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. The Beach Bum
    A fun-for-a-while attempt by writer-director Harmony Korine, American indie cinema’s effrontery kingpin, to go a little bit mainstream. Matthew McConaughey is the reason it’ll get by.
  2. Laws of Attraction
    It's a middling film that wastes a lot of good opportunities, as well as two fine, charming co-stars.
  3. The Dilemma
    Unexpectedly sour, The Dilemma barely qualifies as a comedy.
  4. The Greatest Game Ever Played
    About overcoming adversity and one's innermost fears. On this count, Paxton hits the ball squarely in capturing the psychology of his characters, but hooks it into the sand trap of effects and thematic overselling.
  5. Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
    The results are distressingly flat, frequently patronizing and, for a topical comedy, strangely out of it.
  6. Family Business
    The film doesn't move to a satisfactory conclusion as much as it fizzles out in a series of protracted anti-climaxes. [15 Dec 1989, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  7. The Girl on the Train
    For one thing, and it's a big thing, it's filmed all wrong. Director Taylor and cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen favor handheld, Rachel's-eye-view close-ups, by the woozy hundreds. The toggling editing rhythms get to be a bit of a chore.
  8. Shanghai
    Cusack puts in work as Paul, an old-fashioned hero. But he seems miscast and can't quite modulate the levels of camp in his performance.
  9. The Monkey's Mask
    It is awkward and dull, a capital crime for an aspiring noir.
    • Chicago Tribune
  10. Jamaica Inn
    Hitchcock adapts another Daphne Du Maurier novel -- a tale of pirates and distressed damsels on the Cornish coast -- with less memorable results than either "Rebecca" or "The Birds." But Charles Laughton is a nicely nasty two-faced villain and Maureen O'Hara a staunch heroine. [18 Jun 2000, p.22]
    • Chicago Tribune
  11. Muppet Treasure Island
    Perhaps it is time for the folks at Jim Henson Productions to start thinking up original stories again, or at least find material that lends itself to the Muppets' overall strengths, instead of playing into their weaknesses. [16 Feb 1996, p.F]
    • Chicago Tribune
  12. The Green Hornet
    Too much. Too numbing. Too coy. And ultimately too violent.
  13. Curious George
    A mild off-season cinematic bid for the young and the restless.
  14. RoboCop
    Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop is a stylish piece of work that leaves a sour aftertaste. [17 Jul 1987]
    • Chicago Tribune
  15. Empire of the Sun
    The film is sober, serious-minded and paced like a funeral march.
  16. Four Good Days
    Four Good Days is a portrait of addiction that wants to dive into the ugliest parts: the detox, the physical deterioration, the flop houses, the things Molly did for drugs. But, despite Kunis’ haggard appearance, Four Good Days only flirts with ugly, pulling away from the most vile details at the last moments.
  17. Gifted
    This contrived mashup of "Proof" (earth-shaking algorithms), "Kramer vs. Kramer" (nerve-wracking custody battles) and "Little Man Tate" really isn't much.
  18. Pokémon 4: The Movie
    Surprising less moldy and trite than the last two.
  19. Smurfs: The Lost Village
    The jokes are sodden, relying on tired wordplay and sarcastic delivery to draw the faintest of laughs.
  20. Doom
    Doom, the film, aspires to be more than just a gory shoot em' up--though it'd still be a stretch to call it a thinking man's action movie.
  21. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
    Jonah may resemble an 83-minute Sunday school lesson, but at least it's a playful, colorful one, with spunky peas and tomatoes, chirpy kids' tune-- and bright animation that may not rival "Monsters, Inc." or "Shrek" but gets its points across.
  22. Fool's Gold
    A movie that keeps reminding you of its antecedents, all the way back to 1984 and the comic adventure “Romancing the Stone.”
  23. The Other Sister
    Falls into a familiar trap, resembling a neatly wrapped made-for-TV homily. [26 February 1999, Friday, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  24. 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.
  25. The Canyons
    The Canyons may not work, and the sex (as well as the synthesized glop on the soundtrack) may be tragically unhip, but it was made by a director who still cares.
  26. Punisher: War Zone
    The film works a bit better than the 2004 "Punisher" installment, the one starring surly, dislikable Thomas Jane as Frank Castle.
  27. Secret Things
    Trashy porno pretending to be deep.
  28. Extraordinary Measures
    The results feel a little harried, as if the focus issues were never really solved.
  29. In the Mouth of Madness
    The story ceases to make sense. It sounds clever on paper, but on screen it degenerates into a series of random scenes that don't connect until, by the end, there are more questions than answers, and more goo than resolution. [03 Feb 1995, p.J]
    • Chicago Tribune
  30. Taking Care of Business
    Veteran director Arthur Hiller keeps the vehicle galloping along with a sure hand, careful not to let any of it sink to a fatal level of believability and always on the prowl for whatever wit can be harvested from any gizmo at hand. [17 Aug 1990, p.B]
    • Chicago Tribune
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