Submitted by Adam Shaftoe (@AdamShaftoe)
Good ideas might have gone for a dime a dozen last century but in the era of social media clever thoughts are as free as the air you breathe. In the context of movie reviews, so many free opinions can create an interesting, but potentially explosive, environment. When a website like Mombo.com aggregates tens of thousands of ideas about a particular movie into an easily digested score, long form reviewers might find themselves feeling a little redundant. Why bother writing a thousand word review when social media reflects an immediate consensus that is popular and perhaps even critically sound? Rather than argue one side against the other, perhaps there is a third way where social media based reviewing is a partner in the critical process, rather than a threat.
Suppose somebody asks me what I think about a particular movie. Were I to respond
with, “Terrible, just terrible. It made Battlefield Earth look sublime,” there would be little doubt about my thoughts on the movie. However, I can’t think of many people who would let the discussion end there. Panning a movie as I just did would likely require a suitable explanation. That explanation is at the core of the debate at hand. Where social media offers a vast repository of ideas on movies, long form reviews present ideas refined into arguments with requisite evidence. In that light, the notion that one form of review is somehow better than the other is utterly ludicrous. Depending solely on micro reviews is to live in a world that is devoid of
context, explanation or even the barest of plot summaries. At the same time, eschewing micro reviews in favour of the long form is to ignore what thousands of people have to say about a movie. So if these two approaches to reviewing are just opposite sides of the same coin, how can the two methods better work together?
First and foremost, all reviewers, regardless of their philosophy, should recognize that spoiling movies makes us collectively look bad. I have read countless long form reviews that make seeing the movie in question an optional experience. Even if the movie is terrible, somebody may want to see it. With that in mind, micro reviews likely find some additional popularity in the fact that it is hard to spoil a movie in one-hundred forty characters. Thus, the first step in working together is to make sure that we don’t drive ourselves to irrelevancy with clumsy reviews.
More importantly, we as reviewers need to start including each other in our conversations. It’s easy enough for micro reviewers to link to a long form review that lines up with their thoughts. Similarly, long form reviewers might take a moment to recognize a pithy tweet or respond to a consensus about a movie if their review takes an opposing position. What’s the harm in a little more collaboration? Since we, as reviewers and critics, are all in the business of helping people wisely invest their movie watching time, it seems logical that we should be mindful of larger discussions.
Ultimately, if we combine our efforts as critics, reviewers and commenters and in doing so foster a critical environment where new voices are welcome, we may make ourselves that much more relevant to the business of movie making. Rather than passively watching movies, we could become active members within a system that has relied on a silent audience for nearly a century. Movie studios would be hard pressed to ignore their audience at large, each member therein an empowered critic, when deciding what is deemed profitable. If that means better movies for all of us, then I say bring on the writers, regardless of their chosen form.
Adam Shaftoe is a freelance writer and blogger based in St. Catharines, Ontario. He holds a Master of Arts degree in History from the University of Western Ontario. His reviews, rants and podcasts can be found at www.pageofreviews.com
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Remove that gossip blog from your tabbed websites
Submitted by Andrew Cochran (@Chaotician)
After having watched the Japanese film Sansho the Bailiff by the great director Kenji Mizoguchi, I googled “Kenji Mizoguchi quotes” to find some of his perspective on aspects of filmmaking. His films employ the long take, something we hardly see in current cinema, but was once used frequently, perhaps most notably to American cinephiles in Alfred Hitchcock’s great film Rope. In searching for Mizoguchi quotes I had hoped to find something he might have said about his favored technique. Instead of finding a quote ready-made for posting to my Facebook wall, I discovered several celebrity gossip sites, and one that would even answer the question “Who’s Dated Who?” Just what I wanted to know! Who has Mizoguchi dated? Did he have an affair, and if so, with who? Any drug arrests?
But wait just a minute. That wasn’t why I googled his name. So why did I get all of that delivered right to my cyber-doorstep? I did not even care to know any of that. More importantly, it really isn’t any of my business to know. But it seems we constantly hear about these kinds of carnal details. Remember back in 2005 when an action film called Mr. and Mrs. Smith came out? It had a decent amount of hype to it, and it got some critical recognition. But what got even more hype was the rumored on-set romance between the stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The media absolutely erupted when the rumor was confirmed to be true. Pitt left his wife Jennifer Aniston for Jolie! And I shouldn’t even mention the tabloids, but I will. On every magazine stand at every grocery store sits the 15 or so different magazines detailing who gained some weight, who cheated on who, and who just got arrested for drunk driving. The media absolutely loves this stuff. And who can blame them? It makes them money, because we buy it. We buy into this culture of gossip. It is not just about the movies; it’s about the stars as well. We, as a culture, love hearing, reading, and talking about celebrity gossip.
