Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Critical Dig of the Week

David Edelstein: "With McG’s migraine-inducing jerky-cam and monochromatic palette (livened only by splotches of rust), Terminator Salvation puts the numb in numskull."

at 3:43 PM

5 comments:

Tulkinghorn said...

Edelstein, (who to me seems a snobbish font of received ideas) goes on later in his column to rail against George Bush, who, for certain people, is still the gift that keeps on giving.

His critical sense would be much improved by moving to Wichita and watching movies on DVD (or in uncomfortable theaters surrounded by teenaged proles)like the rest of us.

May 21, 2009 at 10:59 AM
David Chute said...

Ah, I see. You're saying that in his middle years DE is no longer in touch with The People or popular culture and has become an insulated, finicky snob. Or am I missing something?

May 21, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Tulkinghorn said...

I would put it more bluntly: He's a New Yorker with all the sins of that ilk, including an ineradicable provincialism that leads to writing about Bush in a review of a documentary about some hooker.

May 21, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Christian Lindke said...

Terminator: Salvation is a film that contains little or no sensible science. It contains little to no powerful emotional scenes. It further muddles an already muddled time paradox riddled series.

Oh, and it is also a fun way to spend an afternoon/evening surrounded by teenaged proles -- who weren't actually in attendance at the screening I went to -- but who are the perfect target audience.

DEs skills and pretense would be better suited to a review of the upcoming SHERLOCK HOLMES, a film that at least follows in an honored "literary" tradition (both in print and on film).

Did he really think Terminator: Salvation would be anything other than 6 minutes of dialogue and 90 minutes of explosions?

As for the jerky cam, T:S is less jerky than the past two Bourne films -- which have never matched the brilliance of Doug Liman's offering in the series -- and is better edited than those films as well.

All that said, I was mildly creeped out by the digital Governator.

May 25, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Christian Lindke said...

Oh, and the "big reveal" that DE "refuses" to divulge is revealed in the PREVIEW of the film. It is the point of the movie's title, SALVATION. Connor isn't the redeemed character, and if one doesn't know that John Connor is always protected by a terminator (in every film containing John Connor and the TV series) then that person has no place reviewing a TERMINATOR film.

It is fine to demure from spoiling an actual spoiler, but when one demures from the maguffin there's a problem with the review.

When Frodo comes into possession of a ... I don't want to spoil the reveal.

When Arthur attempt to draw the sword from the ... oh wait, I don't want to spoil anything.

When Pontius Pilate sentences ... oh, that's giving away the climax.

David Edelstein is ridiculous.

May 25, 2009 at 1:02 PM

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