"Critics? The only thing that would satify me with respect to critics would be revenge," expostulated gently, as was his wont, Lee Strasberg to his acting class. (For anyone who might be too young, or indifferent to theater, to recognize the name, Lee Strasberg was the actor who played the Jewish gangster in Coppola's GODFATHER II; he was the character in that story, a character from real life New York gangster history, who was shot dead by rival gangsters at the airport. Oh, and Strasberg, also, was co-founder of the Actors Studio. When he wasn't getting Academy Award Nominations for acting, he was teaching his private acting classes, which I attended over a 13 year period, with gaps, as well as attending sessions at the Studio as an 'Observer.'
Critics, you see, don't have eyes for acting: nearly all of their attention is on movie stories, what happens, and almost never on how what happens is performed. For example, reviews in the LA Times, and in The New Yorker, dwell on the politics of the story in the movie MUNICH, directed by Steven Spielberg, particularly on the real life character's notions about what they thought they were doing in assassinating the Palistinians who murdered the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.
If the critics sound luke warm about MUNICH I believe the cause might be politics, not art. We are all quite capable, I believe, in figuring out our own politics without help from movie critics. Therefor, please, see MUNICH as 'theater' not politics, and have a splendid experience at the movies because of the terrific writing and excellent acting. I never thought I'd say this about a Spielberg movie, but there it is on the screen, top flight acting and screenplay writing. PLEASE SEE THIS MOVIE. If you've hesitated, and now go see the movie I strongly believe you will thank me. (Don't, of course, take children. We took the children to KING KONG. The atrocious acting in that film, excluding that by the fine actress playing the damsel in distress, resulted probably from rotten direction by P. Jackson, the silly fat man who made a mess of the fantasy movie the name of which I've deliberately forgotten forever.)
The house was almost full at MUNICH, and half empty at KING KONG. I pray for a miracle and Best Picture for MUNICH.
Barry
4 comments:
I dont go to the cinema..but wait in anticipation for the DVD to be released - will by it because of your recomendation... Dont pay any heed to critics I like to make my own mind up...Ally
http://journals.aol.co.uk/ally123130585918/Lifewithally
If the critics sound luke warm about MUNICH I believe the cause might be politics, not art. We are all quite capable, I believe, in figuring out our own politics without help from movie critics.
Barry
I do not go to the movies often either and mostly wait until I get my hands on the DVD for a movie.
As to critics: I have often noticed that critics base their view more on the politics of the movie, the religion, or any of the controversial material that is in a movie.
I have yet to hear a critic talking about the art of the movie making or the actors performing the art of acting.
One critic once said that certain actors are good for a part but others not, that I think was the closet I ever heard anything said about the actors.
When I watch a movie, I watch it for the story first, the actors second, and for the technical display third. A movie is only as good as the actors make the character believable and the writer makes the story understandable. The director needs to be able to use both the story and the actor to create a feasable display that we viewers can enjoy. Without all that the movie is nothing.
Did you ever learned to do some Shakespearian plays Barry?
I think that actors who have acted and learned Shakespeare are the best actors.
BEA
I love an intense movie.
> "I love an intense movie."
Comment from ladeeoftheworld - 1/11/06 5:13 PM
Me too. I like it to be so intense I forget
the artificiality, the flicker, the mistakes,
the jump cuts, the distorted sound, and
the actors whose career depends of pulling
the same faces all the time. Ha ha ha ha ha...
Barry
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