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Archive for September 17th, 2008

Forum Watch: Introduce Yourself!

There’s a new sticky topic in the General Discussion forum called Introduce Yourself, which is serving as a way for people to say hello to the community and reveal a little about themselves. If you’re new to Criticker or to the forums, this is a good first step in meeting a great group of users and active community.

It’s our turn to take the mic, I suppose.


Hi. We’re Mike and Juergen.

I’m an American and Juergen is German. We met in Boston about 8 years ago, and since then have lived in Berlin (Germany), Western Ireland and currently Valencia (Spain). I’m a native of Minnesota, but did most of my growing up in Ohio where I studied Computer Science at Ohio University, in Athens. Juergen grew up in Darmstadt, Germany (close to Frankfurt) and is a professional photographer.

We started Criticker when my then-employer began laying off its workers without restraint or remorse. With time on our hands, we embarked on a project with the aim of matching users that had the same taste. The idea actually came when my mom appeared to me in a dream, complaining about the fact that no critic shared her taste in movies, so “why should I listen to them?” Then she turned into a vampire and bit my head off. Over a period of months, we developed and eventually released Criticker.com — albeit a version barely unrecognizable to users today.


Criticker 1.0

Currently, we spend a ton of time on Criticker, but we’re also at work on other (more lucrative) projects, such as Lastminute-Auction.com (an Ebay tool and our true breadwinner), Random-Good-Stuff.com (Juergen’s entertainment blog, peppered with his unique German humor) and HolaValencia.net (a blog dedicated to our new home town).

Juergen and I have extremely similar taste in film, owing to the fact that we spend way too much time together. We tend to most enjoy contemporary European cinema, but aren’t afraid to drop huge scores on big budget action flicks. Outside of movies, we’re both into travel & hiking, and Juergen still gets work as a professional photographer.

Phew! So, that’s us: the founders of Criticker. Now it’s your turn! Get to the forum, and introduce yourselves… we love finding out more about the people who make up the Criticker Community.

DVD Report – September 16th

You know it’s a poor week for new arrivals on DVD, when a film like Speed Racer is the most highly-rated. Not to intone that the Wachowskis’ film was at all beloved by the Criticker community. It was just slightly less despised than the others. The worst? Mike Meyers continues his sad slide into irrelevance with the painfully unfunny Love Guru… of course, we encourage you to buy it, anyway, as long as you’re using our links to do so!

Speed Racer152 Rankings – Average Tier 5.34
Based on the classic 1960′s Japanese animated series chronicling the aspirations of a young race car driver as he attempts to obtain glory, with the help of his family and the Mach 5, the advanced car created by his father. (cinema.com) Speed Racer @ Amazon

88 Minutes117 Rankings – Average Tier 3.21
A thriller about a college professor who, while moonlighting as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI, receives a death threat telling him that he has only 88 minutes to live. (ifilm.com) 88 Minutes @ Amazon

Made of Honor54 Rankings – Average Tier 2.92
Made of Honor revolves around Tom and Hannah, who have been platonic friends for 10 years. He’s a serial dater, while she wants marriage but hasn’t found Mr. Right. Just as Tom is starting to think that he is relationship material after all, Hannah gets engaged. When she asks Tom to be her “maid” of honor, he reluctantly agrees just so he can attempt to stop the wedding and woo her. (imdb) Made of Honor @ Amazon

The Love Guru53 Rankings – Average Tier 2.09
Pitka (Meyers) an American raised outside of his country by gurus, returns to the States in order to break into the self-help business. His first challenge: To settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player (Malco) whose wife left him for a rival athlete (Timberlake). The Love Guru @ Amazon

Snow Angels24 Rankings – Average Tier 5.13
A drama that interweaves the life of a teenager, with his old baby sitter, her estranged husband, and their daughter. (imdb) Snow Angels @ Amazon