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NEW THIS WEEK
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog 4.6
Beyond the Black Rainbow 3.29
Hysteria 3
Lovely Molly 3
Dictator, The 2.54
What to Expect When You're Expecting 2
Samaritan, The 2
Battleship 1.14
Elena rate me!
American Animal rate me!
Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob's Pillow rate me!
Virginia rate me!
Indie Game: The Movie rate me!
Mansome rate me!
Polisse rate me!
ALSO IN THEATERS

COMING NEXT WEEK
25-May Chernobyl Diaries
25-May Cowgirls n' Angels
25-May Intouchables, The
25-May Men In Black 3
25-May Moonrise Kingdom
25-May OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger's Movie
25-May Oslo, August 31

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
Headhunters 5
Bernie 5
I Wish 5
Simple Life, A (Tao Jie) 5
Monsieur Lazhar 5

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

New York Asian Film Festival 2011 MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Machete Maidens Unleashed! 3.29
Duel to the Death 4
Buddha Mountain 3.86
Punished 4
Horny House of Horror 1
MORE MOVIES

Fantasia International Film Festival 2011 MOVIES
TITLE RATING
13 Assassins 4.27
Battle Royale 4.63
Beyond the Black Rainbow 3.29
Last Ronin, The 4
El Sol 3
MORE MOVIES

2011 Chicago French Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life 3
Love Crime 5
Romantics Anonymous 2
Heir Apparent: Largo Winch, The 3
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
Yelling to the Sky 3.5
Kiss and Tell: The History of Black Romance in Film 2
Three-Way, The 3
MORE MOVIES

2011 New York Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Faust (2011) 3
Descendants, The 4.4
Moth Diaries, The 1.86
Skin I Live In, The 4.63
4:44 Last Day on Earth 3
MORE MOVIES

2011 Austin Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Some Guy Who Kills People 5
We Need to Talk About Kevin 3.83
Bully (2012) 3
Jeff, Who Lives at Home 3.33
Descendants, The 4.4
MORE MOVIES

2012 Tribeca Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Rubberneck 2.29
Fairhaven 4
Burn 4
Revenge for Jolly! 1
Marvel's The Avengers 4.65
MORE MOVIES

2012 Los Angeles Film Festival MOVIES
TITLE RATING
Celeste and Jesse Forever 2
Queen of Versailles, The 4
MORE MOVIES

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EFC STATS
Movies Listed: 23379
Total Ratings: 242404
Total Reviews: 25222
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SPOTLIGHTED FEATURES REGULAR COLUMNS
Films I Neglected To Review: Eight Arms To Hold You (Among Other Things)
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
BERNIE
"The Trouble With Marjorie"
5 stars
Peter Sobczynski says... "The great Coen Brothers film "Fargo," you will recall, opened with a title card assuring viewers that the story they were about to see was true but that some details were changed in order to protect the privacy of the victims. It turned out, of course, that this was just another jape on the part of the Coens but for months afterwards, many people were still of the belief that all the stuff that happened on the screen actually occurred in real life. In hindsight, it sounds a little silly but on the other hand, I can understand why this notion took hold and persisted for so long--the story that the Coens had created was so fascinating and well-developed and the characters populating it were so quirky and compelling, especially in comparison with most other movies, that it was easy to believe that it was all real. Watching "Bernie," the latest film from Richard Linklater, I found myself thinking about "Fargo" a lot and in a good way. Like "Fargo," it tells a tale made up of equal parts crime drama, dark comedy and wry sociological study and features a group of absolutely fascinating characters at its core. Unlike "Fargo," the events seen on the screen apparently did happen back in 1996 (the year that "Fargo" came out, curiously enough) and while I cannot vouch 100% for its authenticity in every single regard, I can assure you that, like "Fargo," it feels utterly real throughout even during its strangest moments (and there are plenty of them to behold). I can also assure you that it is pretty much brilliant from start to finish and while I suspect that it is likely to get lost amidst the shuffle of summer behemoths coming down the bath, it seems highly unlikely that it won't go down as one of the best films of the year." (more)
BATTLESHIP
"All Hands On Dreck"
1 stars
Peter Sobczynski says... "When it was first announced that toy manufacturer Hasbro intended on following the success of its previous playroom-to-screen transfers of their "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" properties with an jumbo-sized cinematic translation of the venerable board game "Battleship," the news was met with a near-universal degree of disdain bordering on downright hostility. After all, while the "Transformers" series and "G.I. Joe" were remarkably awful, the notion of making up stories involving them was not that great of a stretch--they ere basically much more expensive and elaborate version of what little kids had been doing with them since they first hit the market. However, a board game is an entirely different kettle of fish because you can't really invent different stories for such a thing in the way that you can with a set of action figures--you follow the instructions, one person wins, everyone else loses and that's that. "Battleship" is even more complicated in this regard because it doesn't contain an elaborate premise or backstory and it doesn't bring much of anything of value to the table other than a recognizable name." (more)
DICTATOR, THE
"The Not-So-Great Dictator"
3 stars
Brett Gallman says... "“The Dictator” opens with a dedication to the late, not-so-great Kim Jong-il; that’s the joke, of course: that the North Korean tyrant was a terrible human being, so it’s funny to make a film that spoofs a composite of our most infamous contemporary dictators--right? As it turns out, that’s pretty much the entire punch-line to “The Dictator,” and, while occasionally funny, it attacks with the precision of a scud missile--and often with the force of one too." (more)
QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, THE
"The recession hits everybody... differently."
4 stars
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2012: Times are tough for everybody, although "tough" can be a relative concept. The further you get from the bottom, not only does it get further from what many would consider really difficult, but harder to sympathize, at least in the abstract. "The Queen of Versailles" aims to make the abstract specific, and if not sympathetic, at least interesting." (more)
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)
MORE REVIEWS

LATEST FEATURES
FILMS I NEGLECTED TO REVIEW: EIGHT ARMS TO HOLD YOU (AMONG OTHER THINGS)
by Peter Sobczynski
"Please enjoy short reviews of the Chloe Grace Moretz vehicle "Hick," the Morgan Spulock documentary "Mansome," the restored version of the 1981 cult classic "Possession" and the estrogen-heavy "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Granted, you may not enjoy the movies that much but I hope you at least enjoy the reviews." (more)
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)
MORE FEATURES

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