Eric Bartsch

Eric is a columnist and the resident film critic for The Pit. He also acts and is a multitalented filmmaker.
  • ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ a worldwide success

    How to Train Your Dragon 2 may have already been in theaters awhile here in the US, but it’s still making the rounds internationally, and the reception could not be better. The Dreamworks animated feature opened in China last week to a whopping $5.6 million on its first day,...
  • Netflix makes viewers laugh with stand-up specials

    Netflix is getting set to tickle its users’ funny bones this Fall by streaming new exclusive stand-up comedy specials, they announced. Joining Chelsea Handler’s “Uganda Be Kidding Me: Live” (premiering October 10) are Jim Jeffries, Bill Burr, Chelsea Peretti, and the legendary Bill Cosby. Handler’s special was announced first,...
  • ‘Calvary’ looks at priesthood, other themes

    Calvary is a darkly comic Irish indie film. Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, The Company You Keep) plays a simple country priest on the coast of Ireland who hears a confession from someone in his small flock who threatens to kill him in a week’s time. Rather than actively investigate, though...
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings a blast from the past

    The hotly anticipated, often maligned, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has arrived, and it’s not all bad. (In fact, some rumors can be debunked now: the Turtles aren’t aliens and William Fichtner is not Shredder.) The story actually focuses on April O’Neil (Megan Fox), a struggling reporter on the...
  • ‘Into the Storm’ brings a new spin on storm movies

    Into the Storm touches down in theaters this week, and may hold its own against Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for the no. 2 spot at least. When a small Oklahoma town finds itself in the path of freak super tornadoes (what, no sharks?), citizens’ lives turn upside down —...
  • WGN’s ‘Manhattan’ Takes Crack at Mad Men Formula

    Manhattan has hit the airwaves with the force of an atomic bomb, among critics, anyway (see the earlier news brief of the show). It’s the 1940’s, and secrets abound — military and otherwise —  at a base in NM, called The Hill, housing nuclear physicists (more than usual). Turns...
  • Lionsgate drama ‘Manhattan’ debuts on WGN

    New drama from Lionsgate “Manhattan” debuted this past Sunday on WGN America to rave reviews from critics. Set in the New Mexican desert in the early 1940’s, the show follows dramatized accounts of the lives of the people living and working at a top-secret military installation on the titular...
  • Review: ‘Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Spoiler Alert)

    Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters on Friday, but is already catching major buzz, and for good reason. While, clearly, it remains to be seen if it is the best film the legendary comic book imprint’s studio has ever produced — and if it can get the diehard...
  • Christian-themed documentary miniseries ‘Indentity’ to premiere

    Identity, a new thirteen-episode Christian-themed documentary miniseries, is debuting on multiple cable channels later this Summer, including ABC Family (home to The 700 Club), Lifetime, Discovery, and others. Some are evangelical networks, such as The Word Network and and INSP. This is no coincidence; the series is produced by...