Whenever a film (like this one) gets universally demolished by critics, there are inevitably people who rise up to defend it. That’s more than fine since moviegoing (and taste) is a subjective thing, and what isn’t one person’s cup of tea, is another’s veritable feast of splendor (though I’d have to question someone who can become fully nourished on films like the above).
The thing that drives me nuts though is when people defend movies that are perceived as crap by the majority of others by either eliciting either the “Not everything can be CITIZEN KANE” defense, or the slight variant of “It’s not supposed to be THE GODFATHER, it’s supposed to be a silly fun movie.” If you’re actually a critic (or perceived as one anyway) then often you’ll also find yourself on the end of a snarky attack accusing you of being too cynical and jaded, and incapable of simply enjoying movies for trying to be “fun.” Heck, I don’t even consider myself a critic yet, but rather someone who runs a site that – in its current infancy stage – is still a passionate hobby of sorts (with nonetheless greater aspirations), and even I’ve been accused of this now and then.
I can understand somewhat where such knee-jerk defenses come from. After all, given how personal one’s taste in films can be, it’s not nice to hear everybody hates something you might have enjoyed. That doesn’t excuse lazy arguing though and personal attacks. You feel a film isn’t being given its due? Then make your case and back it up. Don’t resort to such childish accusations of “You don’t know how to have fun,” which really is little more than the argumentative equivalent of kicking someone in the shin and running away. Nor should you resort to such lazy defenses as the ones mentioned above.
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One of the many things direly wrong with last weekend’s horrible THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPREROR was the fact that it was yet another example of Hollywood’s inept mishandling of Asian movie stars. Watching Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh trod their way through the film just kept on breaking my heart, because they can do so much better, and - more importantly - deserve so much better.
Instead they, and many other successful Asian action stars (Jackie Chan, especially) are usually reduced to being embarrassing sidekicks (either to other characters, the narrative, or to special effects) or their martial art skills are exploited for the exotic novelty their five minutes of on-screen fighting present to North American audiences (”Oh, look, how neat. It’s martial arts!”).
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This REEL Addict will concede that last week was a little heavy on posters and trailers, as opposed to what I like to call “real” content. Rest assured, after I am done relaxing and celebrating today’s Civic Holiday here in Toronto, things will return to normal. My day job will occupy me less, my social life shall be cast aside in an act of hermit like celibacy, and I’ll be back to shamelessly soap box grandstanding about anything movie related I can think of.
On the TV Addict:
Alongside the first official cast photo featuring the new gang from 90210, we posted our predictions for their future. Interviewed singer turned actress Shirley Manson and America’s Favorite Serial Killer. DEXTER’s Michael C. Hall.
On the REEL Addict:
We continued our one-sided obsession with Zooey Deschanel, ranted about the idiocy of Shia LeBeouf and posted the teaser trailer for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.
On the TV Addict:
We’ve got Comic Con covered. With feature articles on TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, DEXTER, THE BIG BANG THEORY and HBO’s TRUE BLOOD. Plus a first look at 90210.
On the REEL Addict:
We wondered if this is the best summer movie season ever, revealed are third Hollywood Crush: James Marsden and posed some DARK KNIGHT related questions.
The other day I started to work on a Best of the Summer Awards type article, and realized something in the process.
I think this may be one of the best summer movie seasons in my lifetime, because I can honestly not remember the last time I’ve experienced such satisfying week-to-week consistency.
It seems that ever since IRON MAN opened back in May, every week when I’ve walked out of a movie theatre I found myself thinking: “That was a great/good/fun movie.” Even more shockingly, I honestly feel that almost every highly buzzed film not only actually lived up to its respective hype, but in some cases it even surpassed it. In other instances there were films I thought would turn out to be mediocre but were actually incredibly good summer fun (THE INCREDIBLE HULK, WANTED, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, KUNG FU PANDA). That’s not to say there weren’t some duds (THE HAPPENING), minor disappointments (HANCOCK, PRINCE CASPIAN, INDIANA JONES) and movies I didn’t even bother with (THE LOVE GURU, MEET DAVE). Yet even some of films that tripped a little along the way, still proved to be fulfilling, summer movie experiences. They were perhaps not great films, but they were good summer movies. Maybe I’m just more forgiving in the summer, but either way, so far… I’ve had a blast.
