CriticPlanet.org
Reviews of movies in theaters and on video.
A Farewell to CriticPlanet
24 days
by Justin Smith
in Site News
Dear Readers,
It has become clear that it is time for me to lay CriticPlanet to rest and continue in a new direction. It’s been fun running a site and seeing the numbers of readers and contributors grow over the past few years, however, hosting costs, writing for other publications, pursuing my writing, and the day-to-day obligations of a job and family have made it difficult to keep the site running and filled with fresh content. As a result CriticPlanet will go offline in February. Once CriticPlanet is offline, CriticPlanet.org will redirect to Justin Smith on Movies. My content from CriticPlanet will also be moved to this site.
Like myself, some of the contributors write for other websites or have sites of their own. Below is a list of links where you can find me and a couple of our contributors. Thanks again for your continued support and I wish you all the best in your film watching and writing adventures.
Sincerely,
Justin Smith
Editor in Chief
Justin Smith
Jason Coffman
Kyle Clark
Smoke (2007)
020 days
Rating: 
Every once in a while a short film comes along showcasing the talents of someone who truly understands the medium in which they work. This is the case with Grzegorz Cisiecki’s short film, Smoke (original title: Dym).
Smoke does not have a narrative per se, Cisiecki describes the film as “the story of the person who became the captive of surrealistic madness” and while I’ve read a couple of interpretations of the film, I’m not going to tackle one here. The film lacks dialog, but this is not a hindrance, as the film unfolds it’s easy to get sucked in by the surreal images that are carefully moved along by the score provided by Aleksandr Porach and Rashid Brocca. (more…)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
0168 days
Rating: 
I will be the first to admit that when I saw the first trailers for Crazy, Stupid, Love, I cringed a bit inside. I’m not the biggest fan of romantic comedies and I find that they fall to typical tiresome Hollywood convention perhaps more often than any other genre. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, while breaking no molds, this film turned out to be an enjoyable and reasonably refreshing experience for me. No one likes being trapped in a movie theater with two hours of boring “been there, done that,” and so I truly lucked out on this one. (more…)
I Saw the Devil (2010)
0174 days
Rating:
“Revenge is for movies.”
That is, at least, the caution that’s given to Kim Soo-hyeon in I Saw the Devil. Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters) directs this taut cat-and-mouse thriller about a man who seeks to repay his grief in extreme measure. It is a tale not only about vengeance but also about the inhumanity that is bred from perpetuating cycles of violence and grief. (more…)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
0182 days
Rating:
I’m not a big fan of comic book super heroes, nor the films based upon such heroes, and although a few good ones have slipped through, most fall under the category of Sunday afternoon fodder. Captain America: The First Avenger, I’m afraid, falls under the latter. It’s not that Captain American does anything wrong, it’s that it does everything right, textbook right. It’s a boring film and is the most generic super hero film I’ve ever seen. (more…)
My Dog Tulip (2009)
0202 days
Rating:
My Dog Tulip is a vivid account—taken from the pages of J.R. Ackerley’s memoir—of the 15 years spent with his “ideal friend”, Tulip, an Alsatian (commonly known as a German Shepherd) he rescued from an abusive and neglectful home when she was 18 months old. Dog owners will be moved, possibly to tears, by this story of love and companionship between a man in his autumn years and his loving, energetic, and often unruly, dog. (more…)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
0202 days
Rating:
I prefer to go into films blind—knowing as little about the film as possible before viewing it—I want to take in the experience as the director intended. Often, trailers—and sometimes reviews—reveal too much about the film and dull the experience. Thankfully, the trailer for Midnight in Paris gives away nothing so I had no idea what I was in for, which made for a richer film-going experience. If you want the full surprise of Midnight in Paris, see it without any further information. (more…)
Justin Smith’s Monthly Movie Report: June 2011
0207 days
Summer’s here and women are outside wearing short-shorts and bikinis while I’m inside watching a documentary about a guy who plays with dolls. Well, that’s the life of the critic and I welcome it. After all, there are plenty of nude ladies in the movies, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much. I have a few good movies to share with you this month as well as a few duds (a couple of which are worth watching regardless), so grab a slice of cold pizza—and that lukewarm beer you’ve been nursing—and sit back as I do my best to convince you to stay indoors this summer. (more…)
The Crown International Files: Death Riders (1976)
0222 days
Rating:
Of all the films in the Crown International catalogue, only a small handful are documentaries. While Crown distributed a few non-fiction films made by other production companies (most notably Mondo Balordo (1964), narrated by Boris Karloff), they mostly specialized in traditional low-budget and drive-in exploitation fare. One of the few documentaries in the Crown catalog is Death Riders, a 1976 film that follows a group of small-time daredevils as they travel the Midwest. There were quite a few films about cars (and bikes, and vans, and 18-wheelers, etc.) in the 1970s, so Death Riders probably seemed like a safe commercial bet since it features cars, motorcycles, and beer. Looking back on it now, Death Riders is a fascinating time capsule of a very specific point in American history. (more…)
Bridesmaids (2011)
0222 days
Rating:
I heard some of the buzz leading up to Bridesmaids, the Judd Apatow-produced comedy starring Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, and almost all of it was positive. It’s understandable that I had pretty high hopes for the film, which has had accolades poured upon it for being an original comedy that refuses to be boxed in by society’s notion of what a “girl” movie should be. I came away from the experience somewhat disappointed, and it was my own fault. One should never set their expectations too high.