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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    • 47 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Anything But Love
    The film wears its heart--and its nostalgia--on its sleeve, but while it's clearly made by people who love old Hollywood musicals, it never stoops to being just a vehicle for smug genre references.
  2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
    As magnificent as a high-masted 19th-century British warship, as explosive as a Napoleonic-era ocean battle seen above the cannon's mouth... probably the best movie of its kind ever made.
  3. Looney Tunes: Back in Action
    You never lose awareness that Fraser and, particularly, Elfman are acting alongside creatures they can't actually see, and you constantly think you should be having more fun than you are. In the end, you want to ask the filmmakers: Is that all, folks?
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tupac: Resurrection
    The biggest problem with the muddled mea culpa that is "Tupac" is that it is a kiss-up rather than a real examination of the rapper's life, so that anyone can speculate about what he might have become.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John
    Not a triumph or a tragedy, but faithful to its subject matter. And faithful, in this case, seems fitting.
  6. I Vitelloni [re-release]
    One of the screen's great portrayals of the hell-raising and malaise of young men in their 20s, hit Italy like a comic thunderbolt when it was released there in 1953 -- and it struck the American art-house audience in much the same way when it premiered here in 1956. Now it returns, and unlike its five aging-boy protagonists, this movie hasn't lost its first youth.
  7. Red Betsy
    In between all the sentimental (i.e. corny) mumbo-jumbo is a potentially fascinating subplot.
  8. Hukkle
    A film driven by an elusive plot buried like a cryptogram under the action. It's a delightfully screwy ethnographic murder mystery, beautifully photographed in translucent naturalistic color.
  9. Epidemic
    Epidemic will never be confused with von Trier's great films. But it is an intriguing introduction to his later cinematic obsessions.
  10. My Architect
    Movies today rarely touch chords that are spiritual or deeply emotional, but Nathaniel Kahn's remarkable documentary My Architect: A Son's Journey does both.
  11. Love Actually
    The movie grows more cloying and repetitive as it stretches well beyond two hours. Almost every main character boasts the same bashful, puppy-dog attitude toward romance.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Just an American Boy
    Might have struck a deeper chord with fans who are still looking for the Steve Earle who exists behind the music.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Martin & Orloff
    The problem is that the movie is, in comedy parlance, a "bit fest" -- it tries to generate its humor with a barrage of bits, or external gags, rather than letting it emerge organically from the deepening interaction between its two leads.
  14. Elf
    Elf, formulaic but lovable, is essentially "Big" in pointy shoes.
  15. In My Skin
    As psychological drama, In My Skin falls short. But as pure horror, it's unforgettable.
  16. The Matrix Revolutions
    Sets out to answer all sorts of cosmic questions, though the one most frequently asked is more mundane: Is it better than "Reloaded"? The answer is a matter of degree.
  17. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    More effort could have been made to fully flesh out the international perspective on this "people's president," but as a play-by-play look at a modern coup, it's an amazing, insightful film.
  18. The Human Stain
    The Human Stain has those qualities we often want but rarely see in our films: intelligence and ambition, decency and humanity, poetry and pity, fire and ice. Watch it and weep.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Suspended Animation
    This film should have clocked in at 90 minutes, tops, rather than almost two hours. A good, healthy scissor-snipping might have allowed some of its quirkier aspects (like the use of a stun gun and a jaw-dropping lab result) to stand out more.
  20. Die, Mommie, Die!
    It's a screen adaptation of Busch's stage play of the same name, which never really went anywhere after its 1999 Los Angeles debut -- and doesn't go anywhere here.
  21. Shattered Glass
    Quite entertaining.
  22. Beyond Borders
    By throwing so much weight to the love story and increasingly contrived setups, the movie does what you secretly, guiltily hope it will do: It lets you off the hook.
  23. Brother Bear
    There's something vanilla about the whole enterprise, from the one-size-fits-all spiritualism to Phil Collins' generic world-music songs.
