the set-up
Reads, "Well, you can't say they didn't warn us." Gahan Wilson in the May 7 New Yorker. Pair with Anthony Lane's Spider-Man review. Except, the way I see it, he's the one exiting the theater, not me. Why does The New Yorker review such bad movies?
Pair with Paumgarten on (shudder) a restaurant called Morandi, "Tables for Two." Mike Twohy in same.
posted by zoe p. at 11:13 AM
5 Comments:
if you don't like marvel's spider-man, you won't like sam ramii's spider-man, but that's because he's chosen to honor the original characters and framing to such a commendable degree and not try to make it a too-original "film version." i still read my spider-man comics, and i start hyperventilating every time i see a commercial (venom!!! i get venom!!!). i adore anthony lane, but he's never struck me as a comic-book fan. i guess he reviewed this movie because he had to, and it shows.
i meant raimi; sorry. that's what happens when i get emotional.
I sense this is big issue for you, jp. I have no thoughts on Spiderman.
So, Spiderman aside, what struck me is that the cartoon rehearses exactly the way in which Lane or, more often ol' Denby, set themselves up for disappointment when they review certain films. You're right, the reviews often have a "because he had to" feel to them. But who makes these rules? Who enforces them? Break free, gentlemen!
i imagine david remnick makes these rules, but i could be wrong. i agree, though, that there was probably no need for one more spider-man review, especially of the third installment in a series of films that don't deviate much from their formula. so many excellent, little-known films are doomed to three-sentence blurbs in the "movies" section; it would make more sense for the magazine's film critics to use their space and clout to bring these movies to readers' attention, rather than whine for two pages about a movie everyone already knew about.
Exactly.
Like, Anthony Lane on Stanwyck, glowing but smart and informed. Everyone seemed to like it, too, including GreenCine. I didn't get an April 30 issue, but I think I caught an excerpt of Lane on the website. The excerpt was even better than the full essay . . .
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