It's strange to watch a confidently-made film by a director who doesn't know what he's doing.

"Pompous" is in the eye of the beholder. What some call arrogant others would call assured, confident even.

despite his willful contrarianism, he seems to genuinely care about neglected aspects of the medium--what they used to call its humanist potential.

"Nuanced argument is obviously important and his is sometimes almost incoherent."

"This is especially true when those things mean so much to their advocate and are (in the case of compassion and human sympathy) so sadly undervalued by a culture obsessed with nihilistic self-hatred guised as supposed realism.

Armond White is an in real life troll.

"Christianity-bashing field day"

Program 14: Pop Video Artists and Hollywood Influence
Series: Dance on Camera Festival 2008 Runtime: 90

Armond White, film and pop-culture critic, traces dance — back to the future — from the soundstage to the street.

Some of the greatest pop musicians have also been dancers who blaze new trails, following previous, deeply admired footsteps. Certainly, pop music originates dance styles and trends ~ but this innovation is also a form of cultural development and curatorship. Armond White, one of the first culture writers to take music videos seriously and a perennial programmer at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Video Scanners Festival, surveys how Hollywood musical choreographers inspired new generations of disciplined and eye-dazzling pop dancers.

Focusing on the era-defining music videos of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, White turns his sophisticated eye to how these pop video artists preserve the dance tradition while creating new ways of moving, grooving and art-making. He’ll discuss how Michael Jackson’s cultural impact preserves cultural continuity through the way this phenomenal artist uses dance and film for powerful personal expression.

Co-presented by Scanners: The New York Video Festival.

Armond White is film critic for New York Press and author of "The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop CUlture That Shook the World and Rebel for the Hell of It: The Art-Life of Tupac Shakur." White's music video programs, a popular part the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual Scanners video series, have been invited to festivals around the world.

Playlist

Jam — Dir. Michael Jackson and David Kellogg (Choreography: Jackson)

Prologue (West Side Story) — Dir. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (Choreography: Robbins)

Beat It — Dir. Bob Giraldi (Choreography: Jackson)

Mein Herr (Cabaret) — Dir. Bob Fosse (Choreography: Fosse) What Have You For Me Lately? — Dir. Piers Ashworth (Choreography: Abdul)

Geechy Dan (Stormy Weather) — Dir. Andrew Stone (Choreography: Calloway)

Alright — Dir. Julien Temple (Choreography: Jackson)

The Girl Hunt Ballet (The Band Wagon) — Dir. Vincente Minnelli (Choreography: Kidd)

Smooth Criminal — Dir. Colin Chilvers (Choreography: Jackson)

Title Number (Singin’ in the Rain) — Dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen (Choreography: Kelly)

Black or White — Dir. John Landis (Choreography: Jackson)

This forum has too many Ebert-lites parading its threads. To be honest, it could use a few Armond Whites. At least he says something.

This forum has too many Ebert-lites parading its threads. To be honest, it could use a few Armond Whites. At least he says something.

I always thought Armond White just kept saying the same thing over and over again. He's interesting occasionally, but he just seems to be recycling the same points every week.

But God, do I wish Elvis Mitchell was writing regularly again.

08. Out of Sight (Steven Spielberg)