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THE CENTRAL PARK FIVEMovie Reviews
Documentary about five black and Latino teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of brutally attacking and raping a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989. Cast:Angela Black, Calvin O. Butts III, Natalie Byfield, David Dinkins, Jim Dwyer, Ronald Gold, LynNell Hancock, Michael Joseph, Saul Kassin, Ed Koch, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana Sr., Raymond SantanaDirector:Ken Burns, Sarah BurnsRelease Date:November 23, 2012DVD Release:April 23, 2013From:IFCLength:2 hr 0 min
APRIL 23, 2013
The Central Park Five, Very Good Reviews (Doc) Key Cities
The Central Park Five played in key cities to very good reviews. • Cynthia Fuchs wrote for Pop Matters, "...a sober, poignant, and utterly horrifying recollection of a legal case out of control, a case as 'wild' as any fantastical charges made against the kids..." • And Joe Morgenstern wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "...painstaking, heartbreaking..." More Reviews Below...
The Central Park Five Positive Reviews (33 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: VERY GOOD(cg) "The 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park shocked New York.... Ken Burns lays out the facts in this gritty documentary, delivering justice sadly delayed."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 45 words, 01/03/13
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "...thoughtful, educational, understated perhaps to a fault... It efficiently depicts, but doesn't get caught up in, the hysteria of the place and time..."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 527 words, 11/29/12
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "...recounts the story of justice undone with extensive interviews, a thorough use of archival footage, and a less-than felicitous use of ominous-rumble music..."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 97 words, 11/23/12
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The case transfixed a racially polarized New York City. The teens were labeled as a 'wolf pack' by the news media, led by the New York tabloids."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/07/12
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (10 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: MODERATE "...an emotionally stirring, at times crushingly depressing cinematic call to witness. It's also frustrating... it fails to add anything substantively new."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,196 words, 11/22/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a careful, thoughtful documentary that meticulously re-creates what happened on that night and details how and why everything went so terribly off-course."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 825 words, 11/30/12
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...ultimately fails to make its case that five teenagers were sent to jail for a crime they didn't commit solely because of institutional racism."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 548 words, 11/21/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The innocence of the five at the center failed to garner the same attention as their rush-to-judgment guilt. This film is a fine, strong corrective."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 440 words, 12/07/12
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "It's a familiar story and Burns tells it faithfully and with good intentions.... brings the big picture into focus, but the personal details tend to fade into the background."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 288 words, 11/30/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The case transfixed a racially polarized New York City. The teens were labeled as a 'wolf pack' by the news media, led by the New York tabloids."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/07/12
Casey Burchby, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...revives New York's fear of crime and race paranoia circa 1989.... The central power of the film comes from hearing the accused finally telling their own stories."(See all of Casey Burchby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 284 words, 11/21/12
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "...gripping... uses revealing interviews, police videotapes and artful camerawork to tell the stories of the accused and since exonerated quintet."(See all of Linda Barnard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 570 words, 12/24/12
Radheyan Simonpillai, Toronto Now: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...arresting and infuriating... Burns and company don't get caught up in their topic's sensationalism, but conduct a thorough, riveting investigation..."(See all of Radheyan Simonpillai's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 190 words, 12/20/12
KEY CITIES (9 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "Both meticulous and inflammatory... Burns and his collaborators make a convincing case. But a few nagging mysteries remain at the end of the film..."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 740 words, 12/14/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...weaves emotional archival footage into interviews with all five of the wrongfully convicted men.... This is bitterly revealing work, but tragically belated."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 250 words, 01/11/13
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "All five were convicted. And all five served their sentences before a serial rapist named Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. His story matched. So did his DNA."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 541 words, 12/14/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: OUTSTANDING(cg) "This is how mad we can become, when a truly senseless crime threatens to rob us of our own senses, and makes us want to strike out, immediately."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 573 words, 11/23/12
Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT(cg) "...a compelling, quietly outraged documentary which lets the unjustly convicted quintet finally have their say.... 'better late than never' has rarely been more true."(See all of Marc Mohan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 310 words, 12/14/12
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "While the directors paint a vivid picture of a racially and economically divided city, they shine a too-dim light on the violence that preceded the rape..."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 425 words, 12/14/12
