Chicago Tribune's Scores

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For 7,613 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: 5,116 out of 7613
  2. Mixed: 1,475 out of 7613
  3. Negative: 1,022 out of 7613
7613 movie reviews
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  1. Last Exit to Brooklyn
    Credit for the triumph of this picture must go to West German director Uli Edel, who works on a canvas as large as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. [11 May 1990, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  2. Wild Orchid
    The silliness still outweighs the steaminess. [1 May 1990, p.2]
    • Chicago Tribune
  3. The Guardian
    The film becomes far too explicit much too quickly, as if Friedkin, frustrated by his inability to build a genuine suspense, had decided to move to the main course as quickly as possible. [27 Apr 1990, p.B]
    • Chicago Tribune
  4. Q & A
    Watching the systemized corruption of Q&A is like watching a traffic accident in slow motion: You can't take your eyes away from the broken bodies and spirits.[27 Apr 1990, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  5. Spaced Invaders
    With its old-timey special effects, multiple plots and silly humor, it scampers through its 102 minutes untethered to the demands of strict logic, continuity or character development. This film is just out to have a good time. Often, it succeeds. [27 Apr 1990, p.D]
    • Chicago Tribune
  6. Miami Blues
    A brilliant comeback by a filmmaker, George Armitage, who never should have been away.
  7. Lisa
    A scintillating thriller in which writer/director Gary Sherman takes some familiar sitcom elements and force-marches them in an unexpected and terrifying direction. [11 May 1990, p.D]
    • Chicago Tribune
  8. Crazy People
    It's the premise of Crazy People that what the American public really responds to in advertising is absolute honesty. If that were true, then the ads for the film would proudly point out that "Crazy People" is cloying, derivative and never more than mildly funny. [11 Apr 1990, p.2C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  9. The Gods Must Be Crazy II
    Whereas the original film had a grain of originality and social commentary in its story of what happens because of the surprise appearance of a Coca-Cola bottle, the new picture offers only tired jokes. [13 Apr 1990, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  10. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
    Greenaway's regard is certainly unblinking, though it's hard to see where the seriousness and compassion come in. The thematic oppositions are primitive and are not fleshed out by the characters, who remain flat and puppetlike. [6 Apr 1990, p.G2]
    • Chicago Tribune
  11. Ernest Goes to Jail
    Ernest movies would still seem to be an acquired taste, but this one affords the adult viewer a few unexpected pleasures.
  12. The First Power
    The First Power is nowhere above average for the genre, and frequently far beneath it. [09 Apr 1990, p.2C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  13. Cry-Baby
    Cry-Baby doesn`t have a subject, but only a format-a rickety framework erected to suport a few broad gags and a few indifferently filmed production numbers.
  14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    Barron concentrates on keeping the action moving at a brisk clip, drawing on his music video experience to serve up an entertaining series of odd camera angles, gratuitous camera movements and complicated lighting schemes. The results are lively and funny enough to keep adults enthralled as well as kids.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Side Out
    There are few sports the movies haven't tackled. Side Out (1991) found one: volleyball. Thirtysomething star Peter Horton brings his shaggy dog sincerity to his role as Zack, the former king of the beach who gets a chance at redemption when he becomes mentor to C. Thomas Howell. [17 Sep 1991, p.3C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  16. Pretty Woman
    It sounds like standard Cinderella stuff (and the script comes complete with plenty of allusions to princesses in towers), but it's played here with an emphasis on possessions and possessing that borders on the obscene… It's a pretty ugly movie. [23 Mar 1990, Friday, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  17. The Fourth War
    Part philosophical dialogue, part macho thriller, John Frankenheimer's The Fourth War never really finds its identity as a movie. [23 Mar 1990, p.O]
    • Chicago Tribune
  18. A Shock to the System
    An ambitious screenplay (by Andrew Klavan) is done in by wavering direction (by Jan Egleson) in A Shock to the System, an independent feature that is still worth seeing for its well-chosen cast of medium-priced performers, including Michael Caine, Elizabeth McGovern, Peter Riegert, Swoosie Kurtz and Will Patton. [23 Mar 1990, p.H]
    • Chicago Tribune
  19. Blue Steel
    The sole curiosity in Blue Steel is the sight of Jamie Lee Curtis in cop`s uniform. There is nothing more to it than that-no tension, no character.
  20. Lord of the Flies
    The tale, while oversimplified, is told with visual style, particularly in the use of the boys' dream sequences, having to do with rescue and the comfort of adult authority. [16 Mar 1990, p.F]
    • Chicago Tribune
  21. House Party
    House Party aims for the mainstream and hits it- perhaps too often.
  22. Joe Versus the Volcano
    The film works best once Hanks gets to the island along with love interest Meg Ryan. But it takes too long to get there. A fresh but needlessly drawn-out story. [9 March 1990, p.C2]
    • Chicago Tribune
  23. Bad Influence
    The main performances are fine; it's the script that's cheap. [09 Mar 1990, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  24. The Handmaid's Tale
    The film is madly, compulsively overcontrolled, from its funereal pacing to its pristine red, white and blue color scheme; those moments when it loses its dignity are irresistibly comic, and in this grim context, infinitely precious.[16 Mar 1990, p.B]
    • Chicago Tribune
  25. The Hunt for Red October
    An idealized, dreamy fantasy of life in the business world-harmless as airplane reading, a bit dull on the big screen. [2 Mar 1990, Friday, p.C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  26. Cinema Paradiso
    A few moments of sly inspiration are not enough to carry an entire feature; along with the tears, it leaves behind an aftertaste of phoniness. [16 March 1990, Friday, p.H]
    • Chicago Tribune
  27. Nightbreed
    Barker unleashes the full force of his special effects crew and the movie implodes in a cataclysm of jelly-fleshed creepy-crawlies. It simply loses its grip. [17 Feb 1990, p.3C]
    • Chicago Tribune
  28. Glory
    Glory has a genuine moral basis, and it makes all the difference in the world. [12 Jan 1990, p.A]
    • Chicago Tribune
  29. Revenge
    It's corny, cussed and carnal.
  30. Madhouse
    In Madhouse, writer-director Tom Ropelewski doesn't so much serve up an idea as force-feed it down our gullets. It takes a game bird to sit through the entire movie. [16 Feb 1990, p.K]
    • Chicago Tribune
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