Sometime back, I made a blog post about whether film criticism is supposed to be about analyzing the artistic elements of a film, commenting about whether the movie is entertaining, or both. Well, I saw this MSN article today that also goes into that but in a rather sarcastic way. Maybe too sarcastic.
Anyway, check it out and share your thoughts. :-)
http://movies.msn.com/movies/moviesfeature/dvd/critics/?icid=MOVIES3>1=MOVIES3
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8 comments:
Anthony,
This threw me a little bit at first until I realized that it's satirical. It's written from the perspective of some unsophisticated movie blogger but it's actually written by a film critic with academic credentials. She's mocking the bloggers who suggest the ideas she's making. Read in that context it's quite fun.
-D
It is interesting to figure out who is really writing the article. I think you pretty much nailed it. :-)
My first reaction was to write to her saying that critics don't have a problem with superhero movies and popcorn movies, they just have a problem with bad popcorn movies. Most critics (myself included) had serious problems with the sequels in the Pirates of the Caribbean series but loved the original. The Dark Knight and Iron Man got some of the best reviews of the year.
Then I realized that it was all just a joke. I've written satirical columns before and it's really funny to see when people don't get it. When I was in college I wrote a column arguing that the university should do various extreme, ridiculous things to crack down on underage drinking. My suggestions mirrored some of the things the Bush administration was actually doing in the war on terror and many people didn't get the joke. It was hilarious getting hate mail from people who didn't get it.
It's as if the responses from people who take it too seriously are what you really want, not the people who get the joke. It's like Sacha Baron Cohen and his antics as Ali G, Borat, and Bruno to piss off any serious people.
Absolutely. On that subject, are you looking forward to the Bruno movie? I read that it's in post-production. And what about the new movie by the director of Borat, Bill Maher's Religulous?
I might be looking forward to Bruno. I haven't heard of the Bill Maher film yet, but I'm sure I'll hear about it soon.
If you really want to know what I'm waiting, I'm waiting for the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. The Bond fan in me cannot wait. :-)
I'm hoping that the next Bond film will be good. I was actually kind of disappointed by the most recent Bond. I'm not sure how much I care for Daniel Craig as Bond (they really should have gone with Clive Owen, I have no idea what the hell they were thinking.)
Do you like the new direction they decided to take?
Regarding Casino Royale, I did wonder if Daniel Craig was going to be OK (and I also thought Clive Owen would be perfect). In the end, I accepted Craig as Bond, just because he does appear similar to the James Bond described by Ian Fleming in his Bond novels.
The only other issue is Judi Dench as M, because if you're going to reboot the Bond series, don't reuse any old cast members.
Otherwise, I think it's great to bring 007 to the post-9/11 world and it's great that we can still count how many Bond films there are without resetting the number to zero.
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