Chicago Tribune's Scores

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For 7,609 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 1.5 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: 5,113 out of 7609
  2. Mixed: 1,474 out of 7609
  3. Negative: 1,022 out of 7609
7609 movie reviews
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  1. Death Becomes Her
    Insistently grotesque, relentlessly misanthropic and spectacularly tasteless, Death Becomes Her isn't a film designed to win the hearts of the mass moviegoing public. But it is diabolically inventive and very, very funny.
  2. Bandslam
    Here’s the surprise: Bandslam may come from synthetic materials, but the characters are a little more complicated than usual.
  3. Finding Dory
    The visual personality of the movie is fantastically vivid and bright, the story itself, less so.
  4. Jason Bourne
    At its best Jason Bourne crackles with professionalism; at its worst, it's rehashing greatest hits (as in, "assassinations") from earlier films, with a lavish budget.
  5. Breakin'
    A vital film about a bunch of youngsters who view break-dancing as a way out of their dead end lifestyle. For what is essentially a musical exploitation film, Breakin' is surprisingly filled with more human moments and dance scenes than violence or sexuality. [08 June 1984, p.12]
    • Chicago Tribune
  6. The Dying Gaul
    The Dying Gaul stays interesting even when it asks more and more--too much, probably--of the audience's disbelief suspension.
  7. Hope Springs
    As Kay and Arnold struggle to reconnect, Hope Springs stays close to the task at hand. The characters aren't fabulously dimensional, but the actors are.
  8. Art School Confidential
    The movie sputters in its later, darker passages, which by design are less audience-friendly than the earlier, satirically secure ones.
  9. Sparkle
    Most of the stuff that's new in the new Sparkle, written by Mara Brock Akil (who is married to the director), is shrewd and cleverly considered. The stuff that's old is what people responded to back in '76.
  10. Old Joy
    The movie has a large theme, even if it's unspoken. Old Joy is about a particular friendship, but it's also about how American society changed in the '90s and the new century.
  11. The Wild Robot
    Recently making its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Wild Robot already has been pumped up into the contradictory “instant classic” stratosphere. I understand the enthusiasm, or most of it, I guess, especially given the mellow, less photorealistic, more painterly visual landscapes, and Sanders’ assured tear-duct massage technique.
  12. Matilda
    A sprightly fairy tale full of darkness and delight from seemingly unlikely movie collaborators: author Roald Dahl and director-star Danny DeVito.
  13. The Jungle Book
    Director Jon Favreau's voice cast for the animals is tiptop.
  14. Tales from the Gimli Hospital
    An original and insinuating black comedy from Winnipeg, Canada, where something very strange seems to be going on. The pastiche is nearly perfect, played with an utter sincerity that makes it impossible to tell just where the jokes are coming from.
  15. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
    The climax of “Final Reckoning” is likewise impressive and scenic, but paced and edited less for the good of the overall movie and more for risk-verification purposes. That said, this franchise has class.
  16. ParaNorman
    What works about ParaNorman is its subtle interweave of the stoical and the heroic. The voice work is inspired, without a lot of theatrical flourish. The low-key musical score by Jon Brion, one of the year's best, teases out the macabre humor in each new challenge faced by Norman.
  17. Total Eclipse
    Total Eclipse is a biographical film steeped in ecstasy and despair, seething with madness and torment.
  18. The Janes
    Ideally, with Roe about to be erased from the books, The Janes would land on a more complex note of imminent, controversial change afoot. Small matters. It’s a very fine film
  19. XXY
    The acting is uniformly strong, the visual approach self-effacingly honest.
  20. Good Night Oppy
    Despite the somewhat bland nature of the storytelling — it’s not like this documentary is pushing the boundaries of the form — it’s an incredible true story told with care and skill.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
    Russell, who looks younger with each movie, holds his own against the formidable force that is Dakota Fanning.
  22. Jailhouse Rock
    The all-time great Stoller-Lieber title number, performed by The King in jailbird regalia, is just one highlight of this '50s rock-the-house classic. [04 Sep 1998, p.H]
    • Chicago Tribune
  23. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
    Does it immerse the uninitiated into a new, fabulous world? Yes. To the book's many readers, does this feel like the real "Harry Potter"? For the most part, yes.
  24. Bottoms
    In the end, all these young women want is a foothold on life, a little less humiliation and some physical intimacy. If that makes Bottoms snarky on the outside but conventionally heartfelt on the inside, well, that’s fine, actually.
  25. Unstoppable
    The runaway train thriller Unstoppable is one of Tony Scott's better films.
  26. Armageddon Time
    The movie has a sense of humor, but its sense of dread, micro and macro, overrules it.
  27. Elf
    Elf, formulaic but lovable, is essentially "Big" in pointy shoes.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Series 7: The Contenders
    Series 7 does exactly what independent cinema should -- challenge audiences while it entertains.
    • Chicago Tribune
    • 47 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    What Women Want
    Delivers on the promise of its playful premise, thanks to some sly gender role reversals and Gibson's willingness to play along.
  30. Hustlers
    The film’s half-real, half-fantasy treatment of a fact-based story is almost really good. But “good enough” is good enough, thanks mostly to Jennifer Lopez dining out on her best role in years. She’s terrific.
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