James Berardinelli (born September 1967, New Brunswick, New Jersey) is an online film critic. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Motto: Spem reduxit (Hope restored) Official languages English, French (the only officially bilingual province in the country) Capital Fredericton Largest city Saint John Lieutenant-Governor Herménégilde Chiasson Premier Shawn Graham (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 10 10 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of total)  Ranked 11th 72... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. ...

Biography

Berardinelli was born in New Jersey and his early childhood in the town of Morristown. At around 9 years old he moved to Cherry Hill. He attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1985 through 1990, obtaining both a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering. After graduating he worked at Bellcore, now Telcordia Technologies, and spent the next 15 years working "in a variety of fields, including fiber optics, video testing, and software systems"[1] . In 2004, he married one of his longtime readers.[2] Morristown (also spelt Morice Town) is a part of Devonport in England that has now been subsumed within the city of Plymouth. ... Cherry Hill highlighted in Camden County Cherry Hill Township is a township located in Camden County, New Jersey. ... This article is about the private university in Philadelphia. ... A Bachelor of Science (B.S., B.Sc. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate (or graduate) course of one to three years in duration. ... Electrical Engineers design power systems… … and complex electronic circuits. ... Telcordia Technologies, formerly Bell Communications Research, Inc. ... Fiber Optic strands An optical fiber in American English or fibre in British English is a transparent thin fiber for transmitting light. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Film critic

Berardinelli admits that as a child, he did not spend much time in theaters, and as a teenager saw only five or six movies a year. He did not get interested in film until he was at college. In 1991, the year before he started reviewing, he saw about 30 films. The number jumped up to 180 in 1992, when he wrote reviews for his own use. Starting in 1993, when he started publishing his reviews to Usenet he began seeing between 220 and 250 theatrical releases per year. In 1997 he became an accredited film critic and now estimates that he has seen over 7000 films in total. Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ...

Berardinelli has over 3,300 full-length movie reviews posted on his own ReelViews website, as well as being a prominent contributor to such sites as Rotten Tomatoes. While tapering off slightly of late, he has established an average of roughly 300 reviews a year since the site was inaugurated in January of 1996. According to Berardinelli, his website receives 70,000–80,000 hits per day.[3] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Berardinelli is noted for his lengthy and learned analysis of films and has kept an open mind in viewing films in all subjects. His reviews are frequently peppered with dry humor and offer extensive explanation pertaining to background information on a film. His articles often delve deeper than just the film itself, frequently offering background information or unusual educational tidbits. Fellow film critic Roger Ebert has written positive comments about Berardinelli,[4] even going so far as to write forewords for the ReelViews books. Russ Meyer (left) and Roger Ebert, (1970) Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942 - ) is an Emmy Award-nominated American television personality, author, and film critic who began writing for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. ...

Berardinelli also writes ReelThoughts, a blog in which he muses on issues of the day or whatever is on his mind. While there is no publication schedule per se, he usually finds time to write a few entries a week. Frequent topics of his columns include DVD technology, the film industry, film piracy, and censorship, but he doesn't shy away from such issues as politics and society. He frequently criticizes the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board and the inconsistency of the ratings system, deriding them for, among other things, affixing "R" ratings to films for arguably mild artistic nudity, while simultaneously deeming blood-soaked violence to be PG or PG-13 material. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Censorship is the removal or withholding of information from the public by a controlling group or body. ... The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), originally called the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of America, is a non-profit trade association based in the United States which was formed to advance the interests of movie studios. ...

Berardinelli's favorite directors include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa and Alfred Hitchcock. His all-time favorite film is Patton. Steven Allan Spielberg, (born December 18, 1946) is a three-time Academy Award winning American film director and producer. ... Martin Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (born November 17, 1942) is an Academy Award-winning American film director. ... Akira Kurosawa , 23 March 1910—6 September 1998) was a prominent Japanese film director, film producer, and screenwriter. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Patton is a 1970 epic biographical film which tells the story of General George Pattons commands during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. ...

References

• James Berardinelli (2003), "ReelViews : The Ultimate Guide to the Best 1,000 Modern Movies on DVD and Video" ISBN 1-932112-06-5
• James Berardinelli (2005), "ReelViews 2: The Ultimate Guide to the Best 1,000 Modern Movies on DVD and Video, 2005 Edition" ISBN 1-932112-40-5

External links

• ReelViews: Movie Reviews and Criticism by James Berardinelli
• James Berardinelli's autobiography on Rotten Tomatoes