Monday, October 02, 2006

Don't Believe Everything You Read

Roger Ebert is one of the most influential film critics out there and everyone wishes him a speedy recovery, right?

SO ROGER, WTF IS UP WITH THAT ONE-STAR RATING FOR ABBAS KIAORASTAMI'S "TASTE OF CHERRY"? (End of shouting.) (Gigli received 2.5 stars, btw.)

How can this masterpiece be called "excruciatingly boring"?

"Taste of Cherry", in case you haven't seen it, is a fun-filled, comical depiction of a hapless dog trainer's attempts at reigning in a rambunctious dalmatian. It is the kind of a film every family should see together at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Yom Kippur and Dusshera.

I think Ebert was never more wrong. ToC is the reason why God invented cinema.

4 comments:

GhostOfTomJoad said...

Off topic but this might interest you...

Check the write-up on the following link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2056809.cms

I read it in the TOI this morn. Generally a diatribe against bloggers, which seems to have been prompted by, as far as I can tell, nothing :-)

Alok said...

Yup, I agree. I think he got a lot of flak from people and his fellow critics (including another chicago critic Jonathan Rosenbaum who is a kiarostami fan) for that review.

btw, check out this review. It is generally considered one of the most important american films of last twenty years and ebert gives it a thumbs down one star!

km said...

Alok, I think Blue Velvet is that kind of film. One either loves it or one hates it (and I suspect people do both for the same reason.) But how can anyone, leave alone a film lover like Ebert, find ToC boring?

Ghost: Oh, that's just priceless. A national newspaper that lacks even basic grammar skills taking potshots at amateur diary-writers :)

wildflower seed said...

Well, Pauline Kael dissed 2001 when it came out. Clearly, someone should have dosed her kool-aid.