San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,305 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: 5,161 out of 9305
  2. Mixed: 2,658 out of 9305
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9305
9305 movie reviews
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  1. Intimate Strangers
    A strange almost-thriller.
  2. The Man Who Knew Infinity
    Math buffs will appreciate the inclusion of a brief and witty anecdote they may already know involving Ramanujan and the number 1,729. Well done.
  3. Nil by Mouth
    A semi-autobiographical tale of addiction, anger and domestic violence, Nil by Mouth is as blunt and unsparing as a fist to the gut.
  4. Young Woman and the Sea
    With “Young Woman and the Sea,” Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle finally gets the movie she deserves.
  5. Samba
    Gainsbourg is always going through a little more than she cares to tell the audience about, but the connection her character makes with Samba — real, complicated and not typical — is one of the movie’s highlights.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Better Living Through Circuitry
    It's the content that makes this documentary fly. The documentary's only stumbling point is its dearth of historical context.
  7. Schizopolis
    It's fresh, unexpected and goofy. It's not a smart career move, just a film that its director wanted to make for some crazy reason, and he made it.
  8. Words on Bathroom Walls
    Fortunately, director Thor Freudenthal (“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”) eventually finds some truth, thanks to an exceptional cast headlined by two rising dynamic young actors, Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell.
  9. Hoot
    Fun to watch although falling short of a real hoot, this latest in a barrage of family movies largely succeeds at keeping the kiddies entertained and their parents from nodding off.
  10. The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
    While the documentary isn't as compelling as its source material, Abbas tells an interesting story about his incarceration.
  11. Summer of '42
    Director Robert Mulligan exhibits the same sensitivity about young people and their foibles as he did in "To Kill a Mockingbird." In 1962. You never sense that he's making fun of Hermie or his pals. [08 Jul 2007, p.16]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  12. White Sands
    An exciting thriller with good acting and a story that holds a lot of surprises and the interest of the viewer, even if it doesn't quite hold water. Or possibly because it doesn't hold water. [24 Apr 1992, p.C5]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
  13. Bolt
    It's doubtful that audiences go to animated features to hear movie stars talk. They go because a film sounds like fun and something their kids and maybe they themselves might enjoy. Bolt is all that and more.
  14. Free Fire
    Quibbling aside, Free Fire mainly works, as an indulgence in cinematic overkill for moviegoers who realize that sometimes too much is just enough.
  15. The Meddler
    Writer-director Lorene Scafaria based the movie on her own mother, and the clothes that Sarandon wears in the film actually belong to Scafaria’s mother. They fit Sarandon well, and so does the role.
  16. Go Further
    Actor Woody Harrelson is in his full activist mode in this low-key and loose documentary.
  17. Hoop Dreams
    Though the movie clocks in at just under three hours, it is -- aside from an occasional slow spot -- fascinating and exciting.
  18. The Look of Silence
    It’s a testimony to how much this is a live issue in Indonesia that some of the credits are listed simply as “anonymous.”
  19. Praise
    Achieves a rare interweaving of the darkly poetical and raspy, cockeyed comedy.
  20. Apocalypse Now Redux
    Apocalypse Now is a mixed bag, a product of excess and ambition, hatched in agony and redeemed by shards of brilliance. The new Redux version isn't a better film, but for Coppola fans and film lovers, it's essential viewing.
  21. Monster House
    Monster House was designed as a family movie and a scary movie. It may scare children, but it won't terrify them. So it's no scarier than it should be.
  22. What Lies Beneath
    Goes Hitchcock one better by imagining what it would be like if the master had the advantage of digital technology.
  23. The Spiderwick Chronicles
    A mostly superb cast, superior special effects, a sparkling musical score and a fantasy-filled plot .
  24. War Horse
    There are extraordinary and beautiful things in War Horse, enough of them to make the movie a pleasure and a worthwhile experience, though not enough to trick the eye or get you believing this movie hangs together.
  25. The Gingerbread Man
    There's great pleasure in watching a movie in which the director has thought out everything beforehand.
  26. Graduation
    In Graduation, Mungiu takes a scalpel and dissects life in modern Romania. He shows what’s wrong with the government and the impact this has on people’s relationships.
  27. Grey Gardens
    Watching the film is like being at a freak show: You feel like a voyeur, yet you can't take your eyes off this Mommie Dearest or her childlike middle-aged daughter.
  28. Reconstruction
    The director has a natural's gift for storytelling and eye for casting.
  29. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
    Life in remote parts of New Zealand must forge hardy souls, judging from the characters in Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
  30. House of Wax
    After a month, no one will talk about this movie, ever again. Still, with a picture like this, there's really only one question: Is it any fun? Yes. Lots. Definitely.
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