It’s for this same reason that we now have an overabundance of reality shows. The Discovery Channel isn’t really about discovery anymore. Their number one show, Deadliest Catch, sounds extremely interesting. When I first heard the title I thought it was about fishermen catching and talking about deadly animals they catch. But it’s just a reality show about guys in “extremely dangerous” situations cursing and swearing at each other. These guys are stars. They may have been in dangerous situations before, but not now. They’re moneymakers now. The same thing goes for Animal Planet. People like Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin (RIP) worked to educate viewers. Now Animal Planet has reality shows like Pit Bulls and Parolees. We, as a culture, love seeing confrontations and talking about gossip.
And there is no way to change it. It’s the way things are. But for those of you who consider yourselves true fans of film, respect the stars and directors. Don’t crave to know the gritty details about their personal lives. If you give in to the tabloids, save yourself the time, money, and mental welfare and quit reading them. Remove that gossip blog from your tabbed websites. And for goodness’ sake, do not watch Entertainment Tonight.
Andrew Cochran's blog is http://morehuman.tumblr.com/, where he writes his opinions, reviews, and anything else he feels like linking to and talking about
After having watched the Japanese film Sansho the Bailiff by the great director Kenji Mizoguchi, I googled “Kenji Mizoguchi quotes” to find some of his perspective on aspects of filmmaking. His films employ the long take, something we hardly see in current cinema, but was once used frequently, perhaps most notably to American cinephiles in Alfred Hitchcock’s great film Rope. In searching for Mizoguchi quotes I had hoped to find something he might have said about his favored technique. Instead of finding a quote ready-made for posting to my Facebook wall, I discovered several celebrity gossip sites, and one that would even answer the question “Who’s Dated Who?” Just what I wanted to know! Who has Mizoguchi dated? Did he have an affair, and if so, with who? Any drug arrests?
But wait just a minute. That wasn’t why I googled his name. So why did I get all of that delivered right to my cyber-doorstep? I did not even care to know any of that. More importantly, it really isn’t any of my business to know. But it seems we constantly hear about these kinds of carnal details. Remember back in 2005 when an action film called Mr. and Mrs. Smith came out? It had a decent amount of hype to it, and it got some critical recognition. But what got even more hype was the rumored on-set romance between the stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The media absolutely erupted when the rumor was confirmed to be true. Pitt left his wife Jennifer Aniston for Jolie! And I shouldn’t even mention the tabloids, but I will. On every magazine stand at every grocery store sits the 15 or so different magazines detailing who gained some weight, who cheated on who, and who just got arrested for drunk driving. The media absolutely loves this stuff. And who can blame them? It makes them money, because we buy it. We buy into this culture of gossip. It is not just about the movies; it’s about the stars as well. We, as a culture, love hearing, reading, and talking about celebrity gossip.
It’s for this same reason that we now have an overabundance of reality shows. The Discovery Channel isn’t really about discovery anymore. Their number one show, Deadliest Catch, sounds extremely interesting. When I first heard the title I thought it was about fishermen catching and talking about deadly animals they catch. But it’s just a reality show about guys in “extremely dangerous” situations cursing and swearing at each other. These guys are stars. They may have been in dangerous situations before, but not now. They’re moneymakers now. The same thing goes for Animal Planet. People like Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin (RIP) worked to educate viewers. Now Animal Planet has reality shows like Pit Bulls and Parolees. We, as a culture, love seeing confrontations and talking about gossip.
And there is no way to change it. It’s the way things are. But for those of you who consider yourselves true fans of film, respect the stars and directors. Don’t crave to know the gritty details about their personal lives. If you give in to the tabloids, save yourself the time, money, and mental welfare and quit reading them. Remove that gossip blog from your tabbed websites. And for goodness’ sake, do not watch Entertainment Tonight.
Andrew Cochran's blog is http://morehuman.tumblr.com/, where he writes his opinions, reviews, and anything else he feels like linking to and talking about
Friday, March 11, 2011
The Scary State of the Horror Genre
Submitted by Andrew Klass (@ShockorNot)
What movie scared you the most? For me, it's the release of The Roommate. No, it's not because the movie accomplished what it set out to do. What made The Roommate the absolutely, most terrifying film I've seen is the fact that this represents the awful state the horror genre is in. This movie is the perfect example of how horror is becoming an overplayed, tired and boring section of the film industry. Reusing themes, substituting gore and loud sudden noises for actual scares. When is the last time Hollywood produced a horror film that really got to you? What was the last horror movie that made you nervous to do certain things? That still had you thinking about it a day or two after you saw it? I would have to think long and hard about that question and that makes me weep for this wonderful genre.
