San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,303 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 2.1 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 9303
  2. Mixed: 2,657 out of 9303
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9303
9303 movie reviews
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  1. Superpower
    Superpower, one of several documentaries about the war in Ukraine, doesn’t break any news, but Penn, a two-time Oscar-winning actor and director of several feature films, is a skilled storyteller. He and Kaufman do an excellent job of providing a contextual overview of the conflict, from its origins — the trajectory of both Russia and Ukraine in the post-Soviet era — to its political stakes, the mood of the Ukrainian people and the fascinating man who is leading them.
  2. Lions for Lambs
    This is responsive, engaged filmmaking, the kind of movie they say Americans don't make.
  3. Dog Days
    Dogs are notorious scene-stealers in the movies, but in the sappy yet mildly entertaining Dog Days, the humans mug just as shamelessly as their impossibly cute canine counterparts.
  4. The Architect
    Still feels stagebound, inert when it needs to be cinematic.
  5. Lies
    In slightly less than 1,000 years, the competition for worst film of the third millennium will be fierce. Yet the smart money may well be on the Korean art film Lies.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Bittersweet Motel
    There are just enough revelatory moments to recommend the movie.
  7. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
    Takes the financially successful formula of "Legally Blonde," the Reese Witherspoon hit from two years ago, and does something unexpected. It fiddles with it, changes it and actually fixes it.
  8. Heartbreakers
    Lacks the kind of rhythm and snap to make it work -- and allows this fitfully entertaining romp to dribble on way too long.
  9. Flight of the Phoenix
    While still trumpeting human ingenuity, the new movie lacks the subtlety, character development and exceptional ensemble acting of the 1965 version.
  10. Ladder 49
    Plays like a war movie made in a time of war: too careful, too programmatic.
  11. Burlesque
    It's big, perfectly cast and entertaining in every way, but more than that it feels like a generous public event.
  12. A Cure for Wellness
    The film is a plodding 2 ½ hours long, with an abundance of livestock gore, endless dental trauma and a violent sex scene.
  13. Restless
    The film is morbid and mawkish, and packed with enough forced whimsy to make you scream.
  14. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
    This is a superior and assured action movie, a quality product that makes the case for a franchise.
  15. The Dressmaker
    Despite highly enjoyable moments and the welcome presence of Kate Winslet, even sympathetic viewers will be put off by the movie’s bewildering variety of genres and tones.
  16. Young Ones
    There should be drama here, but everything falls as flat as the withered valley floor. Not all is lost: The cinematography and special effects are quite competent. The script just leaves us thirsty for more.
  17. Pushing Tin
    Takes viewers into a unique world. It's not just about air traffic controllers. It's about controllers in a specific place and from a specific social background.
  18. Swing Vote
    The mix of comedy and drama is winning; Costner couldn't be better, and the little girl is a find.
  19. Choke
    An annoying little film that attempts to be lascivious but is merely ludicrous.
  20. Lisa Frankenstein
    The only thing to take from the wreckage of “Lisa Frankenstein” is the performance of Soberano, in her Hollywood debut. She finds comedy in a weak script and radiates goodness without being boring. Let’s hope she has better movies in her future.
  21. Halloween Ends
    Halloween Ends is far from a great finale, but it’s a decent showcase for Jamie Lee Curtis, whose place in film history has long been assured because of this role. Will this be the last we see of Laurie Strode, or the “Halloween” storyline? It’s best to wait for the box-office reports. After all, franchises never die — they just change shape.
  22. Wish
    The only thing that keeps Wish afloat is DeBose’s voice, who elevates so-so songs such as “At All Costs” and “This Wish” with a powerful lilt.
  23. Coming to America
    Eddie Murphy's latest picture, Coming to America, is a harmless, fairly amusing comedy that will delight Eddie Murphy fans and keep everyone else mildly entertained. [30 Jun 1988, p.E1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  24. 1492: Conquest of Paradise
    The film takes a bold, intelligent approach to the explorer's story, providing scenes and images that are not to be forgotten. Then, midway into its journey, the movie sails right off the edge of the universe. [09 Oct 1992, p.C1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  25. The Young Racers
    Lust on the Grand Prix circuit. [30 Sep 2007, p.N34]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  26. Where the Truth Lies
    High-gloss trash but compulsively watchable.
  27. Where's Marlowe?
    Quickly assumes an appealing mockumentary style.
  28. The Shipping News
    It's hardly possible to overstate what a welcome change of pace The Shipping News is for admirers of Kevin Spacey.
  29. Sordid Lives
    The laughs come in all the wrong places when they come at all.
  30. The Legend of Bagger Vance
    A pleasant myth.
  31. The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
    Damning.
  32. The Last Shot
    The film doesn't always work, but it captures the buzz of moviemaking, and that's infectious.
  33. Who Killed Bambi?
    Seizes on a primal fear and flogs it for two hours.
  34. Luther
    Disjointed.
