When Film Critics Don't Help Themselves

Film criticism has taken a severe beating over the past couple of years. With physical newspapers losing readership and relevance to the variety of up to date coverage available on the internet, media owners have begun trimming the fat and film critics have faced a purge as their perceived value has been diminished. Many pieces and arguments have been written about the state of film criticism, and why critics are vital to the development of cinema. While I won't rehash the argument here, needless to say, I too believe film criticism is necessary.

However, earlier this week I came across a piece by Boston Globe "film critic" Wesley Morris that frankly, blew my mind. It reminded me why film critics continue to be received as nothing more than nerds with an opinion, and furthermore, why anyone from casual bloggers (myself included) to "entertainment reporters" are given just as much credibility as scholars. Entitled "An Offer I Could Refuse", Wesley Morris uses the recent and celebrated BluRay release of The Godfather films to confess that he had not seen them. Using every excuse in the book from "I was born after it was made" to "I just missed them", Morris makes no bones about being a professional, paid film critic who just happened to be ignorant of the one of the most important, influential films of the past thirty-odd years. In short, The Godfather changed every film and story about the mafia that came after it, and to say that one "gets it" by the countless pop culture references it has produced (as Morris lamely does) is to miss the point completely. And as if to put the final nail in his coffin, Morris' final summation of the importance of the films is so completely superficial as to be meaningless. "Power corrupts" is just one of the many layers in Coppola's fable that moves beyond its gangland trappings to cover the American dream and the immigrant experience.

If I can dash this off in the few moments I have before leaving for the office this morning, surely if completely focused, I can do Mr. Morris' job with as much insight and perhaps even more (and I've already seen The Godfather trilogy). So to the editors of the Boston Globe and Wesley Morris I offer this challenge: let us write some head to head reviews of current films or new DVD releases and see if your readers can tell the difference. I'm certainly not a Yale graduate, but just by being a cinema lover in general, I bet I can bring the same degree of professionalism and depth to my pieces as Mr. Morris. If Mr. Morris and the Boston Globe are truly interested I'll be more than happy to pass along sample reviews of music and film from my stint with PopMatters.

I certainly hope Wesley Morris doesn't represent the new face of the film criticism, because if so, he may want to start updating his CV.

Vicky Cristina Montreal!

Well, it appears my little rant was for nought, as the film is finally opening in Montreal on September 19th. I'm not really sure what the reason was for the delay, as Allen's other films have generally arrived on time, but I'm glad I'll have the chance to catch it on the big screen.

Sam Raimi: From Daring To Dull

It’s odd to watch a once daring cult director settle so comfortably into mainstream mediocrity, but that’s just what has happened with Sam Raimi. During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Raimi made his name with his over-the-top meta-horror trilogy of Evil Dead films, while continuing with off-the-beaten path projects like Darkman and The Quick And The Dead. By the late ‘90s he even started to mine more serious territory, like his pals the Coen Brothers, with the excellent A Simple Plan. Raimi then stumbled a bit, starting with the Kevin Costner weepy baseball film For Love Of The Game followed by The Gift, which is most renown for giving the world a glimpse of Mrs. Tom Cruise’s breasts.

And then came Spiderman.

The teaming of Raimi and Spiderman was initially a fanboy’s dream, and the first film was a faithful adaptation, keeping the comic’s humor, tone and playfulness intact. However, as the franchise continued, it spawned two more, lesser sequels, in which the writers seemed more concerned about wooing tweenage audiences, than writing a credible story. Spiderman essentially became, a mopey teenager who spent more time pining for girls than flying around the city kicking ass. As for Raimi, his once unique stamp had all but disappeared in these films (aside from the obligatory cameos from his longtime friend Bruce Campbell) in a haze of poorly rendered CGI. However, the films were massively successful, but instead of leveraging that success into personal projects, Raimi instead fell into producing a spate of low-grade, PG-13 “horror films” or defanged J-horror remakes such as The Grudge, The Messengers and Boogeyman. Unlike Christopher Nolan who flexed his directorial muscles with The Prestige between his highly acclaimed Batman films, Raimi simply did nothing.

And now, Raimi has signed on to direct two more Spiderman sequels.

What has happened to Sam Raimi? While fans may point out he does have his first non-Spiderman film in nearly ten years, Drag Me To Hell, is coming out in 2009, it should be noted that Ghost House Pictures, his partner in the slurry of cheapie horror flicks noted above, is producing the film so it doesn’t make me optimistic about its prospects. In my mind, Raimi has effectively turned into George Lucas, reaping the benefits of a successful franchise, while no longer being interested in challenging himself as a director. The fire that once sparked one of the most inventive minds in the business has all but been snuffed out.

The only positive thing out of all of this is that it will hopefully put Raimi’s gestating, but ill-advised, remake of his own Evil Dead film on the backburner. But the director who once worked so passionately on the fringes, is now disappointingly complacent within the Hollywood machine.

See "No End In Sight" For Free

No End In Sight, the Academy Award nominated film for Best Documentary Feature, has now been made available for free viewing, in its entirety and adfree, on YouTube, through election day, November 4th, 2008. This is a film that can't be reviewed, so much as discussed; that can't be watched, so much as felt. Director, writer and producer, Charles Ferguson, interviews key players within the various governmental departments responsible for the war and documents the decisions and policies that led to the breakdown and insurgency within Iraq. It's an extraordinarily powerful work, that is a sobering and devastating critique of the Bush administration and a superb analysis of a war gone wrong. It's a film that is frequently frustrating in showing the level of arrogance, hypocrisy and plain stubbornness of officials as they time and again ignore official military intelligence or plain common sense in every step of this ill-timed and illegitimate war.

