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NORTH FACE (NORDWAND)Movie Reviews
German language drama about four men, spurred by the Nazi party in 1936, who attempt to be the first to scale the north face of the Eiger in the Swiss Alps. Cast:Benno Fürmann, Florian Lukas, Johanna Wokalek, Ulrich Tukur, Simon SchwarzDirector:Philipp StölzlRelease Date:January 29, 2010DVD Release:May 18, 2010From:Music Box FilmsLength:2 hr. 6 min.
MAY 18, 2010
North Face (Nordwand), Very Good Reviews Key Cities
North Face (Nordwand) played in key cities to very good reviews. • Mike Russell wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "...a spectacular, suspenseful bummer.... But the movie's still quite affecting... mostly because Stolzl does white-knuckle work behind the camera..." • And Amy Biancolli wrote in the Houston Chronicle, "If I had nails worth biting, I would have chewed them to the quick..." More Reviews Below...
North Face (Nordwand) Positive Reviews (25 Reviews, reviews below)
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a bone-chilling, superbly mounted record of an assault on the north face of the Eiger, known by the grim understatement as 'the last remaining problem in the Alps.' "(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 820 words, 02/25/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (8 Reviews)
Stephen Holden, New York Times: GOOD "...transfixing in the way that well-told life-and-death adventure tales inevitably are. It is the film's more mundane elements that are problematic."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 816 words, 01/29/10
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a little too conventional on the ground, but it transforms into a genuinely gripping drama once it hits a higher altitude."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 128 words, 01/29/10
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...done right by just about every measure. The extremes of the story seep deep into your bones... has a documentary-like authenticity and immediacy..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 02/12/10
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...feels as though Stolzl has inserted contemporary-seeming attitudes and stances into a period film.... its romantic fodder doesn't do justice to any period at all."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 02/25/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a bone-chilling, superbly mounted record of an assault on the north face of the Eiger, known by the grim understatement as 'the last remaining problem in the Alps.' "(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 820 words, 02/25/10
Brian Miller, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "Stölzl makes the movie a tad more political (i.e., anti-Nazi) than it needs to be, but Benno Fürmann's stoic performance reduces the story to its harsh, true fundamentals."(See all of Brian Miller's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 260 words, 01/27/10
KEY CITIES (12 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "The word 'gripping' doesn't do it justice.... Though almost every scene is haunted by the specter of death, the taut 'North Face' is a movie about life -- fragile and thrilling..."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 600 words, 02/26/10
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...gets a spectacular foothold on an unforgiving mountain. If it is less successful at gaining purchase on the politics of conquest, that's a minor quibble..."(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 569 words, 02/26/10
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "If I had nails worth biting, I would have chewed them to the quick during 'North Face.' A straightforward, wickedly suspenseful Man vs. Nature saga..."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 515 words, 04/16/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a nerve-snapping account of German mountaineers' assault on the Eiger, an impregnable 13,000-foot spike in the Swiss Alps."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 454 words, 02/19/10
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Both visually stunning and dramatically half-baked... at its most powerful when it puts us next to the four climbers as they inch their way up - and then down..."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 684 words, 02/12/10
John Hartl, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Kudos to cinematographer Kolja Brandt, editor Sven Budelmann and the rest of the technical team. This is simply one of the best mountain-climbing movies ever made."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 418 words, 02/05/10
Mike Russell, Portland Oregonian: GOOD(cg) "...a spectacular, suspenseful bummer.... But the movie's still quite affecting... mostly because Stolzl does white-knuckle work behind the camera..."(See all of Mike Russell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 274 words, 02/05/10
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "While this alpine 'Apollo 13' offers tense thrills and spectacular scenery, it shows little of what was happening on the ground."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 311 words, 03/26/10
Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD(cg) "...something of an old-fashioned epic shot with modern wisdom and technique, a man vs. nature flick that also weighs the importance of the individual vs. the social while..."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 380 words, 03/12/10
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (4 Reviews)
Brian Miller, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "Stölzl makes the movie a tad more political (i.e., anti-Nazi) than it needs to be, but Benno Fürmann's stoic performance reduces the story to its harsh, true fundamentals."(See all of Brian Miller's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 260 words, 01/27/10
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "...you don't have to be a Nazi to be totally mesmerized... the nimble ascent, the calamities that befall our noble climbers, and the pitiable disasters."(See all of Gerald Peary's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 161 words, 02/11/10
Scott Tobias, AV Club: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Every scene on the eponymous wall is tense and riveting... Every scene off the wall, by contrast, is a plodding, graceless chunk of dramatic context..."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 355 words, 01/28/10
HIGHBROW PRESS (2 Reviews)
Stephen Holden, New York Times: GOOD "...transfixing in the way that well-told life-and-death adventure tales inevitably are. It is the film's more mundane elements that are problematic."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 816 words, 01/29/10
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...done right by just about every measure. The extremes of the story seep deep into your bones... has a documentary-like authenticity and immediacy..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 02/12/10
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Derek Elley, Daily Variety: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...an often grippingly staged mountain movie that's good but not great.... the cutaways from the mountain deliver progressively fewer returns as the main drama mounts."(See all of Derek Elley's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 751 words, 08/08/08
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "...more than delivers on the excitement and terror... Where it falters is trying to link this event to Nazi-era politics and a feeble love story."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 799 words, 10/15/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...done right by just about every measure. The extremes of the story seep deep into your bones... has a documentary-like authenticity and immediacy..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 02/12/10
Michael T. Dennis, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "...the exact meaning is less important than the act of experiencing 'North Face' on its surface: as a rich and compelling film about two men trying to do the impossible."(See all of Michael T. Dennis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,081 words, 02/10/10
Stephen Holden, New York Times: GOOD "...transfixing in the way that well-told life-and-death adventure tales inevitably are. It is the film's more mundane elements that are problematic."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 816 words, 01/29/10
12.1 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
North Face (Nordwand)'s reviews are separated by an average 12.1 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
North Face (Nordwand) (25 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:North Face (Nordwand)'s reviews cover 22.8% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 12,016 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 481 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
North Face (Nordwand) Coverage, Volume & Length (25 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 4 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
North Face (Nordwand)'s reviews on average broke 4 days after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is North Face (Nordwand)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
North Face (Nordwand) (25 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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