The Dismantled: Film Critics Get the Axe

[Jun-Dai]

Fair enough :-)

[yoshimori]

And I think I know just as many critics as you too, yoshi

My condolences!

I think we're just talking past each other a bit. Of course I agree that Ms Swinton's openness or taste or whatever it is that causes her to like Tropical Malady is to be preferred to Mr Park's religious quackery. [Though I would point out that I'd probably call her a filmmaker before I'd call her a critic.] And you no doubt have a much higher tolerance in general than I do for any kind of "talk" about film. But I think I'd rather have lunch with that certain good director who finds Hou a bore - now that sounds like it'd be an interesting conversation - than I would hearing (critic's name goes here) enthuse about something I love. And I'll take Mr LaBruce over the Paulettes any day, sure. Thanks.

You can be an actor, director, musician, fashion designer, etc. - doesn't make you any better or any worse.

I didn't mean to exclude fashion designers and musicians. I'd love to hear Bruckner's comments on Godard, and Mizrahi's comments on the films we watched with him in Unzipped were wildly entertaining. The V2 critics (and the NYer's and X's and Y's and Z's) were predictable and, for me, unbelievably boring. My filmgoing experience, a crew list, and (maybe) the two sentence long bold face blurbs in the Variety reviews - or, of course, a single word from you! - are pretty much all I need to decide whether I should see something.

[HerrSchreck]

The end of an era for smart, critical writing on film? Please send me what you're smoking.

Every day the internets have more and more smart, critical writing on film. Frankly I think it's never been better.

Now where I have I heard that word bef :-k re...?

He's actually right...

but I must say, when I do read critical writing on contemporary film (very rare) in say the Voice or the Times et al, it's usually for films I have no plans on seeing.. not necessarily bad films, just films I have neither the time or energy to see. And almost as a rule these are films I have not heard of prior to laying eyes on a review. If I have heard of it there's a gauge that's probably already been sniffing the pop-cultural, interpersonal/social-circle "air" about the film looking & listening for a special sense of awe about a film's hilariousness, or beauty, or flat out entertainment value etc etc that pulls the needle in the air past a certain mark.. then I must get up offa my farts & visit a cinema.

I rarely if ever go to see a film based on a single (or even multiple) film review(er). I read contemporary reviews for the same reason I read the rest of any newspaper, just to keep the antennae up in the air, my way of plugging into what other people are doing creatively. Of course it happens where a review's description of the flick is so fascinating that I simply must go because what was described sounded so unique... I wound up bumping into RUSSIAN ARK in that fashion (coincidentally in the Voice) during a heavily uh fuzzed out period where I was paying no mind whatsoever what was in the cinema. Glad I caught it so I could see it on a big(ger, being NYFF with it's kitchen table sized screens) screen.

[tryavna]

The end of an era for smart, critical writing on film? Please send me what you're smoking.

Every day the internets have more and more smart, critical writing on film. Frankly I think it's never been better.

Now where I have I heard that word bef :-k re...?

Just remember that, according to Sen. Ted Stevens, the Internet is a bunch of tubes.

[HerrSchreck]

I thought the Internet was what Foley threw into nursery school kiddie pools to get his free office help.

"Kids? Do you like the rock and roll?"

[davebert]

And of course no talk of press junkets would be complete without Eric Snider's (now) famous piece, "I Was a Press Junket Whore," about his experience riding Oliver Stone's WTC gravy train.

Link here.

[colinr0380]

That article certainly seems to put the comments regarding Tom Cruise wasting studio money into perspective. They don't seem too bothered about paying out for these junkets (and then in the case of the interviewer mentioned in the article, apparently flying him out for interviews three or four times for fluffy interviews on the same film).

The hotel room sounds great though! I think it is time for me to infiltrate a junket by pretending I'm a reporter from Horse and Hound magazine - better get my Hugh Grant impersonation perfected!

[Grimfarrow]

But I think I'd rather have lunch with that certain good director who finds Hou a bore - now that sounds like it'd be an interesting conversation - than I would hearing (critic's name goes here) enthuse about something I love. And I'll take Mr LaBruce over the Paulettes any day, sure. Thanks.

Well, maybe it's because of my own taste, but I have great conversations with people like Scott Foundas and Dennis Lim - much more so than if I had to talk with Kim Ki-Duk again (ugh). Ultimately whom you have a good conversation about film with is dependant on way too many factors - mostly just personalities matching, really.

