Book Fifty of the Book-a-Week QuestYour Movie Sucks
by Roger Ebert (2007)
I'll say this about Roger Ebert - while I may not agree with his views as of late (you really gave perfect 4-star ratings to Trucker and Ponyo, and 3 1/2-star reviews to The Men Who Stare at Goats, Big Fan, The Invention of Lying, My One and Only, Funny People, and Public Enemies?), he can certainly write a well-crafted review. That Pulitzer Prize-winning style is evident in Your Movie Sucks, a compilation of some of Ebert's zero to one-and-a-half star reviews from 2000-2005.
I must have some decent taste in film because I had only seen 24 of the nearly 175 movies reviewed in the book, and of those 24, I could really only disagree with his ratings on two of them (he really despised the ingenious Team America: World Police, and Dana Carvey's The Master of Disguise is the one of the best "awful movies" I've ever seen). While there's no review that particularly stands out, I must say that I enjoyed reading nearly every criticism (even if the book is heavy on the godawful "Teen Comedy" film genre).
It goes to prove that there's definitely some fun in writing awful reviews.
And for anyone that wants to criticize this as a "Book-a-Week" choice, feel free. But it was over 325 pages and Ebert doesn't shy away from using big words like "lugubrious" either.
I must have some decent taste in film because I had only seen 24 of the nearly 175 movies reviewed in the book, and of those 24, I could really only disagree with his ratings on two of them (he really despised the ingenious Team America: World Police, and Dana Carvey's The Master of Disguise is the one of the best "awful movies" I've ever seen). While there's no review that particularly stands out, I must say that I enjoyed reading nearly every criticism (even if the book is heavy on the godawful "Teen Comedy" film genre).
It goes to prove that there's definitely some fun in writing awful reviews.
And for anyone that wants to criticize this as a "Book-a-Week" choice, feel free. But it was over 325 pages and Ebert doesn't shy away from using big words like "lugubrious" either.
No comments:
Post a Comment