Canceled Too Soon #191 | Samurai (1979)

In the late 1970s, when TV shows like WONDER WOMAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK ruled the airwaves, there were a lot of failed TV series that tried to jump on the vigilante money train. Enter SAMURAI, a failed television pilot about a district attorney who also moonlights as a samurai-themed crimefighter!

It's weird, it's ill-conceived, and they could never get away with it today. But could it be that SAMURAI was... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold travel back to the era of the "Shag Carpet Superhero," when vigilante shows were basically like every other tv series but with one half-assed superhero scene in them at the end!

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Star Wars: Episode Zero - The Dirty Dozen!

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, using STAR WARS as the starting point!

This week on EPISODE ZERO they enlist Robert Aldrich's rowdy and violent World War II "men on a mission" classic THE DIRTY DOZEN, a film that helped inspire ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY's updated perspective on intergalactic conflicts, and its comparatively brutal approach to heroic sacrifice! 

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Your Critically Acclaimed | Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Our Patrons have the power to sponsor an episode of CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED of their choice, and we're calling it YOUR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED!

In this episode, film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold have been asked to revisit a comedy classic from Aardman Animation, which won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature but nobody talks about anymore! Does WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT hold up a decade-and-a-half later, and if so, does it belong on the list of the best werewolf movies ever?

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We've Got Mail #35 | Video Game Logic vs. Movie Logic

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!  

This week, Bibbs and Witney talk about why it's a good time to re-evaluate your favorite movies, why critics don't say "in my opinion" all the time, underrated movies from great filmmakers and great sci-fi/fantasy movies that AREN'T grim 'n' gritty!  

Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!

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Critically Acclaimed #130 | Joel Schumacher, Ian Holm, You Should Have Left, Wasp Network, A Whisker Away, Mr. Jones, 7500, You Don't Nomi, Disney's Robin Hood

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED returns with a giant-sized mega episode!

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold pay tribute to the careers of director Joel Schumacher and actor Ian Holm, and then review the new releases YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT, WASP NETWORK, A WHISKER AWAY, MR. JONES, 7500 and YOU DON'T NOMI!

And this week on THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STREAMING CLUB, Bibbs and Witney take a trip to DISNEY PLUS and explore the beloved yet remarkably cheap and shabby animated classic ROBIN HOOD, which may be wonderful or may just be weird!

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Canceled Too Soon #190 | Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (1987-1988)

From sci-fi icon J. Michael Straczynski comes CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE, an ambitious live-action sci-fi adventure series with a giant toy line, interactive TV ray guns, and huge action sequences and fantasy ideas!

It was big, it was exciting, it was extremely controversial for its violence and its marketing ploys. Was CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE justly canceled, or was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? 

William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold explore the short-lived cult series to determine if it was good enough to warrant the second season that fans have been demanding for decades!

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Star Wars: Episode Zero - The Navigator

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, using STAR WARS as the starting point!  

This week on EPISODE ZERO they unearth Buster Keaton's silent comedy classic THE NAVIGATOR, starring the legendary filmmaker as a hapless bourgeois hero who winds up drifting at sea on a giant ship with the woman who doesn't love him! Keaton's unique physicality and distinctive gags were a clear influence on the creation of Jar Jar Binks and his wacky in the climactic battle in STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE, but why are Keaton's comedic characters more well-received than George Lucas's CGI creation? 

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We've Got Mail #34 | What Are the Great AND Positive Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movies...?

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!  

This week, Bibbs and Witney talk about why it's a good time to re-evaluate your favorite movies, why critics don't say "in my opinion" all the time, underrated movies from great filmmakers and great sci-fi/fantasy movies that AREN'T grim 'n' gritty!  

Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!

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The Iron List #8 | The Best Movies That Begin with the Letter "A"

Every month on THE IRON LIST, the Patrons of the Critically Acclaimed Network get to pick a topic for a giant-sized episode! And this month we're focusing on our filing systems, because it's THE BEST MOVIES THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER A!  

Join film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold as they highlight the films that just happen to start with the first letter of the alphabet, which turns out to be a list of many of the best movies ever made! We've got sci-fi classics, comedy blockbusters, art house legends and some of the scariest movies ever!

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Critically Acclaimed #129 | Da 5 Bloods, Artemis Fowl, The King of Staten Island, Warning: Do Not Play, My Dinner With Andre

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED is back with one of the biggest movie weekends of the year!

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review Spike Lee's Vietnam drama DA 5 BLOODS (Netflix), Kenneth Branagh's YA fantasy ARTEMIS FOWL (Disney Plus), Judd Apatow's latest dramedy THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND (VOD) and Kim Jin-won's Korean horror movie about horror movies WARNING: DO NOT PLAY (Shudder)!

And this week on THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STREAMING CLUB, Bibbs and Witney explore one of the best films of the 1980s, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE, starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory as two theater professionals who have dinner together. And somehow... it's absolutely breathtaking.

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Star Wars: Episode Zero - Casablanca!

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, using STAR WARS as the starting point!

This week on EPISODE ZERO they explore Michael Curtiz's Oscar-winning and seemingly timeless classic, CASABLANCA! Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman lead an all-star cast in a romantic adventure set during the rise of fascism, where a notorious cad begins to realize he needs to pick a side in the war. 

It's not just an influence on Han Solo, but also the production design, background characters and - in RISE OF SKYWALKER - one of the dumbest STAR WARS plot points ever!

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We've Got Mail #33 | Why Does the Criterion Collection Rule?

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!

This week, Bibbs and Witney talk about their recent commentary tracks for the Shout! Factory, the best Canadian movies, why it's important to criticize movies with ugly themes, why IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK feels revolutionary, and more!

Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!

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Critically Acclaimed #128 | The Vast of Night, Tommaso, Shirley, I'm No Longer Here, Scream Queen!, The High Note, Becky, Intuition, The Core

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED is chock full of movies this week!

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review the instant sci-fi classic THE VAST OF NIGHT (Amazon), Abel Ferrara's triumphant new drama TOMMASO (Kino Lorber),the creepy quasi-biopic SHIRLEY (Hulu), the Mexican musical style icon I'M NO LONGER HERE (Netflix), the heartfelt horror documentary SCREAM, QUEEN! (Shudder), the slick music drama THE HIGH NOTE (VOD), the intense Kevin James thriller BECKY (VOD) and the detective thriller prequel INTUITION (Netflix)!

And this week on THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STREAMING CLUB, Bibbs and Witney are relive the turn of the century big budget disaster piece fad, and explore all the inexplicable inanities of THE CORE, starring Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Stanley Tucci, DJ Qualls and Delroy Lindo!

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Star Wars: Episode Zero - Distant Drums!

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, using STAR WARS as the starting point!

This week on EPISODE ZERO they explore Raoul Walsh's quasi-western DISTANT DRUMS, the film that introduced the Wilhelm Scream! It's one of the most popular and recognizable sound effects in motion picture history, but the film that originated the Wilhelm Scream is disturbingly entrenched in deeply offensive colonialist fiction! 

And sadly, that's a literary tradition that films like STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES have, directly and indirectly, been inspired by.

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Canceled Too Soon #189 | Space Force (1978)

The late, great comedian Fred Willard co-stars in the new Netflix comedy series SPACE FORCE, but did you know he also starred in another television series with the exact same name? It's called SPACE FORCE, it came out in 1978, and it's basically THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW (a.k.a. SGT. BILKO) in space!

Is that a bad idea? Or could it be that SPACE FORCE was... CANCELED TOO SOON? Critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold take you rocketing through space - and history - to explore a failed TV pilot that riffs on STAR TREK and beyond!

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