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. Grind
    This movie is just not cool or hip or in any way extreme. Sitting through Grind is a real grind.
  2. Shaolin Soccer
    The movie overflows with action, slapstick and cliches, but the cliches never impede the action, and the slapstick is so expertly performed, it doesn't annoy you -- much.
  3. Freddy vs. Jason
    Succeeds as a guilty pleasure, a monster mash that clobbers the recent lackluster sequels plaguing both legacies. If only that were a higher compliment.
  4. Le divorce
    Somehow lacks lightness and weight. This is a movie that tries to work a bloody suicide attempt and a murder into a comedy of manners, with almost everything registering in the same narrow spectrum of inconsequence.
  5. S.W.A.T.
    Technically clever but emotionally bankrupt...it's an almost laughably opportunistic movie.
  6. Step Into Liquid
    As a bonus, "Liquid" also includes eye-popping footage of the top surfers in the world (Taj Burrow, Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama) -- wave riders who make the impossible look easy.
  7. Freaky Friday
    Freaky Friday commits a lot of sins; luckily, it has Curtis and a few others to cover them up.
  8. The Magdalene Sisters
    A fierce, brilliant film that breaks (and then mends) your heart.
  9. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...
    A movie best suited for a lazy afternoon or a languorous night, particularly if you're a Francophile. Charming, glamorous, emotionally suggestive but slight, it's full of beautiful and colorful people.
  10. The Secret Lives of Dentists
    A surprisingly insightful, non-judgmental meditation on a troubled marriage-with-kids.
  11. American Wedding
    The crass sentimentality of American Wedding increasingly fits Norman Mailer's definition: "the emotional promiscuity of the basically unemotional." The jokes are unemotional, uncouth and mostly unfunny.
  12. Gigli
    Put together enough pointless, random details, and you get Gigli, a movie that's less incompetent than bewildering.
  13. Buffalo Soldiers
    A well-told story. It pits a compelling central character against a formidable adversary in an intriguing setting while keeping you riveted to the cat-and-mouse strategizing, surprise turns and a few moments of actual warmth.
  14. Mondays in the Sun
    The tired and washed-out Spanish town is a fitting backdrop for these men - a place where life moves on around them at an uninspiring pace.
  15. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
    The filmmaker's imagination is too rich for Spy Kids 3-D to be written off as a failure. But it's too bad that while the visuals have gained a dimension, the story has lost one.
  16. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
    Superior to 2001's "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" in almost every way. It's better directed, more consistently acted, and its writing, while at times ridiculous, at least has a modicum of logic at its core. I still had to slap myself to stay awake.
  17. Seabiscuit
    A grand ride. Sleek, beautiful and packed with emotion, not too flashy but full of heart, this is a movie worthy of its unlikely yet glorious subject: Depression-era America's best-loved racehorse and the two races that made him a legend.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lucía, Lucía
    What a vivacious-looking, tartly-scored bore of a movie.
  19. Camp
    Does have heart and enthusiasm. But it might have worked better if it had been glitzed up and energized the way "Fame" was. It's not a script that can survive this kind of minimal, earnest, self-congratulatory treatment.
  20. Hotel
    Hotel might be best described as the art-house version of "Cannonball Run."
  21. Masked and Anonymous
    "Masked" is erratic and volatile, too, from scene to scene, moment to moment. The script is chaotic, but the top-flight actors play their hearts out.
  22. Dirty Pretty Things
    It's an exciting but brainy, cross-cultural thriller about modern London and life in a contemporary urban pressure cooker, and it depends more on plot, character and atmosphere than it does on chases and gunfire.
  23. Garage Days
    A lively little Australian rock movie hamstrung and sunk by one of the least successful story ideas I've seen recently.
  24. The Embalmer
    The movie, a keen look at the way passion unravels and obsession destroys, creates a black mood, a sense of truth and an enduring chill that stay with you.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    How to Deal
    This is a movie whose title promises to show teenage viewers how to cope with the messed-up, grown-up world they are entering, not how to make it perfect -- or even how to make sense of it.
