Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Two Kinds of Movie Reviews I Despise

With the turnover of the year, I usually read more film reviews than usual in anticipation of finding some quality films on top ten lists to see. I've noticed the growth of two types of non-review/reviews that irritate the heck out of me.

1) The "This movie stunk/I wasn't much impressed and someone convince me otherwise" review. Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy. Sets up reviewer as arbitrer with the final word and depends on people who like the film to actually do analysis which can then either be cherrypicked or rejected without counterargument. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

Did I mention this was lazy?

2) The "this movie is either great or horrible, but I won't say which because I don't want to influence people who will decide for themselves or get into an argument with people who are wrong...did I say wrong...well, you and I reader know which--great or horrible--it is, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, but we just won't go on the record until there is a consensus upon which we can rest" review. Gutless, gutless, gutless, gutless.

Other than that, I enjoy reading most reviews, even if I don't agree with the take or estimation. I've even "gasp" been known to change my mind in the face of a good analysis.

Any other types of review templates irritate you?

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