Click on any film for more information

For a "Best of 2009" list click "Search Films" above...

From Paris with Love opened this past weekend to fair reviews. Reviews were mixed. • James Berardinelli wrote for Reel Views, "...intellectually flat but viscerally involving... good enough to get the viewer from Point A to Point B, which is all that's necessary in what would have been a B-grade action flick had it not been for Travolta's participation." • Roger Moore wrote in the Orlando Sentinel and other newspapers, "...basically a bloody buddy picture that tries too hard." • Rene Rodriguez wrote in the Miami Herald, "...generic but breezily entertaining... Travolta's most enjoyable and energetic performance since 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Primary Colors'... a more-than-adequate time filler..." • Wesley Morris wrote in the Boston Globe, "...a collection of explosions and shoot-outs duct-taped to a terrorism plot.... the sort of asinine action exercise that needs a star to blow up cars and leap from rooftop to rooftop with gusto." • Oliver Jones wrote in People, "...both absurd and unabashedly un-PC. Still, the film itself is mostly a lot of fun, thanks to Travolta." • And Michael O'Sullivan wrote in the Washington Post, "...kind of funny, in a smirky, 'Pulp Fiction' sort of way.... a hyper-violent buddy comedy. If you like that sort of thing -- think 'Training Day,' with laughs -- you'll love this."   More About This Film... 

Dear John opened this past weekend to fair reviews. • Mary Pols wrote in Time, "...there is something emotionally exhausted about 'Dear John'.... This isn't a love story, it's a misery story that drags on, not to a dramatic conclusion but a tepid moment." • Moira Macdonald wrote in the Seattle Times, "Lasse Hallström ('My Life as a Dog,' 'Chocolat') knows how to wring tears without cheating or frequently resorting to cute animals and sad children, and its two lead actors nicely capture the hesitant sweetness of first love." • Claudia Puig wrote in USA Today, "...more sentimental than a factory full of Valentine's Day cards and more manipulative than a conniving matchmaker.... You're more likely to roll your eyes than swoon over this slow-moving and far-fetched love story." • Calvin Wilson wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "...plays well enough while you're watching it. It's only after the lights go up that you realize how shamelessly manipulative it is.... has its moments but comes across as far more formulaic than it needs to be.... fulfills its mission, which is to be a crowd-pleasing tearjerker." • And Betsy Sharkey wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Dear Reader, I'm so sorry, gulp, but 'Dear John' is like a very bad relationship with a very beautiful someone: You want it to work, you truly do, but the pain, the guilt, the boredom, the CW soundtrack.... And I wish I could say it's not them, it's me, but I really think it's them."   More About This Film... 

Avatar continues playing to outstanding reviews. • Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "You've never experienced anything like it, and neither has anyone else.... to see 'Avatar' is to feel like you understand filmmaking in three dimensions for the first time." • David Denby wrote in the New Yorker, "....the most beautiful film I’ve seen in years.... The movie’s story may be a little trite, and the big battle at the end between ugly mechanical force and the gorgeous natural world goes on forever, but what a show Cameron puts on!" • Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "...an extraordinary film.... not simply a sensational entertainment... a technical breakthrough.... It invents a new language... creates new movie stars...." • Jake Coyle wrote for the Associated Press, "...a movie whose effects are clearly revolutionary, a spectacle that millions will find adventure in. But it nevertheless feels unsatisfying and somehow lacks the pulse of a truly alive film..." • Steven Rea wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "...a trippy sci-fi tale about an ex-Marine, trained to fight an indigenous people, who comes to understand the tribal culture in ways that make him terribly conflicted about annihilating them.... the movie quite simply rocks." • Josep Parera wrote in La Opinion, "James Cameron revoluciona el cine en una fascinante aventura fantástica." • And Richard Corliss wrote in Time, "...surely the most vivid and convincing creation of a fantasy world ever seen in the history of moving pictures... a total sensory, sensuous, sensual experience.... Cameron has never been a great director of actors nor sympathetic to their sensitive needs — but objections shrink to quibbles and then simply disappear in the face of the picture's unprecedented visual flourishes."   More About This Film... 

