Film Criticism

[AidanKing]

'Cinema Scope' magazine is still asking for new subscribers in the latest editorial in order to hopefully keep the publication going.

For what it's worth, I think it is an excellent magazine and well worth subscribing to. It would be a shame to see such a source of original and independent film criticism disappear.

[EWMMTFAN]

One rule filmmakers should never forget.

Biggest difference between a Bad film and a Great film.

[Maltic]

One rule filmmakers should never forget.

"Martin Scorsese should be subjected to more studio interference"

A fearless take

[EWMMTFAN]

Why do some filmmakers get so much hate?

[Mr Sausage]

Why do some filmmakers get so much hate?

Please stop peppering the forum with links to youtube.

[EWMMTFAN]

The links are film criticism pieces. They fit the theme of the thread.

[Mr Sausage]

The links are film criticism pieces. They fit the theme of the thread.

Don't care. Stop peppering the forum with youtube links.

[hearthesilence]

Facets in Chicago just posted this on social media:

FACETS will no longer be working with Mike Vanderbilt in any capacity. Film Trivia will proceed without his involvement.

What happened?

[therewillbeblus]

You can find out pretty easily if you type his name into google and see what comes up. The short answer is: exactly what you think would motivate this post

[hearthesilence]

I had no idea Gene Siskel had an official website, but it's very bare bones and nothing like Ebert's (which obviously was designed to be an archive and a whole lot more). To be honest, I'm a little skeptical it's legit because it's "under construction" yet it's apparently been around for years.

[domino harvey]

The creator of my favorite YouTube food channel, Internet Shaquille, has been branching out with “rant” style videos on topics not related to instructional food guides (which, even in this format, still adhere to his belief in short, succinct execution) and I thought his new video pushing back on the anti-intellectual Reddit-ization of responses to film criticism (“Let people enjoy what they like,” etc) makes a lot of cogent points in a convincing way (and I’m not just saying that because it’s revealed that he agrees with me on not needing more than a five point scale) without veering into snobbery or blind populism

[diamonds]

Hoping for some help tracking down (what I'm assuming is) an article. In an interview from December 2013, Thelma Schoonmaker makes a reference to a recent review of Bringing Out the Dead written by Bertrand Tavernier:

...But I can’t tell you how many people talk to me about that movie. There is a ripple that’s going on. Bertrand Tavernier, the really wonderful French director, just wrote a review of it again.

An essay on the film from October 2014 would seem to reference the same review:

...appreciations continue to surface as critics and fans—including French director Bertrand Tavernier—take another look.

I've been unable to find Tavernier's comments using Google. There doesn't appear to be an entry about the film on his DVD blog (under either the English or the French title). If anyone could point me in the direction of this review I would be very grateful.

[hearthesilence]

Critics critiquing critics - thought Greil Marcus's take on Jonathan Rosenbaum was amusing:

[Jonathan Rosenbaum] knows a lot, thinks through what he knows, but he has no sense of humor and can’t abide symbolism. So [Todd Haynes's film] I’m Not There is going to get completely away from him. The film as a series of insults? Only if you think any of Haynes’s imaginary incarnations are meant to even reference a real person self-named Bob Dylan more than the cover of Highway 61 Revisited in Haynes’s Wonderstruck is meant to be a person, not a talisman of a fictional character in a movie.

I’m Not There is a funhouse. JR is the last person who could take the rides.

[diamonds]

Would anyone here happen to have the text of a 1996 Metro Magazine article by Kent Jones on André Téchiné entitled "People Are the Opposite of Silence"? There looks to be a copy of it here, and if anyone has institutional access (looks like it's available primarily to Australian universities but there are a few in the UK and Canada as well) and could send it my way, I would greatly appreciate it.

[furbicide]

It's available here, Diamonds – paywalled, but you can subscribe with a seven-day free trial: https://metromagazine.com.au/people-are ... f-silence/

[diamonds]

It's available here, Diamonds – paywalled, but you can subscribe with a seven-day free trial: https://metromagazine.com.au/people-are ... f-silence/

Ah perfect, thank you!

[hearthesilence]

Cinema Scope has published its final issue.

It was the one of the last North American print publications dedicated to film as an art form (with the help of Canadian government funding). Very few left.

[furbicide]

Really saddening to read. Australia has just lost its last film publication in print (Metro, linked above) too – it quietly went on hiatus over the new year after not having published a print issue since May.

[Red Screamer]

Justin Chang to replace Anthony Lane as film critic at The New Yorker. I can't say I've ever taken an interest in Chang's writing or that, when I have read him, he's left any impression on me as a critic or writer.

[Randall Maysin Again]

The article seems to actually say that Anthony Lane will continue writing about film at the New Yorker as well as "a broader range of topics in the arts with critical essays and reported pieces"...at least, I think that's what it's saying.

[therewillbeblus]

Glad Brody's staying too

[hearthesilence]

That reminds me, Denby stepped down in 2014 to become a staff writer (and IIRC to write more outside of the magazine). here's a direct link to his articles, but it looks like his output as a staff writer really dwindled after a couple of years. Maybe I missed an announcement, but I guess he became a freelancer or contract employee at that point? (He had only one article published in 2023, one in 2022, no articles at all in 2021, two in 2020, and one in 2019.)

If I had to pick a critic that would seem like a good fit, it would be Nick Pinkerton, but maybe he isn't interested or I misjudged what they're looking for in a writer? Possibly the former since he just wrote a film that's gotten quite a bit of attention. (Also, I don't think he was pleased with Brody's review for it, so that would make any potential hire awkward.)

[Randall Maysin Again]

Well, I hope Anthony Lane doesn't just dribble away, I mostly really like his work. But he strikes me as someone who would be/is a lot more popular with the readership than David Denby, so maybe that won't happen? There's some idiot comment on the above-linked article about the death of legacy media and how these writers wouldn't last a day on Twitter because "only the truth is allowed there" . But the New Yorker is always dying, that's their business model isn't it? I don't know, I don't read it anymore. Anyway, I wouldn't have thought the Variety website was a hub for such MAGA types, but it does make me wonder just what the hell the cultural landscape is going to look like in 50 years.

[furbicide]

If I had to pick a critic that would seem like a good fit, it would be Nick Pinkerton, but maybe he isn't interested or I misjudged what they're looking for in a writer? Possibly the former since he just wrote a film that's gotten quite a bit of attention. (Also, I don't think he was pleased with Brody's review for it, so that would make any potential hire awkward.)

I would love that too, but I suspect he'd probably be seen as too iconoclastic for a publication as relatively strait-laced as The New Yorker to consider (and they already cop enough flak over Brody as it is, though I've never quite understood the animosity). Still, it's a sad reflection on the current state of things that someone as consistently interesting as Pinkerton doesn't seem to be able to get a regular gig anywhere much nowadays.

[hearthesilence]

I would love that too, but I suspect he'd probably be seen as too iconoclastic for a publication as relatively strait-laced as The New Yorker to consider (and they already cop enough flak over Brody as it is, though I've never quite understood the animosity). Still, it's a sad reflection on the current state of things that someone as consistently interesting as Pinkerton doesn't seem to be able to get a regular gig anywhere much nowadays.

I haven't subscribed to his Substack yet (though I'm kind of abandoning Substack altogether given their ongoing controversy with - *sigh* - Nazis and white supremacists) but I have a vague recollection that when he first launched it, he published a scathing editorial directed at Film Comment for ceasing its print publication, one that brought up a host of other grievances as well. He has written printed material for smaller publishers like Metrograph's publication arm, but I kind of wondered if he had taken himself out of mainstream publications altogether?