classics update

Classic films our members are watching:

John J. Puccio reviews The African Queen (1951) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001/2002/2003)

Betty Jo Tucker and A.J. Hakari interview author Fred Wiebel, Jr. about Edison’s Frankenstein (1910)

Jeffrey Chen reviews The Gleaners and I (2000)

Dave Johnson reviews Undefeatable (1993)

Cole Smithey reviews That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

Felix Vasquez Jr. reviews Leon: The Professional (1994)

Marilyn Ferdinand reviews The Rapture (1991)

Roderick Heath reviews La Luna (1979)

MaryAnn Johanson reviews Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Sean Axmaker reviews The African Queen (1951), Bigger Than Life (1956), and The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

Phil Hall reviews Alice in Wonderland (1966), Pink Flamingos (1972), The Fantasticks (1964), and Multiple Sidosis (1970)

James Kendrick reviews Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999)

Glenn Erickson reviews Colorado Territory (1949), and Days of Heaven (1978), Rasputin and the Empress (1933), and Bigger Than Life (1956)

Rob Humanick reviews Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962)

TV update

TV shows and DVDs our members are reviewing:

Paul Mavis reviews Rhoda: Season Two

international update

What our members outside North America are watching:

U.K.
Rich Cline reviews Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang, Perrier's Bounty, Storm, Nightwatching, Lion's Den, Lourdes, and No One Knows About Persian Cats

Essay Question: Is it possible to teach film criticism?

OFCS members answer the question:

“Is it possible to teach film criticism? If so, what’s the most important advice you would impart to students about what to expect from the work?”

Answers after the jump.

OFCS member Mark Dujsik responds to Kevin Smith

Filmmaker Kevin Smith’s recent tirade against critics -- who savaged his film Cop Out -- has inspired plenty of reaction, including this open letter from OFCS member Mark Dujsik:

It's not personal. It's professional. Look at criticism as a necessary evil, if you must look at it disparagingly. I don't think you do. After all, you've delved into it yourself, as a guest host on the now cancelled "At the Movies" (twice), during your touring sessions, and in off-the-cuff remarks, like the one how Tim Burton not reading comic books explains his Batman.

Read the rest here.

classics update

Classic films our members are watching:

Dennis Schwartz reviews The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941)

Gabe Leibowitz reviews It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Ruggles of Red Gap (1933), The Prowler (1951), I Vitelloni (1953), and Breaking Away (1979)

Donald J. Levit reviews The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Sean Axmaker reviews Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy (2002/2003/2005) and Dillinger Is Dead (1969)

Glenn Erickson reviews Skin Game (1971), The Fallen Sparrow (1943), and Clash of the Titans (1981)

Roderick Heath reviews Docteur Jekyll et les Femmes (1981) and Brief Encounter (1945)

Ed Howard reviews Charleston Parade and The Little Match Girl (1927/1928) and Aleph and Chumlum (1964/1966)

Cole Smithey reviews Cemetery Man (1994)

Paul Mavis reviews SuperVan (1977)

TV update

TV shows and DVDs our members are reviewing:

Paul Mavis reviews The Real Housewives of New Jersey: Season 1 and SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob's Last Stand

international update

What our members outside North America are watching:

Australia
Anders Wotzke reviews Cop Out

Essay Question: Is it possible any longer to maintain the secret of a film's twist or surprise ending?

OFCS members answer the question:

In the age of Twitter and Facebook, is it possible any longer to maintain the secret of a film's twist or surprise ending? Will the easy dissemination of spoilers change how filmmakers make films?

Answers after the jump.

classics update

Classic films our members are watching:

Rob Gonsalves reviews The Last Waltz (1978) and The Lost Boys (1987)

Dennis Schwartz reviews La Pointe Courte (1954)

Donald J. Levit reviews Nosferatu (1922)

Phil Hall reviews World's Fair Encounter (1964) and The World of Sholom Aleichem (1959)

Cole Smithey reviews Midnight Express (1978)

Marilyn Ferdinand reviews Ordinary People (1980)

Glenn Erickson reviews Rocky Road to Dublin (1968), Gone with the Wind (1939), Major Barbara (1941), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Above and Beyond (1952)

Sean Axmaker reviews The Idiot (1951) and Eye Witness, Breakdown, Twilight Women, The Slasher, and Blank Generation (1950/1952/1953/1953/1979)

