San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,307 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: 5,163 out of 9307
  2. Mixed: 2,658 out of 9307
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9307
9307 movie reviews
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  1. Where Do We Go Now?
    By the time the women pull off their climactic stunt, the film's been undone by its ungainly mix of heavy-handed comedy and melodrama.
  2. The Crime of Padre Amaro
    Conveys the character of this tiny, insular community through richness of detail.
  3. Overnight
    Highly entertaining, in a schadenfreude sense, but incomplete.
  4. See How They Run
    Directed by veteran British television director Tom George, “See How They Run” won’t impress demanding viewers, but acts as an a rather agreeable placeholder until the next “Knives Out” movie arrives.
  5. The Delta
    This moody film, set in muggy Memphis, exudes a dangerous veracity that's both exciting and poisonous.
  6. Kill the Messenger
    In his performance, Jeremy Renner hints at something dark stirring beneath Webb’s surface, but it never quite comes out, and we’re left with something more on the order of a rough-hewn saint. Kill the Messenger tells an interesting tale, but it’s caught in an odd zone between too-Hollywood and not Hollywood enough.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Good Ol' Freda
    Although the filmmakers apparently wanted to focus on the Beatles, the movie's strongest moments are about Freda herself.
  8. Jeff Who Lives at Home
    The Duplass brothers keep making miniatures that contain universes. They seem to be casual, but they're dead serious. They seem to be stumbling around finding stories by accident, but their movies are thematically rigorous. They seem to be presenting matters of little consequence, but the stakes are always huge and life-changing.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Breathe In
    Although Jones and Pearce are interesting when onscreen alone, their chemistry is slightly off.
  10. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
    A frothy comedy with the most adorable buddies since "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
  11. Wild City
    The car chases and other stunt work are excellent, although there could have been more action, and the downtime scenes of the characters plotting their next move or ruminating on money’s role in moral corruption are fine. But the bottom line is there’s nothing super original here.
  12. Wolfs
    Yes, it’s a familiar formula, though instead of buddy cops, it’s buddy cleaners. What these “Wolfs” do is shades darker than the gentleman thievery of the “Ocean’s” larks, and the character comedy comes from a deeper place.
  13. The Angry Birds Movie 2
    It’s a clinical product crafted on the assembly line of the studio floor with pieces plucked liberally from better movies before it, and crammed so thoroughly with sight gags and wordplay it hopes you won’t notice that there’s no “there” there.
  14. Midwinter Break
    Polly Findlay’s adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel is a serious attempt to delve into a complex marriage, and fortunately for such heavy material it contains two winning performances from Manville (so delightful in “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) and Hinds (“Is This Thing On?”).
  15. Daybreak
    To the extent that this difficult but ultimately rewarding film has a message, it's that you can't run away from who you are.
  16. American Casino
    There's valuable information here and some human stories that deserve to be heard.
  17. Sweet Bean
    Kawase handles the material delicately and skillfully, and Kirin — a one-time ingenue actress whose first important film was in one of the early “Tora-san” movies — hits all the right notes.
  18. The Kill Team
    The Kill Team serves an essential function by illustrating in agonizing detail not only how easily morality can be subjugated to hate, but how important it is for people of conscience to do the right thing. It’s deeply uncomfortable viewing at times, but it’s no less necessary a story to experience.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Juice
    Juice may be disjointed and at times amateurish, but its lack of sentimentality saves it. [17 Jan 1992, p.D1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  20. Trumbo
    Trumbo is breezy and pithy without ever undercutting the seriousness of the subject. A certain degree of wit is appropriate in a writer’s story, just as any Hollywood tale must at least have a whiff of absurdity, or else it can’t be true.
  21. Everybody's Famous!
    The result is a sprightly, entertaining film, but one in which the satire is neutralized for laughs.
  22. The Importance of Being Earnest
    The result is a frustrating, boring mess.
  23. Reconstruction
    The director has a natural's gift for storytelling and eye for casting.
  24. Signs & Wonders
    Nossiter's premise is good, and he intrigues us with stylish conceits, but he makes a crucial casting error. Alec ought to be someone we care about.
  25. The Clearing
    The very best thrillers -- a select group to which The Clearing clearly belongs -- exploit subconscious fears that bubble up at vulnerable moments.
  26. The Many Saints of Newark
    If you know the world of “The Many Saints of Newark” — maybe you’re Italian American from the East Coast, and have at least a dim memory of the late 1960s — this prequel to “The Sopranos” TV series is both accurate and oddly hilarious.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Oranges and Sunshine
    Emily Watson, who always brings a special grace to the screen, gives a multilayered performance to the role of Margaret Humphreys.
  28. Any Day Now
    The biggest strength of the movie is the chemistry between Cumming and Isaac Leyva, a first-time feature film actor with Down syndrome, who does as much to make these scenes work as the experienced actors he's sharing scenes with.
  29. Mary Queen of Scots
    This is a moderately but consistently entertaining film, with but one extraordinary thing about it, which is Saoirse Ronan in the title role.
  30. Gorky Park
    What's interesting about revisiting the film today is that the elements that engaged people most at the time - the thriller plot and the glimpse into Soviet life - maintain hardly any fascination. But the love story - what might have been regarded at the time as the obligatory "romantic interest" - stands out as something of lasting appeal. [26 Mar 2017, p.Q41]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
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