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News & ArtsFriday, December 4, 2009
Film David Denby Defends David Denby
Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Anyway, yesterday, Denby posted his favorite 10 movies of the year—thanks for the warning!—and it was preceded by four unexpected paragraphs defending his Inglourious Basterds review. Maybe he has a sense of humor about not having a sense of humor about Inglourious Basterds—you kind of get that sense. You also get the sense he must've taken a beating for it among his friends. But he does a better job of explaining himself than he did the first time. Still: He's smart, he's interesting, and he's wrong.
* I'm joking. I know you can't be "wrong" about a movie. Let's move on.
1
Oh, c'mon. The odiously bebearded Denby aside, Basterds was awful. Wonderfully awful, granted, but really.
2
While I tend to agree with you on running away from Denby's pov, I find I agree with him on Tarantino. I would really like to see him make something original and not just one huge homage to his favorite former job in the video store.
3
Lindy's reviews of films are far more readable (and entertaining) than your review of film critics.
Your use of the word "wrong" is pompous - film reviews are a matter of opinion, not consensus. How else to explain the concept of cult hits? Are all cult fans "wrong?"
Your use of the word "wrong" is pompous - film reviews are a matter of opinion, not consensus. How else to explain the concept of cult hits? Are all cult fans "wrong?"
4
@3 Your comment about my comment is pompous. So there! But in all seriousness, I had an asterisk after "wrong" originally, and a footnote, which I then cut because everyone knows you can't actually be "wrong" about a movie--that I'm just teasing the guy because we consistently have opposite opinions. But maybe that didn't come through. I put back in the footnote. For you, Ackham.
5
So where can I find a "right" top ten list? Is it me or has 2009 been a super weak film year? I mostly like A.O. Scott at the NY Times but haven't found any real go-to critic. Rotten Tomatoes kinda works.
6
I have to say that I, too, agree with Denby on this one. While there were entertaining moments in Inglourious Basterds, I found its basic premise to be morally offensive. I am by no means a film critic, so I'll a review by Jonathan Richards that resonated with me:
"This is a movie that thinks cold-blooded brutality and torture are not necessary evils, or excesses spawned in the heat of battle, but the very epitome of cool. It's a celebration of the most bestial kind of toughness in the name of us-vs-them entitlement. You keep thinking you'll find Dick Cheney's name in the credits." (full review at http://tinyurl.com/yegmomv.)
"This is a movie that thinks cold-blooded brutality and torture are not necessary evils, or excesses spawned in the heat of battle, but the very epitome of cool. It's a celebration of the most bestial kind of toughness in the name of us-vs-them entitlement. You keep thinking you'll find Dick Cheney's name in the credits." (full review at http://tinyurl.com/yegmomv.)
7
"Like all the director’s work after “Jackie Brown,” the movie is pure sensation. It’s disconnected from feeling, and an eerie blankness—it’s too shallow to be called nihilism—undermines even the best scenes."
Sadly, Denby's right! I love Tarantino's movies, but they are spectacularly shallow enterprises.
Sadly, Denby's right! I love Tarantino's movies, but they are spectacularly shallow enterprises.
11
I find it hard to believe Denby still writes for the New Yorker. Compared to Anthony Lane, his reviews are so lame and his opinions so irrelevant, it's almost cruel that they keep publishing them.
12
Denby's line on Tarantino at the end of that review, calling him something like "idiote de la cinemathèque," should be in the first line of the director's obituary. Tarantino knows nothing but films (and soul music), which is why his work is terrible, not because he's "soulless" or whatever.
13
"He's smart, he's interesting, and he's wrong."
Well, you're right about the last one, anyway. He's stupid, he's dull, and he's always wrong. Like you, I always use Denby as my anti-indicator. If he liked it, I know I'll hate it, and vice-versa. The New Yorker runs his reviews because they somehow feel the need to counter Anthony Lane, who's always intelligent, funny, interesting and RIGHT.
Well, you're right about the last one, anyway. He's stupid, he's dull, and he's always wrong. Like you, I always use Denby as my anti-indicator. If he liked it, I know I'll hate it, and vice-versa. The New Yorker runs his reviews because they somehow feel the need to counter Anthony Lane, who's always intelligent, funny, interesting and RIGHT.
14
I don't give a damn about Tarantino's movie but Denby listed adventureland on his top ten and that movie seriously sucked some major diseased ass.
15
Tarantino effectively supplied this New Englander baseball-and-westerns-loving Heeb with a cathartic Sergio Leone movie about slaughtering Nazis. Denby lacks the capacity to fully appreciate this for a number of reasons, so I don't blame him for not loving every minute of it. If anything, I was frightened at how righteous I felt the Basterds to be, even as they committed a handful of atrocities. Geneva conventions aside, however, there is nothing morally callous about delighting in the fictional brutalizing of the worst individuals in the history of Europe. Denby's apparent concern for the wellbeing of French dairy farmers is charming, though.
16
Denby takes the safe middle road, which means he's always pretty boring. I take him as just another film critic out there. Sometimes I read his reviews, sometimes not.
Lane, on the other hand, is one of the best critics I've read. The essay he opens his collection of articles and reviews with, Nobody's Perfect, is one of the best pieces of writing on the relationship between criticism and film I've come across. Who else could start talking about the Pope having an action movie in a review of "Air Force One"?
Lane, on the other hand, is one of the best critics I've read. The essay he opens his collection of articles and reviews with, Nobody's Perfect, is one of the best pieces of writing on the relationship between criticism and film I've come across. Who else could start talking about the Pope having an action movie in a review of "Air Force One"?
18
I think you can be wrong about movies. It isn't a matter of taste. It's a matter of originality, of giving the audience something new and different (even if they don't want it), and, yes, of entertaining...but without being pandering. So there. I don't think any asterisk is needed.
And you are spot on about Denby. Except for the smart part. Just try and read his books Snark or American Sucker and you'll see what I mean (I don't even get me started on "Great Books" - one of the dumbest and most pretentious books about books I've ever tried to read).
I was dreading Basterds, but ended up loving it. Tarantino always seems to do that to me.
And you are spot on about Denby. Except for the smart part. Just try and read his books Snark or American Sucker and you'll see what I mean (I don't even get me started on "Great Books" - one of the dumbest and most pretentious books about books I've ever tried to read).
I was dreading Basterds, but ended up loving it. Tarantino always seems to do that to me.
20
Ok, i could be wrong, but I think he is the one who in the New Yorker reviewed the Will Smith crap fest Hancock and loved it, going so far as to compare Smith and Theron to.... Garbo and Bogart. For real. Yes, i barfed a little in my mouth and all that. I now read his reviews as satire only.
21
He loved Up so he must have some taste, but a critic loving a Pixar film isn't news. They are still producing the best, well thought out, most beautiful films of the age.
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