Tom Long, Detroit News: EXCELLENT(cg) "There's a level of hysteria and injustice exposed in this movie that boggles the mind.... as grim a portrait of the criminal justice system as can be imagined."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 315 words, 12/14/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (7 Reviews)
Casey Burchby, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...revives New York's fear of crime and race paranoia circa 1989.... The central power of the film comes from hearing the accused finally telling their own stories."(See all of Casey Burchby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 284 words, 11/21/12
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "What keeps the film from being an impossible downer is the guts and spirit and smart words of the Central Park Five, four of whom, now freed, are interviewed at length."(See all of Gerald Peary's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 301 words, 12/13/12
Noel Murray, AV Club: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a movie about a rush to judgment in a city on edge, and it never expands its scope or meaning.... But the specifics make the story powerful regardless."(See all of Noel Murray's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 503 words, 11/22/12
Cynthia Fuchs, Pop Matters: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a sober, poignant, and utterly horrifying recollection of a legal case out of control, a case as 'wild' as any fantastical charges made against the kids..."(See all of Cynthia Fuchs's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,004 words, 11/14/12
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...most effective when it takes fact for granted and delves instead into affect, especially by way of the Five's self-reflections on their mistreatment."(See all of Joseph Jon Lanthier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 761 words, 11/16/12
Radheyan Simonpillai, Toronto Now: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...arresting and infuriating... Burns and company don't get caught up in their topic's sensationalism, but conduct a thorough, riveting investigation..."(See all of Radheyan Simonpillai's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 190 words, 12/20/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...painstaking, heartbreaking... Watching the movie is a deeply affecting experience... it is also a deeply troubling experience..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 690 words, 11/30/12
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: MODERATE "...an emotionally stirring, at times crushingly depressing cinematic call to witness. It's also frustrating... it fails to add anything substantively new."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,196 words, 11/22/12
David Denby, New Yorker: OUTSTANDING "...perhaps the most devastating portrait of contemporary social inequality to appear in an American documentary... at first discomforting, then enraging, then illuminating."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 909 words, 12/03/12
Mark Jenkins, NPR: VERY GOOD "...a story well-documented in moving pictures.... the filmmakers deftly marshal news footage, clips from the supposed confessions, and trenchant analysis."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 601 words, 11/22/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a careful, thoughtful documentary that meticulously re-creates what happened on that night and details how and why everything went so terribly off-course."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 825 words, 11/30/12
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: OUTSTANDING "...a story of racism, paranoia and groupthink; a story of injustice piled on top of injury and of one terrible wrong compounded by another."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,377 words, 11/30/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Alissa Simon, Daily Variety: OUTSTANDING "...gripping.... breathtaking.... impressively researched.... pulls viewers deeply into the case and allows them to draw their own conclusions..."(See all of Alissa Simon's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 05/31/12
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: EXCELLENT "...fascinating... its miscarriage of justice stokes righteous anger and its account of lost youth and irreparably damaged lives is conveyed with moving solemnity."(See all of David Rooney's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 820 words, 05/24/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a careful, thoughtful documentary that meticulously re-creates what happened on that night and details how and why everything went so terribly off-course."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 825 words, 11/30/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...highly relevant... tells the story of how five lives were upended by the rush to judgment by police, a sensationalist media and a devastating miscarriage of justice."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 313 words, 11/06/12
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: MODERATE "...an emotionally stirring, at times crushingly depressing cinematic call to witness. It's also frustrating... it fails to add anything substantively new."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,196 words, 11/22/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...painstaking, heartbreaking... Watching the movie is a deeply affecting experience... it is also a deeply troubling experience..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 690 words, 11/30/12
13.5 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Central Park Five's reviews are separated by an average 13.5 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.
The Central Park Five (33 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Central Park Five's reviews cover 59.9% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 18,768 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 569 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Central Park Five Coverage, Volume & Length (33 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 12 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Central Park Five's reviews on average broke 12 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 The Central Park Five's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Central Park Five (33 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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