San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,302 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 46% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 Mansfield Park
Lowest review score: 0 Speed 2: Cruise Control
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5,160 out of 9302
  2. Mixed: 2,656 out of 9302
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9302
9302 movie reviews
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  1. Godsend
    In Godsend, we have the spectacle of three good actors tied to the mast of a sinking premise.
  2. Envy
    The film is neither fish nor fowl nor some arresting new entity, but a lumpish coagulation of conflicting impulses and unrealized gestures.
  3. Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
    It's too much feel-good movie to take in one sitting, but Stroke of Genius captures just enough detail from the greatest sportsman you've never heard of to keep the historical drama interesting.
  4. The Saddest Music in the World
    The concept is high, the humor lowbrow and the joy of experimentation evident in every frame of this wonderful picture.
  5. Mean Girls
    As in "The House of Yes'' and "Freaky Friday,'' Waters keeps it wild but real, and the result is not only a series of lively scenes but lively close-ups: The big-eyed, expressive performances are just fun to watch.
  6. The Agronomist
    The story of an amazing life.
  7. MC5*: A True Testimonial
    The film is a touching, detailed portrait of an important and often overlooked band. Filmmaker David C. Thomas has done a wonderful job of stitching his filmed interviews together with the extensive vintage footage he scrounged.
  8. Man on Fire
    Whenever the movie's point of view turns omniscient, and we're seeing events from the director's vantage point, Man on Fire becomes a blurry, shaky mess.
  9. The Twilight Samurai
    Timeless.
  10. 13 Going on 30
    The possibilities of Jenna's confusion are exploited for full comic effect. Garner, who turns out to be a charming, abandoned comedian, makes Jenna's incredulousness and innocence very funny and occasionally even touching.
  11. Sacred Planet
    Its gently delivered theme and friendly images of nature (no lions eating antelopes here), this is a fine thing for families and school groups.
  12. This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss
    Insightful but unfocused.
  13. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
    All [Tarantino] has to do is trim a full hour out of "Vol. 1" and a half hour out of Vol. 2, combine what's left and he'll have something not just amusing and idiosyncratic, but outstanding.
  14. The Punisher
    It's a prevailing sense of humor that makes this an entertaining, if silly, film adaptation of the Marvel comic.
  15. Gypsy 83
    This offering is a mostly undistinguished addition to the long list of films about alienated and self-pitying young people.
  16. Connie and Carla
    A clever idea, but it's not quite pulled off.
  17. Young Adam
    Tilda Swinton's rich, compelling performance is reason enough to see this uneven picture, which devolves from a riveting romantic triangle to a morality tale without a moral center.
  18. A Thousand Peace Clouds Encircle the Sky
    Hernandez's debut feature is a thuddingly slow, often wordless portrait of emotional pain.
  19. Twentynine Palms
    Muddled, to put it kindly.
  20. The Girl Next Door
    An exceptionally well-written script, full of unexpected turns and clever reversals, and a trio of deft actors in the principal roles.
  21. The Whole Ten Yards
    Lacks the clever twists and turns that made the original such fun. The sequel has exactly one twist, and it's not very clever.
  22. I'm Not Scared
    Beautifully shot and compelling blend of thriller and coming-of-age drama.
  23. The Alamo
    The brave men who fought and perished at the Alamo believed fervently in their cause. For The Alamo to work, the audience must believe as well. That never really happens.
  24. Ella Enchanted
    The movie doesn't aspire to be art, merely to entertain adolescent girls, which is practically guaranteed by the luminous presence of Anne Hathaway.
  25. Johnson Family Vacation
    Nearly a scene-for-scene rip-off of "National Lampoon's Summer Vacation" -- where the only substantive change from the original is a reversed travel route.
  26. Walking Tall
    The movie itself is just a routine showcase, modest in its aspiration and effective within its limits, entertaining in the moment but, in the end, faintly silly. On the plus side, it's only 86 minutes long.
  27. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
    A masterful portrait of the seasons of a life.
  28. The Prince and Me
    But probably the best thing about The Prince & Me is the way the story doesn't end in the obvious place but keeps going, showing the characters continuing to develop.
  29. Adored
    This clumsy, self-indulgent film veers from comedy to tragedy and is told in flashbacks, with treacly diary entries and unconvincing "testimonies" from friends providing a window into the past.
  30. Hellboy
    The movie has a self- deprecating sense of humor and a strong emotional core that vaults it above most action movies that come out this time of year.
