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Y'know how I've sometimes said that one of my favorite critics is CHUD.com's Devin Faraci? That he's so entertaining, even though I violently disagree with about 1/4 of everything he says? I see him as the flip side of Harry from aintitcool.com, who constantly exudes a charming child-like passion for movies, which sometimes means he likes too many things (sorry, Harry, the TEXAS CHAINSAW remake is not and will never, ever be a good movie. Ever.). Devin, on the other hand, is a smug, arrogant, snarky prick who's incredibly picky, analytical, and opinionated above all, which is great considering I agree with him most times. In fact, more often than not I've posted links to his reviews and rants here. Here's an example of his other stuff:
"Nostalgia is the Mind Killer," or "You're an Idiot for Loving THE GOONIES."
And y'know, he does bring up several good points. It's absolutely important that artists and fans not be blinded by unthinking nostalgia for something that was never any good in the first place. And yes, I can sadly, easily imagine future generations longing for the good ol' days of LOONATICS or something.
But on the other hand, I kinda have to wonder... what about people like Tarantino, Scorsese, or the SHAUN/HOT FUZZ guys? They've taken their nostalgia for things which were arguably never any good in the first place (they filmed major portions of a movie around BAD BOYS II, I rest my case) which have ignited their imagination and influenced them as artists and made new--and possibly better, in some cases-- works based on that. And no one can argue that the majority of real grindhouse movies are any better than THE GOONIES or HOOK, can they?
Of course, not everyone is a Scorsese, obviously. Nor do I have a cohisive rebuttal to Devin's rant here, which does, again, bring up several good points. I just wanted to raise a few questions against his all-encompassing bitterness toward this issue. Because this is less of an objective essay and more a drippingly venomous rant of repressed resentment. Not to mention (kinda typically) smug and arrogant, in that much of his argument seemed based around the "fact" that THE GOONIES sucks dick, and he's the only one to realize it. And I'm not going to begin to defend that movie, either. That's not the point.
This is why I prefer aintitcool.com over CHUD.com. Because at the end of the day, I'll take people having joyous, child-like passion over a little too many things than joyless, opinionated, sarcastic rants over a little too many things.
And besides, I can always discount anything Devin says that I don't like by reminding myself that he loved FANTASTIC FOUR and hated BATMAN BEGINS.
Speaking of several of those above-mentioned points, and God help me if I can tell you on which side it falls, the aintitcool side or the CHUD side...
The *new* trailer for FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER.
Oh God. Ohhhh God. Shit. Shit. Stupid storm cloud Galactus or no stupid storm cloud Galactus, I... I may just have to keep an open mind, against ALL frelling logic of everything against this movie's favor. Guh!
(Also, I kinda like Doug Jones' voice as the Surfer. Aren't they going to re-dub him over with Laurence Fishburne? If so, I dunno, I think it might be the wrong choice, based on this alone)
"Nostalgia is the Mind Killer," or "You're an Idiot for Loving THE GOONIES."
And y'know, he does bring up several good points. It's absolutely important that artists and fans not be blinded by unthinking nostalgia for something that was never any good in the first place. And yes, I can sadly, easily imagine future generations longing for the good ol' days of LOONATICS or something.
But on the other hand, I kinda have to wonder... what about people like Tarantino, Scorsese, or the SHAUN/HOT FUZZ guys? They've taken their nostalgia for things which were arguably never any good in the first place (they filmed major portions of a movie around BAD BOYS II, I rest my case) which have ignited their imagination and influenced them as artists and made new--and possibly better, in some cases-- works based on that. And no one can argue that the majority of real grindhouse movies are any better than THE GOONIES or HOOK, can they?
Of course, not everyone is a Scorsese, obviously. Nor do I have a cohisive rebuttal to Devin's rant here, which does, again, bring up several good points. I just wanted to raise a few questions against his all-encompassing bitterness toward this issue. Because this is less of an objective essay and more a drippingly venomous rant of repressed resentment. Not to mention (kinda typically) smug and arrogant, in that much of his argument seemed based around the "fact" that THE GOONIES sucks dick, and he's the only one to realize it. And I'm not going to begin to defend that movie, either. That's not the point.
This is why I prefer aintitcool.com over CHUD.com. Because at the end of the day, I'll take people having joyous, child-like passion over a little too many things than joyless, opinionated, sarcastic rants over a little too many things.
And besides, I can always discount anything Devin says that I don't like by reminding myself that he loved FANTASTIC FOUR and hated BATMAN BEGINS.
Speaking of several of those above-mentioned points, and God help me if I can tell you on which side it falls, the aintitcool side or the CHUD side...
The *new* trailer for FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER.
Oh God. Ohhhh God. Shit. Shit. Stupid storm cloud Galactus or no stupid storm cloud Galactus, I... I may just have to keep an open mind, against ALL frelling logic of everything against this movie's favor. Guh!
(Also, I kinda like Doug Jones' voice as the Surfer. Aren't they going to re-dub him over with Laurence Fishburne? If so, I dunno, I think it might be the wrong choice, based on this alone)
