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Richard Corliss, Time: EXCELLENT "See it for the beautiful and horrifying people, for the despair and the against-all-odds uplift.... For ordinary moviegoers in search of an enthralling experience, the work [of Chicago inner-city violence interventionists] and this film are heroically life-affirming." (Read the full review...) 1,196 words, 08/05/11 Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...powerful, patient, vital... Once again, [filmmaker Steve] James' trustworthy work demonstrates the power of paying attention." (Read the full review...) 120 words, 08/05/11 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING (cg) "[Steve James] has made his most important film.... mighty and heart-wrenching..." (Read the full review...) 736 words, 08/12/11 James Rocchi, MSN Movies: OUTSTANDING (cg) "[Director Steve] James has given us one of the truly great documentaries of 2011, and given us a film that, in many ways, is just as good as 'Hoop Dreams.' " (Read the full review...) 759 words, 08/26/11
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...rises above the usual do-gooder cant... Mr. [Steve] James has put a face to a raging epidemic and an unforgivable American tragedy." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 07/29/11 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT (cg) "This is crucial work, evidenced by a line on a wall of R.I.P. graffiti that reads simply, 'I am next.' This film of common folks fighting the seemingly inevitable is just as moving." (Read the full review...) 150 words, 07/29/11 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...it tears at your heart with its depiction of the intractability of the problem. But it simultaneously insists, and makes you believe, that change is possible one person at a time." (Read the full review...) 660 words, 08/26/11 Kyle Smith, New York Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "Director Steve James ('Hoop Dreams') has a gift for amazing access, getting us up close to the admirable title figures and the angry people they speak to as, again and again, disputes flame up alarmingly quickly." (Read the full review...) 238 words, 07/29/11 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "[Steve James] has made his most important film.... mighty and heart-wrenching..." (Read the full review...) 736 words, 08/12/11 Melissa Anderson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...reminds us of the powers and pleasures of well-crafted, immersive nonfiction filmmaking..." (Read the full review...) 679 words, 07/27/11 Peter Howell, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING (cg) "The situation seems hopeless at times -- even the interrupters can't stop all of the senseless killings -- but positive change is happening." (Read the full review...) 654 words, 10/07/11 Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD (cg) "Redemption, not crime, is the real theme here, for this handful of courageous men and women who have rescued their own lives, and just possibly may help save the blighted neighbourhoods in which they labour." (Read the full review...) 564 words, 10/07/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "It's noble work that comes with considerable risk... The problem is that it's a very repetitive film. For a full year, the CeaseFire members are shown doing exactly the same thing over and over..." (Read the full review...) 245 words, 10/06/11
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "...the gritty film is realistically inspiring and, thankfully, not overly dramatized." (Read the full review...) 495 words, 09/16/11 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD (cg) "[Filmmaker Steve] James' fly-on-the-wall approach puts us in the middle of things with an immediacy that is both thrilling and draining. You can't help but admire the dedication that these peacekeepers bring to their Sisyphean task." (Read the full review...) 176 words, 09/23/11 Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...demonstrates just how these old gangstas can break through to the younger ones. If the group can make one kid see the error of his ways, it has succeeded." (Read the full review...) 1,069 words, 09/16/11 Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD (cg) "...intense and chilling... it's hard to question the courage of the interrupters, or to argue with their achievements." (Read the full review...) 397 words, 09/02/11 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...seems as if it would be unbearably sad to watch, and at times it is -- but it's also a profile of three remarkable people, part of a courageous group that's taking on the goal of saving lives." (Read the full review...) 384 words, 09/09/11 Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: OUTSTANDING (cg) "There is humor in the film, and there is wisdom, but the raw emotional moments which run throughout constitute the overwhelming impression. You cannot watch this film and be unmoved." (Read the full review...) 558 words, 08/26/11 Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD (cg) "...offers at least some glimpse of hope. It's not much more than a glimpse and the film doesn't pretend otherwise; but there are people who care." (Read the full review...) 540 words, 09/16/11 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a heartbreaking, empowering documentary... plunges you headlong into one of Chicago's most crime-ridden neighborhoods -- a deadly landscape of gang bangers, drug dealers, innocent victims and mourning families." (Read the full review...) 457 words, 03/25/11
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...reminds us of the powers and pleasures of well-crafted, immersive nonfiction filmmaking..." (Read the full review...) 679 words, 07/27/11 Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...could have used more backstory to address why, like this film, Chicago's cycle of oppression has no end." (Read the full review...) 159 words, 09/15/11 Scott Tobias, AV Club: EXCELLENT (cg) "...powerful... If there's one lesson to be learned from violence interrupters, it's that their work is never done." (Read the full review...) 553 words, 07/28/11 Lauren Wissot, Slant: OUTSTANDING (cg) "An inspirational and heartbreaking nail-biter... was more difficult for me to watch than any battle doc I've seen in years." (Read the full review...) 1,443 words, 07/24/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "It's noble work that comes with considerable risk... The problem is that it's a very repetitive film. For a full year, the CeaseFire members are shown doing exactly the same thing over and over..." (Read the full review...) 245 words, 10/06/11
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...rises above the usual do-gooder cant... Mr. [Steve] James has put a face to a raging epidemic and an unforgivable American tragedy." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 07/29/11 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...it tears at your heart with its depiction of the intractability of the problem. But it simultaneously insists, and makes you believe, that change is possible one person at a time." (Read the full review...) 660 words, 08/26/11 Dana Stevens, Slate: OUTSTANDING "...one of the most engaging films you'll see this year, full of vibrant, complex real-life characters whose troubles and joys will stay with you long after the movie's done." (Read the full review...) 661 words, 08/19/11 Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: OUTSTANDING "...a great work of drama that happens to be real, a Russian novel about crime and repentance set on the real-life streets of 21st-century America. You won't see a movie this year that is more moving, more tragic, more upsetting, more hopeful or more necessary." (Read the full review...) 1,398 words, 07/28/11
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...overwhelming undertaking from the 'Hoop Dreams' helmer profiles a courageous group of Chicago activists who intervene in street fights and then coach the scrappers in conflict resolution.... captures candid counseling sessions and heated tussles with equal dynamism, but never quite earns its 164-minute running time." (Read the full review...) 838 words, 01/27/11 John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "...could benefit from a multi-part television treatment.... An eye-opening account of efforts to end an epidemic of violence in Chicago.... Fresh and urgent..." (Read the full review...) 566 words, 01/29/11 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...it tears at your heart with its depiction of the intractability of the problem. But it simultaneously insists, and makes you believe, that change is possible one person at a time." (Read the full review...) 660 words, 08/26/11 Manohla Dargis, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...rises above the usual do-gooder cant... Mr. [Steve] James has put a face to a raging epidemic and an unforgivable American tragedy." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 07/29/11
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