Negative reviews prompt author meltdowns: Alice Hoffman. Lee Oi-soo. Alain de Botton. Ayelet Waldman. Previously on MeFi. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jul 1, 2009 - 30 comments

Shockingly, a novel about a Nazi officer who abets murder squads, transports Jews to Auschwitz, has sex with his twin sister, possibly kills his parents and then dies rich, old and reflective has caused a trans-Atlantic controversy among literary critics. Published in the original French three years ago, the English translation of Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones hit American bookstores this week. [more inside]
posted by zoomorphic on Mar 11, 2009 - 86 comments

The 1984 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Jan 31, 2009 - 85 comments

In only three years, IMDb commenter Fedor8 has written over 800 reviews, the majority of which are the most vitriolic comments ever put online. [more inside]
posted by Down10 on Jan 9, 2009 - 63 comments

The Village Voice and IndieWire have both put out their dueling film critic's polls this year, with Wall-E and Flight of the Red Balloon topping the lists, respectively. [Previously] [more inside]
posted by Weebot on Jan 4, 2009 - 16 comments

Lorenzo Semple, 84, has been a screenwriter for more than 50 years; his credits include "Papillion," "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor." Marcia Nasatir, 81, is a longtime agent and production executive, was the first female VP of production at United Artists, and produced films like "The Big Chill" and "Hamburger Hill." Together, they are the "Reel Geezers," offering irresistible film reviews on YouTube. To wit: Superbad, Iron Man, Sex and the City, Lars and the Real Girl, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Jun 11, 2008 - 27 comments

On Tuesday, A.V. Club critic Nathan Rabin's reassessment of the rabidly ambitious Perfume: The Story of a Murderer marked the culmination of his Year of Flops project, a reviewing marathon of 104 commercial and critical failures. Here's the index of the films, sorted into Elizabethtown-derived categories of good but luckless movies, ordinary losers, and disasters of mythic proportions. [more inside]
posted by Iridic on Jan 24, 2008 - 38 comments

Indiewire put out their second annual film critic's poll recently. There Will Be Blood tops the list, with Zodiac, No Country for Old Men, Syndromes and a Century, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days following behind. [more inside]
posted by Weebot on Dec 28, 2007 - 40 comments

"Not everybody's a critic." Richard Schickel bitchslaps the blogosphere (in response to this) and not for the first time. The blogosphere slaps back. (via)
posted by Horace Rumpole on May 21, 2007 - 49 comments

'In defense of film critics' posits that 'Film critics [unlike food critics, etc] are expected to be cheerleaders.' I guess we're not supposed to think it's odd that the piece was written by paper's resident film critic. He does ask at least one good question, though: why have so many truly awful [and poorly reviewed ] films done so well at the the box office this year?
posted by chuckdarwin on Apr 27, 2007 - 36 comments

"So I think we maybe have this sort of snobbish reputation. But we're just really honest, opinionated music fans." (via)
posted by bardic on Apr 30, 2006 - 178 comments

The Weekly Blurb - "Your dependable Hollywood quote whore." Probably by the same people who long ago brought us late, lamented Timmy Big Hands. And A Year At The Movies and Movie Megacheese. And, you know, something else.
posted by JHarris on Apr 10, 2006 - 21 comments

Looking for an ego boost? The fine people over at The Screenplay Agency are the place for you! No logline too stupid, no script too poorly written! Are you tired of agency after agency telling you that they don't want your 20 year old screenplay about how much you love peanut butter just because "It doesn't make any sense, and is written with crayon on a pile of dirty gym socks?" I know I was! Until I found out about The Screenplay Agency, who promptly accepted every criminally copyright infringing idea I threw at them until I just KNEW I was every bit as good I writer as I've always told myself I am. And all they asked of me was approximately $250 in fees paid to coverage agencies no one has ever heard of and which seem to be owned by the same company that owns The Screenplay Agency! Sure, you've heard of publishing scams like Publish America (part 2) thanks to the diligence of sites like Making Light and our own thread on the matter, but The Screenplay Agency is totally different! For one thing, they only rip you off boost your ego through screenplays. Now, some legitimate screenplay writers high and mighty hollywood types have gone and pranked this excellent automated delusion reinforcer. But don't let those spoilsports spoil your sport! (God, I am such a great writer. No wonder they loved my screenplay!) Go ahead and generate your own rave reviews!
posted by shmegegge on Feb 25, 2006 - 14 comments

Time Mag's 100 All Time Best Flicks Compiled by their OWN critics, of course. Hence no Kevin Smith masterpieces mentioned. The List also fails to mention some of the most popular movies of all time. It can't be right if it doesn't include the Wizard of Oz.
posted by PrincessLara on May 27, 2005 - 35 comments

Ten best film list a critique of the U.S? The venerable [some say notorious] French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema unveiled their ten best films of 2004 list recently. Other than their list typically leaning toward films by auteurs - such as Ingmar Bergman and Hou Hsiao-hsien [and Tarantino] - they also included The Village by M. Night Shyamalan. With that choice are they rewarding the artistic merits of the film [which most critics view as minimal] or are they making a statement about The United States? In short do they view the U.S. like the characters in the film - an isolated bunch of paranoid [Puritan] villagers living and acting off of their fears? Or is there some other reason they would choose the film as one of the year's best?
posted by Rashomon on Feb 24, 2005 - 38 comments

