worth the effort. However mixed-up the results.
  63. Agnes of God
    What`s lacking is a clear conception on Jewison`s part as to what this film is about.
  64. Noah
    Neither fish nor fowl, neither foul nor inspiring, director and co-writer Darren Aronofsky's strange and often rich new movie Noah has enough actual filmmaking to its name to deserve better handling than a plainly nervous Paramount Pictures has given it.
  65. Racing Stripes
    Endearing but predictable.
  66. Shopgirl
    On the page Shopgirl was a small but fine Chekhovian thing, coasting along on Martin's omniscient narration and witty prose...The movie version locates roughly half of what worked in the novella.
  67. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
    Unlike other current D.C. types, Elle would never misplace or misidentify her own weapons of mass destruction. They're all in her wardrobe closet and makeup kit.
  68. Barbershop: The Next Cut
    It's a mixed message, but that perfectly encapsulates the confusion of 2016 American politics.
  69. Nerve
    As Nerve builds to a roaring Thunderdome climax (which is resolved all too easily), it starts to lose its grip. But the ride is a neon-saturated teenage dream, high on first kisses and digital hearts.
  70. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
    Sloppy, grimy but quick on its feet, which puts it ahead of certain other (“The Hangover”) R-rated comedies (“The Hangover”) we’ve seen this summer (“The Hangover”).
  71. District B13
    A ridiculous but exciting action movie.
  72. Mr 3000
    Commits the cardinal sin of not being quite as funny as its star.
  73. Ammonite
    What’s missing is the vital emotional turbulence of Sciamma’s modern classic, or of any three-dimensional story of passion and feeling. The compensations here are smaller, but they’re welcome, too; they’re more about two fine actresses digging for what’s underneath the obvious contours.
  74. The Great Buster: A Celebration
    The Great Buster, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s fond if slight appreciation of Buster Keaton, serves as the centerpiece of the Gene Siskel Film Center’s weeklong “Best of Buster” mini-retrospective starting Friday.
  75. The Last Full Measure
    What The Last Full Measure demonstrates is how powerful it can be to shed light on these experiences, through testimony, bearing witness and yes, ceremonial recognition.
  76. Silver City
    It's a dense, winding tale with all of Sayles' razor-sharp dialogue and intrigue. But instead of tracing character paths, Sayles sacrifices solid storytelling in favor of forwarding a political (and environmental) ideology.
  77. 9 Songs
    Ingenious with his use of music and hypnotic pacing, Winterbottom keeps us in his world as usual. But this time that world feels ever more gratuitous, meandering and puzzling, with sex that's less and less authentic even though it's real.
  78. At Close Range
    At Close Range is impeccably photographed, and its other technical credits are fine, too. But this excellence serves a dubious, confused cause, and on that basis the film cannot be recommended.
  79. Gods and Generals
    Has the unfortunate effect of overtipping the dramatic scales in favor of the Southern generals and turning almost everybody into waxen idols who spout flowery rhetoric.
  80. Miracle
    While the movie's heroes lay everything on the line, Miracle is too content to skate along the surface.
  81. The Sapphires
    The script is corny and cliched and goes the way you expect it to go. But those things never stopped any movie from working with an audience.
  82. Desert One
    Though the film initially feels like a patriotic tale of a daring mission, this isn't a story of U.S. military triumph, it's one of sorrow.
  83. Angel Heart
    The movie could reasonably be rated S for slow because director Alan Parker seems more concerned with style and with hiding the film's big mystery than with pacing. We develop no empathy for the Rourke character, and so watching the movie, as attractive as it is physically, is like riding on a slow conveyor belt. [06 Mar 1987, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  84. Bombshell
    However freely fictionalized, I like my docudramas with as much moral complication and human shading as filmmakers can provide. Years from now, it’d be wonderful to look back at something more than good actors, with or without wizardly prosthetics, taking our mind off what’s not quite right with the stories at hand.
  85. Frailty
    Most of Frailty is so good -- done in a low-key, realistic mood of genuine creepiness and dread -- that it doesn't need formula shocks.
  86. RED
    Red starts repeating itself and spinning its wheels and looking for an ending, well before the ending arrives. The actors have considerable fun with it, though.
  87. Young Bodies Heal Quickly
    Betzer's title suggests a hardy spirit and the resilience of childhood; the story, which unfolds in elliptical but often intriguing chapters, indicates the healing might be a little more complicated and difficult.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
    The film itself is such a measured primer of talking heads and footage -- a broad, slick Tibet 101 -- that it seems better suited to the classroom than the big screen, despite its Himalayan scenery and rustic colors.
  89. Valkyrie
    It's a procedural, often absorbing, rarely surprising, about a briefcase bomb and a near-miss. Yet there's no question the film feels dodgy and vague when it comes to the personalities and ideology of the men onscreen.
  90. Breakin' All the Rules
    Isn't exactly a good movie, but it turns out not to be bad, either. It's a romantic comedy that strains to be screwball but at least is likable.
  91. Bride of the Wind
    It's a movie of elegant surfaces, great background music (by both the Mahlers), gossipy underpinnings and pretensions to romantic grandeur.
    • Chicago Tribune
  92. Along Came a Spider
    Freeman gives his overwrought, over-familiar scenes an unlikely shot of intelligence and dignity that cuts through the formulas and almost makes them work.
  93. The Karate Kid
    Jackie Chan co-stars in Morita's old role of the humble maintenance man who coaches the Bullied One. The older Chan gets, the simpler and truer he becomes as a performer.
  94. 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.
  95. High Crimes
    It's still a disappointment: a well-mounted and well-acted suspense movie that, thanks to its illogical script, falls off a cliff midway through.
  96. Romance
    A singularly cheerless trip, explicit but sterile, racy but dull.
  97. The Pink Panther
    This Pink Panther really doesn't have to achieve the heights of the original; it just has to be funny on its own terms. But it pales there too. Kline, a master of comic hypocrisy, deserves more screen time, Emily Mortimer is wasted as Clouseau's adoring assistant Nicole and Knowles is over indulged as Xania.
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