Which film critics do you trust (if any?)

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"I like good film criticism."

Of which there is basically like none.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:26 (eighteen years ago) link

That's not true at all. (You said yourself you don't read any and haven't heard of any of the critics listed!)

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:27 (eighteen years ago) link

This is just what he's like.

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Colin and I are leading parallel lives (sorry, bub).

Reading film criticism is about as fun as watching paint dry.

Alex quoting a Gene Hackman private-eye character pretending to be an Eric Rohmer critic! C'mon man, that's extreme -- there is no good MUSIC criticism...

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:29 (eighteen years ago) link

alex's compulsion to keep talking on this thread despite stating he hates everything is interesting to me.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link

not as interesting as watching paint dry though

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link

i find it queer.

― the jaymcfox (jaymc), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Paint is hilarious!

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:33 (eighteen years ago) link

nabisco otm

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link

uff, sorry wrong thread!

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link

but sooner or later he'll post here and he'll be otm.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, I thought that was a joke about how everybody says "nabisco otm", even when the context doesn't warrant it!

It was hilarious.

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:35 (eighteen years ago) link

i enjoyed that joke.

― the jaymcfox (jaymc), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:35 (eighteen years ago) link

It was. But then I tried to cover my tracks.
(xpost)

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:36 (eighteen years ago) link

But why would you do that?

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:36 (eighteen years ago) link

i think ken was trying to cover his tracks.
(xpost!!!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:37 (eighteen years ago) link

see, like that. that wasn't really an x-post. but i made it look like it was. it's fun.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:37 (eighteen years ago) link

I had a joke and then I thought of another joke and then I needed to set it up

(multiple xpost)

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

I revived this thread only so I could quote Dave Kehr and imply that Williamsburg Noise Dudes watch Bullitt just to butch up.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link

What's "Williamsburg"?

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Why do they need to butch up? Is Noize girly?

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:43 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't know from the movie Bullitt, but I have cat named Bullitt, an orange tabby just like Ian's was, and he is a prince among cats.

(If I haven't ruined the joke for you by now, here's the stake-driver's confession: at the very start I thought the jaymcfox WAS the nabiscofox, causing the now-classic ILX-meme to flood my brain)

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:43 (eighteen years ago) link

'Cause they won't let Morbs post on the Noize Musical thread anymore.
(xpost)

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Rosenbaum/Ebert, maybe some Scott or Hoberman here and there

really don't like Zacharek anymore. don't get Thomson a-tall

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link

would you trust anyh of these people to house sit for you? to take care of your kid or cat?

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:47 (eighteen years ago) link

There should really be more female film critics. Looking at this thread, it's kind of ridiculous.

Actually, David Thomson would do a good job of that yes.

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Actually, Molly Haskell - who, as Morbius is wont to point out, is Andrew Sarris' wife - is a good critic.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:50 (eighteen years ago) link

"That's not true at all. (You said yourself you don't read any and haven't heard of any of the critics listed!)"

Yes well, I was exagerrating. I just haven't heard of David Thomsom and Kent Jones.

I guess what it comes down to is that film criticism is inadequate for making me want to go see a movie. It's better for explaining/discussing a film after I've seen it, but usually by the time I have seen it I don't want to read about it as much as I want to talk about it. Music criticism is the exact opposite though. Music criticism makes me want to hear (or not hear) music.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I like Bullitt and I enjoy the car chase! i think there's more to it than that. However, I really like Dave Kehr. And Ebert, Rosenbaum, Godfrey Cheshire, a few others. I don't necessarily trust any film critics, though. They're just assholes like the rest of us, except their opinions have a public forum. I don't hate any critics, either, with the notable exceptions of Armond White (a contrarian bully who fights the same strawmen in each column) and Peter Travers (a horrible writer/quote whore who falls back on the same adjectives and sentences every other column)

― gear (gear), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:52 (eighteen years ago) link

i definitely trust film critics more than i trust music critics, that's for damn sure!

― gear (gear), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:53 (eighteen years ago) link

I find Hoberman to be the smartest, and the least likely to fall for the stuff that I find to be bullshitty.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Does Haskell still write for a mag?

Zacharek, like Kael, I've liked for the writing more than the taste.

Like some have said, I read critics in detail to crystallize my feelings about a film after I've seen it. Just saw this rather baffling Claire Denis film The Intruder and I'm at sea given the absence of available discussion about it.

Cheshire was so good in NY Press; does he have another gig?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Fair enough.

Can music criticism RUIN music like film criticism can? Has anyone ever heard a song and thought "that drum break would be way more fun and exciting and surprising if Lester Bangs hadn't told me it was coming"?

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't know what happened to Cheshire, exactly. I admire him in retrospect. I don't know why they canned him, except perhaps he wasn't as "controversial" as White and not as cheap as Seitz.

― gear (gear), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:56 (eighteen years ago) link

No it can't. Good music criticism just makes you listen closer.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Does Haskell still write for a mag?
I don't know, I was gonna ask that question myself.

Adam, you should NEVER read a review in any depth before seeing the movie. Just skim very briefly to see whether it's worth checking out. Well, I guess some writers don't give away too many plot points, but better to err on the safe side. Like Morbius said, read after seeing.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:59 (eighteen years ago) link

I think Morbius is right about crystallization. I also read criticism because I genuinely like absorbing information. Plus it's nice when the phrasing and the sentence structure is pretty.

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link

I also like all the festival roundups, especially when they're bitchy.

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:01 (eighteen years ago) link

People with Blackberrys sound MEAN.

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:02 (eighteen years ago) link

i think i started enjoying movies more when i stopped reading film critics.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:21 (eighteen years ago) link

white is otm about mission to mars & depalma in general

― oooh, Friday, 2 December 2005 23:22 (eighteen years ago) link

I have no idea what White's opinion is about DePalma or Mission to Mars, but if he liked the latter he is far from OTM.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Unsurprisingly he really liked it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Did he review Crash?

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:33 (eighteen years ago) link

THERE IS NONE MORE OTM

― oooh, Friday, 2 December 2005 23:34 (eighteen years ago) link

The thing with White is, I think he's wrong an awful lot, but (unlike, say, Kael) I rarely think he's wrong in any particularly interesting ways. Kael's overestimation of DePalma has never really convinced me, but I like reading her argument. White just tends to assert things, with cold disdain for anyone who doesn't see things his way.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Awesome

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:35 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/pazznjop/04/critic.php?criticid=4965

― oooh, Friday, 2 December 2005 23:36 (eighteen years ago) link

So Armond White is actually Miccio?

― Soledad (nordicskilla), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:36 (eighteen years ago) link

(ok, I'm willing to take his word on Crash, which looks terrible)

xpost

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 2 December 2005 23:37 (eighteen years ago) link

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