Claudia Winkleman? Claudia Winkleman? Claudia freakin’ Winkleman?
Okay, so I didn't have a picture of Winkleman handy...
Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: barry norman, bbc, bbc film, claudia winkleman, cricket, critics, film, film 2009, film 2010, film show, jonathan ross, mark kermode, Movies, reviews | 12 Comments »
I like Kevin Smith. I appreciate he’s been through a lot. He is a legend for taking a huge paycut to get Cop Out made the way that it should have been made, regardless of what you think of the result. That’s dedication to his art, no matter how you cut it and there’s not enough of that these days. He was also perfectly right in his recent airplane trouble and I can appreciate that Hollywood has repeatedly (and thoroughly) screwed him over time and again. He’s never had the mainstream success that his breakout talent deserved, and I’m fairly certain that most of that isn’t in any way his own fault. But he really needs to learn when to disengage.
Just keep those mikes pointed AWAY from Smith and it'll be okay...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cop out, criticism, critics, fims, kevin smith, Movies, rant, tweet, twitter | Leave a comment »
I’ll be honest. I didn’t like Avatar. Part of the movie made me uncomfortable. The implications of the whole “white man leads a bunch of noble savages to a victory they couldn’t have acheived without him” bit are worrying when place in the context of a metaphor for the genocide of the Native Americans. But, beyond that, it just isn’t a very good film. The dialogue is terrible. The characters don’t seem half as real as James Cameron’s wonderfully brought-to-life planet Pandora. On the other hand, I will concede that the visuals are stunning. They are breathtaking. What really amazes me, though, is the tone of backlash that most negative reviews seem to be generating, which can be effectively summed up with: just shut up and look at the pretty picture – who cares about plot and characters?
King of the new world...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: avatar, avatar backlash, avatar reviews, criticism, critics, film, Movies, special effects, story | 1 Comment »
Is any profession less secure than film criticism? Really. I mean, I was depressed about the box office success of Transformers 2 as well and was disappointed no one heeded you, but I didn’t begin to doubt my very profession. Similarly I was upset that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was marketed around film critics, but I didn’t become openly petty about you guys not seeing the film for free. This time, it’s the fact that critics are being grouped with bloggers that has prompted a rather severe reaction from some quarters. Is there any point to be made?
The film critic on new media...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: awards daily, bloggers, blogging, criticism, critics, film criticism, films, hollywood elsewhere, indieWire, jeffrey wells, Movies, roger ebert, sasha stone, tiff, toronto international film festival | 34 Comments »
I’m genuinely excited about The Road, the adaptation of the novel from Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. despite a shakey production history, it looks like the Weinstein might be able to mount a successful Oscar campaign for this science-fiction tale. Oops. I shouldn’t have mentioned that hyphenated word. Pretend you didn’t hear it – maybe the Academy hasn’t heard it either. In fact, given the way that people talk about the book and the film, you’d be lucky to hear that ‘tag’ even within the same paragraph. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.
A nice father-son day out...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, charlize theron, classification, cormac mccarthy, critics, films, genre, labels, Movies, novel, oscar campaigns, Oscars, prejudice, sci-fi, science fiction, snobbishness, tags, the road, viggo mortensen | Leave a comment »
I was away in Florida when the whole Armond White thing broke last month. For those out of the loop, users of film review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes decided that they’d had enough of White’s contrary approach to film reviews after he ‘ruined’ the perfect Tomatometer for District 9 – and generated quite the reaction on the site. With District 9 being released in the UK and Ireland this week, it seems almost the perfect time to revisit the discussion, with the benefit of hindsight. Plus, film criticism is one of those topics that I take a great deal of recreational interest in.
Somehow I doubt we'll ever see eye-to-eye...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: armond white, cinema, criticism, critics, district 9, film critics, Movies, popularism, roger ebert, rotten tomatoes, taste, tomatometer | 2 Comments »
So, G.I. Joe didn’t get screened for critics as part of Paramount’s unusual marketing. I’m miffed. I’m ticked off. I think it’s a bad omen.
I’m also (apparently) a damnsight more professional than the huge number of film critics out there. Apparently the fact that most of them haven’t seen a frame of it, a huge number of professional film critics are panning the movie.
Are critics a bigger threat to Joe than Destro?
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: criticism, critics, film reviews, films, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, gi joe, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, jouranlism, LA Times, Movies, opinions, reviews, screenings, Wall Street Journal | 2 Comments »
I’ll admit it. In my defense, I’m suitably ashamed. But I am a little bit interested in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Yes, I know – deep down in my heart – that it will be terrible. No, I was not a fan of the television show, nor the toys – so I have no defense. I am a fan of Christopher Eccleston and I always have been, so my faith in him is on the line. And Stephen Sommers is the guy behind the two really good Mummy films, right? Still, the most interesting aspect of the production (amid all the rumours and gossip, the leaked reviews – both good and bad) is the approach that the studio is taking to marketing. Some movies – like The Dark Knight or Tron: Legacy or Cloverfield – go the subtle, nuanced approach of viral marketing. They create an emersive, engaging experience. G.I. Joe, on the other hand, is not subtle. The marketing team seems to be hammering home on single message: if you don’t dig this movie, you just ain’t patriotic enough.
No Dennis Quaid, you can't out act him... He's Christopher Eccleston!
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: andrews air base, audience, blockbusters, box office, critics, films, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, gi joe, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, middle america, military, Movies, patriotism, politics, premiere, previews, republicans, reviews, rise of cobra, stephen sommers, uncle sam | 1 Comment »
There’s a lot of trash talk out there about Roger Ebert. Is he going soft in his old age? Is he wrong to ‘go easy’ on really terrible films? I don’t know and I don’t care, because the man is some sort of legend. Sure, I may disagree with his opinion from time (I don’t buy his argument against 3D, for example, and there are quite a few movies on which he and I diverge), but I always find his comments insightful, well considered and respectful. That’s something a lot of film critics these days who seem to use their reviews to make pith putdowns and blithe one-liners could learn from – and I am looking at you, David Edelstein. Still, he ain’t a man to pull his punches, and that’s another reason I love him so dearly. His latest attack was on those who dared deem Transformers 2 a good movie – or even defend it as “as good as it could have been”. The article can be read here and is well worth a look for anyone interested in the man or his artform, or even movies in general.
Some man for one man...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, box office, criticism, critics, critiques, ebert, film criticism, film critics, film reviews, i am a brainiac, roger ebert, transformers 2 | 1 Comment »
The ability of Transformers 2 to succeed so massively even with the godawful reviews that it is receiving has prompted yet another introspective look at the role that critics do, should and must play in the movie business. It’s a bout the right time of year – last year David Edelstein’s bitchy tirade against a certain blockbuster received such a vigorous lambasting that the author himself had to post an article in defense of his review, prompting other commentators to ask if the critics are out of touch with the public. I didn’t do film studies or go to journalism school. I didn’t do a term-long module on the role of the critic in the arts. Sure, it might sound like a simple enough role – you critique, it’s all there in the verb – but should you try to tell people if they’ll like the movie, or simply whether you did? If you know you hold a minority opinion, should you make some sort of concession to that? I don’t know, but the question interests me greatly.
The film critic in its default position...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: box office, critics, film criticism, film critics, film discussion, films, Movies, reviews, transformers 2 | 10 Comments »
the m0vie blog 