  24. Elephant
    The characters need more exploration, especially the killers. Yet this look at teen life and death chills you anyway.
  25. 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.
  26. Radio
    Although his is not a perfect film, Tollin employs his soap-opera dialogue and aim-for-the-solar-plexus message quite unapologetically.
  27. Scary Movie 3
    Plot doesn't matter much here, as Scary Movie 3 exists solely to reference and lampoon other movies, in this case "The Ring," "Signs " and "8 Mile."
  28. In the Cut
    The movie has a nasty, creepy edge that never lets up, and the characters are deliberately grating and alienating. This is a thriller that, like some classic noirs, glories in its own mean aura, its casual profanity and grotesque violence.
  29. Runaway Jury
    It's suspenseful. Fleder and his able cast deliver a brisk, entertaining story that, despite straining credulity at times, earns a positive verdict -- no undue audience-rigging required.
  30. Pieces of April
    In a movie that dwells so wittily and movingly on forgiveness, you have to grant pardon. Clarkson alone makes "April" a feast.
  31. Sylvia
    It's a dreary movie about a dreary character, offering little insight into her poetry or the mental illness that ultimately conquered her.
  32. Veronica Guerin
    I can't imagine a better actress for this part than Australian-born Cate Blanchett. Blanchett, who can be regal ("Elizabeth") or slutty ("The Shipping News"), manages to catch the feel of Guerin.
  33. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
    Has no pretensions about sneaking up on you -- it simply charges, motor humming and blades flying, carving the spot where masochism and entertainment meet.
  34. Returner
    Serves as both an homage to and shameless thief of its influences. The result: a sprawling, deformed, undisciplined piece of cinema that hobbles along on weak, genre-splicing tactics.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Good Boy!
    A tearily adorable canine valentine.
  36. Intolerable Cruelty
    Elegant, cheerfully cynical fun of the kind we used to get regularly from Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks and other masters of the classic Hollywood screwball comedy -- all those '30s-'40s movies about rich people sloshed, or acting crazy and running romantically amok.
  37. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
    There's no question that Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 1 is a virtuoso piece of filmmaking. What's questionable is whether it's more than that.
  38. The Flower of Evil
    Stylish, ingenious and gleaming with charm, wit and malice, it's another expert blend of domestic drama and crime thriller, a vivisection of the bourgeoisie.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Dopamine
    The moody, distinctively San Franciscan Dopamine has other charming little touches -- its humor, its characters, its city life -- that make you want the film to succeed. It doesn't entirely; it's more likable than it is good.
  40. Porn Theater
    Not for the sexually conservative. Not even for the sexually moderate liberal. It is, however, for the right crowd in the right mood, a very fine film.
  41. House of the Dead
    Unimaginatively recycles all the teens-in-the-woods gorefest conventions.
  42. Girls Will Be Girls
    As an intentionally campy film, Girls Will Be Girls dips a cinematic toe into shark-infested waters. Not only must it operate on several levels-making us care for deeply flawed characters and laugh at their bitter lashings-it also has to carry a cohesive story arc. On this count, Girls Will Be Girls fizzles a bit.
  43. Mystic River
    Mystic River is classic Eastwood, classic noir. If there is still some doubt about whether this one-time macho star is actually a world-class moviemaker, Mystic River should end the argument for good. One of the best American movies of the year, crisply well-crafted and beautifully acted.
  44. Bus 174
    A unique portrait of modern crime and punishment, gives us terror without filters, a tragic event captured in all its initial immediacy and anguished aftermath.
  45. The Event
    Just sit, feel a little blue and watch Parker Posey wander through New York in an ugly conservative suit. In "Blade," at least she'll get a snazzier wardrobe.
  46. Out of Time
    It's a twisty, hell-for-leather crime thriller, and director Carl Franklin gives it all the slick, modern trimmings.
  47. School of Rock
    The movie is the cinematic equivalent of a near-perfect three-minute pop song. It makes you laugh, smile and tap your toes over a brisk 88 minutes, and when it's finished, you're ready to hit repeat.
