San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 9,302 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 2.2 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: 5,160 out of 9302
  2. Mixed: 2,656 out of 9302
  3. Negative: 1,486 out of 9302
9302 movie reviews
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  1. Antarctica: A Year on Ice
    In all, it’s an absorbing, straightforward look at a truly alien environment. The film could be nicely paired with Werner Herzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World” (2007), a much more idiosyncratic view of Antarctic strangeness.
  2. Food Chains
    This advocacy documentary is never dull, but it tends to wander.
  3. Penguins of Madagascar
    There’s plenty here to tickle the kids, and that’s what counts.
  4. Horrible Bosses 2
    Horrible Bosses 2 is harsh and tasteless, not to mention broad and shameless, but that’s not a bad thing in this case. Softness and good taste, as well as restraint and carefulness, are the enemies of comedy, and “Horrible Bosses 2” is a very funny movie.
  5. The Better Angels
    The only problem with The Better Angels is that it’s not nimble enough to vary its strategy or to find ways for the character of young Abe (Braydon Denney) to grow over the course of the movie.
  6. Rocks in My Pockets
    This is a brave film, a unique way of exploring a taboo topic. The animation works on many levels, but at the end of the day, it’s about how art helps Signe overcome her madness. That’s a heartfelt message — and here it feels genuine.
  7. The Homesman
    The film occupies that peculiar space that many of us would prefer to believe doesn’t exist, a movie that’s worthy but often inert, by turns enriching and enervating: a good boring movie.
  8. Foxcatcher
    The experience of watching Foxcatcher is of constantly waiting for something to happen — and of giving up, long before something actually does.
  9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
    Only in the movie business could someone sell such shoddy merchandise and expect people to buy it. If The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 were an appliance, it would be a broken toaster that people would toss in the garbage. Except that analogy is too kind, in that “Mockingjay” would be half a toaster.
  10. Rosewater
    The material is ripe for black comedy, but Stewart’s screenplay, staying true to Bahari’s real-life experience, steers a middle course. It’s sometimes scary, sometimes funny, and sometimes absurd, but never any of those things fully, or effectively.
  11. The Theory of Everything
    Just in physical terms, Eddie Redmayne transformation’s into Stephen Hawking is something remarkable.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Goodbye to Language 3D
    Goodbye to Language seems like an appropriate title if it’s meant to suggest that logic and sanity have completely disappeared from this world.
  13. Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
    Follows the country pop singer on what has to be one of the most amazing farewell concert tours in music history.
  14. Beyond the Lights
    As a work of art, the movie is merely on the bright side of OK. But as a vehicle for an emerging star, as a platform to show one actress in a variety of modes and moods, within a sympathetic and glamorous context, it couldn’t be better.
  15. Dumb and Dumber To
    This is anti-funny, where every attempt at a joke is like a little rock thrown at your face.
  16. Plot for Peace
    The quiet machinations of this Frenchman and commodities trader helped win the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and bring an end to South Africa’s apartheid system.
  17. Big Hero 6
    The visuals are splendid. Even close-ups of face and hair are something to marvel at.
  18. Force Majeure
    Be warned: This is not a movie for a first date. Or a second date. Or perhaps any date.
  19. Interstellar
    Despite its many virtues, Interstellar feels as if it doesn’t quite hit the target.
  20. Before I Go to Sleep
    Before I Go to Sleep emerges as a mystery — one with a slow burn leading to a big payoff. But what keeps the movie going, beyond questions of what is true and what is false, are the issues raised by the illness itself.
  21. Horns
    The result is that a story with a couple of good ideas founders for lack of a third or fourth good idea. Still, any picture that features Radcliffe having a nervous breakdown for two hours has something to recommend it.
  22. Keep On Keepin' On
    One need not be a jazz aficionado to enjoy this film. All that’s required is a smile.
  23. Laggies
    So here’s the case of a movie that is, in every way, nothing special — except for the way it’s made and how it’s done.
  24. White Bird in a Blizzard
    An odd little concoction, a coming-of-age story that, only in passing, is also a mystery.
  25. Young Ones
    There should be drama here, but everything falls as flat as the withered valley floor. Not all is lost: The cinematography and special effects are quite competent. The script just leaves us thirsty for more.
  26. Nightcrawler
    There are moments that are too macabre and outlandish, but Gilroy steers the movie just this side of farce, just this side of Chayefsky, and keeps it all within a realistic framework. At times watching, you might wonder how he’ll keep the story going, how he’ll top himself. But he does.
  27. Pelican Dreams
    Morro is a great character, and for the most part, the film is animal friendly and environmentally serious. In the end, Irving turns out to be a reliable narrator.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Listen Up Philip
    Listen Up Philip wants to say something meaningful about human relationships. But like a frustrated writer staring at a blank piece of paper, the words just never appear.
  29. The Overnighters
    Director Jesse Moss was basically a one-man production crew, which explains how he was able to film such intimate, painful conversations. His work is haunting — one of the best documentaries of the year.
  30. Dear White People
    This is an important movie, but it’s not a perfect one. It has one enormous flaw, and it’s a testament to the smartness of the writing and the inherent fascination of its viewpoint that it doesn’t wreck the experience: Director Justin Simien doesn’t know how to shape scenes or pull performances from his actors.
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