In the past few weeks, I have watched two different video reviews of Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera. The first was made by the crew of the Nostalgia Critic in conjunction with Shark Jumping, and can be found here. The other was made by Lindsay Ellis, and can be found here. My first experience with Phantom was in late elementary school (maybe the fifth grade? I distinctly remember understanding who Micheal Crawford was when Chad mentioned him in High School Musical the first time I saw it), and I was somewhat obsessed with it for about a year and a half. My mom had the two-disc Original London Cast album and I would listen to it constantly. It was kind-of my Twilight. I was able to get my hands on an English copy of the book, which I also greatly enjoyed. And then there was the movie. I knew immediately that it was bad. And I knew that it was bad beyond just “Gerard Butler cannot sing” (though Gerard Butler can not sing). But as a high schooler I didn’t have the language to explain why.
Ko-fi
08/08/2016
The Case for Critics
valeriemclean1919 DCEU, F for Fake, Kyle Kallgren, Movies, Orson Welles, Suicide Squad, The Nostalgia Critic About Film, About Other Art 0 Comments
“Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.”
— W.H. Auden
So, I saw Suicide Squad. It was okay. There were some issues with motivations, a few plot holes, some unnecessary scenes, but Amanda Waller and Deadshot were pitch perfect, Harley was a fair interpretation, and the Enchantress was a decent villain, if nothing we haven’t seen before. DC seems to be heading in the right direction, which makes me hopeful for the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League projects. It wasn’t bad.
Certainly not 26% Bad.
There’s a lot coming out about Rotten Tomatoes and how they may or may not be biased against DC Movies. That’s not quite what I want to talk about. I’ve seen a lot of anti-critic sentiment floating around over this, and just in general. I find this almost unsettling, mostly because criticism is kind of what I do here? And while I certainly lean more towards academic criticism than professional, the two are becoming more and more similar. In some areas, criticism is slowly becoming an art form in itself. But there are people who question why we need critics at all, if they’re not going to reflect the popular consensus? In my last “The Case For…” post, I had some video resources, and I have some this time too. First, we’ll be exploring Kyle Kallgren’s review of F For Fake which is a review of Orson Welles’ last completed film as Director. While most of the review is focused on the nature of art and its relationship to its creator, there is quite a bit about critics, called “experts” in this case, and their relationship with “fake” art. After that, I’ll be going back to the Nostalgia Critic with his video essay “When Are Critics Wrong?”, discussing the disconnect that sometimes happens between critics and audiences.
More →