***Official "THE COUNTRY BEARS" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

And it even won an Academy Award and made it on some critics' Top Ten lists! With such a high rating for Lilo & Stitch it better make it on some critics Top Ten lists later this year or else I'd be really disappointed.
~Edwin

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

And just to make sure that there is no confusion as to which critics/publications had Shrek on their Top Ten list, here is a partial listing:
TOP TENS:
Nigel Andrews (Financial Times)
David Ansen (Newsweek)
Wallace Baine (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Harper Barnes (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Marjorie Baumgarten (Austin Chronicle)
James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
Jami Bernard (New York Daily News)
Barry Caine (San Mateo County Times)
Mike Clark (USA Today)
Paul Clinton (CNN)
Frank Gabrenya (Columbus Dispatch)
Bill Gallo (New Times Los Angeles)
Chris Garcia (Austin American-Statesman)
Jack Garner (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Jeff Giles (Newsweek)
Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly)
Lance Goldenberg (Weekly Planet)
Bob Graham (San Francisco Chronicle)
Martin Grove (Hollywood Reporter)
Forrest Hartman (Reno Gazette-Journal)
Chris Hewitt (Pioneer Planet)
Stephen Holden (New York Times)
Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter)
Desson Howe (Washington Post)
Peter Howell (Toronto Star)
Stephen Hunter (Washington Post)
Bruce Ingram (Chicago Pioneer Press)
Malcolm Johnson (Hartford Courant)
Dave Kehr (New York Times)
Christopher Kelly (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Rita Kempley (Washington Post)
Bruce Kirkland (Toronto Sun)
Andy Klein (New Times Los Angeles)
Michael H. Kleinschrodt (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
Dave Larsen (Dayton Daily News)
Terry Lawson (Detroit Free Press)
Emmanuel Levy (Screendaily)
Lou Lumenick (New York Post)
Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
Michael Medved (The Michael Medved Show - syndicated)
Bob Mondello ("All Things Considered", National Public Radio)
Joe Morgenstern (Wall Street Journal)
Bill Muller (Arizona Republic)
Donald Munro (Fresno Bee)
Mark Naglazas (West Australian)
David Neil (KVVU Fox 5 News)
New Zealand Herald
Bruce Newman (San Jose Mercury News)
Charlotte O'Sullivan (Time Out London)
Jean Oppenheimer (New Times Los Angeles)
Craig Outhier (East Valley Tribune)
Dan Pearson (Daily Southtown)
People Magazine
Robert Philpot (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Normand Provencher (Le Soleil)
Peter Rainer (New York Magazine)
Steven Rea (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Michael Rechtshaffen (Hollywood Reporter)
Luisa F. Ribeiro (Baltimore City Paper)
Carrie Rickey (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Bob Ross (Tampa Tribune)
Richard Schickel (Time Magazine)
Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly)
Matt Zoller Seitz (New York Press)
Joel Siegel (Good Morning America)
Susan Stark (Detroit News)
Jeff Strickler (Minnesota Star Tribune)
Ella Taylor (LA Weekly)
George M. Thomas (Akron Beacon Journal)
Erin Torneo (IFCRant)
Peter Travers (Rolling Stone)
Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times)
Steve Uhler (Austin American-Statesman)
Richard von Busack (Metroactive Metro)
David Walker (Willamette Week)
Bill Wine (Good Day Philadelphia)
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Robert Denerstein (Rocky Mountain News)
Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
Film Threat
Eugene Hernandez (indieWIRE)
Brian D. Johnson (Maclean's)
Chris Kaltenbach (Baltimore Sun)
Joe Leydon (San Francisco Examiner)
Andrea Meyer (indieWIRE)
Greg Muskewitz (eFilmCritic, La Jolla Light, The Mesa Press)
Rene Rodriguez (Miami Herald)
Matt Soergel (Florida Times-Union)
R. Presley Stephens (WFTS-TV)
John Sylva (@NZone Magazine)
Jeffrey Wells (reel.com)
Remember, this is just a partial listing.
~Edwin

 

[george kaplan]

Edwin,
Just to be clear. I don't personally go by what any critics or websites or other people say. You had used a tomato score to make a point, and I was just using another tomato score to make a counterpoint. My opinions remain unaltered by any critics:
Lilo & Stitch - very good, and very funny
Shrek - OK, but not nearly as good as it should be
Country Bears - won't know until after I see it for myself

 

[Jason Whyte]

Although a little late, I'll make this the Official Discussion Thread for "The Country Bears". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.
btw, Mark, I should be seeing it next week. Expect an IM when that occurs.
Jason

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

George, I’m glad Lilo & Stitch worked for you. It just didn’t for me. Knowing Disney and their other distribution outlets, which includes their daily TV programming, direct to video and direct to television original productions, I found the animation of Lilo & Stitch to be inferior to even warrant a theatrical release.
~Edwin

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I found the animation of Lilo & Stitch to be inferior to even warrant a theatrical release.

I know it's getting off topic, but I can't agree with you here. Although I liked Lilo & Stitch, I had some issues with the film. The animation wasn't one of them.

And yes, I'm fully prepared for no one to back me up on Bears now that reviews are coming out...

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Mark, I think The Country Bears will be one of your guilty pleasures this year.
~Edwin

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Nothing guilty about it. (For the record, I am not very fond of the concept of guilty pleasures because it is usually used as a means of justifying bad art. Have the guts to admit you like something or you don't rather than trying to have it both ways. As contrary as my opinion may end up being, I liked The Country Bears with no ironic or postmodern qualifying necessary.)
I can't say I'm all that surprised with the reviews so far. Like most people who won't see it, I think many critics made negative predeterminations and are dismissing it in hand. I don't know how to market the film properly, but looking at clips on the EPK, I know that they've taken the wrong approach. The clips lean toward the standard, sentimental parts and not the weirder humor that I found so appealing.
A week ago I would have never thought I'd be defending this. I may still come to regret it.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Also, one thing that I've noticed is how much Haley Joel Osment's voice have changed. It is so unrecognizable that you wouldn't know it was him (at least for me it was).

~Edwin

 

[Patrick Sun]

So which should I see, Stuart Little 2, or The Country Bears?

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Patrick, having not seen SL2, I can only recommend to you what not to see. Maybe you should see SL2 and let us know about it.

 

[Ryan Peter]

I really disliked SL:2. No funny jokes, the father and son are really annoying. The chasing sequences are decent though so it's not a total loss if you see it in a nice theater.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Funny, I didn't like the first Stuart Little (a marginal decision) but enjoyed the second.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Oops, sorry to also add to thread drift:

I did like SL2, but I liked it for the effects, we've come a long way in creating digital creatures for the big screen that look and behave with a lot of human mannerisms that help in making them into characters you either root for or against. The plot was okay, but I did like the interaction of the characters big and small, mainly small, though.

Also, I enjoy it when talking cats are in movies, they crack me up. But that's just me.

 

[Malcolm R]

You mean funnier than My Big Fat Greek Wedding?

Through an odd coincidence, I actually saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Country Bears back-to-back yesterday.
While both were very enjoyable, we actually got more and bigger laughs from The Country Bears.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Vindication!

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Wo-Hoo!
~Edwin