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34
10,000 B.C.
37
Air I Breathe, The
52
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47
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46
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42
Bucket List, The
70
Caramel
49
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64
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Eye, The
46
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George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
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68
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67
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xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
35
Jumper
9
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52
My Blueberry Nights
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
50
Other Boleyn Girl, The
90
Persepolis
44
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46
Rambo
36
Remember the Daze
47
Semi-Pro
24
Sex and Death 101
76
Shotgun Stories
63
Signal, The
62
Spiderwick Chronicles, The
12
Strange Wilderness
45
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
59
Under the Same Moon
40
Vantage Point
55
Walker, The
37
War, Inc.
46
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
60
What Would Jesus Buy?
51
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland
17
Witless Protection
90
Persepolis
78
Control
76
Shotgun Stories
70
Caramel
68
Honeydripper
67
In Bruges
66
Darfur Now
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
65
Grace Is Gone
64
Chronicle of an Escape
63
City of Men
63
Signal, The
62
Spiderwick Chronicles, The
60
What Would Jesus Buy?
59
Under the Same Moon
59
Definitely, Maybe
57
Flawless
57
Hammer, The
55
Walker, The
54
Charlie Bartlett
52
Be Kind Rewind
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland
50
Other Boleyn Girl, The
49
Cassandra's Dream
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Boarding Gate
47
Semi-Pro
46
Finishing the Game
46
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
46
Bonneville
46
Rambo
45
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
44
Rails & Ties
44
Chaos Theory
42
Bucket List, The
41
Funny Games
41
Drillbit Taylor
40
Vantage Point
38
Flash Point
37
Air I Breathe, The
37
War, Inc.
36
Remember the Daze
36
Eye, The
35
Jumper
35
Flakes
34
10,000 B.C.
29
Fool's Gold
24
Sex and Death 101
17
Witless Protection
12
Strange Wilderness
9
Meet the Spartans
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Festival Express
ThinkFilm Inc.
MPAA RATING: R for some language
Starring
Janis Joplin,
The Grateful Dead,
The Band,
Jerry Garcia,
and
Bob Weir
A rousing record of a little-known, but monumental, moment in rock n roll history. Set in 1970, Festival Express was a multi-band, multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. (ThinkFilm)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
Musical
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Bob Smeaton
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 2, 2004
Theatrical: July 30, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
90 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / Netherlands |

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
Film Threat
Phil Hall
Rich with wonderful music and images.

100
The Hollywood Reporter
Richard James Havis
Festival Express should rightfully take its place in rock history as one of the great performance films of all time.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
Joel Selvin
Must-see cinema for any serious rock fan.

100
Variety
Eddie Cockrell
An instant ancillary classic for music fan.

100
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Ultimate geezerfest and rock-doc holy grail.

100
Washington Post
Richard Harrington
Most of Festival Express resonates with the power and passion, even the innocence, of the era.

100
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
The real attraction is watching all these guys and gals on the train, so young, so dedicated to their music, so unconcerned about almost everything else.

90
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
A delirious piece of pop ephemera.

90
The New York Times
Dave Kehr
To watch the biggest stars of their time in casual conversation, trading riffs and passing bottles, without benefit of publicists, handlers and security goons is to relive an innocent, anarchic time in the entertainment business when music, not marketing, was at the center of the enterprise.

90
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
The sociological angle of Festival Express is a narrow one--perhaps too narrow--and doesn't overwhelm the film's real selling point, which is some of the best-looking and best-sounding footage of counterculture icons ever screened.

89
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
It was the greatest rock & roll party you never heard of.

88
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
A raucous, riveting account of the greatest party you were never invited to.

88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
The results are spine-tingling. There's only one thing to say about this movie and its rescuers, recovered from the dead--and the Dead: Rock on.

83
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
Slight on personality but long on music; Janis Joplin elevates it to near-great concert-film status.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Crust
There were greater rock festivals and there are greater rock movies, but nothing existed quite like this mobile bacchanal, nicely preserved in Festival Express.

80
LA Weekly
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
To watch Joplin, Rick Danko, Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart, all massively wasted, giggling and jamming, is a delight tempered by the knowledge that Joplin would be dead just months later, with the rest but one following after.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Full of bright colors, offbeat people, tuneful sounds.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
The film is not about the audience's shared experience, and a lot more about how cool it is to have a backstage pass.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bill White
With the exception of some minor glitches in the sound synchronization and a nighttime performance of The Band's "The Weight" that is uncharacteristically grainy, the film looks and sounds great.

75
Miami Herald
Glenn Garvin
A hard and hilariously ironic look at the bottom line. As it turns out, love was not all you needed; hard cash came in handy, too.
75
Boston Globe
Steve Morse
Extraordinary.

75
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
As this Woodstock-on-wheels careens through the countryside, stopping only to play for thousands of hirsute revelers -- and, once, to stock up on booze in Saskatoon -- its famous passengers celebrate with delirious joy the pure, unadulterated magic of music.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Both a concert film and a more intimate thing: a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall (or fly-in-the-dining-car) glimpse of some clearly blotto rock legends talking, singing, hanging out. The fact that a good number of them are now dead makes it doubly memorable.

70
Dallas Observer
Melissa Levine
A piece of rock-and-roll history--but it isn't perfect.

70
Chicago Reader
Hank Sartin
The concert footage is generally quite good, and Joplin is astonishing, but with so many hours of footage you'd think there would be more unexpected moments.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The result is a vivid record of live acts whose rough-edged immediacy is an integral part of their appeal.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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