Horror is a genre of film that pulls emotions and reactions out of the audience that the others can't. A good horror film makes you question the things around you. It makes you think twice about swimming at the beach, or taking a shower, or being alone. A truly good horror film leaves residual emotions and fear in you for days or sometimes years. Where have these types of films and filmmakers gone? Why did these mentalities die out with the filmmakers of old? Why is it so difficult for Hollywood to carry that flame? This needs to be fixed. The genre needs to be saved from permanently becoming this vicious cycle of recycled material and cheap scares.
A truly good film is a work of art. Good works of art push boundaries, explore new ideas, make the viewer think, and leave a lasting impression. The only impression a film like The Roommate left on me is one of sorrow for the life of horror films. A fire needs to be lit under the butt of the horror filmmakers of Hollywood. They need to find inspiration in something other than a large paycheck. They need to find the artist within and rekindle that passion that made them want to get into the business in the first place. This wonderful art form is suffering and we need to do all we can to keep it afloat and bring it back to the glory days. America used to be in the forefront of horror, but now its best horror films are remakes of amazing films from Sweden and France. They are even remaking good American horror films because they’ve run out of ideas. Or, in the case of Disturbia, are just blatantly ripping them off. In fact, Disturbia, was so similar to Rear Window, it led to a lawsuit struck up by the production company behind the Hitchcock classic. A well deserved lawsuit in my opinion.
At this point it’s the independent filmmakers that are the ones still keeping hope alive for us. Hollywood needs to dig deep, find their depraved creativity and get back to making us fear going to sleep at night with unique stories and genuine scares. I’ve never wanted to be scared more in my life, and I hope they do so fast. The life of this genre is fading, but it’s not over until the undead, fat lady sings.
Please join me on my quest to watch and review the world's most shocking horror films by visiting my blog (http://shockornot.blogspot.com) and leave your suggestions of what I should watch next!
What movie scared you the most? For me, it's the release of The Roommate. No, it's not because the movie accomplished what it set out to do. What made The Roommate the absolutely, most terrifying film I've seen is the fact that this represents the awful state the horror genre is in. This movie is the perfect example of how horror is becoming an overplayed, tired and boring section of the film industry. Reusing themes, substituting gore and loud sudden noises for actual scares. When is the last time Hollywood produced a horror film that really got to you? What was the last horror movie that made you nervous to do certain things? That still had you thinking about it a day or two after you saw it? I would have to think long and hard about that question and that makes me weep for this wonderful genre.
Horror is a genre of film that pulls emotions and reactions out of the audience that the others can't. A good horror film makes you question the things around you. It makes you think twice about swimming at the beach, or taking a shower, or being alone. A truly good horror film leaves residual emotions and fear in you for days or sometimes years. Where have these types of films and filmmakers gone? Why did these mentalities die out with the filmmakers of old? Why is it so difficult for Hollywood to carry that flame? This needs to be fixed. The genre needs to be saved from permanently becoming this vicious cycle of recycled material and cheap scares.
A truly good film is a work of art. Good works of art push boundaries, explore new ideas, make the viewer think, and leave a lasting impression. The only impression a film like The Roommate left on me is one of sorrow for the life of horror films. A fire needs to be lit under the butt of the horror filmmakers of Hollywood. They need to find inspiration in something other than a large paycheck. They need to find the artist within and rekindle that passion that made them want to get into the business in the first place. This wonderful art form is suffering and we need to do all we can to keep it afloat and bring it back to the glory days. America used to be in the forefront of horror, but now its best horror films are remakes of amazing films from Sweden and France. They are even remaking good American horror films because they’ve run out of ideas. Or, in the case of Disturbia, are just blatantly ripping them off. In fact, Disturbia, was so similar to Rear Window, it led to a lawsuit struck up by the production company behind the Hitchcock classic. A well deserved lawsuit in my opinion.
At this point it’s the independent filmmakers that are the ones still keeping hope alive for us. Hollywood needs to dig deep, find their depraved creativity and get back to making us fear going to sleep at night with unique stories and genuine scares. I’ve never wanted to be scared more in my life, and I hope they do so fast. The life of this genre is fading, but it’s not over until the undead, fat lady sings.
