The new iteration of “At the Movies” debuted this weekend with A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips. The duo tackled Shane Acker’s “9,” the Sandra Bullock comedy “All About Steve,” Guillermo Arriaga’s “The Burning Plain” (with a rather swift and wrong-headed assessment from b0th, I feel) and Mike Judge’s “Extract,” among others. Here’s an online exclusive that I rather enjoyed, the two critics discussing the films that hooked them and made them realize there was more to the medium than entertainment value:
Tag: A.O. Scott
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A.O. Scott revisits ‘Gattaca’
I must say I’m really enjoying the New York Times’s Critics’ Picks video series — the clips are short, sweet and to the point, the discussion in them lucid, and the selections impeccable. Occasionally rather imaginative, too, as with A.O. Scott’s latest pick of Andrew Niccol’s 1997 masterpiece “Gattaca.”
The film was sadly neglected on release, scoring a paltry $12 million gross (against a budget three times the size) and a solitary Oscar nod for art direction. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, however, to name it one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, one whose crisp, chilly technical trappings allow the unnerving human desperation of the story to shimmer through. (Jude Law, meanwhile, was robbed of every supporting gong going.) Happily, it seems to have gathered a number of devotees over the year; even more happily, we’re in good company with Scott.
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A.O. Scott on ‘Streetcar’
I linked to this in a round-up a few days ago, but seeing as there isn’t much going on today, and it’s one of my favorite movies, I figured I’d spotlight this Critics Picks segment A.O. Scott did for The New York Times on Eliza Kazan’s “A Streetcar Named Desire”:
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McWeeny on film critics who want you off their lawn
Boy I really need to get on the ball when an idea crosses my mind these days. Earlier in the week, Guardian writer Paul Harris beat me to the punch on an article I was spinning around concerning Hollywood’s attraction to post-apocalyptic narratives as of late. Now HitFix’s Drew McWeeny has penned exactly the same kind of curious exploration of mainstream media critics’ views of the American film-going public that I was hoping to get to this week.McWeeny nails it. In a nutshell, what the hell is it with the amount of hot air being blown by the self-important film criticism and journalism establishment toward audiences that have a right to go see what the hell they want lately? Roger Ebert, Jeffrey Wells (no surprise there), A.O. Scott and Patrick Goldstein have all recently tossed around the idea of a coming “dark age” of movie intelligentsia, arrogantly dismissed the preferences of American audiences, bemoaned an overall lack of interest in what critics have to say and, effectively, as McWeeny puts it, declared that you all get off their lawn.
I think there is a conversation to be had about American distaste in quality cinematic entertainment. I don’t think it begins with insulting working people with higher concerns than what to see on a Friday night, however. And I think the entire situation has pushed me that much further into an opinion I’ve held for a long time but never really had the guts to say in a public forum: Film criticism does not matter. Yours, mine, the next guy’s. It’s not precious, it’s not a commodity and it has slowly ruined the art of filmmaking by establishing a criteria of sorts and a hierarchy of perceived quality, boxing in what it sets out to celebrate.
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A.O. Scott remembers John Hughes as the Godard of a generation
I’m stilling a bit bummed from the news of director John Hughes’ sudden passing last week in New York. Even though he was years past his prime, these things come to mark the end of an era and signify an abrupt change that is, well, slightly unwelcome.The tributes and remembrances have been coming fast and furious, of course. But my favorite take so far has come from the newly tube-bound A.O. Scott, who penned this surprisingly thoughtful dedication in The New York Times over the weekend.
In remembering the Hughes films that molded a generation, Scott goes so far as to compare the director to French New Wave titan Jean-Luc Godard for his adeptness at harnessing the attitude of the populace. As I wrote in my brief last week, “Hughes got an entire generation.”
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There is a God
Is there anyone out there whose heart doesn’t leap upon hearing the following news? In an unusual triumph for journalistic ability over boneheaded determination, “At the Movies” is getting a fresh pair of hosts, less than a year after its disastrous makeover. Taking over from the dread Bens, Lyons and Mankiewicz, are the New York Times’ A.O. Scott and The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips. Via Variety:“We are thrilled that A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips will be lending their well-respected and influential voices to At the Movies,” said Brian Frons, president, Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group, who oversees ABC Media Productions, which produces the show. “They are regarded by millions of people as authorities in film criticism and will take the series back to its roots of one-on-one film debate that was established when the show first began with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.”