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NEW THIS WEEK
I Wish 5
Where Do We Go Now? 4.5
Dark Shadows (2012) 3.79
God Bless America 3.14
Girl in Progress 3
Cup, The 3
Nesting 3
Tonight You're Mine 2
Dictator, The 2
Hick 1
Nobody Else But You rate me!
Transit rate me!
Philly Kid, The rate me!
Dragon Eyes rate me!
Stash House rate me!
Small, Beautifully Moving Parts rate me!
Elena rate me!
Under African Skies rate me!
Sleepless Night rate me!
El Gringo rate me!
Bag of Hammers, A rate me!
ALSO IN THEATERS

COMING NEXT WEEK
18-May American Animal
18-May Battleship
18-May Beyond the Black Rainbow
18-May Hysteria
18-May Indie Game: The Movie
18-May Lovely Molly
18-May Mansome
18-May Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob's Pillow
18-May Polisse
18-May Samaritan, The
18-May Virginia
18-May What to Expect When You're Expecting

DVD RELEASES
15-May Albert Nobbs  
15-May Chronicle  
15-May Devil Inside, The  
15-May Hello Lonesome  
15-May My Perestroika  
15-May Norwegian Wood  
15-May We Were Here  
15-May Windfall (2012)  
22-May Grey, The  
22-May Newlyweds  
22-May Perfect Sense  
22-May Red Tails  
22-May Secret World of Arrietty, The  
22-May This Means War  
22-May Woman in Black, The  

TOP 5
MOVIES IN RELEASE
TITLE RATING
I Wish 5
Headhunters 5
Monsieur Lazhar 5
Simple Life, A (Tao Jie) 5
Marvel's The Avengers 4.65

BOTTOM 5
MOVIES IN RELEASE
TITLE RATING
Little Bit of Heaven, A 1
Darling Companion 1.14
Raven, The (2012) 1.2
Lucky One, The 1.5
Wrath of the Titans 1.83

New York Asian Film Festival 2011 MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame 4.88
Abraxas 3.5
Versus (2000) 4.3
Machete Maidens Unleashed! 3.29
Shaolin 3
MORE MOVIES

Fantasia International Film Festival 2011 MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Milocrorze: A Love Story 3.71
13 Assassins 4.27
Hello Ghost 2.29
Bas-fonds 3.86
Abolition 3
MORE MOVIES

2011 Chicago French Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life 3
Love Crime 5
Romantics Anonymous 2
Point Blank (2011) 4.33
Hands Up (Les mains en l'air) 2
MORE MOVIES

2011 Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Disappearance of McKinley Nolan, The 5
Viva Riva! 3.5
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey 4.14
Phunny Business: A Black Comedy 3
Overcome 3
MORE MOVIES

2011 New York Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Melancholia 4.67
Dangerous Method, A 4.65
Shame 3.75
Faust (2011) 3
Skin I Live In, The 4.63
MORE MOVIES

2011 Austin Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Some Guy Who Kills People 5
Pariah 4.31
Jeff, Who Lives at Home 3.33
Jiro Dreams of Sushi 4
Albert Nobbs 2.14
MORE MOVIES

2012 Tribeca Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Rubberneck 2.29
Fairhaven 4
Revisionaries, The 4
As Luck Would Have It 5
Marvel's The Avengers 4.65
MORE MOVIES

