Re: Watchmen
Gee, I guess I just don't get. All those years writing and running publications, doing hundreds of film reviews and interviews. writing screenplays and pitching them.
Meaningless because you see to feel that it conflicts with whatever it is you're trying to say.
Which seems to be that everybody else in the world is stupid. Except us of course. Well, actually, except you, since I seem to have trouble accepting your one-dimensional whatever it is.
So a guy is thinking about going to the movies. Maybe he's heard about a flick, maybe he's just looking for somewhere to take a girl, or the kids. So he picks up the paper. He's not going to read the review, apparently (God KNOWS why they run them). And he doesn't want to know what the film's like so he can decide whether or not to go. Or which one to see.
No, he's much more interested in whether or not the reviewer says "It's good" or "It's bad."
Because he trusts reviewers to know these things.
Now, after having seen the film, he's not going to buy a film magazine because, gee, nobody buys those things. The lives of actors are their own business and nobody thinks anymore. Just us. Or rather you. I guess...you haven't made it clear whether you are one of the lumpen knuckleheads you deride or not.
Whoa, this is tiresome.
Here's the dealL a movie review can serve a purpose by giving the reader information to help him decide what to see.
Film criticism can serve a purpose by giving the reader information to aid his appreciation. Most fans like that, even it it's just stuff about the stars. Or "the making of". People buy magazines the show how films fit in to our lives. But apparently nobody buys them.
A critic who has a detailed, aesthetically prepared review will not survive the fast paced enviroment that is the movie main stream.
Yeah, right. Actually, most newspapers, especially weeklies DO feature detailed reviews (I won't get into "aesthetically prepared", whatever that means). The WEEKLIES, the ones that are SURVIVING the newspaper shakeout which you might have heard about. They run right off at the mouth. They are probably the most common form of movie review in the United States.
What they don't do though, generally, is the things I've mentioned above. What they do is go on and on about why the film sucks.
If you're not aware of this, I'd suggest picking up something and reading it when you get a chance.
It's not me who's not getting here, kiddo.