Do you guys agree that this may be one of the best summer movie seasons in a long time, or am I perhaps going a little off my rocker with enthusiasm?
P.S.: For the curious, the above photo was taken up in glorious Haliburton, Ontario in Canada by yours truly.
With two screenings of THE DARK NIGHT still behind me, there are still some questions running around my brain that I thought we could all hash out together. Feel free to answer all or any of the questions below. Also feel free to throw out any questions of your own that you desperately want answered by your peers.
Also, of course MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW starting with Question 2.
Updated: Inspired by Satty and some of the other comments here, I’ve added two more questions below.
1) Though it’s a different beast, is Aaron Eckhart’s work in THE DARK KNIGHT being overshadowed by Heath Ledger’s phenomenal performance? Though it’s not as flashy a role, I’d argue his acting was almost as good as Ledger’s. I don’t seem to be alone either. Agree or disagree?
2) Did Batman willingly choose to rescue Harvey Dent instead of Rachel Dawes, or did The Joker lie to Batman and reverse the addresses as to who was where?
3) If you were in Batman’s place, who would you have chosen?
4) Do you think killing off Rachel Dawes was a good choice, or should they have found a way to keep her around?
5) Do you think Harvey Dent is actually dead?
6) Did Gordon faking his own death fool you?
7) Am I asking too many death related questions?
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Be warned: SERIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD
Still recovering from the awesomeness of THE DARK KNIGHT that is still lingering in my system like an unshakable hangover, I realized that the one major flaw of the movie was that it may result in the franchise becoming a victim of its own success.
How could a third Batman movie possibly top THE DARK KNIGHT?
I’m not just talking about quality, but rather how can any Batman villain be a more suitable and amazing adversary than the Joker? Most of all, how could any potential sequel raise the stakes any higher than they were in THE DARK KNIGHT?
There were times in the film were I endured sucker-punch upon sucker-punch, wondering how much bleaker, darker, despairing the film could get. Repeatedly I wondered how what The Joker was doing to Gotham could get any worse. Then he just upped himself again and again in exponentially escalating acts of anarchy. All I could do was hope for a brighter turn of events. They rarely came. I felt about as hopeless and terrorized as I imagine any Gotham citizen would have been feeling during The Joker’s rampage. It seemed like nobody could get a break, nobody could win. In the end, I’m not sure anyone really did. Actually, I think the only person who did was The Joker. There were little victories perhaps (the ferry people, Batman doesn’t kill The Joker), but in the end Gotham’s white knight - Harvey Dent - has been destroyed (at least to those in the know) and Batman has become a wanted man.
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On the TV Addict:
We continued our Television Critics Association Press Tour coverage by posting some great interviews with Joss Whedon, Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies. Posted our thoughts on this year’s Emmy Nominations. And offered up our marketing advice for the new season of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.
On the REEL Addict:
Not only were we thrilled that moviegoers didn’t bother to MEET DAVE, we wrote an open letter to DC and Warner Bros, and went a little trailer crazy by posting trailers for TWILIGHT, CHOKE and TERMINATOR: SALVATION.
With MEET DAVE pulling in a paltry $5.2 million this past opening weekend, and THE LOVE GURU (which I wrote about here) and SUPERHERO MOVIE flopping only slightly better, could this possibly be the year where audiences actually punish movies that look and sound absolutely horrible? Could this be the year that inspires faith in the general good taste of moviegoers everywhere?
Yes, I know most things are a matter of taste, and what qualifies as a “good” film is objectively debatable, but I’m pretty sure it’s been scientifically concluded by white-coats working around the clock for several weeks that it’s a universal law that those three films are not, nor cannot, be considered good films. Perhaps it’s a bit harsh to suggest that those who like those films are in violation of scientific law, but hey, those scientists know what they’re doing. They have PhDs and fancy pens.
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