San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,306 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: 5,162 out of 9306
  2. Mixed: 2,658 out of 9306
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9306
9306 movie reviews
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  1. The Baby-Sitters Club
    Mayron, who directed a remake of the Disney comedy Freaky Friday for TV, took on a lot with The Baby-Sitters Club, and the strain shows. She's got too many characters to establish -- several adults besides the girls -- and her movie feels under-rehearsed, as if she hadn't been given the benefit of preparation and wasn't allowed to get as many takes as she needed of most scenes.
  2. Planes: Fire & Rescue
    An occasionally rousing but mostly just adequate sequel to last year's "Planes."
  3. Escape Room
    Escape Room is an amusement park ride. It has no reason for being beyond that base-level kick, and it doesn’t, as they say, transcend the genre. But there’s something to be said for amusement park rides. People like them for good reason.
  4. Emperor
    In the end, probably the best way to watch Emperor is to pretend that the Supreme Command of Allied Forces in Japan after World War II was Tommy Lee Jones. If you do that, the movie works surprisingly well.
  5. Tomb Raider
    Story problems tank the new Tomb Raider — small, essential things like lack of motivation, lack of reasons for people to do the things they do, and lack of any reason for the audience to keep watching.
  6. Chicken Little
    As cluttered as the movie gets before the ending, it's funny throughout, with some 1970s and '80s music thrown in to keep adults happy.
  7. The Idiots
    Fascinating, obnoxious and poignant.
  8. 21
    A movie with an irresistible premise that ultimately collapses around the whole issue of motivation. Until it does, this is a thoroughly entertaining picture.
  9. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
    Unfortunately, Sucka falls apart after the first half-hour. The action sequences are confusing and senseless. The setups for the action scenes are long and pointless. You know where the movie is heading, and there are no surprises along the way. It's one joke, over and over. [17 Feb 1989, p.E7]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  10. Gran Turismo
    Gran Turismo is just the same cars, going around and around and around.
  11. Civic Duty
    A noble try that disappoints.
  12. Hit and Runway
    For a little while, comedy ensues.
  13. Maze
    Well-intentioned but predictable romance.
  14. Vertical Limit
    The film is well shot and has titillating action without a single persuasive emotion.
  15. The Core
    It's a straight-ahead adventure with the usual number of thrills, but with the added virtue of being smarter and more sober than one might expect.
  16. The Santa Clause 2
    A nice little holiday movie.
  17. Orange County
    An almost successful comedy.
  18. Super Troopers
    Mostly, Super Troopers is plain goofy.
  19. From Dusk Till Dawn
    Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez had their fun with From Dusk Till Dawn, and now they need to stay away from each other. For their own good. Forever.
  20. 300: Rise of an Empire
    "300" was an innovative and imaginative action film, but the follow-up, 300: Rise of an Empire, is nothing but a disappointment.
  21. Lockout
    Most of the time Lockout is pleasant enough, not something to recommend to a friend, but enjoyable in the moment. Guy Pearce has a lot to do with that, as the most impervious action star imaginable.
  22. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
    Memoirs of an Invisible Man is one of Chevy Chase's best movies. Though more or less a comedy, the picture gives Chase a chance to do much more than smirk and be a wise guy, while providing a good showcase for his dry style of humor. [28 Feb 1992, p.D1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  23. Sleeping with the Enemy
    Sleeping With the Enemy is bound to be a crowd pleaser, with its cool, crazed villain and with Julia Roberts in the lead, as a woman who fakes her death in order to escape her husband. But everything surprising and gripping about the movie happens in the first 20 minutes, and after that it follows a predictable course. [08 Feb 1991, p.C1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  24. Bullet to the Head
    A good action movie, whose title expresses what is, more or less, a recurring motif. It also gives a sense of the film's general attitude toward life. It's a film with no ambition but to get viewers' pulses moving. It does that, and with a fair degree of wit and style.
  25. The Sicilian Girl
    Amenta was deeply moved by Rita's story, but his prosaic direction can't do it justice.
  26. The Unholy Trinity
    The Unholy Trinity is a passable, 95-minute diversion, but an unremarkable one.
  27. Just Cause
    Despite a few shortcuts and some small but nagging inconsistencies -- not to mention weak performances in a couple of key roles -- Just Cause delivers.
  28. Operation Dumbo Drop
    Fortunately, the people save Operation Dumbo Drop, and it's their determinedly good-natured performances that keep the film moving through several well-paced misadventures.
  29. I'm Still Here
    If there was ever a human being who needed a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, this is the guy.
  30. The Girl on the Train
    The most exciting contribution to The Girl on the Train is that of Wilson. It’s exciting because it shows that it’s possible, despite the odds, for a distinctive screenwriter to express herself consistently and dominate a film. And it’s exciting because this is a unique voice, and very much a woman’s voice, that our cinema needs.
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