Film critic David Edelstein wonders on the Vulture blog why "Oscar bait" movies can't be nominated for Razzies, which are awarded to the worst performances and films in Hollywood. Calling for nominations for performances such as Meryl Streep's in August: Osage County and the presidents of Lee Daniels' The Butler, Edelstein says, "I know such nominations would royally piss some people off, but what's the point of the Razzies if not to give offense?"
So say the critics anyway! Well, the critics who have joy and whimsy in their hearts and aren't soul-dead monsters whose chest cavities are full of nothing but discarded tin. Heh, sorry. Let's look at both sides of the debate!
We're Tarantino fans for sure, but a WWII movie about Nazi-killing Jews? We're a little skeptical, and the critics aren't helping our confusion.
The print vs. online media war wages on, and the latest skirmish was an internal one. It seems that New York magazine critic David Edelstein, when reviewing Adam Sandler's latest pastiche of things that never existed in the first place You Don't Mess With the Zohan for NPR's Fresh Air, said he took issue with a recent post on NYM's delightful Vulture entertainment blog. But now he's sent an email to the magazine's whole staff, as something of a clarification and an apology.
New York magazine film critic David Edelstein issues a bit of a mea culpa this morning, regarding Anthony Minghella and some not-so-pleasant comments he made about the late filmmaker's oeuvre. Last week he suggested that the English writer-director was perhaps artistically bullied by former Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein. Once Miramax got a hold of Minghella, Edelstein argued, Weinstein coerced him into directing high-gloss prestige pictures, Oscar-bait that didn't exactly sync up with the ragged little edge he showed in his first film, Truly, Madly, Deeply. Now, just a few short days later, Edelstein is recanting.
When Juno, the 16-year-old heroine of the movie being marketed hardest to my generation this holiday season, tells her best friend she's pregnant, the friend's first reaction is, "Honest to blog?" CLUNK. But in spite of being forewarned about that line in the movie's ubiquitous T.V. spots, and in spite of David Denby's New Yorker rave—"Juno is a coming-of-age movie made with idiosyncratic charm and not a single false note"—I still held out high hopes for alternastripper memoirist turned screenwriter Diablo Cody's collaboration with 'Thank You For Smoking' director Jason Reitman. But guess what? There are false notes aplenty in this trytoohardy movie. Honest to blog!
Our day-after breakdown of last evening's New York mag Oscar party at the Spotted Pig was so brutally detailed, we had to take a break and come back. In this second and final installment, the gals learn who Bill Hemmer is, discuss the spelling of former Jane editor Jauretsi Saizarbitoria's name (she's pictured, sparklingly, at right), and contemplate using the Spotted Pig as an apartment.
Well, we seem to have hit a nerve earlier when we called out New York film critic David Edelstein's takesies-backsies regarding his The Departed review, prompting him to admit that the review was "wussy." See, Mom, our job isn't totally pointless! David had time to mull this over, of course, because his correspondent, producer Lynda Obst, took her sweet time in replying to his (9:28) email. She is on the West Coast, but we mean, this is LIVEBLOGGING, people! Pick up the pace, Picante!
Every year, New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein and producer Lynda Obst correspond via email on the day the Oscar nominations are announced, and their ramblings are posted on the mag's website (this year, they're hosted by the Daily Intel). Yes, you heard right: email. We hear David had been really edging towards IM this year, but there was a last-minute glitch involving animated emoticons. Anyway, in the spirit of immediacy, we thought we'd liveblog our thoughts as we read David and Lynda's e-pistles.
Last week Ken Tucker announced he's quitting his job as New York's movie critic to return to Entertainment Weekly and the comfortable bosom of Time Inc. This week, Adam Moss & Co. make a quick recovery by snapping up Slate critic David Edelstein to fill Tucker's still-warm aisle seat.