However, what also comes through is the extraordinary bravery of the everyday soldiers on the ground. While we've heard countless politicians give the same tired rhetoric praising their work, it's not until you hear it first hand that it really strikes you how difficult their task is, and how deeply felt their conviction is to do right by the Iraqi people. Seth Moulton, David Yancey and Hugo Gonzalez are eloquent in describing the struggles they faced in Iraq, and in their unwavering desire to see finished the work that so many of their colleagues died working to achieve.

While critically lauded, the film only received a limited theatrical run and is currently available on DVD. Thanks to the generosity of Charles Ferguson and Magnolia Pictures you don't even need to leave the comfort of your own home to see the film.

Watch it here, in a high definition stream and pass on the link on to anybody who cares where the United States is headed for the next four years, especially during one of the most important elections of the last decade.

Kassovitz vs. Fox

When actor and sometimes director Matthieu Kassovitz started shooting his long gestating sci-fi project, Babylon A.D., early set reports were not good, and seemed to hint at friction between the director and star Vin Diesel. Now with the film set to open in a few days, Kassovitz has gone public with his frustrations, and it isn't Diesel in the crosshairs, it's 20th Century Fox. According to Kassovitz, they meddled with the film every step of the way resulting in a final product that is nowhere near what he intended.

Some people, while somewhat sympathetic, think that Kassovitz is effectively killing his career in Hollywood by lambasting a major studio, and that he would be best advised to stay quiet, but I disagree. Kassovitz was never really a big commodity in Hollywood, and he will continue to get gigs and opportunities in Europe. However, the bigger issue here, and what is never mentioned when these types of situations arise, are the countless projects that are greenlit everyday by studios who have no real grasp of what they're signing onto on the dotted line. The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Across The Universe, The Invasion and I Am Legend are just a few recent films that went through very public troubles with their respective studios regarding their content, and of course there is the forthcoming Where The Wild Things Are, whose release date has been postponed indefinitely as rumors persist of the studio's unhappiness with overall tone of the film. Too often, stars or directors stay silent about projects they're unhappy with, in order not to upset the wrong people and to stay viable in the constantly shifting popularity contest in Hollywood. But studios have to start acknowledging their role in this too, and that a big part of this problem comes from signing first and asking questions later, resulting in projects that are losses for both the talent and money involved.

So bravo to Kassovitz for taking a stand!

Vicky Cristina Montreal?

It seems for the second time this year, Montreal cinemas have been robbed of Woody Allen’s latest film. This spring, I waited anxiously for Cassandra’s Dream to appear on cinema screens in the city. I go to the theater once a week and on three separate occasions I had seen the trailer for the film, with the logo for Montreal based distributor Metropole Films preceding the ad. Unfortunately, the film never materialized. Now, with glowing reviews, a stellar cast including Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson, and one of the widest opening screen counts in his career, Woody Allen is again getting the cold shoulder from Montreal cinemas. Being in Quebec, Montreal film openings occasionally fall a week behind North American opening dates as the province’s byzantine and bizarre language regulations (generally) dictate that a dubbed or subtitled version of English films must also be available concurrently. But now, the second week after its opened, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is still nowhere to be seen in the province. This situation is even more bizarre as Woody Allen & His New Orleans Jazz Band were one of the featured artists of the Festival International De Jazz De Montreal this summer, playing two high-profile, sold-out (and expensive) shows.

To be fair, Woody Allen’s two previous films, the critically acclaimed Match Point and the underrated Scoop, had dismal runs in the city, barely lasting three weeks before being pulled. Adding to the confusion is that some smaller or independent films will often have separate Quebec based distributors handle the film, rather than the studio handling the rest of the North American rollout. But as the jazz festival has amply indicated, there is still a strong interest in the man and his films, and there should be no reason why Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not being put on at least one screen in this city.

The Weinstein Company who is handling the film’s distribution, in the face of weathering bad press and less than stellar box office returns from its recent slate of films, is perhaps playing it safe by landing this film in markets where it is sure to do well. But surely a Quebec distributor can step up and acquire the rights for this province? Is Woody Allen’s clarinet playing really more popular than his films in Montreal?

Reboot

Lately, some people have been asking what happened to the blog. Well, the good news is that it's coming back in a bit of a different format. When I initially started the blog, I essentially wanted an outlet for my thoughts on the films I watch. Given that I watch, on average, about three movies a week, it took considerable time to write, edit and post with the depth I wanted on every film I saw and I soon fell behind. As I kept trying to catch up and I fell behind even more to a point where I had to rethink what this blog is and will become. So, I'm going to be tweaking things slightly.

Firstly, the blog won't just be film reviews but also my thoughts on news, trends or just general observations on what's going on in the world of film. I will still include reviews on select films when I feel I have something of substance to say. But be assured the blog won't become simply an aggregator of movie links and I will steer clear of pithy or empty posts. My goal is to still have a blog where film is discussed intelligently, but that will allow me the flexibility to post about whatever subject I want without my self-imposed contraints on length.

I'm looking to have my first post in a long time up this weekend, working into a regular posting schedule by the end of the month. The layout for now will stay the same, but I may overhaul it when I have some time down the line.

Thanks for the interest and happy (future) reading.