FilmCritics Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Fan Rant: Critical Thinking
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Oh, generalizations. Will they ever go out of style? Let's hope not, or who knows how SmartMoney Magazine would conduct business. I mean, I get it -- "What aren't movie critics telling you?" is easier to pitch than "Why are movie critics still relevant to consumers?". It's got a ready-set villain, out to squander your finances in times like these, so why waste it?And I know, I'm generalizing about the magazine itself, but if there were even a single byline on this piece (which IFC's Matt Singer brought to my attention, praise be to him), then I'd take that writer to task, perhaps in private. But no, the Magazine itself has broadly knocked my profession -- going so far as to file the piece under the "Rip-Offs" heading of their "Spending" section -- and so I shall attempt to explain why a few bad apples does not a rotten bushel, or feature article, make.
Cinematical Seven: Pieces of Advice for Critics to Come
Filed under: Cinematical Seven », Columns »
"I believe that children are our future
(Thank you)
Teach them well and let them lead the way..."
-Randy Watson (Eddie Murphy), Coming to America
It might be presumptuous for someone as young as I am to offer up words of wisdom to any fledgling film critics out there, but in an age where print critics are only dwindling in number and online reviewers are subjected to constantly shifting standards of the industry, the prospect of constructive advice is my effort to provide something that wasn't necessarily there when I started in the field. Just because anyone can start their own review site doesn't mean that they should, but hopefully, some of the following tips will help encourage those of you still determined to give this a go to hold yourself and your work to a higher standard.
Film Clips: Should Comedies Get a Free Pass from Critics?
Filed under: Comedy », Festival Reports », Columns », Film Clips », Cinematical Indie »
I hit a late night screening of Heckler here at AFI Dallas last night. The film is a documentary by Michael Addis (Poor White Trash) about comedian and actor Jamie Kennedy (Son of the Mask, Malibu's Most Wanted). The film starts out talking about people who heckle comedians at live comedy shows, before diverging into an exploration of various critics who have slammed Kennedy's films. Kennedy talks to a few critics about their reviews, reading their eviscerations of his work out loud to them and gauging their reactions both to hearing their own words and seeing the effect their writing has on him as a person.
I'll have a full review of the film up shortly (it was actually very funny and insightful, for the most part), but I want to talk a bit about the film here. One of the points raised in both the film and in the post-show Q&A, ran jointly by Addis and Film Threat's Mark Bell (pictured, above), who got into a bit of a heated kerfuffle with Addis at the Q&A for the film's AFI Los Angeles screening, was whether critics should hold comedies to the same standard as more highbrow films. Kennedy, dialed into the Q&A over Addis's cell phone, noted that Bell had called Malibu's Most Wanted an "easy target," and wondered why Bell and other critics hold comedies to a different standard than a film like, say, There Will be Blood.
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/24_thumbnail.jpg)
Exclusive 'Nine' Poster Premiere!
Exclusive: Title Track for 'The Road' Soundtrack
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