Canceled Too Soon

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!  Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for

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? Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney

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, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, reviews and more! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com//critical

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! Joel Schumacher - 2:47 Ian Holm - 20:29 You Should Have Left - 28:50  Wasp Network - 41:40  A Whisker Away - 50:57  Mr. Jones - 57:43  7500 - 1:04:31  You Don't Nomi - 1:11:56  Disney's Robin Hood - 1:28:22  Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at

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 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! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyaccl

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?  Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR quest

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! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, revi

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! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook

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. Da 5 Bloods - 1:38  Artemis Fowl - 29:55  The King of Staten Island - 55:00  Warning: Do Not Play - 1:05:36  My Dinner With Andre - 1:15:15  Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our Te

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! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Follow us on Twitter at @CriticA

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! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, reviews and more! Support the show: https

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! The Vast of Night - 4:27  Tommaso - 16:25  Shirley - 25:58  I'm No Longer Here - 35:24  Scream, Queen! - 40:24  The High Note - 54:57  Becky - 1:02:08  Intuition - 1:10:17  The Core - 1:19:30  Subscribe 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 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. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim,

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 Witney Seibold take you rocketing through space - and history - to explore a failed TV pilot that riffs on STAR TREK and beyond! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, reviews and more!  And d

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 of, and which might have been really good? Or, you know, it might not. Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, reviews and more!  And don't forget to email us at letters@criticallyacclai

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 Douglas Trumbull's SILENT RUNNING, a sci-fi epic starring Bruce Dern as an environmental activist who defies orders to destroy Earth's last remaining forests! With a screenplay by Michael Cimino (THE DEER HUNTER) and Stephen Bochco (NYPD BLUE), and early effects work by STAR WARS vfx pioneer John Dykstra, SILENT RUNNING inspired the creation of R2-D2 and even the tv series MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fa

Orson Welles may be best known for directing classic films like CITIZEN KANE, TOUCH OF EVIL and CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, but he also had his own talk show! For one episode! That never got picked up by a network! THE ORSON WELLES SHOW featured special guests Burt Reynolds, Angie Dickinson, and The Muppets, along with their voice Jim Henson and Frank Oz! It sounds like an amazing show, so could it be that it was... CANCELED TOO SOON? Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are about to find out! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcasts, reviews and more!  And don't forget to ema

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 what the difference is between film criticism and television criticism, the rarely discussed problem with recommending films on streaming, why Star Wars should start adapting Shakespeare and the movies that inspired them to learn more about movies! Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Follow us on Twitter at @CriticAcclaim, join the official Fan Club on Facebook, follow Bibbs at @WilliamBibbiani and follow Witney at @WitneySeibold, and head on over to www.criticallyacclaimed.net for all their podcas

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED has the hottest new movies this week! Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae rom-com THE LOVEBIRDS (Netflix), the eye-popping sci-fi spectacular BLOOD MACHINES (Shudder), David Lynch's new short FIRE (POZAR) (YouTube), the anime anthology film MODEST HEROES (Netflix), and the unusual new documentary THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF (Hulu)! And this week on THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STREAMING CLUB, Bibbs and Witney are forced to revisit the 1988 cult oddity HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, in which wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays the last virile man on Earth, who has to rescue women kidnapped by humanoid frog monsters in order to perpetuate the species! Is there any way that's actually a good movie? Anyway at all? Let's find out! The Lovebirds - 1:47   Blood Machines - 18:10  Fire (Pozar) - 31:27  Modest Heroes - 40:37  The Painter and the Thief - 48:33  Hell Comes to Frogtown - 1:01:05  Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallya

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 the gorgeous and contemplative story of DERSU UZALA, a Russian film directed by Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa! This true story about a cartographer who befriends a small, uneducated, but impossibly brave and wise man in the wilds of Siberia was the direct influence for the creation of Yoda, and some of the most iconic moments in STAR WARS. And it may also be the key to unlocking the deeper meaning behind the different planets we visit in the franchise! Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork for exclusive content and exciting rewards, like bonus episodes, commentary tracks and much, much more! And visit our TeePublic page to buy shirts, mugs and other exciting merchandise!  Email us at letters@criticallyacclaimed.net, so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes! Follow