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This week the shelves are packed, and just in time for the holidays! Check out the long-awaited big-screen debut of Springfield's finest (The Simpsons Movie), Matthew Vaughn's fantastic tale of witches, romance, and flying pirates (Stardust), or, as we strongly advise, take a chance on one of the year's best cinematic gems (Once).

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The Simpsons Movie

Tomatometer: 88%

It took eleven Simpsons scribes to bring the yellowest family in America to the big screen -- and a marketing campaign turning 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts that can only be described as "inspired" -- but the payoff was huge. After 19 more-or-less stellar seasons (ok, quite a few were less but it got better, didn't it?) Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie made a fashionably late entrance into the movies, to the tune of over half a billion dollars and counting, with a feature-length adventure involving the destruction of Springfield, a pet pig, environmentalism, Albert Brooks, and Green Day.

 

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Stardust

Tomatometer: 75%

Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' illustrated fairy tale captivated readers upon publication in 1997; a decade later, Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn enlisted the likes of Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Charlie Cox) in an English town called Wall bordered by a secret realm of magic, pirates and witches, the Certified Fresh Stardust dazzled critics with its heartfelt, if sprawling, tale of romance and adventure. Check out the DVD for behind-the-scenes commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.



Once

Tomatometer: 98%

John Carney's Irish Once is, quite simply, one of the best films of 2007. The micro-budgeted musical -- shot for an astounding $160,000 guerilla-style, on the streets of Dublin -- stars real-life artistic partners Glen Hansard (of The Frames) and Marketa Irglova, as a busker and an immigrant who meet and form an immediate musical bond. The Grammy-nominated soundtrack bears 13 hauntingly beautiful original songs, which alone are worth the price of admission. If you missed it in theaters -- and a lot of you did -- pick it up now on DVD.



Blade Runner: The Final Cut


Tomatometer: 96%

In 1982, Ridley Scott unleashed his stylishly noir sci-fi tale of replicants and blade runners onto the world, and geeks the world over were never the same. But whose vision did they see? After a 1992 Director's Cut that was ironically not Scott-approved, we now have Blade Runner: The Final Cut. At 93 percent, the original version already had overwhelming critical praise; at 96 percent, Scott's "final" vision, available this week, may be even closer to perfection.





Bring It On: In It To Win It


Tomatometer: N/A

The original Bring it On (2000) was a gem of a teen comedy about a privileged high school cheer captain (Kirsten Dunst) trawling the cutthroat waters of competitive cheerleading; the uninspired sequel, set on a college campus, provoked one to lament "it's already been broughten." Thankfully, a third installment (Bring it On: All or Nothing, starring Hayden Panetierre) revived the flagging franchise, leading us to hope, spirit fingers waving, that the feat could be repeated...in a third sequel! Bring it On: In It To Win It is that new hope -- a cheertastic take on Romeo and Juliet. Sigh.



Balls of Fury


Tomatometer: 25%

If you're like me, you love Comedy Central's Reno 911; maybe, then, you won't mind the underrated Balls of Fury, an Enter The Dragon-style spoof about the illicit ping-pong circuit starring Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, Maggie Q and James (Lo Pan!) Hong. Lo Pan!



Underdog


Tomatometer: 15%

Oh Jason Lee, what hath you wrought? You haven't had this bad a critical ravaging since Stealing Harvard!