Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Jeffrey Lyons, "Critic", on I'm Not There

The brilliance of this man...



Really, nobody else need ever write another word about the movies. Put down your quill J Hoberman. Stop typing Armond. Don't even think about it Nick Davis (I saw you thinking about it). For what is there left to say? And another thing: Can something be done immediately about this Alison Bailes woman? Who does she think she is with her high falutin' "cinematic references" talk. Stop her!!! [/sarcasm]

16 comments:

John T said...

Yeah, but why stop at asking Todd Haynes to learn filmmaking from Ray. I'm sure that those hacks like Welles, Bergman, Godard, Scorsese, and Polanski could sure learn a thing from watching the great modern filmmakers like Paul Haggis.

Anonymous said...

WTF? Amazing. And they get paid for that.

Even sadder is the fact that Ray got nominated for Best Picture. I'm Not There most probably will not.

TALKING MOVIEzzz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nick M. said...

The only time I see Jeffrey Lyons is when I'm taking a long cab ride and he pops up on the monitor. He's irritably idiotic.

Oh, and his son...well, here's a story about little Ben Lyons. Last year he was covering the Globe Globe nominations for E! and in the post-nomination discussion, he seemed baffled and disappointed that one of his favorite movies of the year, The Da Vinci Code, was snubbed. Now, I suppose I can deal with an entertainment journalist enjoying trash like The Da Vinci Code, but do some research buddy! Is it that hard?

Nepotism is the worst--especially when the patriarch is barely qualified as well.

RJ said...

Him and his son should be banned from film criticism. I hate them both.

The Jaded Armchair Reviewer said...

Someone should show him Ellen Burstyn's "I'm old!" scene from Requiem for a Dream because his protests are sounding an awful lot like it.......

Anonymous said...

You know what: I think all you film snobs are forgetting one thing FILMS ARE SUBJECTIVE> Can't you get that through you're thick HEADS> Damn. I happen to like Ray and I didn't like I'm NOT There. I will relinquish in joy if I'm Not There is NOT nominated.

Deborah said...

He's whining. In a whiny tone. Whiny whining. Is that considered criticism now?

"But I wanted it to be that..." What? What? Watch the movie you're watching, and like or dislike it based on its own merits, not based on the movie you wished you were watching instead.

NATHANIEL R said...

anonymous -- i didn't love I'M NOT THERE and I can understand why it turn some people off.

... but the point is that Lyons is not even trying to do the job of film criticism. he's not engaging with the cinema at all. he's just complaining.

Anonymous said...

she should have said something like, "so you're a member of BFCA then?"

adam k. said...

Just... why is it people like THIS who have the jobs? Why?

And is it totally cynical of me to suggest that perhaps the woman's contrary opinion was driven more by a need to have the show be interesting and have the two argue than by her genuinely engaging with and loving the film? She just didn't seem that passionate in her defense... more like she was playing the role of "real critic" to give some drama to the dialogue.

Oy.

Anonymous said...

Well I didn't really care for "I'm Not There," either, but why should Jeffrey Lyons have anything against nepotism? This is his dad:

http://tinyurl.com/3aq99k

El Gigante said...

I don't know whether to be embarrassed or horrified by this lazy piece of "criticism." It's fine that he doesn't like the movie but saying because it's not like Ray is an incredibly weak argument.

Matt Sigl said...

Lyons doesn't even understand what Haynes' is trying to do. He doesnt try to. Hate the movie? Great. But show some level of intellectual rigor when you trash it! It's strange that this "official critic" gets paid for his job when far better film criticism is made by bloggers like yourself and countless others. Lyons is just a bozo. The popular ones usually are. Ever try reading Ebert's reviews? Drivel. Not as egreiously awful as Lyons but schockingly bad from a person who for most Americans IS the face of film criticism.

Anonymous said...

Lyons is the biggest tool. Ever.

Anonymous said...

And just for the record, Armond White is utterly useless with a Spielberg fetish bordering the pathological.