One of the reasons that “EW” is so inconsistent is that there are two film reviewers, Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum.
Checking the comment on how “EW” gives either the best or worst review:
“All the Real Girls”: EW gave A, tied with 3 other papers.
“Chicago”: EW gave A-, Mike Clark (USA Today) and Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle) gave A, Rita Kempley (Washington Post) and Todd McCarthey (Variety) gave B.
“Daredevil”: EW gave C-, Clark gave D, Ebert a B.
“Deliver Us From Eva”: EW gave C-, LaSalle and JoAnna COnnors (Cleveland Plain Dealer) gave B, Ebert D+.
“Gerry”: EW gave best grade, A-.
“The Guru”: EW gave B+, tying for best with Kempley.
“How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days”: EW gave C+, LaSalle B, Ebert D-.
“Jungle Book 2”: EW gave C, tying with 4 others for best.
“The Recruit”: EW gave best grade, B+.
“Shanghai Knights”: EW gave B, tying with 6 others for best.
Out of 10 movies, EW gave the (or tied for the) best grade.
SolGrundy: So he’s unqualified to offer criticism of the movies because A: he is less familiar with the source material than you are and B: his interpretation of the theme of that source material differs from yours?
By the way, I said that fans who were obsessed with the minutia were those who most strenuously objected, not that the objections were themselves obsessive minutia.
I had to reopen this thread because of a recent revelation on his website:
Apparently, Roger Ebert saw his first Harold Lloyd movie a week ago! :eek: He’s 63, probably the most-read critic in the US, a frequent visitor to multiple film festivals, and a genuine champion of older movies. How in the world does someone make it that long in his career without ever seeing a single film by Lloyd (who’s generally understood as one of the 3 Great Silent Comedians, along with Chaplin & Keaton). Mikio Naruse, I’d understand. Ditto Ousmane Sembene. Heck, I might even have a moment of leniency and understand Victor Sjostrom, Jean Grémillon, Dusan Makavejev, Dorothy Arzner, Theo Angelopoulos, or Hou Hsiao-hsien.
But Harold Lloyd?!?!?
That’d be like saying that I’ve been a reporter for ESPN for 3 decades but never actually watched a single Philadelphia Phillies game. Ever. Not once. Not even when they were in the World Series.