  31. Home on the Range
    This 76-minute Western tall tale isn't out-and-out bad, but strictly formulaic and an underachievement from the studio that made the dazzling "Snow White."
  32. The United States of Leland
    As bad as its title.
  33. Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space
    Asks a lot of the viewer, but it gives something back, though I'm not sure exactly what. It's an amusing and exasperating catnip dream about the adventures of a 1-year-old cartoon kitten.
  34. Two Men Went to War
    If whimsy isn't your mug of tea, stay away from Two Men Went to War. You have to be in the mood for a little sweetness to enjoy this resolutely old- fashioned comedy.
  35. Mayor of the Sunset Strip
    Bouncy, informative and funny documentary.
  36. Never Die Alone
    That the film finds its own groove is due largely to the eye of director Ernest Dickerson. Not surprisingly, he began his career as a cinematographer, working on Spike Lee’s early films.
  37. Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
    With almost nothing else going for it, the sequel will likely be a disappointment to everyone except 10-year-old barf joke aficionados and a few stoned adults.
  38. The Ladykillers
    The film never settles into an assured rhythm, and instead the actors always seem to be pushing, putting the hard sell on an audience that, however distracted by the strenuousness of the sales pitch, still isn't buying.
  39. Jersey Girl
    The film's overall construction is faulty. Its dramatic situations ring consistently false, and the story is phony as anything off the Hollywood assembly line. And yet, it's sincere phony.
  40. Ned Kelly
    There's something in Ned Kelly' that's lost in the translation from Australia to America, and the overly emotional film score is just a symptom.
  41. Dogville
    Mischievous, singular and profound.
  42. The Gatekeeper
    It's a movie you want to like, but its sometimes laughably bad execution makes that difficult.
  43. Bon voyage
    A bit of fluff expertly made and a hoot to watch.
  44. Taking Lives
    The tense, stylish thriller turns into soft-core, slapdash psychodrama.
  45. Intermission
    A breed apart from anything coming off the Hollywood assembly line or, for that matter, from the saccharine romances Britain has lately produced.
  46. Dawn of the Dead
    It's silly, witty and good-natured, not scary so much as icky, and not horrifying or horrible but consistently amusing.
  47. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
    The thinking is shallow. The emotions are tepid. But the creativity is dazzling. If that sounds like a slam, consider that most Hollywood screenplays are predictable, rote and functional -- and those are the good ones, folks.
  48. Divan
    Too self-indulgent.
  49. Noi the Albino
    Like a young director with serious aims, there is an earnest tone here that makes Noi Albinoi a success.
  50. Spartan
    The film remains, clearly by design, a cold piece, mechanistic and only intermittently involving.
  51. Knafayim Shvurot
    Evokes grand emotions -- anxiety, sadness, joy -- sometimes within moments of one another. Broken Wings has heart and a poetic soul.
  52. Secret Window
    Even if a certain glibness in the plotting deflates its impact somewhat at the finish, it remains an eerie, playful thriller and an all-around entertaining time at the movies.
  53. Distant
    A minimalist drama that takes its mood from Turkey's wintry terrain and the uneasy relationship between two bullheaded cousins.
  54. Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
    So the movie's OK in spots, but it's mostly so familiar that even the young target audience may get that deja vu feeling.
  55. NASCAR: The IMAX Experience
    Doesn't quite overcome its shameless self-promotion, but the film will satisfy the Lynyrd Skynyrd set while providing a decent explanation to those who are baffled by the sport's popularity.
  56. Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
    Played by likable newcomer Jamie Sives, who resembles Colin Farrell without the scowl, Wilbur grows on you the same way this offbeat movie does.
  57. Games People Play: New York
    Flimsy mockumentary.
  58. Ghost River
    Huppert shows everything to us, and it's fascinating.
  59. Hidalgo
    After a slow start, it moves.
  60. Starsky & Hutch
    Funny throughout, but with a handful of really hilarious moments.
  61. The Reckoning
    Celebrates the craft of acting both in its story and in fine performances.
  62. Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen
    Offers a lively but jumbled insider's view of a world of great talent and greater risk.
  63. James' Journey to Jerusalem
    Sly and insightful fable.
  64. Club Dread
    If you enjoy gross humor -- elevated by an occasional witty line -- and looking at babes, and don't mind a little blood and gore, do I have a date movie for you.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Greendale
    Amateur in the true sense of the word -- plainly, proudly homemade.
