Take 7
The Village Voice released their Take 7 poll, a survey of many film critics' favorites of the year. The #1 film was "A History of Violence", one of about five movies I saw at theatres all year. I even made an attempt at reviewing it.
An essay by head movie critic J. Hoberman points out the death of mass-appeal films, as there is nary a commercially driven, let alone commercially successful, film near the top films. Well, unlike the Voice's much more democratic Pazz & Jop music poll (this year's should come out sometime in February) it seems to me like the majority of critics polled in Take 7 and past polls are probably none too concerned about the dire state of the mainstream. The list is usually very foreign-centric, with a predictable obsession with China and Hong Kong. I'm not sure that this poll can be trusted to provide any kind of authentic evidence of the state of Hollywood.
Hoberman might be the worst of them. I rarely have the patience for his dense, how many French phrases can I impress you with style (Robert Christgau, the Voice's head music critic is dense but at least has something to say under there somewhere). In fact despite my tendency towards movie snobbery I often seek out what he pans and avoid what he praises. It just so happens that he thought "A History of Violence" was pretty darn good - I may have to rethink my opinion.
But if you're looking for movies that more than likely never played in Tampa - despite the best efforts of both Sunrise Cinemas and Tampa Theatre - you might find a film or two you'll be happy you chose over Grandma's Boy.
Posted by Joel at 12/28/2005 01:35:00 AM
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