Please join me on my quest to watch and review the world's most shocking horror films by visiting my blog (http://shockornot.blogspot.com) and leave your suggestions of what I should watch next!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Twitter - The New Critic
Submitted by Emaan Khan (@MaaNey)
Twitter can instantly turn an average moviegoer into a critic. The micro-blogging site enables everyone to express their opinion, and if one's opinion is appreciated it increases their popularity instantly. Mombo.com accumulates all tweets (updates of twitter) on each particular movie and sums up a rating. Then who needs just one critic? Will long detailed reviews become obsolete like the newspaper? Yes, I believe they will but only time can tell.
Even celebrities (actors,directors,writers etc) not associated with a particular movie have voiced their opinions (positive or negative) on twitter which gives a completely different perspective. Approachability towards a celebrity has been maximized and therefore the results of a movie's success or failure have become transparent. Actors and movie makers can directly hear from audiences from across the globe through twitter. Does it get better than this? No, but at times it does get worse. Instant negative updates and feedback on movies can also damage the future of a movie and may be misleading. There are people out there who just want to voice negative opinions on one or all movies coated with humor. Humor is extremely attractive and at times deprives you of seeing a good movie. In such cases a website like Mombo.com plays integral part in the process of movie selection through ratings.
If I speak for the masses, we are generally only looking for a rating of a movie because not everybody reads all complete reviews. Things are moving fast due to an uproar of social media and its almost draining to stop and read pages and pages of analyses. Most people don't even have a critic that they follow therefore my reviews are much like Twitter, only 140 characters including rating. Rarely some special movies require double the characters but other than that I find this is enough to get your point across. Who am I? I'm the audience with an opinion therefore I am a critic. If you are expressing a value judgment then so are you.
Emaan's bio:
Bachelor's Honors degree: Biology & Pyschology from Trent University. Living in Toronto, Canada. Writer & Reviews Holly/Bollywood movies in 140 characters. Karan Johar's Unofficial Online Secretary! Approved by Karan Johar. Plays the famous MUK(MaaNey Unveils Karan) on Twitter. Join in at twitter.com/MaaNey. I Love Karan Johar & Ultimate Dream: to direct/write a Film for Dharma Productions. "Make your own Path, rather than following someone else's (who probably doesnt know where they are going to begin with)" - Emaan Khan Email: maaney@gmail.com, Blog: http://www.emaankhan.blogspot.com/
Twitter can instantly turn an average moviegoer into a critic. The micro-blogging site enables everyone to express their opinion, and if one's opinion is appreciated it increases their popularity instantly. Mombo.com accumulates all tweets (updates of twitter) on each particular movie and sums up a rating. Then who needs just one critic? Will long detailed reviews become obsolete like the newspaper? Yes, I believe they will but only time can tell.
Even celebrities (actors,directors,writers etc) not associated with a particular movie have voiced their opinions (positive or negative) on twitter which gives a completely different perspective. Approachability towards a celebrity has been maximized and therefore the results of a movie's success or failure have become transparent. Actors and movie makers can directly hear from audiences from across the globe through twitter. Does it get better than this? No, but at times it does get worse. Instant negative updates and feedback on movies can also damage the future of a movie and may be misleading. There are people out there who just want to voice negative opinions on one or all movies coated with humor. Humor is extremely attractive and at times deprives you of seeing a good movie. In such cases a website like Mombo.com plays integral part in the process of movie selection through ratings.
If I speak for the masses, we are generally only looking for a rating of a movie because not everybody reads all complete reviews. Things are moving fast due to an uproar of social media and its almost draining to stop and read pages and pages of analyses. Most people don't even have a critic that they follow therefore my reviews are much like Twitter, only 140 characters including rating. Rarely some special movies require double the characters but other than that I find this is enough to get your point across. Who am I? I'm the audience with an opinion therefore I am a critic. If you are expressing a value judgment then so are you.
Emaan's bio:
Bachelor's Honors degree: Biology & Pyschology from Trent University. Living in Toronto, Canada. Writer & Reviews Holly/Bollywood movies in 140 characters. Karan Johar's Unofficial Online Secretary! Approved by Karan Johar. Plays the famous MUK(MaaNey Unveils Karan) on Twitter. Join in at twitter.com/MaaNey. I Love Karan Johar & Ultimate Dream: to direct/write a Film for Dharma Productions. "Make your own Path, rather than following someone else's (who probably doesnt know where they are going to begin with)" - Emaan Khan Email: maaney@gmail.com, Blog: http://www.emaankhan.blogspot.com/
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