joe wrote:Jesus, what a mean thread.
It also bugs me when people who lack a certain kind of taste are dismissed with the kind of vitriol I'm seeing here.
I know plenty of people who aren't very sophisticated about film but are otherwise intelligent and worthwhile human beings.
Maybe they shouldn't be reviewing DVDs, granted, but the kind of hatred being expressed here seems like the worst kind of prissy snobbery.
Oh come on, Joe. I think you're personalizing or internalizing some of the offhanded ballbusting far beyond the intent. I don't think any of the grabassing going on here is any more insulting or hateful than some of the heavy & colorful snapping on the films themselves that goes on in the reviews. (Again, I really think "hateful" takes things a bit far, and assumes a certain obsession or at least internalization far beyond what an online dvd review deserves in the overal scheme of the human universe!) You have reviewers there straining themselves to as colorfully as possible rip to pieces widely beloved and classic films, films which they know that casual fans and cineastes alike not only "like" but worship and have made a part of cultural mythology. Certainly the reviewers know that this is a risky business, especially when the tone taken by the reviewer is that of snarkmaster general, embellishing his dismissal of classic films (and by extension, the taste of a hell of a lot of consumers) with what is intented to be a laugh-studded, wryly sardonic, "for the first time ever, the truth about "_________".
Public criticism is a risky business in the age of the internet. Formerly, in the days of a few mags & once-a-week network newsshow reviews, critics might expect a few letters to the editor calling them on a mean or "off" review. Nowadays its a 2-way street. And I'd lightly suggest that if you can't withstand return-serves off of that which you are dishing out, you are probably in the wrong business.
As an afterthought I'd ask everybody to remember how extremely agonizing it is for artists of any field to have their life's work torn to pieces by critics. (No critic should ever really complain, as they hold jobs that in reality nobody should really get to have-- in my humble opinion it should be a rotating public job like jury duty. We're all just fans: what is a critic but a "professional fan"?) Imagine having smart asses around the world sitting behind PC's in their dens publicly tearing apart the work you do in your 9-5 job, searching out private tidbits about you, laughing at your failures and rubbing it in with smug sarcasm & gymnastic linguistic usages designed to make you and your life's work sound as pathetic & laughable as possible. I recall the documentary on my 25th anniversary edition vhs of MIDNIGHT COWBOY, where John Schlesinger recounts how "I wiped my bottom with the review from..." (I can't remember for certain as I haven't pulled it out in a while but I believe the review was from the Village Voice.)
#-o 
