Which film critics do you trust (if any?)

ever the aesthete. xp

that's a great comment thread.

i should really read more robin wood.

I'm ashamed that I knew nothing, not even his Hitchcock book (which I put on reserve at the library a couple of days ago).

when I wrote a North by Northwest review recently, I looked at what Wood said about it just to make sure he hadn't come up with some counterintuitive insight that would make me want to rewrite the whole thing.

not even his Hitchcock book (which I put on reserve at the library a couple of days ago)
I've been meaning to read this for 25 years. Using my recently acquired expertise in using the new NYPL catalog, I managed to pick up a copy on my way home yesterday.

One film critic I just learned the existence of and do not trust is David Gilmour, author of The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and a Son.

Although one unintentionally amusing thing about his book was that the son's name is Jesse, so all the while reading it I kept expecting the punchline to be "and one day that boy grew up to be tipsy mothra."

RW's Final Top Ten

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=17784

FUCK YES, GO KARINA! http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2009/12/la_weekly_adds_film_edito.php

shit, I don't much care for Foundas @ Lincoln Center.

Why? Cause he wrote a positive review of Up in the Air?

only one recent mistake

so all the while reading it I kept expecting the punchline to be "and one day that boy grew up to be tipsy mothra."

arf arf. i remember reading about that gilmour book, it sounded o_0. (oddly enough, if yr looking for connections, my mother was for a time named rob1n w00ds.) but so in re robin wood, just ordered used copies of the hitchcock book and vietnam-to-reagan w/christmas amazon gift certificates. looking forward to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7DQdi8uIec
A+

I checked out Sexual Politics and Narrative Film; I read the (excellent) Before Sunrise chapter over lunch. Lots of proselytizing in the introduction!

I also checked out that book, and first read the Mandingo chapter -- he calls it the best Hollywood film about race. (def see it then read)

Attention, Eric: there's a Leo McCarey chapter w/ emphasis on Make Way for Tomorrow.

(hence Wood featured in upcoming Criterion booklet)

Slant and the House Next Door blog, now one stop for big-time trust.

http://slantmagazine.com/film/

co-sign and co </shamless>

er, shameless

</shamwowless>

Really annoyed about the merger.

do ... tell?!

Well, I was annoyed when it started and wasn't working properly because I really didn't care for the old Slant site. This one is better, but as far as HND I still prefer the old blog style.

just looked nicer on my browser, really.

I'm mostly just excited to bring two reader bases I assume are somewhat separate together.

Or two readers, as the case were.

what merged with what?

Slant and The House Next Door (a blog started by Matthew Zoller Seitz but now edited by Keith Uhlich)

oh dear, did they need to put a redirect on the house next door? unless it's just temporary - or did you carry over all the old content? (i hate redirects..)

anyway, if this is where your trustworthy critics are, i'll be reading. decided to spend time catching up on a lot of cinema i've missed in the past few years.. in the first few of the 00s i watched everything i could (usually getting advice from village voice, some film comment), but not since.

They did port over all the old posts (and there were many). Some are still being reformatted for the new, um, house.

(And, in the interest of full disclosure, daria, Slant isn't necessarily where my "trustworthy critics are" so much as it is where Morbs and I contribute. Which isn't to say I don't trust a lot of their takes, et al.)

^guy who likes a lotta French cinema <3

We will catch you up on the '00s shortly, sort of.

still typing 'www.thehouse..' automatically. old dog and all.

You type "www"?

even i know how to bookmark!

like i said, old dog. quick browse of sites including thehouse are part of my morning ritual, along with a cup of tea. it's just ingrained in me now.

if i type 'sl' into the browser it comes up with the new house site straight away, but it's just not the same.

Just asking for feedback now, but does the merger bother you strictly from a functionality standpoint or do you think there's a clash of sensibilities between the two segments?

functionality mostly. I don't read Slant enough to have an opinion on its sensibilities, but presumably nothing will change content wise as far as The House is concerned. Even if there is, the Zoller Seitz -> Uhlich transition went well.

I just liked the aesthetic of the blog site. It was clean and simple, and I think to some degree a blog suggests an easy-going nature as far as content goes. There were never really straight up reviews and the topics covered were varied.

I'm really not bitching about the move. It's just that every day since it happened I've gone to the old site having completely forgotten that it's elsewhere, and I'll continue to do so for weeks to come no doubt.

I actually did the same thing last time it changed urls. So no actual complaints at all.

Fair enough. I'm obviously doing some first-hand focus-group-type questioning.

i'm just posting this friendly reminder in every film thread. ^__^

~~~~The Top 75 films/movies of the 2000s/oughties VOTING THREAD~~~~ BALLOTS DUE FEBRUARY 2

Often funny:
http://ilovemovies.blip.tv/rss

ok, backing up on the House Next Door. I know Vadim would occasionally do music write-ups, and is currently doing his singles of the oughties, but a single review for Stylos?

So I gotta ask: is there a new editor and/or does the blog have a new remit in regards to what it covers?

not being bitchy fanboy or anything. it's all cool, but ever since your 'sensibility' comment I'm wondering what's changed.

Honestly, I don't think anything has changed with regard to editorial policy, other than to include the sort of material that would've been included in Slant's old blog -- which, yeah, included singles reviews, Oscar predictions, political commentary, et al.

J. Ross. I trust he fired if he not die soon.

hope he die soon.

"I trust he fired if he not die soon."
tempting username

richard schickel droppin' truthbombs WTFbombs at a post-screening Q&A in LA:

"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."

...

When asked by Thompson if he ever read criticism online, Schickel gave a forceful "no," before explaining "Why would you do that? I don't actually read many reviews. I never did. But I'm not going to go around looking for Harry Knowles [the portly Ain't It Cool News founder who is featured in the documentary]. I mean look at that person! Why would anybody just looking at him pay the slightest attention to anything he said?!? He's a gross human being."

http://www.ifc.com/news/2010/03/nothing.php

Is he going all Brian Williams and making fun of "bloggers in bathrobes"?