SPOILER ALERT: There's a movie out now that, like The Crying Game, depends for much of its impact on a plot twist. Are critics honor-bound not to blab that development to readers? (More Inside, including, duh, spoilers)
posted by soyjoy on Feb 8, 2005 - 65 comments

It's not quite fresh, according to mainstream reviewers polled by Rotten Tomatoes. But Christian Bloggers feel very differently. As one reports, I went into the movie expecting to be moved, but never to the extent that I actually was. But both sides seems to agree the R rating should be taken very seriously.
posted by alms on Feb 26, 2004 - 79 comments

A Critic's Coda. William Grimes, departing NYT food critic, gives an interview to Newsweek. "It’s like 'Groundhog Day.' You wake up the next day having eaten a four-star meal, you must go out and eat another four-star meal. And you get up the next day and you have to go out and eat another four-star meal." I think we've all been there before.
posted by adrober on Nov 25, 2003 - 17 comments

Nirvana to blame for industry's focus on image?
posted by boost ventilator on Nov 15, 2003 - 33 comments

Critics Gone Wild. Rarely do entertainment journalists have as fine an occasion to cut loose and shower their barbs as the opening of Gigli: "I fought the urge to punch someone once it finally ended." Not that anyone's surprised! Enjoy, if you get a kick out of scalding prose.
posted by scarabic on Aug 1, 2003 - 51 comments

Hey everybody, it's Appropriate Michael Savage's name for your own purposes day! With contributions from Haypenny, über, Neal Pollack himself, and much, much, more, all in response to these threats.
posted by kickingtheground on Jun 26, 2003 - 19 comments

Why Are The Six Best Restaurants in New York All French? Because William Grimes from the New York Times is a massive, provincial, toadying snob, that's why says so. [NYT reg. req.] With his haughty tone, architectural blatherings and whiney voice [Real Video link] he's undoubtedly my pet hate among restaurant critics, even though he obviously knows his stuff, not to mention a thing or two about cocktails [here is his take on the Martini]. My favourite critics are GQ's Alan Richman and the Anti-Grimes himself, a man who truly knows his food, Robert Sietsema of The Village Voice. What critics get your goat or vote? Which ones are worth reading and following? More importantly, which ones - or anonymous restaurant guides, like Zagat's, can you trust, if any?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Jun 10, 2003 - 36 comments

Chinese-art.com is a web-based portal site designed to provide.. [more]
posted by hama7 on Mar 16, 2003 - 4 comments

Ain't It Cool: Hollywood's Redheaded Stepchild Speaks Out is the title of Harry Knowles' recently published book. Written with Paul Cullum and Mark Ebner, the book is a biting, dead-on critique of the film industry. "If smart audiences can't find the smart movies that are out there, then it's only because they have been systematically alientated from movies over a hard-fought twenty years. Films didn't get stupid all on their own; they were beaten and bloodied into submission in the mistaken belief that it would generate greater profits."
posted by Mo Nickels on Apr 11, 2002 - 38 comments

The Bottom Feeders. Are these truly the 5 worst movie critics in America? Personally, Ebert gives me migraines and Joel Siegel makes me want to claw out my eyes. Who's your most hated movie critic?
posted by tankboy on Mar 29, 2002 - 30 comments

What are the critics smoking? This morning I'm shocked to see that one of the worst films ever created - Moulin Rouge - is being considered as one of the best films of the year.
posted by jacques67 on Dec 7, 2001 - 79 comments

As to be expected the dumb critics are ripping Lara Croft to shreds; I mean really tearing it a new orifice. Which means of course I must see this film. Major argument against? A hack plot designed only to engender scenes of mindless violence. Duh. It's not supposed to have emotional impact. It's just supposed to be fun. Did any of these critics actually play the game? What frightens me though is that Roger Ebert enjoyed it... I'm so torn...
posted by ZachsMind on Jun 16, 2001 - 50 comments

Columbia's movies suck so bad they had to make up their own critic! Newsweek has discovered that a "gushy" critic who has been quoted in Columbia's movie ads for almost a year is an invention of their advertising department.
posted by BGM on Jun 2, 2001 - 41 comments

Fun to be Clueless Literati in the L.A. area will no doubt like this take on the odd tastes of the Times Book Review section. For the rest of us, there's the fun of watching one paper try and stick it to another. Also, and interesting take on the role books play as a medium in this media-rich age.
posted by jasonsmall on Mar 8, 2001 - 5 comments

Literary Critics: "Charles Dickens, huh? Is he any good?" Slate's "Culturebox" (whatever) polls the lit-crit establishment to find out what they haven't read. Yeah, it's a Slate link, I know. Listen, shouldn't you be reading a book or something anyway?
posted by Skot on Mar 6, 2001 - 107 comments

The rock-critic "community" Jack Saturn and Jack Saturn manqués, ahoy! A young fella runs an entire site, Popped, dedicated to the art of rock criticism. And despite being from Toronto, he's not so prissy as to pretend he isn't a fan. Because those are the worst rock critics. If rock even matters anymore.
posted by joeclark on Oct 19, 2000 - 8 comments