An Education opened in additional cities this past weekend to exceptional reviews. • Christy Lemire wrote for the Associated Press, "You may think you know where the film is going, but its ecstasy and heartbreak will stick with you afterward nonetheless. It's one of the year's best." • Joe Morgenstern wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "No movie I've seen in a very long time has touched me so deeply, or bestowed so much pleasure.... The whole film is phenomenal. I love it." • Shawn Levy wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "...absolutely impeccable: expertly acted and assuredly paced and built with deft economy and exquisite taste." • Clint O'Connor wrote in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "...sharply written, crisply shot and abounds with wonderful performances." • Scott Foundas wrote in the Village Voice and LA Weekly, "Mulligan is onscreen for nearly every frame... in those 90-odd minutes, her Jenny seems to transform before us.... Playing a character who is herself a rare bloom in a field of mediocrity, Mulligan has a quality they can’t teach in acting school. A star is born." • Tricia Olszewski wrote in the Washington City Paper, "...ultimately feels much more mature than most coming-of-age movies, and will buoy anyone who still remembers what it’s like to take that first peek into life beyond parents and textbooks.... its loveliness abides." • And Leah Rozen wrote in People, "...a beautifully crafted coming-of-age drama that just may be my favorite movie so far this year."   More About This Film... 

Crazy Heart opened in additional cities this past weekend to outstanding reviews. • Joe Morgenstern wrote in the Wall Street Journal, " 'Crazy Heart' is blessed with so many marvelous moments, lovely lines and vivid characters that it's hard to know where to begin... It was written and directed by Scott Cooper... with an unerring instinct for intimacy and a flawless sense of proportion..." • Leah Rozen wrote in People, "In this marvelously loose-limbed character study, a sensational Bridges gives a deeply felt performance, one as authentic and lived-in as the worn couch in Blake's living room." • David Ansen wrote in Newsweek, "Bridges is phenomenal.... ‘Crazy Heart’ gets to you like a good country song—not because it tells you something new, but because it tells it well." • Nick Pinkerton wrote in the Village Voice, "...shows a rare knowledge and respect for real, played music.... It's merely a well-done, adult American movie—that is to say, a rarity." • Claudia Puig wrote in USA Today, "Even if you're not a country music fan, the songs, by T Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton, are infectious." • And Mick LaSalle wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle, "...this show belongs to Bridges, who starts off as a magnificent train wreck and then takes a journey with the character. He understands Bad Blake so completely and is so confident and competent in his capacity as a singer that the acting doesn't stop at the stage door."   More About This Film... 

Ajami opened last Wednesday in New York City to a handful of excellent reviews. • A.O. Scott wrote in the New York Times, "...acutely insightful... tough and in many ways unsparing... the plot resolves a bit too neatly and abruptly... You emerge from 'Ajami' moved and also a little worn out, but mostly grateful for the heart, craft and intelligence the movie has shown." • Jay Weissberg wrote in Daily Variety, "Rarely has the tinderbox nature of the Middle East been so accurately lensed, on such an intimate scale, as in Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's powerful 'Ajami'.... amateur performers were guided to their characters by improv, giving a sense of spontaneity and reality that's enhanced by handheld lensing..." • V.A. Musetto wrote in the New York Post, "The complexity might require a second viewing, but there is compensation in the realistic acting by a cast of non-pros and the eye-grabbing, hand-held lensing by Boaz Yehonatan Yacov." • And Ella Taylor wrote in the Village Voice, "...untidy, despairing, oddly exhilarating... Though its unwieldy cast and multiple storylines might better lend themselves to a television series, the movie teems with life, energized by fierce formal ambitions... notable for its innovative style, its willingness to entertain, its attentiveness to other genres than linear-narrative realism..."   More About This Film... 

Red Riding Trilogy opened this past weekend at the IFC in New York City to a handful of excellent reviews that at the same time were somewhat mixed. • David Denby wrote in the New Yorker, "...a mammoth, sensationally violent and beautiful five-hour movie.... the dark power and the flowing organization of the material pull you into the narrative, which moves forward and backward in a single skein of visionary filmmaking." • Joe Neumaier wrote in the New York Daily News, "These three films (adapted from David Peace's novels by different directors), each a singularly gripping work, together form a towering and emotionally complex achievement.... [each] has a different style — and all contain haunting, mesmerizing performances. Simply stunning." • V.A. Musetto wrote in the New York Post, "Direction of all three films is no more than workmanlike, which isn't surprising since they were originally made for British television. The acting, on the other hand, is sometimes superb. Standouts include [Andrew] Garfield, as the unfortunate reporter; Sean Bean, as a perverted developer; and Rebecca Hall, as the secret-hiding mother of one of the victims." • And Manohla Dargis wrote in the New York Times, "...affords a fairly familiar immersion in contemporary British cinematic miserablism... As the trilogy unwinds, the violence keeps the action hopping and you occasionally gagging, either in revulsion at its severity or at the tender, loving care with which it has been art directed."   More About This Film... 

Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig) opened this past weekend at Angelika Film Center in New York City to a handful of very good reviews. • Curt Holman wrote in Atlanta Creative Loafing, "...a small-town noir reminiscent of 'Twin Peaks' or Red Rock West... doesn't explore the richness of its subplots and supporting players as much as it could, but director Henrik Ruben Genz has an eye for controlled composition worthy of the Coen brothers..." • Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times, "...not a horror movie but a witty, expertly constructed psychological thriller.... Beneath the poker face of this wickedly entertaining film lurks an insinuating smirk on the verge of widening into a grin." • Alissa Simon wrote in Daily Variety, "Entertaining and full of surprising twists... flawlessly cast... the smart, tightly constructed script by [director Henrik Ruben] Genz and Dunja Gry Jensen cleverly defies expectations as it knowingly toys with genre conventions." • And V.A. Musetto wrote in the New York Post, "I can't say for certain whether Danish helmer Henrik Ruben Genz is a fan of David Lynch, but judging by Genz's neat little thriller 'Terribly Happy,' I'd say he's seen 'Blue Velvet' more than once."   More About This Film... 

Frozen opened this past weekend in key cities to mixed reviews. • Richard Roeper wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "...a clever variation on the theme of a young couple left behind in shark-infested waters... a taut thriller... the premise is stretched a bit thin, but 'Frozen' delivers as an entertaining, suspense-filled, sometimes wonderfully grotesque little scarefest." • Rebecca Lang wrote in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Is there a fundamental pleasure in watching beautiful but vapid people undergo complete physical destruction? Probably, or horror stories like ski-trip-gone-bad 'Frozen' (produced by Peter Block of 'Saw' fame) wouldn't exist." • Peter Keough wrote in the Boston Phoenix, "The concept is ingenious, if preposterous, and Green shows skill in making the most — or worst — of minimal resources. He also shows an insidious restraint, depicting some of the most heinous carnage only through sound effects and reaction shots." • Lisa Kennedy wrote in the Denver Post, "...the script is clunky, the acting strained. Too bad." • And David Germain wrote for the Associated Press, "The three players of 'Frozen' kill some time while suspended on a ski lift discussing the worst ways to die.... writer-director Adam Green struggles and fails to keep his one-note idea interesting for the length of a feature film."   More About This Film... 

Eyes Wide Open (Einaym Pkuhot) opened this past weekend at the Cinema Village in New York City to a handful of very good reviews. • Kyle Smith wrote in the New York Post, "Quiet, sober and tense, the movie makes some interesting points contrasting the frenzied hookups of the two men with the butcher's rote, dismal lovemaking with his wife as their bodies are carefully hidden under sheets, but it lacks the emotional firepower of 'Brokeback Mountain.' " • Vadim Rizov wrote in the Village Voice, "There are a few missteps... Mostly, though, it wins with excellent performances: [Zohar] Shtrauss never overplays his character's internal tension, nor does [Ran] Danker camp up his youthful virility." • Alissa Simon wrote in Daily Variety, "...an intense, restrained drama... Sensitively helmed feature debut by Haim Tabakman boasts a tightly structured, multi-layered script by Merav Doster, intimate lensing and strong, credible performances." • And A.O. Scott wrote in the New York Times, "...its scrupulous, humane sympathy gives this small, sorrowful film a glow of insight and a pulse of genuine, openhearted curiosity. It moves slowly and patiently through the ordeal of a single soul, illuminating in the process a cosmos of intense and hidden feeling."   More About This Film... 

District 13: Ultimatum opened this past weekend in limited release to good reviews. • Steven Rea wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "...delivers two or three awesomely choreographed chase-and-fight-and-chase-and-fight-again sequences. The dialogue (in French, with subtitles) is not this movie's strength, nor should it be." • Amy Biancolli wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle, "...awesome, awesome action. Skimpy, skimpy plot. The mix of minimalist screenwriting and stunning parkour - the French-born art and sport of extreme urban scrambling - hasn't changed much since the first 'District 13'..." • Ted Fry wrote in the Seattle Times, "...a delirious showcase of martial arts and acrobatic moves.... the magnificently choreographed maneuvers of swinging, punching, flipping, jumping and kicking... [shows] you don't always need computers to produce truly remarkable special effects." • Tom Long wrote in the Detroit News, "...duties are pretty much split between stars David Belle (jumping off buildings) and Cyril Raffaelli (kicking people in the face)... The truth is, they are both fun to watch." • And David Edelstein wrote in New York Magazine, "It’s campier than its predecessor, but its gung ho union of black, white, and Asian gangs against reactionaries who’d destroy them is a virtuosic assertion of punky Parisian multiculturalism."   More About This Film... 

