Film Criticism

[MyNameCriterionForum]

http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/9971/whe ... 2000-2009/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Cold Bishop]

How tasteful.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

?

[Elmyr]

Great interview! An excellent glimpse into the process of making video essays with some very good points about the job of a critic. I hope he's all over Stagecoach* once Criterion are ready to release it.

*Troubling personal note: I recently had a dream where I saw a blue stagecoach and cried out, "It's a hint!"

[accatone]

http://www.amazon.de/Pvc-Serge-Daney-It ... 138&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They are selling it for 3€ - must be a misstake of course but i received my copy today anyway.
A very nice collection of Daneys works is available again with this book:
http://www.amazon.de/Von-Welt-Bild-Serg ... 433&sr=1-5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It is out of print for a while and i once spent a lot more for it as it is currently selling via Marketplace. (German language of course).

[mikebowes]

Does the Daney DVD have english subtitles do you know? I ordered the French edition when it came out a few years back hoping it did but alas it didn't. Saw this at the Harvard Film Archives with english subs. Amazing and dense thoughts throughout.

[accatone]

Just checked the disc on my office computer - no subs which i expected (its from Edition Montparnasse). Too bad of a policy having their up and coming Godard doc from Alain Fleischer in mind…

[King Prendergast]

A.O. Scott on the (perceived) apolitical status of recent Iraq films:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/weeki ... ref=movies" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scott:

Last year, “Brothers” and “The Messenger,” two well-reviewed dramas about soldiers coming home, turned the experiential gulf between those who have seen combat and those who have stayed home into psychological and domestic drama. But while these movies were candid in showing the traumatic effects of battle on soldiers and their families, they were typically reticent about the meanings and implications of that trauma, and the filmmakers were typically vocal in denying any political agenda.

Scott fails to account for the most impressive (and progressive) post-Iraq film yet, Kelly's Southland Tales, a film that has more to say about the (explicitly political) causes and (psychologically devastating) consequences of the current conquest of Babylon than all the other "Iraq films" put together. If anyone wants a "cognitive map" (in Jameson's sense) of what it is to live in the contemporary West, they need look no further than Southland and Neveldine/Taylor's Gamer--the two most politically vital films of the oughts.

[Tom Hagen]

Roger Ebert's health struggles and post-operative life are documented in a lengthy Esquire piece.

[Oedipax]

Gawker with a bit of a bombshell on Variety's deletion of a negative review of Iron Cross written by Robert Koehler. The film's producers paid Variety $400,000 in an attempt to mount an Oscar campaign.

[domino harvey]

Don't worry, I'm sure David Manning will be weighing in with a rave soon

[Jeff]

That letter from the film's director to the person who caught the buy-off is hilarious. This is my favorite part:

I can't say why Koehler took such a negative view –- but his actions were sneaky and he must have known that his review would compromise our Variety campaign. He didn't even mention the film's wonderful score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra or the stunning cinematography. I have checked him out. For instance, look at this list of reviews for the hit comedy Rat Race:

http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/ratrace" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'll note the very high percentages awarded by the top critics – reaching 100% by the San Francisco Chronicle. Koehler, who trashes many movies, gave it only 20%, stating "A lineup of comic actors running on empty long before the dust settles". Clearly a man without a sense of humour. Which probably explains why he hated Iron Cross. In the first act of the film, well before the neighbour is abducted, I depict several humorous moments, amongst which Roy's character imagines what he'd like to do to the man he believes killed his family –- not as your friend suggests, some random German. These include gassing, hanging and cutting off his head –- three methods the Nazis used to kill people. These moments — and several others –- received widespread audience laughter, as intended, at the three Variety screenings we have had.

I don't know which is more ridiculous, the fact that he thinks that Rat Race was a critically-acclaimed "hit comedy," or the fact that he thinks Koeler's failure to realize this is why he didn't appreciate the humor of gassing, hanging, and decapitation.

[Jeff]

Roger Ebert's health struggles and post-operative life are documented in a lengthy Esquire piece.

Roger has an article today about how he's getting a digital "voice" based on his commentary tracks, including Floating Weeds.

[MichaelB]

Rat Race currently scores 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I daresay that's Koehler's malign influence at work.

[ianungstad]

Roger has an article today about how he's getting a digital "voice" based on his commentary tracks, including Floating Weeds.

I thought this was a pretty cool article. A Scottish company designed a digital device that Roger Ebert can type dialog into, that creates a replica of his natural speaking voice. They created the voice by sifting through the various DVD commentaries that he's done.

[perkizitore]

That should urge everyone to record their voice in case they lose it!

[triodelover]

That should urge everyone to record their voice in case they lose it!

And make sure they have Roger Ebert's income so that they can commission a software company to do the job. [-o<

[Saturnome]

Or buy Roger Ebert's voice application for your iPhone.

[Cinephrenic]

What's next, mechanical 'two thumbs up'.

[dx23]

I have Roger on Twitter and he is hilarious to read since he doesn't pull punches. Like 2 months ago, he did an article regarding the computer voice he wanted and how not being able to speak had expanded his writing style but removed away the ability to talk to face to face with people. This is probably the one time I'll watch the Oprah Show on purpose.

[Perkins Cobb]

Everybody's favorite burnout, Richard Schickel, finally has that "Infighting & Navel-Gazing"-worthy meltdown in which he says he never loved movies, wishes he'd done something else with his life, and insults Harry Knowles's appearance.

[Mr Sausage]

"Watching all these kind of earnest people discussing the art or whatever the hell it is of criticism, all that, it just made me so sad. You mean they have nothing else to do?" asked Schickel before adding, "I don't know honestly the function of reviewing anything."

T.S. Eliot wrote once that criticism is a unique activity of the civilized mind. I have so few opportunities to agree with Mr. Eliot that I'd like to take the chance to do so here, and to say that criticism is so very, very necessary because it is the one thing that stops you from simply being a mindless receptacle for constant input; it is the one thing that stops you from simply accepting whatever is set before you, and from accepting that somehow your reactions to things should never be interrogated. Perhaps reviewing as a function of putting people into seats is an ambivilant thing, but what reviewers are doing as critics is necessary for themselves and necessary for anyone, readers as well as writers, who wants to develop their cognitive faculties.

I'm feeling a bit serious-minded at 3:00 in the morning.

[Jeff]

Anyone who has ever read or listened to Schickel knows that his professional life has been a complete waste. It's a shame he's just now realizing it.

[Camera Obscura]

"Film Criticism: Always declining, never quite falling." Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell share some thoughts about online film criticism.

[dx23]

Disney announced today that At The Movies has been canceled after 24 years of syndication.