Another conniption fit from Richard Schickel--this time about film criticism.

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2010/03/over_the_hill.php

After a recent takedown of the late Robert Altman, film critic/hagiographer/professional scold Richard Schickel [who, at his best, gave the world the 70s PBS miniseries THE MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES and made the restored-and-expanded reissue of Sam Fuller's THE BIG RED ONE possible] lurched into action at a recent film critics' panel at UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater at West L.A.'s Hammer Museum recently.

I'll sort-of-agree with Schickel that nowadays newspapers and magazines want film critics to be
cheerleaders for current mainstream product (evidencing the career of Betsy Sharkey at
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES).

But Schickel can't help but to blurt out dumb insults of online film critics (that he allegedly doesn't read) and defame Ain't-It-Cool News founder Harry Knowles solely for his physical appearance.

As I said in the Hollywood Elsewhere comments section, Schickel--in a perfect world--would be best off founding a website/critics' blog (a la Glenn Kenny's SOME CAME RUNNING) with, say, ex-NEWSWEEK critic David Ansen.

Then, Schickel (provided he was willing to do the work) could write only about the current domestic and international films that come up his personal standards.

Cinematic Underachievers of 2009.

In no particular order:
1. DRAG ME TO HELL--Sam Raimi got some ecstatic reviews for this underwhelming
cursed-woman-tries-to-get-uncursed tale, which at least occasionally evokes 60s American
International Pictures/William Castle product.
2. NINE--Someone needs to tell Rob Marshall that audiences post-CHICAGO are more
comfortable with movie musical conventions and the numbers-taking-place-inside-the-character's-head motif isn't necessary. And enough with the cross-cutting between the
numbers and "reality" already!
3. THE ROAD--Apparently interfered with by the Weinstein Company, John Hillcoat's
adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's man-and-boy-on-the-Post-Apocalyptic-Trail novel doesn't quite hit
the stark-but-human notes that THE PROPOSITION (Hillcoat's previous film) did.
4. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE--Spike Jonze's film of the Maurice Sendak book
(apparently also interfered with by Warner Brothers--witness the obvious tacked-on
ending) meant well and had some great voice work from the actors playing creatures.
But the oh-tres-hip decision to include a grating song score from Karen O (ironically, the Arcade Fire song used in the trailer worked much better) is enough to qualify this as an underachiever.
5. WHATEVER WORKS--After Woody Allen made VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA his best film in a decade, he returned to New York and gave the world a dinner theater-level comedy which would have worked a lot less without Larry David in the lead role.

Cinematic Underachievers of the 2000s.

When filmmakers don't try as hard as they should or try too hard (or, in some cases, make what they think someone else will like); here's a list in no particular order:
1. DOMINO
2. SPIDER-MAN 3
3. BIG FISH
4. PAYCHECK
5. THE ISLAND
6. THE BAD NEWS BEARS
7. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE/THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE
8. ELIZABETHTOWN
9. THE WEATHER MAN
10. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

Tarantino/Jarmusch: when critics fall out of love with auteurs.

For me, Quentin Tarantino descended from the relative recent heights of the KILL BILL duology to the fitfully effective DEATH PROOF (which I only saw in its shortened GRINDHOUSE version). And his new INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (a loose remake of a late-70s WWII exploitationer with Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson) is getting mixed responses after a Cannes Film Festival screening: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2009/may/20/cannes-film-festival-tarantino-inglourious-basterds

Re BASTERDS, I'm guessing Universal Pictures will insist on trimming the current near-2.5 hour length of the film--which may lead to some fascinating moments of Tarantino screaming and stomping around editing rooms like a man in a Godzilla costume on a miniature set of Tokyo.

The deadpan minimalism of Jim Jarmusch (which was shown at its best in STRANGER THAN PARADISE, DOWN BY LAW and MYSTERY TRAIN) has also been taking a series of baseball bats to the kneecap; here are two reviews of Jarmusch's THE LIMITS OF CONTROL--one from VARIETY fuddy-dud Todd McCarthy and the other from perpetual trend-chaser Peter Travers of ROLLING STONE:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940105.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/25457986/review/27918907/limits_of_control