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tca press tour

Seth MacFarlane's Reign Of Offensiveness Now Includes AIDS Jokes About Karl Rove

Kudos today to James Hibberd, the Hollywood Reporter TV blogger who is perhaps the only reason we have any clue (or rather, care to have any clue) about the horrors unfolding presently at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Apparently the Florence Henderson/Ed Asner days are over, with the one-two punch of confirmed buddies Karl Rove and Seth MacFarlane taking over Monday as the off-color star tandem to beat.

First came Rove, who, with new Fox News colleague Chris Wallace, sought to defend the appropriateness of his hiring as an election-season commentator after he recently refused to testify to the House Judiciary Committee. "It is not between me and Congress; I have not asserted any personal privilege," Rove said. "It's between the White house and Congress." A few hours later came MacFarlane, who fell back on the quintessentially good taste we've come to expect:

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4:10 PM on Tue Jul 15 2008
By STV
4,471 views, 25 comments

Rants

It's Time: Kill the TCA Press Tour

As far as circles of hell go, we've already established you can't really do much worse than the Television Critics Association semi-annual press tours — the gaseous summer version of which is feeding the palms in Beverly Hills as we speak. But it's not just the bloggers and bitter ideologues who have ruined the bed-in between networks, stars and the writers who love them (until the expense account runs out, anyway); we're learning more today about why the TCA tour may have bottomed out earlier than predicted, featuring an opening cavalcade of virtually uncoverable has-beens and hypocrites who don't bode well for the future of, well, anything. From the WaPo: More »

4:00 PM on Wed Jul 9 2008
By STV
1,947 views, 6 comments

Latest by InkStainedWretch: Step off, Defamer. Don't you dare endanger the WGA's free food/free booze party that doubles as the only chance I have all season to see my fellow writers. Just don't. more »

the end of ideas

World's Dozen Remaining TV Critics Gather For One Last Strike-Addled, Blog-Ruined Party

As of today, our fantasy of an exotic lifestyle of TV criticism is officially over — beaten, bloodied and left for dead by Ray Richmond, who compares the debauched good old days of the Television Critics Association press tours to the nearly irrelevant confab starting tomorrow in Beverly Hills. It's the first such event since July 2007, back before last winter's conference was scuttled by the writers strike and mainstream media had begun shearing critics and culture writers from their ranks like slabs of fat. More »

5:30 PM on Mon Jul 7 2008
By STV
878 views, 2 comments

Latest by CrankYank: We don't watch TV, we watch HBO. And trashy reality shows. No dissing AfterElton, I luv me my gay media pontification and gossip. more »

dethroning the king

Is 'Hancock' Half-Cocked?

I'll admit it, I thought Hancock looked pretty cool. It's got a fun premise, a great trailer, good effects, Will Smith in full-on superstar mode, and even Jason Bateman. In short, it seemed like the perfect summer entertainment. Then, a few weeks ago that Variety review came out, and all was not well. Todd McCarthy said "this odd and perplexing aspiring tentpole will provide a real test of Smith's box office invincibility." Suddenly Hancock seemed a little shaky. If Hollywood's hometown paper didn't love it, who would? Well, opening day has finally arrived, the rest of the critics have weighed in, and it seems that Hancock is not just bad, but a big steaming pile of shit. It managed to scare up a scant 34% at Rotten Tomatoes and that's only slightly better than Drillbit Taylor! Stick around after the jump to read a collection of the prickliest critical barbs. More »

1:00 PM on Wed Jul 2 2008
By nickm
4,797 views, 24 comments

Latest by n/a: wait... both NY Times and New Yorker gave it a decent to pretty good review, as well as the Globe. Too soon to judge? more »

ask the critics

'Racer' Vs. 'Vegas': Which Would You More Rather Skip To See 'Iron Man?'

We've already made our case for why the Wachowskis' overstuffed Gran Turismo-on-Salvia fever dream and Kutcher and Diaz's feature-length sexual-health instructional film will likely limp their way across the box office finish line this Monday. But that still leaves filmgoers with a taxing dilemma: Which of the two movies would they rather see less? Clocking in nearly neck-and-neck in their bottom-of-the-class Tomatometer scores, it's anyone's race. Perhaps mainstream film critics—and the pun-loving headline writers who really sell the bile—can help you decide: More »

10:45 AM on Fri May 9 2008
By Seth
879 views, 10 comments

Latest by n/a: When deciding to go see "Speed Racer" or "What Happens in Vegas" The obvious answer is of course Iron Man, again if that's the case. more »

the reviews aren't in

Movie Criticism Inches Closer to Death as Angry MSNBC Readers Lash Out

After last week's caustic conflagration among film critics, we've been closely monitoring the heart rates of reviewers all over the country as even more fall away from the ranks. This week saw the departure of Matt Zoller Seitz, the New York Times contributor and House Next Door founder who stepped away to pursue filmmaking full-time. We wish Seitz all the best, because judging by this series of damning reader retorts to a recent MSNBC survey of criticism, his timing couldn't possibly have been better: More »

