Magnolia Pictures

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – What do you expect from a movie called “Hobo With a Shotgun” (other than perhaps the most truthful title since “Snakes on a Plane”)? If you’re spending hard-earned money on a movie about a vengeful homeless person played by Rutger Hauer, you probably know what you’re in for. On those grindhouse terms, “Hobo With a Shotgun” totally works. It’s so far over-the-top that it makes “Machete” look believable, but that’s why it’s effective. Unlike so many movies you will see this season, “Hobo With a Shotgun” delivers.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Is “I’m Still Here,” the story of Joaquin Phoenix’s attempts to leave behind his acting career and try to make it as a hip-hop star, an elaborate piece of performance art or a documentary about an identity crisis of a man committing professional suicide? The problem is that the answer is irrelevant. Either way, “I’m Still Here” is grating, boring, and completely without value.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Lucy Walker’s “Countdown to Zero” is the most terrifying film of the year and one of the most frightening documentaries in a long time. The director pushes the envelope of taste a bit too far in the fear-mongering final act and underlines her point a few too many times in the process but the education that comes with the terror is a necessary one.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The side effect of a well-executed horror film is lack of sleep. The side effect of a well-executed documentary on corruption of our food supply is lack of appetite. Personally? I left “Food, Inc.,” went straight to lunch and had a big ole’ fried-chicken salad.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Where have all the true eccentrics gone? Where are all those people who achieve a Zen purpose just because the challenge is there?

“Man on Wire” is a documentary that tells of such a challenge 34 years ago in another place and time.