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If movies are niche, shouldn't critics be too?
Wed, Sep 30 2009 5:50 PM

The Playlist is a useful blog that aggregates the day's major entertainment news. They're also been dabbling in reviews, which is how I came across Drew Taylor's take on the acclaimed if by no means Romanian film "Police, Adjective," which is screening at the New York Film Festival. Taylor calls it "the most boring fucking movie that's... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Jonathan Rosenbaum, New York Film Festival 2009, NYFF, The Playlist, Ain't It Cool, Police Adjective

Buying in and selling out.
Fri, Sep 18 2009 5:30 PM

The Toronto International Film Festival ends tomorrow, but most journalists have already skipped ahead to extrapolating trends. There's much loose talk about potential Oscar front-runners -- "Up In The Air" apparently has a lock -- and much free-floating despair about the tough climate for making, purchasing and marketing indie films. But at least... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Steven Soderbergh, Werner Herzog, Todd Solondz, Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, Toronto 2009, Chloe, Atom Egoyan, Ivan Reitman, The Informant!

"At The Movies" about as good as it could be.
Tue, Sep 8 2009 4:16 PM

We're a long way from Siskel & Ebert, but the new "At The Movies" -- featuring The New York Times' A.O. Scott and The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips -- is on the air. They are, of course, the replacements for the short-lived, universally reviled duo of the Bens (Lyons and Mankiewicz); Mankiewicz himself didn't seem to get people... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, At the Movies, Michael Phillips, A.O. Scott, Big Fan, The Burning Plain, All About Steve, 9

Film critics gone wild.
Tue, Sep 1 2009 1:00 PM

Actually, that's a misleading headline if there ever was one, considering that A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips look more buttoned up than ever in this promo for the new season of "At the Movies." But after a year in the wilderness, I share the excitement of Karina Longworth and Anne Thompson in seeing the film critics from the New York Times and... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Watchy, Ben Lyons, Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies, Michael Phillips, A.O. Scott

"Halloween II" is, theoretically, awesome.
Fri, Aug 28 2009 11:40 AM

I love Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects." I think it's one of the 30 best movies of the decade. But, according to my critic peers, that can't possibly be the case, because we're all horrific snobs -- or so the studios think. Dan Kois at New York is done with what he calls "the Summer of Film-Critic Irrelevance." Since... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, critics, Rob Zombie, Halloween II, The Devil's Rejects, G.I Joe, Rex Reed

How Rotten Tomatoes has changed film criticism.
Wed, Aug 19 2009 9:40 AM

The uproar Armond White raised by panning "District 9" has raised a lot of interesting points about The State of Film Criticism. It prompted Slate's Daniel Engber to fret over his original pan of the film; being one of the few dissenting voices on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes was, he wrote, "beginning to make me nervous." So Engber... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, District 9, Armond White, Jonathan Rosenbaum, J. Hoberman, Rotten Tomatoes, Slate

Armond White and the art of trolling.
Sat, Aug 15 2009 2:10 PM

There are really two kinds of people who care about constantly controversial New York Press critic Armond White. There are those who care about keeping up with film criticism regardless of what the movie is; White's a veteran critic, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, etc. He is Important, and you read him. And then there's the rabid geek who... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Roger Ebert, Transformers 2, District 9, Armond White, Glenn Beck, Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaur

The critic and the pirate.
Mon, Apr 6 2009 2:09 PM

Coming to an airport romance novel shelf near you? Roger Friedman, critic/columnist for Fox News online, caused as big a stir as a film critic seems able to these difficult days when he posted a review of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," having illegally downloaded the leaked, unfinished version of the film. The internet immediately went into paroxyms of... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, critics, News Corp, 20th Century Fox Film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Roger Friedman

The year in top tens.
Thu, Dec 11 2008 12:18 PM

IFC Films' Keaton Kail has been so kind as to pass along the following endearingly obsessive spreadsheet he's put together ranking the year's films by their mentions in critic top ten lists. I'll be resurfacing this post each week or so with updates as the lists continue to be unveiled. Here's the big breakdown (click on the image to see it... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, top tens, charts, 2008 in review

Manohla Dargis is mean.
Wed, Dec 10 2008 4:52 PM

Or so says Patrick Goldstein at his blog at the LA Times, deeming her a "movie killer" and adding: It's an open secret in indie Hollywood that no one wants Manohla Dargis to review their movie, fearing that the outspoken critic will tear their film limb from limb. It's the ultimate backhanded compliment, since what they really fear is Manohla's... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Manohla Dargis, The Reader

All thumbs™.
Tue, Nov 11 2008 11:51 AM

RogerEbert.com has switched over from the usual four star rating system to a mix of stars and thumbs, which makes for an interesting repurposing of the two digit approval system over which the critic got into a tiff with Disney. The thumbs, which have been sort of replaced by "See It/Skip It/Rent It" on the new incarnation of "At the Movies,"... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Roger Ebert, At the Movies

Same old song?
Mon, Sep 8 2008 2:55 PM

The heart of the newest issue of Cineaste is a massive symposium on that favorite topic of debate of film writers -- print criticism versus online criticism, critics versus bloggers, and on and on. I'll 'fess up to only scanning it -- this used to be a treasured topic of mine as well, but lately it's seemed awfully insular, much retreading of old... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch

The Roger Ebert of our age.
Fri, Aug 22 2008 2:35 PM

Or could he be more the Gene Siskel? Clearly, he's aiming for both... Ben Mankiewicz better watch his back. The new season of "At the Movies" starts September 6, for anyone playing along at home. + Video: My break out in "House Bunny" (BenLyons.com)... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Watchy, Ben Lyons, At the Movies

Mourning Manny Farber.
Wed, Aug 20 2008 2:04 PM

More on the passing of critic Manny Farber: J. Hoberman at the Village Voice (alongside a reprint of his 1981 essay "Termite Makes Right"): Farber wasn't like other critics. He didn't proselytize and he didn't create systems. Rather, he articulated his idiosyncratic perception, which is to say: He had a sensibility. Farber was as punchy... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Memoriam, Manny Farber

Termite art.
Mon, Aug 18 2008 4:38 PM

Manny Farber, critic and artist, passed away last night at the age of 91. From Glenn Kenny at Some Came Running: What I found, and find, most valuable in his criticism is his ability to apprehend the entirety of a film--he got it from every angle. He could appreciate a B war picture in the same sense that the guy on the street could, while fully comprehending... Read More...

by IFC.com - Indie Eye

Filed under: Critic watch, Memoriam, white elephant art, Negative Space, Termite art, Manny Farber