Shinjuku Incident (San suk si gin) opened this past weekend at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles to a handful of moderate reviews. • Gary Goldstein wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Action star Jackie Chan eschews his usual acrobatic ebullience for a serious turn as a Chinese immigrant surviving the mean streets of Tokyo... an earnest gang-warfare melodrama... more perfunctory than authentic." • Brian Miller wrote in LA Weekly, "...tough yet conventional Tokyo-set crime melodrama. Star as well as producer, [Jackie Chan] plays a destitute Chinese peasant called 'Steelhead' who washes ashore with other unwanted boat people during Japan's booming '90s." • Russell Edwards wrote in Daily Variety, "...over-ambitious, narratively untidy... Plot strands featuring gang rivalries and clashes are more tangled than interwoven. However, the yarn belatedly builds momentum with an intense middle section, undercut by an extended denouement." • And Maggie Lee wrote in the Hollywood Reporter, "[Director Derek] Yee's tone seesaws awkwardly between didactic preaching and bleak cynicism about Darwinian human nature, and overall, the film is somber, gripping and at times achieves an epic sweep as a dark chapter on the Chinese diaspora."   More About This Film... 

Falling Awake opened this past weekend at the IFC in New York City to a handful of weak reviews. • Aaron Hillis wrote in the Village Voice, "...one-named Cuban-born director Agustin's unrewarding middlebrow drama flaunts its street cred dubiously—from the clean-cut cast's forced hip-hop slang to the unsophisticated rivalries established between its Puerto Rican and African-American characters." • Lou Lumenick wrote in the New York Post, " 'Falling Asleep' might be a more appropriate title for the singularly named Augustin's overlong and soporific vanity project, which tries to be a 'Mean Streets' of The Bronx.... [Andrew] Cisneros is an appealing actor, but he and 'Falling Awake' get buried under a welter of clichés." • John Anderson wrote in Daily Variety, "A Bronx-based street drama that recycles every imaginable trope, helmer Agustin's 'Falling Awake' is underacted, overheated and uses a pair of purloined, high-end sneakers as a 400-pound allegory for getting your priorities straight." • And Mike Hale wrote in the New York Times, "Like a thousand other coming-of-age-in-an-ethnic-family dramas, 'Falling Awake' puts good intentions and appealing performances into the balance against clichés of dead-end neighborhoods and rebellious (but sensitive) youth."   More About This Film... 

Fish Tank opened in additional cities this past weekend to sensational reviews. • Peter Keough wrote in the Boston Phoenix, "Good and evil, love and hate, victim and violator, innocence and experience all merge.... thanks to Arnold's lucid, edgy, detached naturalistic style, no one watching can escape feeling both empathy and uneasiness." • Claudia Puig wrote in USA Today, "...a brilliantly acted and achingly bleak coming-of-age story.... hauntingly conveys a genuine sense of adolescence and an environment that seems lacking in hope and promise. But Jarvis' breakthrough performance and Arnold's talent for evoking such naturalistic portrayals are promising, indeed." • Joe Morgenstern wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "Ms. Arnold relieves the grittiness with interludes of intense pleasure... and transcends realist conventions with tough-minded poetry.... It's her creation from the very first commanding shot—Mia facing the camera—and it's a fine one." • Tricia Olszewski wrote in the Washington City Paper, "Though her actions are chilling, it’s kind of thrilling to watch the girl get so crazy—and, more impressive, her behavior, however extreme, always seems realistic. In a fictional world in which 'I hate you' means 'I love you' and goodbyes are gaggingly expressed by dancing together, 'Fish Tank' engagingly overcomes its clichés." • And Betsy Sharkey wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "[An] exceptionally well-crafted drama... The 17-year-old [Katie Jarvis] so completely captures the innocence, cynicism and rage of a child of poverty and divorce on the edge of adulthood that it feels as if you are spying on Mia, so achingly real, so tangible does her world seem here."   More About This Film... 

