Another brilliant review from A.O. Scott, who makes my Thursday nights so much more pleasant. I just wish he had wrestled away the review for "Up!" from Manohla Dargis, who never ceases to annoy me. The way Scott nails the pretensions of some films but celebrates real sincerity is a kind of sentiment I aspire to, but what he is really good at is understanding the virtues of children's movies. Manohla Dargis has no understanding of children, nor their tastes, and I often get the feeling that she is so seduced by silence and cinematography that she advocates mostly unbearable films.
But for good measure, here is another gem from Scott, whose "Critic's Picks" are making my Tuesdays equally joyful.
I plan to review both Up! and, by popular demand, Species 1 and 2 sometime this weekend. That is just so the two of you who "follow" this blog have something to look forward to. I think I am also going to review the two latest Stars of the Lid albums. I'll also take requests.
P.S. The new Black Mamba face that Kobe Bryant invented recently has just cemented his status as biggest tool in America. I refuse to be impressed with his performance when he makes that face.
I have to agree with your assessment of Manohla Dargis's review. I haven't even seen UP!, but I was still sort of annoyed by her piece. I'll be looking forward to Scott's review as well, especially since his reviews of The Incredibles and Ratatouille were so brilliant, as indeed just about everything he writes is.
ReplyDeleteJames--
ReplyDeleteThat game on Thursday was pure entertainment. I wish for you that you could see the beauty not only in Kobe's incredible game, but also in his incredibly hyper-aware sense of image-development. How hard does he have to think in order to make that face all the time? Isn't there something admirable about that? Plus, imagine how bad he were if he weren't composing himself at every moment, if we ever got to see the real Kobe. Did you catch Pau's primal scream after a soft layup in the lane on Sunday? Awesome.
And so is A. O. Scott, so at least you are right about that. His reviews are pure art. Manohla Dargis's reviews are pure crap (and I use that word infrequently, so you should really envision excrement when I say that). I cannot think of a movie Scott has misguided me on. My favorite review was for a heartfelt little movie called "Once." It is poetry. If I could figure out how to put a link in a comment I would, but you'll just have to cut and paste:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/05/16/movies/1194817114035/movie-minutes-once.html
Yeah, we liked Once, and I remember wanting to see it after I read the review. Do you ever see Scott at the local coffee shops? Do his kids go to your school? You live in New York, you know, so keep your eye out for him. I do have one example of him being wrong: he like Nick and Nora's Infinite Craplist and I hated it with much hate. If I remember correctly though, he described the Nick and Nora characters as not being sure whether they were being ironic or sincere or both at the same time. Like sincere irony or something. Anyway, I have thought about that comment often while teaching, and it has helped me be a bit more sympathetic.
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