Roderick Heath reviews The Gorgon (1964)

John Nesbit reviews The Middleman (1976)

TV update

TV shows and DVDs our members are reviewing:

Sean Axmaker reviews the first seasons of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Matt Houston, and Stargate Universe SG-U

Paul Mavis reviews The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season Six, My Three Sons: Season Two, Volume One, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King: Season One

international update

What our members outside North America are watching:

U.K.
Anton Bitel reviews The Ape and Shutter Island

Ali Gray reviews The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rich Cline reviews The Kreutzer Sonata, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Ape, 1234, and The Shouting Men

Amber Wilkinson reviews The Kreutzer Sonata and No One Knows About Persian Cats

Essay Question: What does the firing of Variety’s film critics mean for the future of criticism?

OFCS members answer the question:

What does the firing of Variety’s staff film critics, and the statement by Variety editor Tim Gray that “it doesn’t make economic sense to have full-time reviewers,” mean -- if anything -- for the future of film criticism?

(Background on the issue here and here.)

Answers after the jump.

OFCS member/filmmaker Enrique Buchichio presents film at Miami Film Festival

OFCS member Enrique Buchichio presented his film Leo's Room (El Cuarto De Leo) this week in the Ibero-American competition of the Miami Film Festival. Please see the festival’s Web site for more information on the film.

The OFCS congratulates Buchichio on his inclusion in the festival.

OFCS member Marilyn Ferdinand’s film preservation blogathon is a big success

OFCS member Marilyn Ferdinand reports:

For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon, held February 14-21, was a huge success. An international crew of 77 bloggers, including OFCS members Tim Brayton, Rob Gonsalves, Ed Howard, Robert Humanick, and Betty Jo Tucker, contributed a total of 108 posts to the fundraising effort hosted by OFCS member Marilyn Ferdinand and Farran Nehme (The Self-Styled Siren). When all the contributions were tallied, the blogathon raised $13,095 for the National Film Preservation Foundation. The funds will be used for a large, as-yet-unannounced project. The blogathoners chose to restore a silent comedy from 1925 as part of the project and will be mentioned as funders in the credits of the final restored film.

Congratulations to Ferdinand on her tremendous effort.

classics update

Classic films our members are watching:

Dennis Schwartz reviews Pieces (1982)

Glenn Erickson reviews Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), The Neverending Story (1984), Lola Montes (1955), The Boy with Green Hair (1948), and Ballad in Blue (1964)

Roderick Heath reviews The Keep (1983) and War and Peace (1956)

Ed Howard reviews Horse Feathers (1932), The Face of Another (1966), and The End of Summer (1961)

John Nesbit reviews Matador (1986)

Cole Smithey reviews Frankenstein (1931)

William Goss reviews Manhattan (1979)

Steven D. Greydanus reviews Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)

TV update

TV shows and DVDs our members are reviewing:

David Cornelius reviews Studio One: Twelve Angry Men and Doctor Who: The Twin Dilemma

Paul Mavis reviews Alice in Wonderland (1966 BBC version), Lace, Lace II, Scruples, and Adam-12: Season Four

international update

What our members outside North America are watching:

U.K.
Anton Bitel reviews Father of My Children, The Marriage of Figaro, and Stone Bros.

Amber Wilkinson reviews 1234

Essay Question: Should Kevin Smith be more open to criticism?

OFCS members answer the question, suggested by member A.J. Hakari:

“In the past week or so on Twitter, Kevin Smith has taken a lot of critics to task for not ‘getting’ Cop Out, which has incurred some pretty poor reviews. I know I’d like to know what my fellow OFCSers think about the issue, whether he should be more open to criticism or at least handle it with more maturity than he’s been displaying on his Twitter account.”

Answers after the jump.

criticism news roundup

Vadim Rizoz at The Independent Eye implores critics to “put the ‘I’ in film writing.”

Tom Dowling, who works on the craft side of Irish filmmaking, wonders whether Irish film critics are “too kind to Irish Films.”

A British script consultant complains that screenwriters “rely on film critics to inform [them] about what films [they] should and shouldn’t see – and how badly served [they] often are!”

Filmmaker and film historian Michael Neelsen explores “The Myth of Objective Film Criticism.”

OFCS member Scott Weinberg delves into the mystery of “Variety and the Case of the Vanishing Review.”

Norman Lebrecht in New Stateman discusses the future of arts criticism.