[yoshimori]

From a Variety website a couple days ago:

What does [the shake-up at VV] mean for foreign movies? Dunno. It's too early to tell since the new hires aren't in place yet (although rumor has it that Nathan Lee may be stepping in). The Voice's film coverage has been on a steady decline for a long time with space restrictions and style mandates being handed down from up the corporate ladder, which is too bad.

If Lee replaces Lim, then what's the point? To me, it's six of one, half dozen of the other. Puzzling.

[Grimfarrow]

Ah, that's Grady and his ever-so-curious gossipmongering

[Matt]

Anyone looking for a job?

The Village Voice is looking for a film editor. We need someone with a deep, working knowledge of movies past and present, a passion for the form, and the skill and experience necessary to edit critics, assign reviews and coordinate coverage of releases in seventeen major American cities. The job requires high energy, a reader-oriented sensibility and a commitment to provocative, entertaining criticism that informs, challenges and excites a broad national audience. We're not looking for a film scholar or historian; we want an experienced, smart, witty, hard-working editor to produce coverage that appeals to the widest possible audience. Send us your resume, a cover letter that explains your qualifications and philosophy, and any other relevant materials to:

David Blum, Editor in Chief, The Village Voice, 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003.

No phone calls or e-mails, please.

Gawker sezthe job may go to Armond White.

[Antoine Doinel]

Anyone looking for a job?

The Village Voice is looking for a film editor. We need someone with a deep, working knowledge of movies past and present, a passion for the form, and the skill and experience necessary to edit critics, assign reviews and coordinate coverage of releases in seventeen major American cities. The job requires high energy, a reader-oriented sensibility and a commitment to provocative, entertaining criticism that informs, challenges and excites a broad national audience. We're not looking for a film scholar or historian; we want an experienced, smart, witty, hard-working editor to produce coverage that appeals to the widest possible audience. Send us your resume, a cover letter that explains your qualifications and philosophy, and any other relevant materials to:

David Blum, Editor in Chief, The Village Voice, 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003.

No phone calls or e-mails, please.

How depressing.

[toiletduck!]

I dunno -- "widest possible audience" and "lowest common denominator" are not necessarily the same thing. After all, if you're trying to appeal primarily to the mainstream, you're actually looking at a pretty narrow audience. That wording to me is simply asking for someone who can relate films to something akin to the here and now rather than a continual relapse to the canon.

...which, depending on your viewpoint, might still be depressing. But it isn't for me and this is my attempt at a silver lining, so screw you guys, I'm going home!

-Toilet Dcuk

[Andre Jurieu]

"Widest possible audience" and "Armond White" don't sound like they fit together. If they had problems with Lim & Co. I doubt White would last that long. I actually assumed Manohla Dargis from the NY Times might try for this position (much to Grimfarrow's displeasure).

[Matt]

I actually assumed Manohla Dargis from the NY Times might try for this position (much to Grimfarrow's displeasure).

She actually wrote for the Voice a while back and was happy to leave. I can't imagine she'd get a better deal at the Voice than she has at the NYT (who lured her away from the LA Times not that long ago). Also, she's still based in LA.

[Antoine Doinel]

I just wish she would bring back her Ask Manohla column to the NY Times.

[Andre Jurieu]

Also, she's still based in LA.

Yeah, I remember that condition being part of her deal with the NY Times. I also totally forgot about that interview and the legal problems she had with the Voice. Has it really been that long since I read that interview?

[Fletch F. Fletch]

I just wish she would bring back her Ask Manohla column to the NY Times.

Me too. I was always impressed that any question I submitted was usually responded to eventually. They should do an Ask Manohla blog...

[John Cope]

An exhaustive look at the current state of The Voice

[colinr0380]

This takes the discussion away from the changes at The Village Voice a little but Tim Lucas's Watchblog column brings another shift in publishing to our attention when he talks about how the long running Cinefantastique magazine has been replaced by something called 'Geek Monthly'(!)


More dumbing down?

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Yeah, I read that too. What sad news indeed. Along with Starlog, Cinefantastique was my bible for science fiction and fantasy films throughout the 1980s. Their exhaustive look at the making of Dune (and also Eraserhead) remains one of the definitive articles on the movie.

[souvenir]

The Indiewire Critics Poll, formerly the Village Voice Critics Poll, is now online.

[Anonymous]

The Village Voice can't dare to let Hoberman go. He is the best film critic around since a few decades and an important part of the Voice. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't read any contemporary film criticism at all.

[soma]

The Village Voice can't dare to let Hoberman go. He is the best film critic around since a few decades and an important part of the Voice. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't read any contemporary film criticism at all.

Then you need to start reading Slant.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Nathan Lee has been laid off from the Voice for "Economic Reasons."