Pauline Kael

Should be scor-chay-zeh the way everyone insists on spelling it

Frankly I wish the man himself would issue a statement to resolve this once and for all

Pauloon as in Buffoon? Kind word for Armond, considering for instance his moist "review" of a recent Van Morrison album, really mostly a parade of quotes, celebrating the anti-vaxx fount of all wisdom.
Anybody who keeps up with this thread should also check this book---from Publisher's Weekly:

AFTERGLOW: A Last Conversation with Pauline Kael
Francis Davis, Pauline Kael, . . Da Capo, $18 (134pp) ISBN 978-0-306-81192-0
This slim but potent volume offers movie lovers an elegant good-bye from the acerbic, wildly opinionated National Book Award– winning film critic who reigned at the New Yorker from 1968 to 1991. The New York Times called her "probably the most influential film critic of her time." Kael's enthusiasm for films was contagious, as she praised or damned them with giddy vitality. Longtime friend Davis's three extended conversations find the octogenarian still an avid moviegoer. While this book doesn't offer extended reviews, fans will be delighted to hear Kael weigh in on movies released since she stopped writing a decade ago. She enjoyed the "sweet" Star Trek spoof Galaxy Quest; the first half of Boogie Nights; High Fidelity ("it gets better as it goes along"); and Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars. She was also fond of TV's "terrific" Sex and the City and The Sopranos ("I loved the first season and watched it religiously"). She found Silence of the Lambs "a hideous and obvious piece of moviemaking"; Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut "ludicrous from the word go"; and American Beauty "heavy and turgid." She also blasts later-day Steven Spielberg (Always was "a shameful movie" and the casting was "terribly wrongheaded" in Schindler's List). Besides film quips, Kael defends her critical review of the Holocaust documentary Shoah, regrets being talked out of reviewing Deep Throat and discusses current filmmaking and her 20-year battle with Parkinson's disease. (Sept. 3)

FYI:The book's publication date coincides with the one-year anniversary of Kael's death at age 82.

Wait what’s up with him?

"Scor-seh-see"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPp13icx1c

Pronouncing it is one thing, spelling it without checking is another.

xxpost He mentions it toward the end of this:
https://artsfuse.org/267051/the-17th-annual-francis-davis-jazz-poll-my-poll-without-me/

Partly my own bias, but felt she was a little nasty about Lauren Bacall--who was almost 60 at that point, only semi-active, and no doubt having a difficult time finding decent rolls.

PauluneKael, catty? I’m shocked. And stunned.

Can’t type either, especially when my keyboard is set to English.

Even when it is in fact set to English;)

yes it's "pauloon"

Every few years I'll go back and listen to the Kael+MacDonald+Simon symposium from 1963-ish, simply because (among other things) it's just a fun sparring match. It's a fascinating contrast to this mid-'80s audio in that Kael back in the earlier instance was more about raising her favorites up. In this newer clip, she's clearly become embittered and — for all she has to say about Ebert & Siskel — seems to think just tossing cherry bombs like "Lauren Bacall was a terrible actress" somehow moves any kind of needle anymore. The more I reflect, the sadder the newer clip feels.

I read Afterglow at the time. She's kind about Carol Reed.

the Kael+MacDonald+Simon symposium from 1963-ish

Do you know if that's available somewhere? I'd love to hear it.

Looks like maybe it is no longer available online. I'll rip and post when I get home later tonight

Wow, thanks!

no doubt having a difficult time finding decent rolls.

Picture Lauren Bacall regarding the selection at her local bakery with disgust.

This channel has a few Kael clips I haven't heard before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBLKB-0shgA

Great find!

Woody and Kael are really interesting together. I don't think I've heard anyone else able to match her energy so well.

Thanks for posting that...I just barely started, but I always wonder when Kael says things like young children are responding to Sleeper--is her sample size her own grandchild? Was she moonlighting in a daycare center at the time?

I used to get on Chuck Eddy, too, when he'd make broad statements about Nirvana and teenagers (or whatever)--who have you been talking to besides your own two kids? I'm sure I've been guilty of the same with regards to students of mine.

Let the record show that I'm the first person in the entire history of the world to have laser eye surgery performed while wearing a Pauline Kael (Going Steady) T-shirt.

(Minor preventative stuff--thought I was just there for a consultation, but the doctor said let's do it now.)

When was that?!
Seems like Chuck Eddy is now or soon will be in his third decade of raising teens, so maybe any references are or will at some point be more credible---Kael could be v. selective about honoring kid feedback, judging by David Denby's account of turning up at her place w equally halcyon Paul Warshow after seeing The Graduate, talking about how much they enjoyed it. Kael said, "Oh no. You didn't," or something equally denialist.

Laser eye surgery with a Pauline Kael T-shirt on was this afternoon (played tennis later); haranguing Chuck was late '90s, right around the time when he started at the Voice. I think Linus was probably a teenager.

Love the bot.

French artists are so narcissistic about their lost innocence. (1967)

— pauline kael bot (@paulinekaelbot) August 25, 2024

I read that she doesn't like Megalopolis.