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47
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93
WALL-E
82
Dark Knight, The
73
Kung Fu Panda
72
Ghost Town
71
Tropic Thunder
70
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
62
Burn After Reading
60
Traitor
58
City of Ember
58
Body of Lies
57
Express, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
Flash of Genius
55
House Bunny, The
54
Quarantine
54
Get Smart
53
Rocker, The
53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Family That Preys, The
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
43
Eagle Eye
41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
15
Disaster Movie
15
College
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

xx
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Man on Wire
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Momma's Man
85
Edge of Heaven, The
84
Up the Yangtze
83
U2 3D
83
Trouble the Water
82
Happy-Go-Lucky
82
Tell No One
82
Frozen River
82
Rachel Getting Married
81
Ballast
80
Encounters at the End of the World
80
Moving Midway
79
Visitor, The
78
Last Mistress, The
76
Pool, The
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
73
Obscene
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Secret, A
72
Transsiberian
72
I Served the King of England
71
I.O.U.S. A
68
August Evening
68
Ashes of Time Redux
66
Elegy
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Flow: For Love of Water
64
Fall, The
64
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
63
Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
63
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
63
Appaloosa
63
Man Named Pearl, A
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Kabluey
62
Duchess, The
62
Mister Foe
62
Baghead
61
Wackness, The
61
Brick Lane
57
Towelhead
57
Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, The
57
Sixty Six
57
RocknRolla
56
Bottle Shock
55
Save Me
55
Religulous
55
Battle in Seattle
55
Ping Pong Playa
53
Humboldt County
53
Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
53
Nights and Weekends
52
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
51
Good Dick
50
Breakfast with Scot
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Choke
45
Shoot on Sight
44
Henry Poole is Here
43
Choose Connor
41
Cthulhu
40
Igor
37
Forever Strong
31
Hounddog
28
Fireproof
26
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
xx
Phoebe in Wonderland
xx
All of Us
xx
Whaledreamers
xx
W.
xx
Billy: The Early Years
xx
Call and Response
xx
Just Buried
xx
Beer for My Horses
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Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Spellbound
ThinkFilm Inc.
MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences
Starring
Harry Altman,
Angela Arenivar,
Ted Brigham,
April DeGideo,
Neil Kadakia,
Nupur Lala,
Emily Stagg, Ashley White,
and
Alex Cameron
This documentary presents the intense, true-life experience of the National Spelling Bee as seen through the eyes of eight driven, young spellers. (ThinkFilm)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Jeffrey Blitz
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 20, 2004
Video: January 20, 2004
Theatrical: April 30, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
97 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Nominated, Best Documentary Feature, 75th Annual Academy Awards; Winner, Best Documentary Feature, 2002 Woodstock Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Premiere
Brooke Hauser
While it may be excruciating to watch a speller miss a word by a letter, it's just as exciting to watch another kid jump the hurdle.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Resembles a Christopher Guest movie in that it follows obsessed, socially awkward folks on a seminal journey in their lives.

100
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
At its most unsettling level, Spellbound asks us to consider what words are for and what childhood should be. It's as profound as anything you'll see this year, and, yes, it should have won the Oscar.

91
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
The end result is the best documentary you'll see this year, as thrilling a competition as any Super Bowl and as suspenseful a story as any Hitchcock film.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Thrilling little epic set in the bewildering arena of the English language.

91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Not only is it an enormously entertaining study of a curiously American institution, it also manages to be a nail-biting competition film, an engrossing group character study and a wonderfully graceful comedy of manners.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
At a time when so many in this country are at odds about what represents America at its best, it's refreshing and then some to see a film that everyone can agree is an example of exactly that.

90
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Enough drama, humor and unfiltered nail-biting suspense to put all the thrill-mongering screenwriters in Hollywood to shame.

90
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Just might be the most action-packed suspense thriller of the summer.

90
Slate
David Edelstein
The movie becomes a nail-biter, the audience hanging on every letter. Who could have anticipated that a spelling competition would yield such a heartbreaking thriller?

89
Austin Chronicle
Sarah Hepola
As good, old-fashioned dorkfests go, it doesn't get much better than the National Spelling Bee, with its arcane words, bespectacled competitors, and stinging little bell.

88
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Boasts all of the drama and suspense of any reality TV show, but it actually stars smart people. And they're kids.

88
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The terrific Spellbound really isn't about the ability to tear words apart letter by letter. It's about nerve-wracking competitiveness.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
I love this movie, and I love the pride, spirit and sportsmanship of the kids who represent the best of American pluck and luck.

88
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
By the time they're onstage, your pulse is pounding right along with theirs. Spell this movie: g-r-e-a-t.

80
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
Consider it an athletic contest of the mind--ESPN does, as the sports network regularly televises the finals.

80
Chicago Reader
Ted Shen
Blitz shows us these kids in all their quirkiness and dorkiness, letting them do much of the talking as he records them and their families at home.

80
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Could hardly be more suspenseful if it were scripted.

80
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
For the committed word nerd, spelling has its intrinsic pleasures, but in Spellbound it's another example of the peculiarly American mania for turning everything -- even play --into work.

80
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Blitz captures the intensity of the bee itself, showing how it frazzles the nerves of even the most well-prepared spellers as, one by one, their colleagues and competitors drop away.

80
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
More to the point of this marvelous film, who knew there were kids as heroic, in their various ways, as these valiant super-spellers?
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Loses its momentum just when you'd expect the suspense to mount -- at the competition itself.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
As we watch them drilling with flashcards and worksheets, we hope they will win, but we're not sure what good it will do them.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
One of the many pleasures in Spellbound is watching the reactions of these young brainiacs, all under the age of 14, as they first hear the word they are being asked to spell (''Is that even a word?'' seems to be a common thought passing through their heads.)

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Can't help but be deeply engrossing, as it taps into a highly charged atmosphere that one parent dubs "a different form of child abuse."

70
Film Threat
Merle Bertrand
Draws an unspoken parallel with, of all things, beauty pageants, complete with unnaturally driven kids and nervously supportive parents desperately trying not to appear too pushy.

70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
An enthralling, suspenseful documentary about spelling bees.

70
Village Voice
Ed Park
In their randomness, the bee words take on an oracular quality--shades of kabbalistic gematria, or the "Sortes Vergilanae," the supernatural attributed to symbols on paper.

70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Entertaining documentary.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
This could be a documentary about reading the body language of childhood.

63
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Casts a potent spell.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Despite rave reviews, film festival awards, and an Oscar nomination, Spellbound comes across as little more than a marginally compelling documentary - the kind of movie that would be at home on PBS.

60
Variety
Ronnie Scheib
Docu dispassionately examines this strange phenomenon of anachronistic Americana, created as a newspaper promotion in 1925.

50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Many of the kids seem to be social outcasts of one kind or another, but Spellbound, which will show on cable later this year, doesn't dig deep enough to disturb the movie's relentless feel-good tone.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
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