10:25 AM on Thu May 1 2008
By STV
1,099 views, 1 comment

Latest by OldTowneTavern: I think Seattle Tim made the case for publications to give their critics a raise, actually. more »

the reviews aren't in

Escalating Film Critic Crisis Enters Crucial 'Everything Sucks' Phase

Since film critics' heads began rolling en masse at newspapers and magazines a little over a month ago, the debate over the job's future has ignited deep thoughts from New York to Los Angeles. The discussion turned especially profound this week as a selection of esteemed critics moved on to slapping anyone and anything that would stand still long enough to absorb their blows. Follow the jump for our favorite sallies of critic-on-critic violence: More »

11:40 AM on Thu Apr 24 2008
By STV
2,214 views, 11 comments

spoiler alert

Newsweek Critic Celebrates Retirement By Spoiling Cinema's Greatest Endings

Since put-upon, soon-to-retire film critic David Ansen officially has nothing to lose by prattling on at length over at Newsweek, expect a lot more pieces like the one in the magazine's current issue. To wit: Hollywood movies have lousy endings! And: Here, let me give them all away!

Now that the summer season is (almost) here, along with the usual collection of sequels, comedies, converted TV shows and special-effects derbies, we can expect a deluge of happy endings—you don't build franchises on bleak conclusions. The very notion of a franchise film, however, almost guarantees that its ending be less than fully satisfying. If it were, why would we want to come back for more? ...
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11:55 AM on Wed Apr 23 2008
By STV
2,766 views, 5 comments

small times

All A.O. Scott Really Needed To Know, He Learned From His Kindergarteners

The heavily-reported decline of the American movie critic hasn't touched New York Times first-stringer A.O. Scott, who has gradually outgrown and stabilized our wildly fluctuating regard for him over the years. After a long period of wondering where he might have found all this new maturity and gravitas, a perceptive Scott reader points out today that like Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, James Agee and all the greats who preceded him, he simply stole from his kids: More »

11:35 AM on Tue Apr 15 2008
By STV
1,856 views, 11 comments

Latest by Little Mintz Sunshine: Can we get the little darling to explain why there is no director's commentary on "There Will Be Blood"? ...and "busman's holiday"? Dude, you type for a living. more »

the reviews aren't in

If Critics Aren't Dead Yet, Patrick Goldstein Will Finish the Job

If film critics are in fact a dying breed, we at Defamer would like to urge them to get on with it. It's a little cruel, we know; some of our best friends are critics, and we'll miss them terribly. But if we have to read another motherfucking article like the one Patrick Goldstein wrote today about the Demise of the Print Film Critic, we'll suck it up, go door-to-door and whack every reviewer we know our own selves just to make it stop. More »

4:10 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By STV
841 views, 4 comments

Latest by Mark Graham: @Dimo: He kind of looks like Sardo Numspa from The Golden Child. Brother Numpsey!+ Watch video more »

happy retirement

Bought-Out 'Newsweek' Film Critic Just Happy to Not Have to Sit Through Movies Anymore

The Great Film Critic Euthanizing of 2008 continued over the weekend with its highest-profile casualty yet: David Ansen, the highly respected 30-year veteran at Newsweek, joined 110 colleagues in accepting a buyout that Variety's Anne Thompson reports included "a sweetened pension, health coverage until age 65, and two years' salary." Plus he keeps a contributing editor title at the magazine, chipping in occasionally with reviews, features and whatever else Newsweek's fast-shrinking newshole can accommodate starting in 2009.

Amid firings, buyouts and retirements at dailies and weeklies around the country, Ansen is the first critic from a national publication to land in the execution chamber. But to hear him tell it, the afterlife could be a good thing:

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9:00 AM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By STV
1,829 views, 2 comments

Reacting late last night on Daily Kos to the news that daytime TV's Montel Williams Era was coming to an abrupt end, Brandon Friedman speculates that a recent Fox News Channel appearance, in which the former Marine decried his hosts' obsession (and, to be fair, that of the entire American media) with covering Heath Ledger over the Iraq war, might have had something to do with his show's whacking, as a non-renewal by a number of Fox-owned stations contributed to its demise: "Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break. Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job." There's more to the argument than that pullquote (he has video, and also readily recognizes that Montel might have already known his show's fate and decided to "cut loose"), but we'll end there to fuel conjecture that somewhere, a displeased Rupert Murdoch whispered to a lackey, "I want his career buried deeper than that instigator Sally Jesse Raphael's." [Daily Kos]

