I recommend Next Exit, the debut feature from writer-director Mali Elfman, daughter of Danny Elfman. I saw it in July through the Fantasia International Film Festival.
"It’s easy to imagine a future where Who We Are is a staple for American classrooms"
so Scott: I understand the critique you make about these films, but when one can be as resonant and important and well-made as this film seems to be, yet not be a good documentary in your opinion (or not a good film, if you prefer), should we just be giving them a different category? it seems like they are inherently succeeding at what they are trying to do, are they not?
I think I'd say a doc like "Who We Are" does succeed at what it's trying to do, but the hope is that we'd want it to do a lot more-- or at least be able to express how unambitious it is *as a movie*. Were I to review the film, I'd probably give it a positive review on balance, just because Anderson is such a persuasive figure, but to see consensus put it as the third-best film of the year so far is bit much.
I am in a distinct minority on this one, but I fucking *loved* POMPO THE CINEPHILE. One of my only uppercase PROs this year (alongside LUX AETERNA, which I saw Cannes 2019 and might be a fest fever thing, and MAD GOD, currently #1 in The Movie Nerd Group).
I need to catch up on a lot of this year's films but i will say the big problem with Metacritic's rankings (and why i miss their in-depth round-ups) is that a lot of the high ranked ones tend to have lower review counts, which of course will push it up. Sometimes there's genuinely great ones but for a lot of docs and the like, they tend to benefit from not many people seeing them overall.
That's a very good point. I generally like the selectivity of Metacritic over the anyone-with-a-website approach of RT, but it can lead to low sample sizes and a lot of movement once new scores are added.
Though basically no one saw Benediction, I did, and it's still my favorite of the year so far.
Yeah, it's excellent. Davies rules.
I recommend Next Exit, the debut feature from writer-director Mali Elfman, daughter of Danny Elfman. I saw it in July through the Fantasia International Film Festival.
"It’s easy to imagine a future where Who We Are is a staple for American classrooms"
so Scott: I understand the critique you make about these films, but when one can be as resonant and important and well-made as this film seems to be, yet not be a good documentary in your opinion (or not a good film, if you prefer), should we just be giving them a different category? it seems like they are inherently succeeding at what they are trying to do, are they not?
I think I'd say a doc like "Who We Are" does succeed at what it's trying to do, but the hope is that we'd want it to do a lot more-- or at least be able to express how unambitious it is *as a movie*. Were I to review the film, I'd probably give it a positive review on balance, just because Anderson is such a persuasive figure, but to see consensus put it as the third-best film of the year so far is bit much.
I am in a distinct minority on this one, but I fucking *loved* POMPO THE CINEPHILE. One of my only uppercase PROs this year (alongside LUX AETERNA, which I saw Cannes 2019 and might be a fest fever thing, and MAD GOD, currently #1 in The Movie Nerd Group).
I need to catch up on a lot of this year's films but i will say the big problem with Metacritic's rankings (and why i miss their in-depth round-ups) is that a lot of the high ranked ones tend to have lower review counts, which of course will push it up. Sometimes there's genuinely great ones but for a lot of docs and the like, they tend to benefit from not many people seeing them overall.
That's a very good point. I generally like the selectivity of Metacritic over the anyone-with-a-website approach of RT, but it can lead to low sample sizes and a lot of movement once new scores are added.