2012 Los Angeles Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Celeste and Jesse Forever 2
MORE MOVIES

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EFC STATS
Movies Listed: 23378
Total Ratings: 242371
Total Reviews: 25218
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SPOTLIGHTED FEATURES REGULAR COLUMNS
Criticwatch - The Dark Shadows of Film Criticism
Interview: Bobcat Goldthwait on "God Bless America."
Interview: Andrew Davis on "Stony Island"
DVD Reviews For 5/6: "I Suppose A Smaller-Caliber Pistol Would Have To Fire Baby Teeth."
I Think It Would Be Fun To Run A Film Festival: A Guide To Ebertfest 2012.
Glacial Centennials
Interview: Drew Goddard on "The Cabin in the Woods."
The Chicago Fear Fest (Apr 13 & 14)
Ebertfest: Take Me To The Volcano!
Celebrity Exclusive Interviews
Film Festivals of the World
Criticwatch
Rants and Raves
Court of Public Opinion
DVD Reviews
Movies & Money with Erik Childress (WCIU-TV)
The HBS/EFC Hall of Fame
The Oscar Eye
Films I Neglected To Review with Peter Sobczynski
WGN Radio's Midnight Movie Reviews Podcast (w/ Nick Digilio, Erik Childress & Collin Souter)
DVD/Blu-ray Schedules
MORE FEATURES
LATEST REVIEWS
RUBBERNECK
"Neither a thriller nor a look at a broken mind should be this dull."
2 stars
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2012: It doesn't happen very often, but "Rubberneck" is almost too simple to classify. It's got characteristics of both a thriller and an indie drama of the character-study variety, but the only thing that seems unique about it is the setting, which doesn't contribute much to making the action interesting." (more)
DICTATOR, THE
"Duck This"
2 stars
Peter Sobczynski says... "Shock comedian Sacha Baron Cohen may have exhausted his collection of tried-and-true characters that he developed on his acclaimed "Da Ali G Show" and brought to the big screen with varying results in such vehicles as the barely remembered "Ali G Indahouse ," the amusing-if-overrated international smash "Borat" and the simply awful "Bruno" but to judge from his latest effort, "The Dictator," he hasn't retired either his basic schtick or, in several circumstances, the jokes themselves. Like his earlier efforts, this is a film that wants to mine laughs from having its lead character saying and doing things that would have been unthinkable in a major motion picture only a few years ago and mine controversy from the outrage that the material might inspire from more sensitive quarters. However, based on the extremely uneven end results here, Cohen may want to seriously considering mixing things up for his next project because his once-anarchistic approach has grown increasingly stiff and formulaic over time and while there are still some very funny moments here and there, "The Dictator" contains more than a whiff of equal parts deja vu and desperation throughout and even though it clocks in at only an anemic and well-padded 75 minutes before the end credits begin rolling, even Cohen's biggest supporters may find themselves checking their watches here and there trying to figure out how much longer it has to go." (more)
PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE
"... and with a new friend."
4 stars
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2012: It's okay to look at the title of "Paul Williams Still Alive" and have a reaction somewhere between dismissal and dread. Documentaries about musicians who have faded into obscurity in part due to substance abuse are so common that festivals might as well list them as their own program. This one, at least, finds a couple of ways to present things differently, although the results are a somewhat mixed bag." (more)
DARK SHADOWS (2012)
"Fun throwback."
4 stars
Rob Gonsalves says... "If there’s anything remotely goth-flavored in our culture untouched by Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, just wait a while; they’ll get around to it." (more)
REVISIONARIES, THE
"A look at how ideology enters the curriculum - with its own agenda."
4 stars
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2012: It's easy to hear a phrase like "culture wars" and think that it's over-stating the matter; most people, most of the time, stick to their own thing, grouse that there's not more that reflects their beliefs and tastes, and leave it at that. But as "The Revisionaries" demonstrates, it's a very real thing, and one of the front lines is the Texas State Board of Education." (more)
NESTING
"At that stage where things could go either way."
3 stars
Jay Seaver says... ""Nesting" is a nice enough little indie comedy that does nobody any harm and has the occasional pretty decent moment. That's a nice starting point, but the movie could use a little bit more of everything, from resources to rewrites." (more)
PIRATES!, THE: BAND OF MISFITS
"What's wrong with 'An Adventure with Scientists?' Not a lot."
4 stars
Jay Seaver says... "It's a bit of a puzzle to fans of the medium (and quality family movies) that Aardman Animation is not more popular in the U.S. Is it just too British? It can't be the quality of their work - even something like "The Pirates!", which isn't quite as brilliant as "Chicken Run" or their Wallace & Gromit pieces, has a tremendously impressive amount of quality packed into every frame and the animation thereof." (more)
DARK SHADOWS (2012)
"Welcome To Collinwood"
4 stars
Peter Sobczynski says... "With its clearly rushed production schedule, actors who seemed to be cast largely for their looks than for their talent, a large cast of characters who all seemed to be holding lurid secrets that would invariably be unveiled whenever things began to lag and plot twists and developments that often boggled the mind and other organs, "Dark Shadows" was in many ways similar to the other soap operas with which it shared afternoon airtime with during its original 1966-1971 run. The difference is that while the other shows only featured metaphorical monsters--adulterers, bigamists, rapists, fancy lads and the like--"Dark Shadows" had actual monsters at its core--witches, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls and, at the center of it all, a 200-year-old vampire by the name of Barnabas Collins (played by the great Jonathan Frid, who passed away just a couple of weeks ago) who returns to his family home as a distant relative while still suffering from the throes of a still-potent curse. Of course, in the wake of stuff like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The Vampire Diaries"--not to mention all that "Twilight" crap--the fusion of soap operatics and the supernatural may not sound that unusual but it was a big deal back in the day and while the show was never a blockbuster hit like "General Hospital," it did amass a loyal cult following during its original run and later on in syndication. In subsequent years, there were a couple of attempts to revive it but they never quite took--whatever producer Dan Curtis was able to accomplish the first time around proved difficult to replicate and, like many of the characters that would appear on it over the years, the show eventually faded into the ether." (more)
MORE REVIEWS

LATEST FEATURES
CRITICWATCH - THE DARK SHADOWS OF FILM CRITICISM
by Erik Childress
"One of the seemingly lost attributes of film criticism these days is perspective. I was tempted to call it an "art" signifying it as some rare gift possessed by only the most elite of snob-tastic film scholars, but why add to the War On Intelligence that is occurring in this country. Truth is, perspective is not a hard art to grasp. It should actually be a rather common trait in your average film critic, lest they be too quick on the draw to declare something fresh in their mind as an equal to something that has taken up over a decade of space in the comparative gland of their cranium. More and more though, whether it be someone on the festival circuit or another just trying to draw hits to their website the need to hyperbolize the latest and presumed greatest, this practice has bled into the mainstream. By even critics who normally do not even earn the title of quote whore here at Criticwatch. And they can do with a little bit of perspective as well, looking no further than the latest film by a once-revered director that, sadly, also lacks its own perspective." (more)
INTERVIEW: BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT ON "GOD BLESS AMERICA."
by Peter Sobczynski
"The comedian-turned-filmmaker talks about his latest work, the dark satire "God Bless America."" (more)
INTERVIEW: ANDREW DAVIS ON "STONY ISLAND"
by Peter Sobczynski
"The Oscar-nominated director of such hits as "Under Siege" and "The Fugitive" recounts the production of his very first movie, the 1978 musical-comedy-drama "Stony Island" on the occasion of its long-overdue home video debut." (more)
MORE FEATURES

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