  35. Shall We Dance
    Considering the talent on both sides of the camera and a story that worked beautifully the first time around, Shall We Dance? should have been a lot better than OK.
  36. Halloween (2007)
    Filmgoers looking for copious amounts of mindless violence won't be disappointed.
  37. Eenie Meanie
    Entertainment value and reasonable length still make the film a decent, low-effort option for home viewers — especially those already subscribed to Hulu.
  38. Midway
    From the beginning, Midway has awkward dialogue and an atmosphere that seems a bit too 2019, but for a time, the movie’s high stakes make up for that.
  39. Young Guns II
    Unfortunately Young Guns II is a small blaze and no glory. [01 Aug 1990, p.E1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  40. Reno 911!: Miami
    The humor is lowbrow, but the screenwriters and performers have a sense of pride that makes them strive for stupid jokes that haven't been done before.
  41. The Lost City
    The story may be scattered and sagging and the picture may have little emotional impact -- certainly nothing to justify the epic running time -- but Garcia at least succeeds in making Havana in the 1950s seem like a vibrant, special place. He doesn't exactly make the audience care, but he does make the audience understand why he cares, and that's something.
  42. I Saw the Light
    Surely, there’s the potential here for a kind of Country and Western “Amadeus.” Instead we get I Saw the Light, which will do until something better comes along.
  43. Senior Year
    Senior Year is a just-OK movie, but it’s a very good Rebel Wilson movie, in that she has been funny in supporting roles, but this is the first time she has excelled as the name above the title.
  44. The Hitman's Bodyguard
    Salma Hayek stands out in a comic role as the hitman’s impossibly vulgar, assertive wife. It’s also worth noting that there are lots of car chases here, and they actually aren’t boring. That qualifies as a rare achievement.
  45. The Wild
    A decent-looking and harmless computer animated film that is notable mostly because it doesn't appear to contain a single original idea.
  46. Primal Fear
    Riveting.
  47. The Day After Tomorrow
    The spectacle, which is colossal and at times staggering to behold, begins within two minutes of the fade-in and keeps coming until the finish. I thought I'd seen it all. I hadn't.
  48. Puerto Ricans in Paris
    Despite its name, Puerto Ricans in Paris is less a fish-out-of-water comedy than a mild buddy-cop trifle: good natured and sometimes charming, but not enough for its thin premise to approach the magnifique.
  49. The Trip
    It is never a good sign when the audience is two steps ahead of the characters on the screen. Waiting for them to catch up wears everyone out.
  50. Full Grown Men
    A poignant, quirky and effective alternative to the usual soulless, computer-generated summer fare.
  51. Nine Months
    Good for a few laughs but soon turns tiresome, veering incongruously between slapstick antics and mushy sentimentality.
  52. Oscar
    As dreary as Oscar is for the majority of its 110 minutes, the movie sings whenever Shearer and Ferrero are on screen. [26 Apr 1991, p.E1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  53. The Legend of Zorro
    Yet, it's watchable -- not remotely enjoyable, but watchable.
  54. Max
    The handsome and appealing Max, by the way, is played by five dogs. For the record, he is a Belgian Malinois, a breed that in real life is often used in police and military work.
  55. Irresistible
    Even worse, Deerlaken, Wis., is supposed to be the “real” America, but Stewart has little interest in depicting an honest version of Midwesterners, or their problems. No actual issues that affect the town are discussed. (I have no idea what the economy of the town is, if people are struggling or what.)
  56. 27 Dresses
    It gets worse and worse as it goes along and finally ends just as it's becoming unbearable.
  57. Boy Kills World
    There’s no apparent human feeling on display here, just scene after scene of protracted martial arts combat that goes on and on, while providing no rooting interest.
  58. Predator
    The movie, a rather pointless thing when you get down to it, has little of the provocative intelligence that was found in "Terminator." But at least it's self-propelling in terms of suspense and cheap thrills. [12 June 1987, Daily Datebook, p.78]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  59. Masterminds
    Masterminds delivers for the most part. Kate McKinnon, as David’s wife, does her usual frozen-face, crazy-eyed weird thing, but this time she’s funny.
  60. Shock and Awe
    Shock and Awe is no “All the President’s Men,” but it does present a nice balance to the earlier film’s ultimately rosy picture.
  61. The Time Traveler's Wife
    It would really help to get into the right frame of mind before seeing The Time Traveler's Wife, because viewed from some angles - maybe most angles - the movie is ridiculous.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Project Almanac
    High on fun but low on depth, Project Almanac is told entirely from the perspective of a video camera, which instantly made me regret that I had eaten dinner before the screening.
  63. Blade
    Big as it is, Blade' is meticulous and subtle, not just in its camera technique but in the way it works its themes and creates a mood.
  64. Daylight
    What Daylight lacks is the knowledge of its own limitations. The only really hysterical line is delivered by Sly's son, Sage Stallone, who plays one of three young prisoners also stuck in the tunnel...Surrounded by rubble and rising water, he gazes longingly at the 14-year-old Harris and says, "If we don't die in here, I was wondering if I could give you a call. . . ."