  26. Bad Boys II
    The kind of movie that gives sequels a bad name, even though, strangely enough, it's better than the 1995 hit that spawned it.
  27. This Thing of Ours
    The younger Provenzano, while under indictment for racketeering and tax evasion, made his contribution to our mob lesson by writing, directing and starring in This Thing of Ours, another installment in the long line of bada-bings and fuggetabouits.
  28. The Sea Is Watching
    The movie, done in a classic measured style, finally moves you almost as much as if it had stayed in Kurosawa's hands. Filled with love and melancholy, it's a fitting, fond epilogue to the "sensei" (the master).
  29. September 11
    An often brilliant, always revelatory, deeply interesting omnibus film.
  30. Johnny English
    An old-fashioned comedy. And in this case, "old-fashioned" means tired, out of date and so abominably blah that you'll fall asleep in your popcorn.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Km. 0 - Kilometer Zero
    If only they had allowed their characters to develop naturally after those first mismatched meetings, Km. 0 might have ventured into more intriguing territory.
  32. The Cuckoo
    It's an unabashed pacifist movie that really works, emotionally and dramatically.
  33. The Holy Land
    Gorlin's fiction, based loosely on his own life, must be better than that of "Frontline." And it's not.
  34. I Capture the Castle
    Smith's story is a charmer: touching, funny, romantic, perceptive, absorbing and full of color and character. And the movie, which has been respectfully and affectionately handled by people who obviously love their source, captures most of those qualities.
  35. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
    Outrageously vapid and overdone movie.
  36. Northfork
    It's a film that is mystifying and haunting -- a cool, brotherly vision of the last day and the coming flood, of American dreams and the vanishing frontier.
  37. A Housekeeper
    Whatever the final message of The Housekeeper, its love story engages both the heart and the head.
  38. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
    At least the movie Pirates of the Caribbean is fun -- but only as long as you don't expect much. Take it from me: The ride is better.
  39. Tattoo
    While Tattoo borrows heavily from both "Seven" and "The Silence of the Lambs," it manages to maintain both a level of sophisticated intrigue and human-scale characters that suck the audience in.
  40. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
    Neither sinful nor particularly bad, the movie nonetheless diverts us when it should transport us. Its heroes' hearts may lie out at sea, but its soul never leaves dry land.
  41. Swimming Pool
    Immersed here in both the fair, dreamy air and chilly, deeper waters, Rampling and Sagnier make Swimming Pool a fine sunlit noir, oozing sensuality and menace.
  42. 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.
  43. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
    Against all odds this "Terminator" deserves to be welcomed back.
  44. Friday Night
    This movie gives us mostly the "what" when we need a bit of the "why" as well. In her other, better work, Denis always supplies it.
  45. 28 Days Later...
    Boyle's new movie is mostly a zombie fiasco, closer to the vacuities of "The Beach" than the scintillating social satire of "Trainspotting."
  46. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
    Its purpose is simply to allow you to soak up the happy grrrrl-power vibes of this easy-on-the-eyes trio amid unevenly executed computer-enhanced action scenes, at which points the movie resembles a video game.
  47. On_Line
    Faces the same problem of all sex-themed films, in that cinematic sex is often unsexy.
  48. Alex & Emma
    The movie doesn't deserve any of the talent bestowed on it, from Reiner's amiable direction to the occasional grace notes in the performances of Hudson, Marceau and David Paymer.
  49. Francis Ford Coppola Presents: The Legend of Suriyothai
    It's the equivalent of our "Gone With the Wind," Russia's "War and Peace" or, to take a more modest example, South Korea's "Chunhyang." Sheer ambition and grandiose make the film interesting -- up to a point.
  50. Hulk
    A movie likely to rally huge audiences who want to take another roller coaster ride. And though it may disappoint a few of them, it's also a film that gives you something to think and feel sad about. It smashes you -- gently.
  51. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
    So excruciatingly awful, the word "dumb" could sue for slander.
