San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,316 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 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: 5,171 out of 9316
  2. Mixed: 2,659 out of 9316
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9316
9316 movie reviews
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  1. First Sunday
    The second half of the film is much funnier and warmer than the first, but the movie is still difficult to recommend.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Business of Being Born
    A powerful, frightening look at America's delivery room.
  3. Woman on the Beach
    Accessible, and often funny.
  4. Honeydripper
    The subtlety is the beauty of it.
  5. The Orphanage
    Though the movie has a handful of shots that are downright gross to witness, what makes The Orphanage scary is not what it threatens to show but what it suggests about life.
  6. There Will Be Blood
    Anderson almost brings off a picture worthy of his grandiose ambition.
  7. Persepolis
    It's striking how much emotion Satrapi is able to convey through blocky drawings.
  8. The Bucket List
    Emotionally false.
  9. The Great Debaters
    An edifying and forthright drama that aims to create a lump in the throat, and succeeds.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Water Horse
    A solidly made wish-fulfillment fantasy set during World War II.
  11. P.S. I Love You
    P.S.: It stinks.
  12. Charlie Wilson's War
    Clever and enjoyable.
  13. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
    A welcome throwback to family-friendly PG moviemaking.
  14. Steep
    Steep begins to feel a mite in need of tighter editing. In truth, the film will appeal primarily to skiers, while others may get a bit, well, snow-blind.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
    What looks good on paper contracts doesn't guarantee results. Stylized but spasmodic, this "Sweeney" seems more interested in distancing than captivating an audience.
  16. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
    For pure, uncomplicated enjoyment, it's the movie to see right now.
  17. Alvin and the Chipmunks
    A movie that features a cartoon rodent eating his brother's feces, and do you really need to know more about this update of Ross Bagdasarian's iconic musical creation?
  18. I Am Legend
    If you want lots of Will Smith and industrial-strength special effects, the movie delivers.
  19. The Kite Runner
    The terseness of Hosseini's prose has been replaced by the sentimentality of the director's approach.
  20. Youth Without Youth
    Lush and heartfelt, but compelling only in fits and starts.
  21. Outlaw
    Oliver Twist" meets "A Clockwork Orange" meets a reckless abandonment of credibility.
  22. The Perfect Holiday
    May be far from perfect, but the big question is why you're sitting in a movie theater watching it instead of cuddling up at home with the remote in one hand and a steaming toddy in the other.
  23. Nanking
    The stories are harrowing, and because they are delivered by living, breathing witnesses, they move us in deep ways that the archival footage, for all its horror, cannot.
  24. Atonement
    An unforgettable examination of a host of dark impulses.
  25. Revolver
    The movie's onslaught of psychobabble is the annoyance most likely to ruin your evening. Imagine getting stuck on a ski lift with Dr. Phil for nearly two hours.
  26. The Walker
    Has a wicked sense of humor.
  27. Juno
    A confluence of perfection in every aspect of the film.
  28. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
    By the end, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly achieves a victory over difficult material, but celebrating that fact doesn't preclude recognizing the story is not a natural for movies and remains an uneasy match.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Oswald's Ghost
    While trying to establish whether a conspiracy took place, the film attempts to solve the enigma that was Lee Harvey Oswald.
  30. Protagonist
    At first, the technique seems gimmicky, but finally it's as compelling a perspective as any to understand how these men passed through agony to some sort of peace.
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