Tag: Critics

  • Carnival of Souls

    Carnival of Souls

    Nothing quite agitates an artist like asking to explain their art. Perhaps it is the perceived implication that they didn’t communicate effectively, or that you aren’t willing to fully engage with their work, or that you are only concerned with being right. For the artistic partnership behind Carnival of Souls, the agitation is simply the…

  • Apologia for Malick

    Apologia for Malick

    Not that Terrence Malick needs a defense, but it seems that he has taken some heat from the forum of critics (including some of our own) as of late. This is understandable; Malick films tend to move against the grain of traditional narrative and shooting style. Anything we are unaccustomed to or unacquainted with, that…

  • Detroit

    Detroit

    2010 was the year of Kathryn Bigelow. She became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director and her breakout indie The Hurt Locker scored a surprise win for Best Picture. The film, about a bomb defusing team in Iraq, is a master-class in tension and a gripping character study to boot. Bigelow…

  • Passengers

    Passengers

    One of the dangers of writing about film is the ever-present danger of groupthink. We cinephiles love to consume movie culture which includes films themselves as well as criticism. In fact, criticism can be just as beloved as the art it criticizes. A Roger Ebert review is just as much a work of art as…

  • The Machinery of Grading Movies

    The Machinery of Grading Movies

    “‘You don’t get the point,’ he wanted to explain; ‘the picture you see doesn’t consist of the things you see and say words about. There is something else, something you don’t see at all, something you aren’t intended to see. Look at this one over here, by the door here, where the light from the…

  • Birdman

    Birdman

    With Oscar season is in full swing, it’s time to look back at 2014’s best picture winner: Birdman. Join us as we discuss why Birdman is a perfect film, the value of critics, and the plight of the artist.

  • Do Film Critics Matter?

    Do Film Critics Matter?

    “A man becomes a critic when he cannot be an artist, just as a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.” Edward Norton hurls this quote, by French author Gustave Flaubert, at a fictional theater critic in 2014’s Birdman. Michael Keaton confronts the same critic, accusing her of drowning everything in a…