Quote:
Originally Posted by andsoitgoes
First, I do someone find it funny that Pro-B come in touting the importance of ALL criterion releases, but still slapped TF with a 3.
Now I would like to see a list of all the criterion reviews in a list here to compare the "movie" review scores, but all of them are THAT perfect? It is very implausible, as perfect as criterion may be. You can't see that and not think there is something a little head scratching about the almost universal acclaim from the films they put out.
Maybe you do believe that every movie, sans about 2 or 3 of them, they put out is perfection. I would sure love to live in that world. But it honestly does make the stereotype of film elitist seem valid. It is almost as though the name behind it and the supposed brilliance of a film wipes out any potential for flaws when it comes to the reviews. Antichrist, one example that just easily comes to mind, is awarded an almost perfect score. Again, while reviews are subjective, seeing the marks consistently "perfect" or close to it does make one question whether or not there is the capability of seeing any flaws. To date, Shallow Grave and Tiny furniture are the only films that have been ranked down in the criterion collection. Maybe there are more, but it's not an easy thing to see via search.
No one is flawless, no one, no company exempt from missteps. To say that criterion walks in the footsteps of a virtually inflatable higher being is a tad strange.
My suggestion, though it won't be taken, would be to spread out the reviews. No one person should review all of one thing. I'm not saying that someone who hates comedies should start to review comedies, but getting a singlular perspective on anything does decrease the overall credibility.
But just one thing to note, if what you say is true then all the criterion movies would have universal acclaim from a multitude of sources, and many certainly are not.
Actually I was able to check through your reviews and sort by movie value.
Almost 380 of your 426 movies received 4 stars or higher, leaving around 10% that were less than perfect. 11 of those that were under 4 stars were criterion films. The Blob, Dazed and Confused, Royal Tenenbaums, etc. Many of the 3.5 and under reviews were helmed by or consisted of material involving "youths". I wonder if there is anything worth noting in that? Was Tiny Furniture mediocre because it was mediocre, or did you find the subject material not to your liking? I see movies like that, Dazed, Shallow Grave, Royal all similar. Either the subject matter is focused on the younger generation, or is helmed by people of the younger generation and based on your reviews of Royal and Darjeeling, I wonder if you have a predisposition to disliking Wes Anderson as well. If that is the case, then were you the best person to review those films? If you don't like rap, should you review the newest Eminem album?
I hope you can see where we are coming from here. That is a very, very high hit rate. I know this site tends to be a bit liberal in the scoring on a regular basis, but I think this is an area that could be improved upon, even just by sharing the wealth of who reviews criterion films. One person and one viewpoint isn't a good thing when that's how it is consistently on a matter that IS subjective.
Things like video, audio and supplements are far more quantitative, within reason, and I don't think need to be subject the same requirements, though that's a bit tangential from the perspective that I'm coming from.
Blah. That ended up being way more than I wanted it to be. I would like to stress how much I do appreciate the reviews. This is one of my most visited sites, and I thank it for getting me back into the classics and higher class movies.
And as for the Criterion angle, they are generally one of the only class of films I will blind buy, and do release films that go above and beyond the normal caliber of the various studios. I tend to be selective when paying over $20 on a movie, so Criterion films make up the majority of my current purchases, as they provide the most bang for my buck when considering the extras they offer.
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Debating my taste in cinema is the very last thing this thread needs. I think it is much better to actually discuss the films that are in the collection
But from your comments above, it seems to me you've seen only a few of them, yet you wish to generalize about their quality, and whether they are as "perfect" as some of the scores indicate.
Some of your points above are also a) incorrect and b) confusing.
a) You seem to be under the impression that only films with "youth themes" have been rated low.
Ride With the Devil,
Life During Wartime, and
House are examples that go against this theory.
b) Additionally, from what I gather you seem to be under the impression that high scores are given because I possibly like the films
Criterion release too much? I don't know how this could be true since in their roster there are films from virtually every genre. And yet you go on to speculate that one should only review films one likes (your rap music comment). You are contradicting yourself. And if you are only looking for a different opinion on a film, there are countless sources out there to explore. In fact, for a very large number of the films
Criterion have released on Blu-ray and DVD there are excellent research papers, large articles, books, etc.
Antichrist - I saw the film long before it actually came to the U.S. (theatrically). And if you check the reviews, you will see that we had a review for the French release long before
Criterion even hinted at adding it to their collection.
Scores - Aside from
Criterion, I don't cover any other major U.S. studios. I actually tend to cover either small independent U.S. films from very small labels, because I think that many are often ignored and because I like to help small labels get some exposure, or older or current festival foreign films that are released outside of the U.S. I always thought that it is beneficial for the community.
Finally, allow me to make a suggestion to change the focus of this thread back to
Criterion's films. How about you choose five films that have been ranked "perfect" (I assume you meant five stars). See them and list them here. Then, assuming that you disagreed with the "perfect" status, write a few paragraphs for each of them and explain why they are average/poor.
I try to stay active on the forum and occasionally look at this thread, but my time is limited and I can't read everything. But I promise that if you select your films, I will find the time to leave a couple of comments.
Thank you for your note, and thank you for reading our reviews
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