The National Society of Film Critics is a 57-member group comprising critics from major newspapers and magazines across the U.S. Movies and DVD/videos in their first national release (some of which have yet to open in Chicago) are ranked by NSFC members for the poll on a scale of 100 possible points. The averaged ratings correspond to the following key: 100-81 = excellent; 80-61 = good; 60-41 = average; 40-21 = fair; 20-0 = poor.
The NSFC Web site, which contains more complete rankings of films and video past and present, as well as film descriptions, links to reviews by NSFC members, and the group’s history can be visited at
http://nsfc.zap2it.com/nsfc/cda/index.jsp.
NSFC chairman: David Sterritt (Christian Science Monitor).
Poll editor: Michael Wilmington (Chicago Tribune).
New movies
86 `Ballets Russes’: The legendary Ballets Russes–one of the most storied of all dance troupes, the company of Nijinsky and Diaghilev–is recalled, investigated and celebrated by directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine. Their movie becomes a tribute to music and movement–and to the international culture history of the last century.
78 `Walk the Line’
James Mangold
73 `Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’
Mike Newell
58 `Duane Hopwood’
Matt Mulhern
Movies now playing
83 `The Passenger’
Michelangelo Antonioni
78 `Pride & Prejudice’
Joe Wright
75 `Paradise Now’
Hany Abu-Assad
73 `Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic’
Liam Lynch
70 `The Weather Man’
Gore Verbinski
66 `Zathura’
Jon Favreau
61 `Three…Extremes’
Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park
61 `Chicken Little’
Mark Dindal
60 `Prime’
Ben Younger
58 `Jarhead’
Sam Mendes
57 `The Dying Gaul’
Craig Lucas
53 `The Legend of Zorro’
Martin Campbell
New DVDs
88 `Point of Order’: Emile de Antonio’s riveting real-life record of the same devastating American political drama George Clooney recreated in “Good Night, and Good Luck.” From the historic TV file of the Army-McCarthy hearings, brilliantly edited, we see the infamous Republican junior senator from Wisconsin waging war on his enemies, real or imaginary, and, in a spellbinding moment, suffering defeat “at long last” from the truth.
86 The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Vols. 1-3
Hal Roach, others.
84 The Monty Python Box Set
`Monty Python & The Holy Grail’ (Terry Jones)/ `And Now For Something Completely Different’ (Ian McNaughton)/ `The Adventures of Baron Munchausen’ (Terry Gilliam)
83 `Kings & Queen’
Arnaud Desplechin
80 `The Beat That My Heart Skipped’
Jacques Audiard
69 `Happy Endings’
Don Roos
68 `Oklahoma!’
Fred Zinnemann
66 `State Fair’
Walter Lang
