for FRIDAY & SATURDAY NIGHT MOVIE REVIEWS
A chance for you, the reader, to ask questions and learn about the Friday & Saturday Night Critic, in a townhall-style environment, as long as you ask these pre-approved questions and have a townhall in a controlled, fascistic state!
I write this website for two reasons mainly: I love movies and I want to keep my critical writing skills sharp. I have a bachelor’s degree in English literature but my work as a music teacher does not give me much opportunity to put that training to use.
2) Why should we listen to you? What credentials do you have?
I suppose, technically, my English degree gives me all the credentials necessary to be a literary critic, and one might argue that film is so close to literature that a degree in literature is good enough. On the other hand, one could argue—in fact, I would argue this way—that film and literature are not the same thing. I would argue that too many critics, audiences, and even filmmakers focus too much on story, plot, and character, and not enough on those elements which are unique to film. (The critic at www.flickfilosopher.com actually wrote “call me bourgeois, but I need a story.”) So I would be, in effect, arguing for you not to listen to me and visit a different website.
However, I am something of a Renaissance man—minus the dancing, athletics, and science parts—in that, in addition to my formal training in literature, I also spent a year at a conservatory and have participated in the creation of several basic, low-budget video pieces. I’m also an art lover in general—painting, sculpture, ballet, opera, whatever—and have taken courses in painting and art appreciation, which gives me at least an elementary understanding of how these often-overlooked media contribute as much to film as novels, plays, and short stories.
3) Do you have some kind of ax to grind, politically, socially, or religiously, and is that ax reflected in why you like or dislike movies?
We—and by we I mean the English-speaking world that has the comfort, technology, and wealth to flit away time reading and writing websites—are becoming a culture in which individuals are not encouraged to value or show interest in what others think. We have vast quantities of information and communication at our disposal but we only sort through them to find persons and literature that already think and feel the way we do. We listen to songs, watch movies, and read books that confirm what we already believe. Once we leave school, we only meet people in our line of work, which invariably leads to homogenous lifestyles. We are shutting ourselves into cocoons, sects, and hobbit-holes. We invite polarization and opposition at every turn; Americans of all political stripe smack their teeth and relish the idea of the fabricated, so-called “culture war,” because we love fighting. I, myself, have terrible social skills.
It is for this reason that I prefer movies that challenge instead of congratulate. The viewer need not change her own beliefs, but she can learn to be compassionate and appreciative of those whose beliefs she does not share. Similarly, a challenging film can lead the viewer to a better understanding of her own values. Whites should watch films made by blacks, gays should watch films made by straights, Westerners and Easterners should watch each other, atheists should watch theistic movies, liberals should watch conservative movies, Republicans should watch Democrat films, and monogamists should watch Woody Allen movies.
Back to home.
Besides movies that show me what things are is like for someone I’m too Kafka-cowardly to talk to in real life, I like movies that are sincere and are filled with the joy of filmmaking. All movies are, to some degree, made for profit. But the movies that are so exuberant and in love with being movies—even if they belong to so-called “low” genres like action or horror—fool me into forgetting this. Sincerity can make up for all sorts of shortcomings, and some flubs and gaffs can even be signs of excitement and daring. Conversely, a technically well-crafted but lackluster and insincere film will not mean as much to me.
5) What bothers you in movies?
It’s hard to say what, exactly, makes a movie can feel “insincere,” but it happens. Good movies can be cooked up in the offices of robber baron film executives who’ve never done anything besides repeat a formula for the millionth time—as long as the movie is made by someone who can convey (or fake) that he really wants to be in the moviemaking process. Slick, efficient professionalism is good, too, but “Daredevil” is the blah result of that.
The other big thing that makes me gnash my teeth is phony importance. When shallow movies with little to say reach for straight-faced seriousness. When good, meaningless fun tries to pass itself off as meaningful. And then when it wins Oscars—that makes me want to smash!
6) What bothers you in other movie reviewers and critics?
Their mean-spiritedness. There are ultimately a lot of movies that don’t quite work or I can’t recommend, but I can appreciate the effort and sincerity of those who made them. So the relish and delight with which so many reviewers shred the movies makes me sad. Sites like “Ruthless Reviews” and “Mr. Cranky” are only the most obvious symptoms
I’m also bothered by needless name-dropping in reviews, mostly because I’m so guilty of that myself. Of course I’m also bothered by the fact that so many reviewers treat movies like novels and short stories.
7) Why do you hardly ever reply to reader emails?
Because this is my website and I do the talking here.
8) What are some of your all-time favorite movies, genres, stars, and directors?
You can click on lists of my recent favorites here. My list of all-time favorites is ever evolving, and I’ll probably separate it into “serious” (“Tokyo Story,” “The Conversation”) and “fun” (“Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Charade”). Lately I’ve been going through a phase where I really like “director-ly” movies, where the director really makes his or her presence (but mostly his) evident somehow. Because I’m a boy, I have more patience for action movies than romances, dramas more than comedies, and art films more than convention. I usually don’t go to a movie because of who’s in it as much as who directed it. I like Kubrick, Hitchcock, Michael Mann, Scorsese, Coppola, Fellini, Tarantino, Kurosawa, Bergman, Spielberg, De Palma, and any other director that makes me sound smart when I mention his last name.
9) Isn’t a “star rating” system kind of lazy? Shouldn’t a reader be able to tell what you think about a movie just from your prose?
Yes.
10) Why doesn’t your website have a gimmick?
I couldn’t think of one.
11) Why is your website so cheap and crummy?
See Question #1 about being an English lit major.