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He Lost It at the Movies

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Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#11

Post by AlexandrB »

analogpixel wrote: post #8

[flagged]

> Do people really just go around reading large blocks of random text they find on the internet hoping they'll find it interesting?

Yes. That's why I'm on substack. Good writing can be a pleasure to read even if it's about something I don't care all that much about. A summary can tell you about the subject matter, but fails to capture the quality of the writing itself.

To put it another way: I'd rather read an idlewords post about taking a Russian boat to the Antarctic[1] - something I care little about as a subject - than read AI generated slop about some Python programming subject that's immediately relevant to my career.

[1] https://idlewords.com/2016/10/cape_adare.htm

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#12

Post by AlexandrB »

Slow_Hand wrote: post #6
Papazsazsa wrote: post #2

Interesting to see this on HN, I'd be curious to know OP's rationale, but I'm glad they posted it. Film criticism itself has suffered greatly in recent memory; at the end of the day, whatever trouble a critic might have gone to to watch, process, and articulate their thoughts on a given film is now reduced almost entirely to a number on Rotten Tomatoes.

Good movie criticism is alive and well. You simply need to expand your vision beyond anyone who relies on Rotten Tomatoes or (probably) Letterbox. That's probably not it. Youtube is a great place to start looking. It has a lot of trash, but there are some extraordinary essayists and writers giving robust and insightful looks into films new and old. Off the top of my head: 1. House of Tabula - Essays on art and cultur…

I think a bit problem with any kind of art criticism in 2026, especially on YouTube, is audience capture. It's rare to find analysis that examines a piece as it is without dipping into some kind of political angle. A few channels try, but you get more clicks by choosing a side in the culture war and catering to those that agree with you. Once you go down this road, woe be to you if you stray from the path - your audience will turn on you in an instant.

I think this effect is worse on YouTube because YouTube creators live or die by the algorithm. There's no organization backstopping them if they publish something their audience doesn't like.

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#13

Post by UncleOxidant »

Slow_Hand wrote: post #6
Papazsazsa wrote: post #2

Interesting to see this on HN, I'd be curious to know OP's rationale, but I'm glad they posted it. Film criticism itself has suffered greatly in recent memory; at the end of the day, whatever trouble a critic might have gone to to watch, process, and articulate their thoughts on a given film is now reduced almost entirely to a number on Rotten Tomatoes.

Good movie criticism is alive and well. You simply need to expand your vision beyond anyone who relies on Rotten Tomatoes or (probably) Letterbox. That's probably not it. Youtube is a great place to start looking. It has a lot of trash, but there are some extraordinary essayists and writers giving robust and insightful looks into films new and old. Off the top of my head: 1. House of Tabula - Essays on art and cultur…

I'll add Bright Wall/Dark Room: https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#14

Post by analogpixel »

AlexandrB wrote: post #11
analogpixel wrote: post #8

[flagged]

> Do people really just go around reading large blocks of random text they find on the internet hoping they'll find it interesting? Yes. That's why I'm on substack. Good writing can be a pleasure to read even if it's about something I don't care all that much about. A summary can tell you about the subject matter, but fails to capture the quality of the writing itself. To put it another way: I'd rather read an idlewo…

I guess you are not alone in wanting to fill you mind with random bits of nothing; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48269580 <-- here is an article voted up that is just a list of random host names with no context to anything else.

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#15

Post by fallinditch »

Do film critics ever 'dial it in' without properly (or actually) watching the film?

I love Mark Kermode as a critic, normally, but for his review of Triangle of Sadness (imo a great film!) I don't think he was paying attention, or was even there.

See here https://youtu.be/ciJnhGNPS60 am I right?

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#16

Post by convolvatron »

analogpixel wrote: post #14
AlexandrB wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do people really just go around reading large blocks of random text they find on the internet hoping they'll find it interesting? Yes. That's why I'm on substack. Good writing can be a pleasure to read even if it's about something I don't care all that much about. A summary can tell you about the subject matter, but fails to capture the quality of the writing itself. To put it another way: I'd rather read an idlewo…

I guess you are not alone in wanting to fill you mind with random bits of nothing; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48269580 <-- here is an article voted up that is just a list of random host names with no context to anything else.

I have seen an a stunningly large amount of anti-intellectualism on HN recently, but suggesting that writing as whole has no more value than a random list of words has to be really quite up there

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#17

Post by Papazsazsa »

F7F7F7 wrote: post #3
Papazsazsa wrote: post #2

Interesting to see this on HN, I'd be curious to know OP's rationale, but I'm glad they posted it. Film criticism itself has suffered greatly in recent memory; at the end of the day, whatever trouble a critic might have gone to to watch, process, and articulate their thoughts on a given film is now reduced almost entirely to a number on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not sure what OPs reasoning was but you have to wonder if this far-more-human type of film criticism will see a revival in the age of AI assisted writing. I always like to remind people that before talk heads were battling it out on cable news or ESPN we had Siskel and Ebert shaking things up. They made me realize that movies could carry subtext, nuance and meaning. They made reading ABOUT movies more interesting.

This is a great insight. Taste is the human moat.

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#18

Post by bandofthehawk »

msla wrote: post #9
Papazsazsa wrote: post #2

Interesting to see this on HN, I'd be curious to know OP's rationale, but I'm glad they posted it. Film criticism itself has suffered greatly in recent memory; at the end of the day, whatever trouble a critic might have gone to to watch, process, and articulate their thoughts on a given film is now reduced almost entirely to a number on Rotten Tomatoes.

The problem with "criticism" from the perspective of the average person is that "Is this film worth my time and money" isn't really a question criticism answers. The linked article touches on this when it bemoans "the consumer guide approach" but until we firmly separate criticism from reviewing we're bound to keep going around and around on this.

I think that's not true for me and a lot of other people. If I read a specific criticism/review of a movie or book I often make a decision not based on good/bad but based on what the criticism is about. If a movie has slow pacing for example, I might be ok with that depending on the mood I'm in.

I'm not sure what you mean by separating review from criticism. Can you expand on that?

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#19

Post by Tallain »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #13
Slow_Hand wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good movie criticism is alive and well. You simply need to expand your vision beyond anyone who relies on Rotten Tomatoes or (probably) Letterbox. That's probably not it. Youtube is a great place to start looking. It has a lot of trash, but there are some extraordinary essayists and writers giving robust and insightful looks into films new and old. Off the top of my head: 1. House of Tabula - Essays on art and cultur…

I'll add Bright Wall/Dark Room: https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/

There's also Reverse Shot: https://reverseshot.org/

The Dissolve alumni are all (mostly) writing at various publications: https://thedissolve.com/

While David Bordwell sadly passed, his blog is still a great resource (books, too!) and actively updated: https://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/

Re: He Lost It at the Movies

#20

Post by -naivete- »

fallinditch wrote: post #15

Do film critics ever 'dial it in' without properly (or actually) watching the film? I love Mark Kermode as a critic, normally, but for his review of Triangle of Sadness (imo a great film!) I don't think he was paying attention, or was even there. See here https://youtu.be/ciJnhGNPS60 am I right?

When David Lynch’s “Inland Empire” first came out, my friend invited me to come with for a screening. The film had barely started when I heard a loud snore in the empty cinema: he had fallen asleep. Woke up a couple of minutes before the credits rolled. The review was published a couple of days later - it was as good and engagingly written as it could be, and if I didn’t know, I’d never have guessed he just actually slept through it all.
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