The Last Station opened in additional cities this past weekend to very good reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Lisa Schwartzbaum called the film in Entertainment Weekly, "...a grandly entertaining historical drama about the final year of the great Russian writer's life.... the movie is at once a hot marital showdown and a cool political debate, a domestic 'War and Peace.' " • Stephen Farber wrote in the Hollywood Reporter, "Welcome bursts of rowdy humor and sensuality punctuate the intrigue.... will be remembered as one of the most riveting cinematic portraits of what George Eliot called the 'murder' of marriage." • Liam Lacey wrote in the Toronto Globe & Mail, "Fitfully interesting, occasionally cringe-worthy, this is the sort of stagy production that mixes ribaldry and campy overacting that evokes summer theatre productions." • Elizabeth Weitzman wrote in the New York Daily News, "Though it feels at first like a musty edition of 'Masterpiece Theatre,' Michael Hoffman's adaptation of a novel by Jay Parini holds enough surprises to make a memorable impact." • And David Ansen wrote in Newsweek, "James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, and Christopher Plummer offer a grand display of acting fireworks... slides gracefully between comedy and pathos (it aims for tragedy, but doesn't quite get there)."   More About This Film... 

44 Inch Chest opened in additional cities this past weekend to moderate reviews. • Kevin Thomas wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "...the way in which [director Malcolm] Venville and the writers deftly use flashback and fantasy, plus the film's overall sense of control and pace, yields an understated, graceful sense of the cinematic.... blessed with [Louis] Mellis and [David] Scinto's corrosive yet at times soaringly poetic language and splendid, nuanced portrayals so typical of the Brits." • David Denby wrote in the New Yorker, "...mesmerizing, in a limited way.... Mellis and Scinto’s pungent script has a manic obsessiveness that sounds like a tirade delivered by a guy sitting at the next barstool." • Ann Hornaday wrote in the Washington Post, "...there's not much payoff in a film structured like a psychological thriller. The best reason to see '44 Inch Chest' is simply to behold some of the finest actors working today, especially Winstone..." • Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone, "[Director] Malcolm Venville coaches his ace acting team to ring infinite variations on the word 'cunt' without realising that there's a difference between exposing misogyny and crassly exploiting it." • And Walter Addiego wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle, "The film asks us to consider the thug's notion of love, which is both touching and repulsive, mostly the latter. It's an interesting spectacle, but not enough to carry a movie."   More About This Film... 

News, Research, Updates, Etc.

Writers, editors, bloggers and web publishers: The following chart is available to post on your web site or blog. It displays real-time review information about current releases, giving readers another reason to visit your site. For blogging, it is an interesting topic to write about: Agree with it, disagree with it, comment on it, criticize it -- moviegoers like it. This is the best review information available. You can select which limited releases you display that best suit your readership. If you are interested in posting it on your site, please contact us here...

Updated less than 4 hours ago
New Wide Releases	Positive Reviews
From Paris with Love	46.8%	WIDE
Dear John	43.4%	WIDE
New Limited Releases
Fish Tank	88.2%	Limited
Ajami	79.3%	NYC
Red Riding Trilogy	78.8%	NYC
Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig)	75.6%	NYC
Eyes Wide Open (Einaym Pkuhot)	71.1%	NYC
District 13: Ultimatum	61.2%	Limited
Shinjuku Incident (San suk si gin)	50.7%	LA
Frozen	44.5%	Key Cities
Falling Awake	42.3%	NYC
Average:	53.3%
For more films, MovieReviewIntelligence.com

Each week we send out two to three email updates with brief headlines covering the latest movies and reviews. We do not share email addresses and we do not spam. It is an easy way to stay on top of our news. If you would like to receive these updates, please drop your email address into the address field in the upper right corner of the page here...

We have a new iPhone app now available for convenient use on your iPhone. It shows a list of all current movies, with each film's review rating and review information. You can click through for more detail about each movie. The information is updated on a real-time basis. Handy for when you're on the move and want the latest review info. The cost is 99 cents. For more information, please visit our page at the iTunes app store by clicking here...
 

The following films played in 2009 to one or more remarkable reviews, without the help of strong distribution or marketing. Many of these films played in one theater for just one week. The filmmakers deserve congratulations; we are grateful to the critics for covering them. Worth checking out...
 