  65. Practical Magic
    It's all swell, though after two hours of nonstop yin energy, one does begin to wish that someone like Bruce Willis might show up in a sweaty T-shirt, scratching himself.
  66. From the Edge of the City
    Gratuitous, yes, but Giannaris has the visual finesse to make it work.
  67. Black and White
    Toback presents specific characters dealing with specific problems and, through their stories, somehow manages to take the temperature of the times.
  68. 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.
  69. 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.
  70. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
    The big-screen series has smartly keyed into the character’s long-running (and fast-running) appeal. Like its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 knows when to go big, but more important, it knows when to stay small. Go ahead, put a ring on it.
  71. Silver City
    Wildly uneven, with long stretches as dull as Dickie.
  72. Herbie Fully Loaded
    It's a kids' movie from a better time, with a few small concessions to modern audiences.
  73. The Nun II
    The Nun II has some interesting ideas and some thrilling sequences.
  74. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
    Halfway through, the humans recede into the background, with Dr. Andrews and crew reduced to narrating monster shenanigans instead of participating in the action. Unlike “Godzilla Minus One,” humans are expendable in gargantuan Hollywood creature features.
  75. The Game of Their Lives
    Disappointingly mediocre.
  76. The General's Daughter
    The acting is fine. The ensemble is strong. The story moves along. Yet a coating of sleaze clings to the film, like bread dipped in batter.
  77. Heaven Is for Real
    The images of heaven somehow diminish the impact of the boy's experience, perhaps because heaven is just too profound for anyone to film.
  78. The Giver
    Just in the last few months, we've seen "Snowpiercer" and "Divergent," which also deal with what happens after a civil collapse. The Giver, the latest in this weird trend, approaches a now-familiar topic from a new angle, and, of the three, it's the most visually arresting.
  79. Ong Bak 2
    Not only a step back in time - to 1431 - but a step back in this martial artist's international film career.
  80. Wyatt Earp
    Every hair is in place in writer-director Lawrence Kasdan's epic-length Wyatt Earp. What's missing is a heart. Yet if this large-scale western is a bore, at least it's a beautiful one. [24 Jun 1994, p.C1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  81. The Alto Knights
    In retrospect, Levinson might secretly wonder if the bizarre casting was the right move after all. But at least he got strong performances from his lead actor, and he took a good script by Pileggi (“Goodfellas”) and made a good movie out of it. You can’t ask for much more than that.
  82. Spring Fever
    Its examination of identity and loneliness begins to feel like a soap opera season boiled down into one very long episode with too much happening.
  83. Blair Witch
    This time, it seems as if there’s a little less magic in the woods.
  84. The Skeleton Key
    A well-intentioned horror film that is weighted down by stellar cast members who for the most part act as if they don't want to be there.
  85. Hotel Transylvania
    The cutest darn thing in Hotel Transylvania is the way Count Dracula spazzes into a brilliant red devil-face when provoked. The second-cutest thing is his annoyed response to being misquoted by idiot humans.
  86. Rock of Ages
    Doesn't require anyone to love metal, or even like it. It only requires us to laugh at it - and other exemplars of bloated '80s pop, from Starship to Journey - and it does so with a campy and attitudinous spirit that's hard to resist.
  87. The X Files: I Want to Believe
    Knowing nothing about "X-Files" is no impediment to appreciating this for the well-acted, adult piece of work that it is.
  88. Like Mike
    Appealing movie, one of the summer's pleasant surprises.
  89. Hollywood Homicide
    Like all Shelton's movies, Hollywood Homicide rambles and shambles, and like most of them, it ultimately settles into its own appealing rhythm.
  90. U.S. Marshals
    Going after one innocent man was bad enough. Going after another constitutes a pattern. This marshal isn't a hero. He's a menace.
  91. Cats & Dogs
    It is never less than interesting. But who wants interesting from a movie called Cats & Dogs? It needs to grab the audience by the scruff of the neck and shake it.
  92. Big Trouble
    It seems naive, almost delusional.
  93. 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.
  94. Psycho
    Norman Bates is alive and well, and just a tad kinkier than you remember him.
  95. The Odd Life of Timothy Green
    The kid is a charmer, the message is heartfelt - love your kids while you can - and, OK, the ending might jerk a few tears, even from a crank like me. OK, it did.
  96. Semi-Pro
    The laughs do come, but not as readily, not as heartily and not as joyfully as you might expect.
  97. The Witches
    When it’s not repulsive, The Witches drags, but for one brief yet gripping sequence, in which the boy and his friends sneak into the head witch’s hotel suite.
  98. Perrier's Bounty
    Perrier's Bounty puts on a pretty good show: fast, foul, corny, strange.
  99. Lakeview Terrace
    A conventional suspense thriller, but the details kick it up a notch.
  100. Only the Lonely
    Despite its implausibilities, Only the Lonely disarms you with its innocence. [24 May 1991, p.E1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
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