Critical of the Critics

Who are you and what have you done to Ebert and Roeper? That was my first question when I went to my "At the Movies" link for the first time since its face lift and saw these two new fresh faced "NON-CRITICS" talking "CRITICALLY" about the movies. First is Ben Mankiewicz who is co-host of Turner Classic Movies and is related to practically every famous Mankiewicz in Hollywood. Then we have Ben Lyons who I guess is part of that classy network E-Entertainment and is the son of another "So-called" critic Jeffery Lyons.

So the major facelift that "At The Movies" pretty much changed from the "Ebert and Roeper" format was instead of having intelligent well-schooled critics talking about movies, we have a dumbed down version of that. I suppose the reasons for me not liking the "Two Bens" is their arbitrary reasons for not liking or liking the movies on their show. They're the kind of guys who might hate a drama for being too slow, or a foreign film for being too foreign. (Have they even reviewed a foreign film yet?) The show seems to pander to those who go to the movies for a cheap thrill.

After just reading two books from Francois Truffaut, and just starting a book by Pauline Kael, I've come to realize there is an artform to film criticism. These were books by people who were passionate about film and what each had to say. Lyons and Mankiewicz are too preoccupied with the sound bite, and I doubt they would have the skill to fend off any real critic such as Michael Phillips or A.O.Scott who were filling in for Roger Ebert.

Now this is not to say I don't like these two guys, for the record I'm enjoy Mankiewicz as a host on Turner Classic Movies, he's a nice contrast to the classical but stuffed shirt of Robert Osborne, and Ben Lyons, well I admire his hair style quite a bit. "Ebert and Roeper" and before that "Siskel and Ebert" stood for excellence in film and didn't dumb it down for the audience. They were intelligent, articulate and passionate which is why you tuned in. Their show was a simple one about the movies and I enjoyed it. If I wanted a bunch of talking heads with quick discussion points and no real insite (ala "THE CRITIC ROUND-UP") I would turn to CNN thank you very much.