94% Side by Side

All Critics (51) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (3)

A trim, informative 99-minute primer on celluloid film, which to many viewers has a warmth and feel as soothing as buttered popcorn, and the brave new world of digital cinema.

It's this simple: If you like movies, you need to see "Side by Side."

Actors such as Robert Downey Jr. complain that because digital cameras can be reloaded in seconds, there is no time for performers to hang out in their trailers between takes (in protest, he urinated in jars, which he hid all over the sets of Zodiac).

There is great flux in this world, as Side by Side so entertainingly demonstrates, and where it's all headed is both discomforting and exhilarating. Stay tuned.

An unapologetically serious, geek-friendly documentary, it talks pixels, grain, depth of field and other technical concerns with a variety of directors, cinematographers, special-effects wizards and more.

A surprisingly accessible documentary about an often very technical subject - the revolution surrounding Hollywood's rapid conversion from 35mm film to digital technologies.

The movie doesn't offer much consideration of digital video as an esthetic in its own right -- as something that is valuable because it is *distinctive* from film, rather than as a format that aspires to be *indistinguishable* from film.

Probing documentary on the history of film that's geared for techies, those in the film industry, geeks or film junkies.

This exhaustive documentary is one of the best films ever made about the filmmaking process.

Possibly only of value to true cinephiles, but it's a vital education on the highs and lows of film vs. digital as the medium moves into an exciting new direction of creative access and picture clarity.

Side by Side doesn't give too much weight to either half of the debate, correctly noting that the move to digital has both pros and cons while offering a rather detailed history of how we got here.

Delights in bringing us all onto the set, into the editing room and behind the camera--thrilling places in any format.

The pro-digital propaganda feel is a major detraction

Anyone who is interested in the history of film technology and cinema can certainly take something away from Side by Side, even if it is just learning the opinion of Robert Rodriguez or Danny Boyle.

I appreciate [Reeves'] interest and passion on the subject, and his interview style is fine -- the conversations he finds himself engaged in with the Wachowski's especially is worth watching it for alone.

Side By Side works as well as it does by celebrating the filmmaking practice as a distinctive art form no matter what process it uses to make images into motion.

Obviously the issues discussed in Side by Side are provocative, and the film allows viewers to have their own opinion as much as its filmmaker subjects do.

A film about film that matters -- one that ably sums up an art form, where we've been and where we're going.

Always accessible, the doc lays out pros and cons of each medium.

A documentary film that asks the sort of questions most major film studios don't want asked or answered.

Fascinating combination of the technical and the aesthetic. The best exhibition to date of the digital revolution in filmmaking.

The digital takeover of contemporary movie-making may not be a hot topic around the American water cooler, but in Side by Side it is revealed as a large and fascinating subject.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/side_by_side_2012/

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