The Armond White Thread

[bottled spider]

Gotta love the hilarious hubris of that opening sentence.

[wattsup32]

For anyone who doesn't want to want to read the list, tl;dr:

Everything > The Irishman

[domino harvey]

Plus, Honoré transcended sexual politics through the single most powerful — leveling — movie-lover’s image this decade.

I’ve seen this and enjoyed it well enough, but I have no idea what he’s even referring to here

[knives]

Honestly if it weren't for that childish framing that list would probably be one of the better ones out there. Certainly he deserves credit for being the lone person to acknowledge the existence of Julián Hernandez.

[soundchaser]

“The Image Book>Netflix” is a hell of a take.

[domino harvey]

If I see one more person cite that Ophuls clip as revelatory when it’s literally at least the fourth time Godard has used it in one of his essay films...

[Never Cursed]

100% with him on "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" being better than Parasite, but calling the latter a pseudo-fascist "Adam Schiff sitcom?" Also, have any two movies ever been less apt for comparison than Shadow and The Souvenir?

[domino harvey]

I didn’t realize he liked QT though, so I guess he does still have a few surprises up his sleeve

[therewillbeblus]

Also, have any two movies ever been less apt for comparison than Shadow and The Souvenir?

I haven’t seen Shadow but I had similar thoughts about his comparison of Pain and Glory and Uncut Gems!

[DarkImbecile]

Honestly if it weren't for that childish framing that list would probably be one of the better ones out there.

It would be a really solid list if he flipped the direction of the greater than symbols, too! If only he just ran a list rather than the lazy, incoherent provocations...

[knives]

As far as I know Netflix is not a movie.

[Nasir007]

The Image Book is barely one too.

[therewillbeblus]

The Image Book is barely one too.

Oh come on. I know plenty of people here think it’s low-tier Godard (and I won’t necessarily argue against that even though I still like it and think it has more merit than it’s being credited for), but how is it not worthy of being called a movie?

[hearthesilence]

Missed this from August 2017: Armond White’s film reviews were once electric: part historical analysis, part posturing, part insult comedy, an attempt to take black art—and art in general—seriously. What happened?

[whaleallright]

That's a pretty damning and definitive account. White used to have considerable spark (especially when he was writing about stuff he actually liked), but for many years his writing has been absolutely joyless and worthless. He seems like a broken man. I don't understand the fascination he holds for some folks here, who seem to enjoy trying to parse or at least laugh at his latest unintelligible provocation. It's just depressing to me.

[Fiery Angel]

Possibly the most insane column he's yet written: "Melania vs. Michelle — the Movies"

[tenia]

" brings kindliness, self-assurance, and taste to her new country, just as Melania Trump has distinctly shown".
This is insane.

[domino harvey]

This is bizarre. For all her faults, Melania Trump is, on the whole, a well-dressed woman. But, like, in a completely unexceptional, I buy off the rack way (see: her step-daughter). Michelle Obama wasn't exactly a clotheshorse but she wasn't that much more or less concerned with her appearance or dressing in fashion. This just seems like yet another veiled "I didn't want to fuck Obama's wife like I want to fuck Trump's" commentary

[knives]

Isn't White gay?

[domino harvey]

Okay, so "Conservatives whom I desperately want to wave me in past the rope want to fuck Trump's wife"

[Jack Kubrick]

Hamilton on the Wrong side of Cinema.

[swo17]

He actually calls the show blackface!

[Michael Kerpan]

All I can say is "Sheesh!!!"

[whaleallright]

This is bizarre. For all her faults, Melania Trump is, on the whole, a well-dressed woman. But, like, in a completely unexceptional, I buy off the rack way (see: her step-daughter). Michelle Obama wasn't exactly a clotheshorse but she wasn't that much more or less concerned with her appearance or dressing in fashion. This just seems like yet another veiled "I didn't want to fuck Obama's wife like I want to fuck Trump's" commentary

It's just Armond doing the right-wing form of "virtue signalling" to his new audience/paymasters.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

As I’ve mentioned before here, I’m sort of okay with Armond White’s tendency to be against something just for the sake of being against something as I feel *occasionally* he pokes truth at real matters, but his subservient quality to the sort of people who read and write for the National Review is insane. As observed with a quick browse at the comments section to his articles, the few people who think the National Review contains some sort of relevant voice to dissenting right-wing idealogy could care less about the type of art and culture Armond White clutches too. These are rubes who are still stuck with the values of Bush-era culture wars without realizing that Donald Trump has made all these Republicans and their beliefs irrelevant.