Eric D. Snider
Featured Critic;
Portland, OR
Eric D. Snider has been a writer all his life, a film critic since 1999, and a beard wearer since 2008. He holds a degree in journalism and used to work in "the newspaper industry," back when that was a thing. As a freelancer, Eric has written regularly for Film.com, Cinematical, Movies.com, Pajiba, and (of course) Twitch, among others. He lives in Portland. His website, EricDSnider.com, lives on the Internet.
Review: DJANGO UNCHAINED Is a Little Unfocused, But Bloody Good Fun
Quentin Tarantino's eighth feature film, Django Unchained, is his longest, his most narratively straightforward, and his N-word-iest. The godfather of modern gonzo filmmaking addresses American slavery and race relations the same way he has addressed other sensitive issues: by making...
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Review: PLAYING FOR KEEPS Continues Gerard Butler's Losing Streak
Playing for Keeps is the bargain of the season. No matter what kind of drab, derivative fluff you prefer, this exceptionally toothless comedy has something to offer! Do you like forgettable movies about a charming but mildly irresponsible man...
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The Name's The Thing! Movies That Should Be Remade by Name-Appropriate Directors
Fans of surnames were delighted this year when The Amazing Spider-Man was directed by someone named Marc Webb (get it??) and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, about a boy who grows out of a plant, was directed by Peter...
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Review: RISE OF THE GUARDIANS Tries to Make Jack Frost a Thing
A story in which mythical figures like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy team up to protect children from the Boogeyman sounds like a sure bet, and William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood book series has evidently...
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Review: THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 Brings This Nutty Story to an Energetic Close
Even those of us who hadn't read the book could tell by watching The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1, with its many scenes of inactivity and waiting around, that the story didn't need to be split into...
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Review: WRECK-IT RALPH Is a Warp Zone to the Next Level
Whichever Disney employee said, "Let's do Toy Story but with video game characters," I hope he or she got a big fat raise, if only to compensate for the seething jealousy coming from co-workers kicking themselves for not thinking...
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Review: FUN SIZE Is Too Dumb for Adults, Too Dirty for Kids
Fun Size is a trick-or-treat comedy aimed at tween girls. As such, the film's potential audience -- 11-15-year-old girls who are interested in seeing a Halloween comedy -- must be vanishingly small, but that's the marketing department's problem, not...
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Review: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 Adds a Creepy Kid, Little Else
Give the Paranormal Activity people some credit. They've made three sequels now to what was initially a standalone, not-meant-to-be-a-franchise horror film, and they've done it without becoming a laughable parody of themselves. They've expanded the story in ways that largely...
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Review: THE SESSIONS Helps Everybody Get Their Jollies
The Sessions tells a true story about a physically disabled man who enlists a professional sex surrogate to help him through the difficulties, both emotional and logistical, of losing his virginity. That may sound like shameless Oscar-bait -- a perception...
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Review: HERE COMES THE BOOM Is Less Terrible Than You Thought
The thing about the boom is that it will come whether you're ready for it or not. The boom follows no schedule, obeys no law but the law of the boom. We would be prudent, therefore, to heed such warnings...
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Review: HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA Offers a Mild Treat
After years of fruitless searching, it would appear that modern science has finally found the right place for Adam Sandler's crew: children's cartoons. Hotel Transylvania, a congenial toon about a monsters-only resort accidentally discovered by a human, has a lot...
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Review: RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION Dares to be Anemic and Shallow
Since Resident Evil: Retribution starts with a slow-motion battle scene shown in reverse, the easy joke to make is something about how the franchise is moving backwards. Usually it's best to avoid the easy jokes, but this film is such...
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Telluride 2012 Review: THE ATTACK Pierces Middle-Eastern Conflicts
The complicated situation in Israel, with its uneasy peace and frequent bursts of non-peace between Jews and Arabs, has given rise to numerous compelling stories, and will no doubt continue to do so for as long as there is conflict...
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Telluride 2012 Review: THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, a Compelling Story, Competently Told
Uninterested in creating false suspense over how things will turn out, the makers of The Central Park Five begin their documentary with audio of Matias Reyes describing how he savagely beat and raped a jogger late on the night of...
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Telluride 2012 Review: AT ANY PRICE Harvests a Rough Crop with Compassion
"It's gonna be a great harvest," says a farmer's wife near the end of At Any Price. She's referring to the corn crop, but what this resonant, well-acted drama has made clear by this point is that "you reap what...
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Telluride 2012 Review: NO, An Absurd, Funny (and a Little Sad) Look at Politics
I assume you're well-versed in Chilean politics of the 1980s. I mean, who isn't, right? But even if you're not -- even if you're, say, an American who barely recalls the name Pinochet and is already exhausted by the 2012...
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