  52. The Hard Word
    This Australian production pairs two always-watchable actors, Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths, yet never compels us to feel a thing.
  53. Herod's Law
    Estrada can be faulted for not fully developing these supporting characters, or for not weaving them seamlessly into his story. His eye all along is so clearly and surely on The Point that at times plot details and peripheral performances are washed over.
  54. Rugrats Go Wild
    Though the Thornberrys provide some much-needed energy, asking them to carry the movie is like expecting a sweeps-week celebrity cameo to make an entire 30-minute sitcom episode funny.
  55. Hollywood Homicide
    At its best, "Hollywood" has the breezy irreverence and easy, sunny L.A. atmosphere of Shelton's 1992 "White Men Can't Jump," a buddy-buddy basketball-hustle movie.
  56. Tycoon: A New Russian
    This is a meaty, well-crafted thriller that absorbs and disturbs you from first frame to last.
  57. Manito
    The film recalls Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" and the minimalism of films such as Lars Von Trier's "The Idiots." Eason and cinematographer Didier Gertsch keep the cameras tight on the actors' bodies and faces, creating palpable unease.
  58. Jet Lag
    Slender but surprisingly smart and pleasing.
  59. The Heart of Me
    A handsome but lightweight period piece about passions indulged and repressed, and the calamitous outcomes that result from both courses.
  60. 2 Fast 2 Furious
    Looks sleek and moves efficiently, but there's nothing too distinctive under the hood.
  61. Whale Rider
    One may gripe that the tale at times seems familiar, yet that familiarity is also part of the movie's power: Here's a story from halfway around the world that somehow connects with the hearts of viewers of almost any culture.
  62. The Eye
    The Eye is a feast to behold, but it lacks substance and will leave most viewers wholly unsatisfied.
  63. Love the Hard Way
    Writer-director Peter Sehr displays obvious directing talent, especially in his use of nonlinear love scenes. He shows the coupling, the approach and release all at once, out of order, mixing the entire seduction ritual into one fluid montage.
  64. The Weather Underground
    Notoriety, they won. The revolution, they didn't. That perhaps is the secret message of the film. Dylan was right. You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wrong Turn
    The sole saving grace of Wrong Turn is its honesty. You get exactly what you expect -- blood, guts and people being taken to the killing floor. But just because it's honest doesn't make it good.
  66. Capturing the Friedmans
    The more you learn, the more questions you have about life in that Great Neck house. Leo Tolstoy wrote that "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own fashion," but not even he could have invented the Friedmans.
  67. Together
    It's hard to watch and listen to Together without, in some sense, having your heart lifted by its music.
  68. The Italian Job
    It's an entertaining picture, classy and well executed, but as much as any film I've seen recently, this lush new version of the 1969 Michael Caine thriller tends to prove that, where thrillers are concerned, "more" is often less.
  69. Finding Nemo
    Finding Nemo and its Pixar predecessors tap into the shared gene among the kids and adults that delights in imagination-engaging, eye-tickling and wit-filled storytelling. You connect to these sea creatures as you rarely do with humans in big-screen adventures. The result: a true sunken treasure.
  70. The In-Laws
    Like too many movies these days, takes a clever little idea and all but pounds it into the ground.
  71. Bruce Almighty
    Just a vehicle for Carrey to do his hyperactive shtick. He has some entertaining bits, such as his rain-drenched meltdown in which he victimizes some stunned innocents, but he’s working so strenuously that at times he’s hard to watch.
  72. Grazia's Island
    This is one of those films that can accurately be described as small. Mostly, you just appreciate the time spent with these particular people in this particular place.
  73. Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
    Separate interviews with Flansburgh and Linnell inject the most life and gentle conflict into the film, peeling back their unique musical marriage and friendship.
  74. Ichi the Killer
    Any serious message has been sacrificed on the altar of excess, making us realize why the stylish story probably worked better as a graphic comic book than as a film.
