Critically Acclaimed Network

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 take a trek to Monument Valley for John Ford's THE SEARCHERS, starring John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter as cowboys searching for a lost girl in the American frontier. The film is considered one of the greatest westerns ever made, and it...

[NOTE: We apologize for the lower-quality audio in this episode.] Christian Slater gets his own television series... and so does Christian Slater! MY OWN WORST ENEMY is all about a secret super spy who has a microchip in his brain that activates an alter ego with no memory of saving the world, who has his own completely separate life in suburbia! But when the chip malfunctions and they have to sha...

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 GALAVANT, a cult musical fantasy epic sitcom from Dan Fogelman (THIS IS US) and songwriter Alan Menken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST), in which heroes and villains alike bre...

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 the debate whether the Disney Plus release of HAMILTON qualifies as a 'film,' the oft-overlooked Vansploitation genre, the movies that completely disappointed us, the age-old STAR WARS vs. STAR TREK conflict, and t...

There's a million things that CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED hasn't done, but just you wait! Just you wait!  This week, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold explore the brilliance and understandable criticisms of the hit musical HAMILTON, venture into the gory world of the possession thriller METAMORPHOSIS, and ponder the works of Hirokazu Kore-eda with his new French film THE TRUTH! And this week on...

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 strap on jetpacks and fly around with COMMANDO CODY: SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE in his very first cinematic adventure, RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON! It's a serialized action series with lots of fist fights, lots of cheapness, and several...

In our new podcast, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold invite fascinating people to watch MY DINNER WITH ANDRE, a film about fascinating people having a conversation, and have their own conversation about it! What happens when everyone watches the same film and makes a podcast about it? How do different people view the same film differently? We'll find out in... MY DINNER WITH MY DINNER WITH...

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 how cinema is evolving through TikTok, how to find the right crossword puzzles, great slice of life anime, and the best needle drops in movie history! Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net,  so we can read your corre...

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED is coming at ya with movie reviews aplenty!  Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold celebrate the life and career of the late, great comedy legend CARL REINER, and review the new releases EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA, MY SPY, HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD, YUMMY and DUMMY! And this week on THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STREAMING CLUB, Bibbs and Witney venture in...

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...

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 comparat...

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-...

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 cinema of the late 1960s, the Czech New Wave, whether films and TV shows can break the Contract with the Audience, and why video game logic works differently than movie logic! Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net,  ...

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...

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 canceled too so...

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 physi...

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 &#3...

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 tu...

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 (...

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 reali...

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 letter...

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 sli...

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 Screa...

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 was SPACE FORCE... Canceled Too Soon? Critics William Bibbiani and Witn...

You've probably read her books, seen her 1970s tv series, and binged her new CW series, but do you recall the most 1990s NANCY DREW of all?  And was it... CANCELED TOO SOON? William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold solve that mystery, and ponder the depressing head canon of Scott Speedman, in an all-new episode dedicate to the history of NANCY DREW, and a syndicated series most people never heard o...