< Back to front page
Text size
–
+
Roger Ebert's tolerance for sci-fi
It must be awfully low, since, in the course of a roundtable discussion in which the Globe's Wes Morris is also taking part, he botches two basic plot points from Avatar. And I thought I had a hard time following movie-plot twists.
Amplifying his errors, Ebert mocks the film for inconsistencies that exist only in his own mind.
I may link to a more substantive Avatar piece later--and I'm the last person to say James Cameron's pantheistic eye candy is immune to criticism--but the sloppiness here suggests that Ebert goes on autopilot whenever big special effects kick in.
The roundtable also includes this priceless account of movie-critic wankery, from Stephanie Zacharek:
That anecdote should kick off the introduction to the next edition of David Kamp's "The Film Snob*s Dictionary" (a fine and funny book).
(Zacharek's reaction: "I don't know about you guys, but I sure hope that when the Grim Reaper comes for me and I mouth through parched lips the title of my favorite movie of all time--'What was that? What did she say? Why, I believe her last words were 'Pootie Tang!'--there's an astute critic around to make his case for how, oh, I don't know, White Chicks is the superior work.")
Amplifying his errors, Ebert mocks the film for inconsistencies that exist only in his own mind.
I may link to a more substantive Avatar piece later--and I'm the last person to say James Cameron's pantheistic eye candy is immune to criticism--but the sloppiness here suggests that Ebert goes on autopilot whenever big special effects kick in.
The roundtable also includes this priceless account of movie-critic wankery, from Stephanie Zacharek:
As we've all heard, the critic Robin Wood passed away a few weeks ago. You may also have heard, as Jonathan Rosenbaum details on his blog, that in the days before Wood died, he dictated a list of his favorite movies to a friend: Rio Bravo was at the top of that list. And so over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeffrey Wells recently decided to take Woods to task for not choosing what is in his view the better movie, High Noon.
That anecdote should kick off the introduction to the next edition of David Kamp's "The Film Snob*s Dictionary" (a fine and funny book).
(Zacharek's reaction: "I don't know about you guys, but I sure hope that when the Grim Reaper comes for me and I mouth through parched lips the title of my favorite movie of all time--'What was that? What did she say? Why, I believe her last words were 'Pootie Tang!'--there's an astute critic around to make his case for how, oh, I don't know, White Chicks is the superior work.")
About brainiac What's happening in the world of ideas.
contributors
Joshua Rothman is a graduate student and Teaching Fellow in the Harvard English department, and an Instructor in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He teaches novels and political writing.
