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Even Bad Summer Blockbusters Have More To Say Than Horror Flicks Or Romantic Comedies

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knyne
05/11/09

In reply to Even Bad Summer Blockbusters Have More To Say Than Horror Flicks Or Romantic Comedies
Dana Stevens is a cultural snob who operates on the level of that other dyspeptic fart, John Simon. Anthony Lane is still trying to raise the spirit of Pauline Kael from the grave in order to boost is own limp syntax. And A.O. Scott--well let's just say Elvis Mitchell is deeply missed at the Grey Lady.

None of these cinematic dunces is able to look at a challenging genre film with anything but mildly veiled disgust. Bust this is nothing particularly new. At my hometown rag, "The Washington Post," Stephen Hunter took the retirement package to concentrate on his novels and the occasional think piece for the arts section, leaving film criticism to the devoutly middlebrow Ann Hornaday.
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Rasselas
05/11/09

@knyne: Dana Stevens would be much, much, much more interesting if she were as snobby as John Simon; as it is, she seems blinded by the desire -- common to a lot of critics in their '30s and '40s -- to be, or to remain, cool and hip. Lane is just a clever fellow who wants everyone to praise his apercus. Scott is kind of a producer of reviews-by-the-column-inch, rather than insight.
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Rasselas
05/11/09

In reply to Even Bad Summer Blockbusters Have More To Say Than Horror Flicks Or Romantic Comedies
I have never found any of the three quoted reviewers, Stevens in particular, to have an enlightening or enlarging effect on my thoughts about any cultural product. Reflecting the status anxieties of the New York-to-London professional classes is all well and good for those willing to pay for it, but sometimes a plucky young lad wants a bit more for his two bits.
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Plague
05/11/09

In reply to Even Bad Summer Blockbusters Have More To Say Than Horror Flicks Or Romantic Comedies
I can't really pick that apart.

Probably because I don't want to.
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