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. Dreamgirls
    Indeed, without Hudson's magic, without that extra feeling that comes from seeing the launch of something extraordinary, Dreamgirls might have been a break-even affair. The film has strong roles, good actors and a compelling story that takes place over the course of 10 or 15 years. But it has, with only a couple of exceptions, a pedestrian score that sounds like generic show-music schlock and lyrics that are not distinctive.
  2. The Good German
    Blanchett's performance is Soderbergh's biggest mistake. He either encourages or permits her to play Lena as a Greta Garbo caricature, which is mildly amusing if you're interested in Garbo, but if you're interested in Lena and The Good German, you're out of luck.
  3. Breaking and Entering
    The story, like the protagonist, floats along in a noodly sort of way, intelligent, benign and ineffectual.
  4. Charlotte's Web
    There's an edge to this exemplary family movie, just as there is in the story.
  5. Eragon
    Eragon may not be a big Oscar contender, but in a movie season filled with blood diamonds, fascist soldiers and Idi Amin, it provides a much-needed afternoon of PG-rated family-friendly adventure.
  6. The Pursuit of Happyness
    Will Smith has the right quality for the role -- he's an easy man to root for -- but he augments this by channeling some inner quality of desperation and need.
  7. Apocalypto
    Yet Apocalypto has to be respected for the sheer audacity of it, for the commitment and ambition behind it, and for its presentation of a complete other world. It is the furthest thing from a cynical or casual piece of work. It's crazy, and it moves.
  8. Blood Diamond
    Director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one.
  9. The Holiday
    This is familiar territory for writer-director Nancy Meyers, Hollywood's queen of the chick flick. Her latest has charming moments and a hopeful message for despondent singles, but it lacks the emotional resonance of Meyers' "Something's Gotta Give" and the zaniness of "What Women Want."
  10. Unaccompanied Minors
    A half-baked script by Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark admittedly gives Feig little to work with. But his young cast is capable of a lot more than is required of them in this so-called comedy.
  11. Off the Black
    There's nothing too small about Nolte's performance. He's the perfect companion for a rookie feature film director looking to make a good first impression.
  12. I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal
    Succeeds in making the case that the hatred that seemed dead and buried 60 years ago is alive and growing and beginning to present itself once again as a threat to humane civilization.
  13. Family Law
    It's a serious subject handled with humor -- not the ha-ha kind, but the hard laughter that comes from recognizing parts of yourself in the Perelmans.
  14. Inland Empire
    The film is dazzling and bewildering in equal measure.
  15. Days of Glory
    The story here isn't much, and the truth it reveals, to them and us, isn't earthshaking, just quiet and somber.
  16. The Lives of Others
    A great film, the best I've seen since Terrence Malick's "The New World," and far and away the richest and most brilliantly acted picture to be released this Oscar season.
  17. The Nativity Story
    By grounding everything that went before in an earthy realism, Hardwicke earns the elevation of the nativity sequence, one of the more beautiful scenes in this year's cinema.
  18. Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
    While Kal Penn manages a decent lead performance as Taj, the writing is terrible.
  19. 3 Needles
    If nothing else, Fitzgerald has demonstrated how huge a challenge the AIDS epidemic is on a worldwide scale, and how it will take a concerted, intelligent effort to solve it. It'll take a lot more than throwing money around.
  20. 10 Items or Less
    Proceeds at that pace to an ending that is as inevitable as it is poignant.
  21. The Architect
    Still feels stagebound, inert when it needs to be cinematic.
  22. Turistas
    These people are so stupid that they make us think, well, wait a second: Maybe those livers and kidneys could be put to better use.
  23. Two Weeks
    Although well intentioned, has the superficial gloss of a TV movie of the week.
  24. Dreamland
    Dreamland has vitality and emotional truth underlying all its interactions. And the young women, Agnes Bruckner and Kelli Garner, are superb.
  25. A Touch of Spice
    There's more than a touch of whimsy in A Touch of Spice, a sentimental Greek offering that's been immensely popular in its home country but doesn't translate well.
  26. Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds
    A rollicking comedy for the gay niche that rarely rises above the level of a high school skit, Phillip J. Bartell's sequel to 2004's "Eating Out" is loaded with silliness and eye candy.
  27. This Filthy World
    Some long patches in this show are surprisingly boring and unfunny. Maybe part of the problem is that the rest of the world has caught up with Waters -- nowadays everyone's a provocateur. In-your-face gay-themed material is no longer such a novelty; there are simply fewer boundaries left to transgress.
  28. The Fountain
    The Fountain' never comes together. Like the time traveler at its center, it's all over the map.
  29. Deck the Halls
    Belongs in the holiday hall of shame.
  30. Deja Vu
    A needlessly complicated and confusing thriller.
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