  75. A Woman Is a Woman
    Moves us now because it's so playful and the players are so young - and because later, when Godard tried to play for keeps, in his self-consciously radical films of the late '60s and '70s, he began to lose his game.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Everybody Says I'm Fine!
    Rahul Bose's pleasant little flick, could have been much more than just fine had the director taken more risks. Instead, this movie pulsates with lost opportunity and unanswered questions.
  77. The Sea
    The Sea isn't just brooding Scandinavian domestic tragedy, a lesser Bergman-Ibsen pastiche. It's also hilarious and rowdy, and it plays with our sympathies and expectations in such surprising ways, with such brilliant actors, it's easy to see why it won the equivalent of eight Icelandic Oscars.
  78. Sweet Sixteen
    Loach is a super-realist, and Sweet Sixteen has the disarming feel of a documentary. It's a film that miraculously catches life on the fly, without apparent embellishment, cliche or melodrama.
  79. Pokémon Heroes
    An insubstantial addition to the cycle. It looks cheap and feels slapped together.
  80. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
    The overriding sense one gets from this short but powerful film is awe.
  81. L'Auberge Espagnole
    Klapisch frequently uses voiceovers to express Xavier’s thoughts, and Duris expresses those thoughts beautifully, with a quirky open face, tuned perfectly to whatever his character is thinking.
  82. The Matrix Reloaded
    For such a rich visual movie, "Reloaded" tells far more than it shows; the pivotal scenes involve people explaining things to Neo. Too many plot turns resemble detours, and even the ever-amusing Smith feels like a red herring in the scheme of things.
  83. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
    Magnificently sensuous and macabre.
  84. Daddy Day Care
    A likable little movie without much to offer but cute tots, recycled gags and a talented cast amiably wasting their time and ours.
  85. The Shape of Things
    LaBute never loses sight of what shape he wishes this crafty story to take. In the end, his aim is true.
  86. Only the Strong Survive
    The frustrating part is that Only the Strong Survive includes at least as many mundane moments as soul-stirring ones -- and the film isn't much more than a collection of moments.
  87. Down with Love
    An irritation, more fizzle than sizzle.
  88. Man on the Train
    The movie -- simple, pure and powerful -- makes us feel the intensity of both life in transit and life lived, if only for a moment, in another's skin.
  89. A Family Affair
    Lesnick seems to be saying that lesbian characters on screen can also meet cute significant others, spar in a lite Woody Allen fashion, and have a happy, sappy Hollywood ending. But a sitcom is still a sitcom -- gay, Greek or otherwise.
  90. The Trip
    Call it a weepy for the gay community:The Trip is an oddly marketed, oddly titled romance. Yes, there is a trip, but it takes place during the last 15 minutes of the film and seems almost tangential.
  91. The Dancer Upstairs
    A promising film rather than a fully realized one.
  92. X2: X-Men United
    This movie lets the characters and tropes borrowed from the original Stan Lee comic live and breathe.
  93. The Lizzie McGuire Movie
    By filling in what the story lacks in originality with easy attractions like pretty faces, set to fluffy music, the filmmakers lose the outsider edge the Lizzie McGuire franchise was built on.
  94. Blue Car
    Captures the complex dynamic of a mentoring relationship like few movies before it.
  95. Owning Mahowny
    Kwietniowski turns up the tension so incrementally, we don't realize the scope of Mahowny's moral wreck until it is too late.
  96. Spellbound
    Boasts all of the drama and suspense of any reality TV show, but it actually stars smart people. And they're kids.
  97. Identity
    A slick, bloody thriller, but it's also, to its credit, a genuine whodunit.
  98. Confidence
    You find yourself tricked and having enjoyed the experience after all.
  99. It Runs in the Family
    Never quite transcends its movie-of-the-week trappings. But either you're glad to have spent time with these three generations or you aren't. Bottom line: I was.
  100. The Scoundrel's Wife
    The shame is that Pitre, shooting entirely in his home state, wasn't more engaged himself. His intimate connection to the people, place and story, which certainly inspired him to write the film in the first place, is wasted.
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