7 comments

awards

Clooney Hates Cheadle, And Other Critics' Choice Award Highlights

What kind of Bizarro Hollywood are we living in, where the Critics' Choice Awards could very well become one of the crowning moments of the 2008 awards season? We've never been so desperately in need of the SAGgies in all our lives! But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First, a round-up of last night's delightfully well-attended Broadcast Film Critics Association honors:
· No Country For Old Men took the most trophies—whose design fittingly looks like some kind of torture device Anton Chigurh might use—including Picture, Director, and Supporting actor. Juno and Hairspray took two lesser awards each. Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie took Actor and Actress, respectively. [AP]
· The last stars to arrive were also the biggest: George Clooney, then Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who managed to pry Angelina away from reporters before she could tell them about her desire to adopt America Ferrera, or any of this year's other Golden Globes orphans. [The Envelope]

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10:20 AM on Tue Jan 8 2008
By Seth
4,727 views, 5 comments

Latest by raincoaster: @fembot: and the heels! At a certain point, heels become ridiculous, and those ones are at exactly the point (take it from someone who works for Shoeblogs.com). more »

trade roundup

'The Jetsons' One Step Closer To Becoming Ill-Advised, Live-Action Motion Picture

· The Weinstein Co. (with help from their besties at Lionsgate) will release Michael Moore's documentary Sicko on July 29th, which should do for America's health care system what Bowling for Columbine did for a senile-seeming, rifle-loving Charlton Heston. [Variety]
· Hollywood Out Of Ideas, Even In The Prehistoric Past And Distant Future Edition: Robert Rodriguez is in talks to direct a live-action feature adaptation of The Jetsons, and has also met with Universal about Will Ferrell's adaptation of Land of the Lost. [THR]
· Universal lands its second Serious Actor for its The Incredible Hulk project, as Tim Roth is in negotiations to play Hulk antagonist Abomination and spend long hours discussing how best to portray the emotional torment of gamma-wave-poisoning sufferers in the context of a superhero film. [Variety]
· FX may pay up to $40 million for the TV rights to Spider-Man 3 for five years, but only once it completes it pay-cable run on Starz. [THR]
· Var TV critic and Entourage nemesis Brian Lowry is amused that his HBO stand-in, who'll be harassed by an aggrieved Johnny Drama in an upcomnig episode shot in the paper's offices, has an assistant. [Variety]

12:54 PM on Wed May 9 2007
By Mark
1,138 views, 15 comments

Latest by Trackback: Scott Towler has returned to us after two weeks in the Andes spent fighting a scourge of Colombian narco-terrorists. He arrives with nothing on his mind but animated content. That and freedom. 5. more »

movies

'House Of Wax' Bad Review Round-Up: Critics "Drip" With Sarcasm!

Today's release of Paris Hilton's most eagerly anticipated film to date, the much-hyped remake of House of Wax, has the critics polishing their celebutante-eviscerating knives. Here's the obligatory bad review round-up, presented in order of increasingly "dripping" sarcasm: More »

11:46 AM on Fri May 6 2005
By Mark
103 views

media

Overthinking The Jay Leno-Jacko Problem


Who says we have to choose? Can't Michael Jackson be the kind of creepy clown that gives kids wine, calls it "Jesus Juice," then shows them some porn as a warm-up to an inappropriate sleepover in his bed? Leno, on the other hand, can be the kind of creepy clown who devotes his monologue to "such topics as electrocution and prison rape" and jests "about the possibility of Jackson attempting suicide." First, cultural critics and pointy-headed types like Elaine Showalter should stay off our turf. Secondly, when did Leno's monologue get funny? Eh, we're not going to lose any sleep over it. We're sure his prison rape and suicide jokes are hacky anyway.

11:08 AM on Mon Mar 21 2005
By Mark
35 views

gossip

Owen Wilson Comes To Buddy Ben Stiller's Defense

In a letter in the current issue of The New Yorker, Owen Wilson defends on- and off-screen buddy Ben Stiller from getting pushed around by movie critic/big bully David Denby. (Click on the picture of the pals to see a scan of the letter or read the transcription below.) Unsurprisingly, Wilson's is a much more eloquent (and funny) response than the full-page attack ad that Rob Schneider unleashed on the LAT's Patrick Goldstein last week. Note especially Wilson's subtle invocation of the threat of violence, and contrast with Schneider's near-promise of bloodshed. In any case, we're witnessing a hot new trend being born in Hollywood—we're sure dozens of actors are learning how to write so they can publicly dress down unkind critics. More »

11:56 AM on Tue Feb 8 2005
By Mark
12,296 views

media

The Fat One And The Other One

From the NY Post's Sunday story on esteemed film critic Roger Ebert: More »