  48. The Station Agent
    For most of the film, Fin is only as odd as Joe and Olivia -- three eccentrics rendered positively normal in a friendship built on the crap we all face every day.
  49. Wonderland
    Fast and frenetic and so unvarnished that it can make you feel unclean watching it. The film rubs your face in glamour and filth. But in the midst of the blood and hysteria, Kilmer plays Holmes with the dirty-angelic looks and wheedling charm of a seedy golden boy on the brink of doom.
  50. Rare Birds
    Rendered bland and frustrating by its endless attempts to make the odd odder.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Bubba Ho-tep
    Coscarelli, the man behind the long-running "Phantasm" splatter series, can't quite conjure a complete movie out the concept and stretches the material until its humorous conceits repeat ad nauseum.
  52. Duplex
    It's stylish, it's sort of smart, it's full of misplaced talent. But it's not funny enough, and maybe, in a way, not dark enough either.
  53. The Rundown
    Has what we usually want to see in movies like this: bravura action, tongue-in-cheek humor, but most of all attitude.
  54. Under the Tuscan Sun
    Most definitely a chick flick.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Luther
    Aside from a couple of unintelligible conversations with himself, there's barely any God here. The film would rather just be inclusive. Luther might have wanted it that way, but as moviegoers, it's hard not to want more.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    My Life Without Me
    The inescapable problem with this film is that everything is precisely as you expect it. And so, cheated out of anything interesting, you just want "My Life Without Me" to be a movie without you.
  57. Prey for Rock & Roll
    It's a raw and raucous rock story that, for once, gets the big picture and the small details right.
  58. Yossi & Jagger
    Most of the film's action takes place on the base, where Fox smartly concentrates on how this relationship -- tormented at times, lighthearted at others -- exists in Israel's military bubble.
  59. Demonlover
    Unlike almost every other sexy modern thriller (especially most recent studio blockbusters), this one gives you a lot to think about.
  60. Anything Else
    Has some of the wit, sass and sexual candor of an "Annie Hall." But it covers the same kind of territory with more bite and bile.
  61. Secondhand Lions
    With such a bang-up cast, this setup could at least elicit some tears, but in its 107 minutes, nary a one welled up in my eyes.
  62. Casa de los babys
    Sayles accomplishes another of his coups here. Eschewing all sentiment, avoiding all pathos, keeping his film and most of the women hard as nails, he manages to tell a compelling story.
  63. In This World
    This is an amazing movie, released at a frightening time and made under remarkable circumstances.
  64. Mambo italiano
    Likable but relentlessly trivial.
    • 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.
  66. To Be and to Have
    A deceptively simple French film about teaching that keeps enlarging as you watch it, becoming beautiful and inspiring in a way most films never touch.
  67. Cold Creek Manor
    Perhaps Figgis proves his unconventionality with Cold Creek Manor after all, creating a thriller without resorting to the genre's usual bag of tricks.
  68. The Fighting Temptations
    Breaks through as a delightful, surprisingly fresh comedy.
  69. Underworld
    Has one other thing in common with "The Matrix Reloaded" -- too much story, too many angles.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Cabin Fever
    It's just a watery, undeservedly smug update of the low-budget, kids-stranded-in-the-sticks bloodfests of the 1970s and '80s.
  71. Matchstick Men
    This movie is a model of technique, beautifully crafted, often brilliantly acted by Cage and the others, but it's a bit hollow at the center.
  72. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    An epic unhinged, and while its best sections suggest a Loony Tune done by Sam Peckinpah and Emilio Fernandez, "Mexico" needs to be even crazier than it is.
  73. Lost in Translation
    Dislocated from their native country and former lives, Bob and Charlotte come to establish a language of their own. Coppola has done the same, proving she boasts one of today's truly distinct filmmaking voices.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Millennium Actress
    Fabulous for many reasons. Most important, this movie is Chiyoko's story, not an anime adventure. It's animated, but it's human and will touch the soul of anyone who has loved deeply.