A Town Called Panic (Directed by Vincent Patar & Stéphane Aubier, Released on 12/16/09 by Zeitgeist)
Peter Brunette wrote in the Hollywood Reporter, "There's really very little to say about this film beyond that it's absolutely brilliant. First-time Belgian feature-length filmmakers Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, prodigiously gifted, have come up with something truly special here." (more about A Town Called Panic...)

Adela (Directed by Adolfo Alix Jr., Released on 10/14/09 by Visit Films)
Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times, "The widely acclaimed Filipino actress Anita Linda, who has made more than 100 movies since the early 1940s, gives a quietly transfixing performance... A gem of contemporary neo-realism..." (more about Adela...)
 

California Dreamin' (Directed by Cristian Nemescu, Released on 01/23/09 by Atlanta Films)
A.O. Scott wrote in the New York Times, "Its themes are serious, but they are addressed with a playful exuberance that suggests a young man’s unbridled delight in every aspect of filmmaking, a spirit that also infuses [director Cristian] Nemescu’s wonderful short films 'C Block Story' and 'Marilena From P7.' " (more about California Dreamin`...)

Daytime Drinking (Directed by Noh Young-seok, Released on 06/19/09 by Eleven Arts)
Kevin Thomas wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "...a droll minimalist comedy with major insights that has been understandably heralded as a breakthrough in independent filmmaking in Korea." (more about Daytime Drinking...)

I Can See You (Directed by Graham Reznick, Released on 01/23/09 by Glass Eye Pix)
Nathan Lee wrote in the New York Times, "...heralds a splendid new filmmaker with one eye on genre mechanics, one eye on avant-garde conceits and a third eye for transcendental weirdness." (more about I Can See You...)

Import/Export (Directed by Ulrich Seidl, Released on 07/31/09 by Palisades Tartan)
Russell Edwards called the film in Daily Variety, "...[a] miserable but masterful drama..." (more about Import/Export...)

Loren Cass (Directed by Christopher Fuller, Released on 07/24/09 by Jonesing Pictures)
Robert Koehler wrote in Daily Variety, "A starkly radical film debut of uncommon power and artistic principle..." (more about Loren Cass...)

Mock Up On Mu (Directed by Craig Baldwin, Released on 01/16/09 by Other Cinema)
Dennis Harvey wrote in Daily Variety, "Visually, sonically and subtextually dense, 'Mock Up' at first appears too much of a good-but-weird thing. But assimilating its internal logic actually makes repeat viewings more enjoyable." (more about Mock Up On Mu...)

Silent Light (Directed by Carlos Reygadas, Released on 01/07/09 by Palisades Tartan)
Stan Hall wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "...may someday attain legendary status..." (more about Silent Light...)

Sita Sings the Blues (Directed by Nina Paley, Released on 03/13/09 by Shadow Distribution)
Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "...astonishingly original. It brings together four entirely separate elements and combines them into a great whimsical chord. The laughs [filmmaker/animator/artist Nina] Paley gets here with 2-D would be the envy of an animator in 3-D. She discovers dimensions where none exist."  (more about Sita Sings the Blues...)

Stingray Sam (Directed by Cory McAbee, Released on 09/18/09)
Dennis Harvey wrote in Daily Variety, "...leaves one begging for more at one unflaggingly delightful hour.... hilariously digressive, campy yet deadpan... everything from physical humor... and delightfully staged wiseass musical numbers... to the genuinely sweet interactions between senior and junior McAbees." (more about Stingray Sam...)

This Is the Life (Directed by Ava DuVernay, Released on 03/13/09 by Forward Movement)
Ernest Hardy wrote in LA Weekly, "...so immediately and fully engrossing that it meets its ambitious goals for the viewer... vaults into the upper echelons of must-see hip-hop documentaries: It’s smart, informative, and hugely important historically, filled with rare performance footage that still crackles." (more about This Is the Life...)

Tulpan (Directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy, Released on 04/01/09 by Zeitgeist)
J. Hoberman wrote in the Village Voice and LA Weekly, "In every respect, this unclassifiable movie is an amazing accomplishment." (more about Tulpan...)
 

Research on movie reviews was conducted for MovieReviewIntelligence.com by MarketCast, a Los Angeles-based market research company that specializes in movie research.

A nationally representative sample of 2,050 regular moviegoers was asked: “How often do you follow movie reviews in a newspaper, magazine, on television or online?”

Four out of five moviegoers follow movie reviews

For a complete breakdown of the research, please click here...