  66. Twisted
    Not surprisingly, only Samuel L. Jackson seems fully to understand that he's in a bad movie, and he makes a virtue of it, using it as an excuse to hang loose, overact and ride the scenes for wherever they might go.
  67. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
    Swayze's presence crosses the line from curious to bizarre and adds a heavy layer of cheese to Havana Nights.
  68. Goodbye Lenin!
    I don't claim to have seen every entry from around the world, but it's hard to imagine five better than this deliciously offbeat comedy, as wildly inventive as anything Billy Wilder ever conceived.
  69. The Passion of the Christ
    The Passion of the Christ should have left audiences in a state of exaltation. Instead it just leaves audiences exhausted.
  70. Teknolust
    Sci-fi has rarely been so playful.
  71. Big Animal
    Doesn't have much to say.
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  72. Against the Ropes
    By the end, everything that was initially serious about the film becomes silly and everything appealing about it turns sour.
  73. EuroTrip
    Teen sex comedies always have more homoerotic moments than you can shake a ... whatever ... at, but Eurotrip seems overly concerned with penises and predatory men. This brand of humor, a time-honored crutch for comedy writers, is both lazy and unseemly.
  74. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
    The movie [Sugarman] made gives little indication that she understands teen girls, dramatic or plain. Much of Confessions seems clueless and -- even worse for moviegoers of any age -- listless.
  75. Kitchen Stories
    The film pays off eventually with a lovely story of friendship between two lonely men.
  76. Welcome to Mooseport
    But the jury is still out on Romano's future in movies. Hackman blows him off the screen.
  77. Lost Boys of Sudan
    From the standpoint of humanizing Sudan's continuing refugee problem, Lost Boys is a gem. It doesn't preach. It doesn't prettify.
  78. After the Life
    Blanc is completely without vanity in showing the physical deterioration wrought by addiction. Her performance is as chilling as Lee Remick's in "Days of Wine and Roses.''
  79. The Code
    Light on inner conflict and heavy on cliches.
  80. The Seagull's Laughter
    The offbeat drama The Seagull's Laughter is the kind of movie I appreciate because it never announces where it's headed.
  81. Love Object
    Misbegotten mess.
  82. 50 First Dates
    A mildly pleasing romantic comedy, a trifle held together by Drew Barrymore's charm and a decent high-concept gimmick.
  83. Robot Stories
    This is a science fiction film, but like all excellent movies in the genre, the focus never strays from the human heart.
  84. An Amazing Couple
    Charmingly offbeat in the vein of early Woody Allen.
  85. Osama
    A heartbreaking, powerful drama.
  86. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
    Delivers laughs most of the way through.
  87. Miracle
    To make a movie about that team and those games requires more than an ability to depict personal dramas or re-enact game highlights. It requires the re- creation of a world and a mind-set, and Miracle accomplishes both brilliantly.
  88. Barbershop 2: Back in Business
    A warmhearted and surprisingly ambitious sequel.
  89. Catch That Kid
    What started out with the feel of a tight little kids' thriller turns into a Nickelodeon afternoon movie.
  90. The Return
    A tense, expertly acted Russian film clouded by its intentional ambiguity.
  91. The Dreamers
    An ambitious and exciting piece of work, a movie about sex and movies made by a filmmaker who understands the power of each to set off fantasy, create addiction, incite danger and transform the spirit.
  92. Blind Shaft
    Good storytelling.
  93. On the Run
    The least appealing of the trilogy.
  94. The Perfect Score
    A dull film with unsympathetic characters brought together by a gimmicky premise that's handled with no imagination and a pristine fraudulence of emotion. Aside from that, it's great.
  95. Latter Days
    This tale of tortured love between a Mormon missionary and a West Hollywood tomcat renders its gay and religious characters so stereotypical that neither lifestyle appears attractive.
  96. The Big Bounce
    A dreadful exercise, with a script full of contradictions and empty gestures and a leading lady who's such a novice it hurts to watch her.
  97. You Got Served
    A street-dance film that's lively and silly and about as "street" as a Britney Spears video.
  98. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
    [Duhmel] brings surprising nuance to an ostensibly shallow character, a guy who's not really bad, just caught up in his own celebrity.
  99. Touching the Void
    Real acting replaces re-enacting, and amazing cinematography pits the limits of human will against the unruliness of nature.
  100. The Butterfly Effect
    In its own ridiculous way, The Butterfly Effect is an entertaining movie, despite mediocre acting, lackluster direction and a story that's sometimes frustrating. It has the integrity of camp, maintaining an odd earnestness in the face of its own absurdity.
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