  75. So Close
    So Close is a beautiful mess. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I loved every stylized minute of it.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    No Good Deed
    Lacks both mystery and urgency.
  77. The Same River Twice
    The title of Robb Moss' documentary, The Same River Twice, draws directly from Greek philosopher Heraclitus' claim that "It is impossible to step in the same river twice."
  78. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
    The best thing about star and co-writer David Spade's Dickie Roberts, Former Child Star is the end-title sequence, a big, sassy sing-along in which dozens of old TV child stars spew out defiant jokes about their old careers and fame's fickle fingers.
  79. Party Monster
    In the end you don't believe what you're watching, and you don't care. This party is a drag.
  80. Taking Sides
    A rarity -- an intelligent and moving drama of ideas that becomes increasingly thrilling as the ideas unfold.
  81. The Order
    Schlock that could and should have been better.
  82. Carnage
    Confidently directed and tightly constructed, Carnage announces the presence of a fresh, powerful directorial mind with each frame.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Jeepers Creepers II
    Horror movies don't have to make sense in the real world, but when you have to help their internal logic along this much, it's pretty much a cue for heckling -- or checking your watch.
  84. The Other Side of the Bed
    A smart, sprightly little movie with beguiling actors and few inhibitions. Though there's nothing startlingly new here, there's a freshness and vigor to the acting, and the crisscrossing love affairs hold your interest.
  85. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
    Meadows clearly has a flair for working with actors and for depicting the rough-and-tumble of ordinary provincial lives. If he could go just a bit deeper, the truly great Midlands movie just might surface.
  86. Civil Brand
    Plagued by continuity problems, ham-fisted storytelling and a problematic voiceover by Da Brat, Civil Brand feels less like a prison movie than a prison sentence.
  87. Suddenly
    At first look, it's a stark and thin story of misguided youth. But give it a week. The girls stay with you, the small moments echo, and you realize that, though this movie doesn't lend itself to a punchy summary, it lends itself to the screen.
  88. Dog Days
    Be forewarned: Dog Days, like many of Seidel's films, will drive some moviegoers to rage and walkouts with its unrelentingly depressing tone. But it also a remarkable, deeply disturbing work by a brilliant filmmaker.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Don't Tempt Me
    If the filmmakers wanted to talk so much, they should have just gotten together for a long, anecdote-filled, wine-soaked Spanish dinner party and amused themselves.
  90. The Battle of Shaker Heights
    Painfully blasé coming-of-age story.
  91. Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator
    Rogowski's transition from youth-culture poster boy to murderer demands deeper analysis.
  92. Marci X
    The actors had little to work with in this passe social satire, but sharper performances might have saved Marci from total humorless ruin.
  93. Rana's Wedding
    Starts out slowly, unfolding a family history through the poetic use of black-and-white photographs -- blending the figures of Rana's ancestors into the frame as if they still watched the family.
  94. The Medallion
    A magic-meets-macho cop movie that's more gimmick than actual movie.
  95. My Boss's Daughter
    This is a movie that boggles the mind: a bad-taste comedy that makes the average effort by the Farrelly Brothers (mysteriously thanked in the credits) look like a Merchant-Ivory film.
  96. Thirteen
    An excellent, unforgettable film.
  97. Uptown Girls
    In Uptown Girls Murphy is like a puppy in traffic; you're confident she'll reach the curb but only because the cars are swerving, not because her moves are so deft.
  98. American Splendor
    Such a stylistic inconsistency might be bothersome in another film, but here it's just part of the texture.
  99. Passionada
    It's a good small film for intelligent audiences who like to watch the movie camera explore other regions and other communities -- something all our movies should do more often.
  100. Open Range
    A blend of the classical and the trite, the beautiful and tawdry, the genuinely moving and the cornball. Oddly, producer-director-star Costner often can't seem to tell the difference.
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