Critics

From 'Men In Black 3' To 'American Idol': The Week's Harshest Reviews

Posted 05.26.2012

Read More: Hollywood Buzz, Men in Black 3, American Idol Reviews, Men in Black 3 Reviews, Chernobyl Diaries, Slideexpand, Chernobyl, Video, Week in Ouch, Summer Movies, American Idol, Critics, Bad Reviews, Entertainment News

On Wednesday, "American Idol" crowned its new champion, Phillip Phillips, a 21-year-old crooner from Georgia. However, not everyone was pleased with P...

Read Whole Story

The Artist Vs. The Critic

Howard Sherman | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Theatre, Theater, Criticism, Critics, Reviews, Theater Critics, Metropolitan Opera, The Australian, Met Opera, Met Opera Opera News, Opera News Reviews, Opera News, Peter Gelb, Officer and a Gentleman, Culture News
Howard Sherman

Artists writing to newspapers to complain about reviews is hardly a new phenomenon. However, in my experience, it's an impotent gesture at best and a counterproductive one at worst.

Read Post

Why Can't Art Be Instructive?

Carla Seaquist | Posted 03.16.2012

Read More: Literature, Playwrights, Art, Playwriting, The New Yorker, Afghanistan, J. T. Rogers, London Theater, Lincoln Center, Theater, Blood and Gifts, Artists, John Lahr, Critics, Tricycle Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Afghanistan War, Arts News
Carla Seaquist

Why can't Art instruct? In addition to providing entertainment, consolation, beauty, and a reflection of our humanity by holding "the mirror up to nature," why can't Art also teach us a thing or two?

Read Post

What Do 10 Famous Artists And Critics Have To Say About Love?

editorial.huffingtonpost.com | Posted 01.10.2012

Read More: Andy Warhol, Wooing, Barbara Kruger, Love and Relationships, Art Critics Love, Artists, Art Critics, Artists on Love, Critics, Love, Arts News

1. "Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding." (Diane Arbus) 2. "Painting is like making love. Yo...

Read Whole Story

Critics and Other Cultural Gatekeepers: Mind the Gate!

Carla Seaquist | Posted 10.26.2011

Read More: New York Times Book Review, The Decline of American Civilization, Books, New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, Book Reviews, New York Times, New Books, American Culture, Critics, Nicholson Baker, American Decline, Culture, Books News
Carla Seaquist

Where is the recognition that a "book of raunch," rather than reflecting a mature and vibrant culture, is symptomatic of one in steep, full-on decline, drunk on its power and narcissism (including Baker's pet vice, sexual titillation)?

Read Post

Salvation Boulevard: Audiences Love It, Critics Hate It

Larry Beinhart | Posted 09.14.2011

Read More: Religion, Salvation, Critics, Humor, Comedy, Audiences, Satire, Salvation Boulevard, Culture News
Larry Beinhart

I've seen the movie Salvation Boulevard five times. Why have I seen it five times? Why do I care? I wrote the book that it's based on.

Read Post

The Tree of Life: Your Summer Popcorn Flick It Ain't

Avital Binshtock | Posted 08.09.2011

Read More: Palme D?Or, Story, Director, Jessica Chastain, Texas, Cannes, Dinosaurs, Film, Movies, Theme, Cinema, Dvd, Terrence Malick, Trailer, Religion, Brad Pitt, Environment, Ddt, Critics, Tree of Life, Entertainment News
Avital Binshtock

The Tree of Life isn't exactly what its trailer suggests. Watch its marketing tool, and you get the idea that it's a poignant story about a young fam...

Read Post

TV Now

Paul Reiser | Posted 06.14.2011

Read More: TV Shows, Social Media, Criticism, Critics, Paul Reiser, Comedy, Nbc, Media News
Paul Reiser

Last time I had a show on television it was 1999. It used to be you offer up an artistic endeavor and the appropriate reviewer would weigh in, hopefully with nice things to say. Now everyone has something to say.

Read Post

Critics Suffer For Art Too

latimes.com | March 30, 2011 | Posted 05.29.2011

Read More: Freeway, Charles McNulty, Christopher Knight, Mark Swed, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, LA Times, Architecture, Los Angeles, Theater, Art Critics, Painting, Traffic, Art, Philip Glass, Museums, Midori, Critics, Christopher Hawthorne, Noguchi, Arts News

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa cannot be ignored. Neither, alas, can the 405. In recent days, for instance, the Vienna Philharmon...

Read Whole Story

Why You Should Never Defend, Explain Or Justify

Russell Bishop | Posted 03.13.2012

Read More: Defending Yourself, Inspiration, Dealing With Criticism, Gps-Soul, Justifying Yourself, Criticism, Critics, Dealing With Critics, Explaining Yourself, Taking Criticism, Healthy Living News
Russell Bishop

Why do some people seem to be forever defending, explaining or justifying themselves? Do you enjoy being around this person? Are you one yourself?

Read Post

Why Dogs Don't Do Movie Reviews

Jonathan Schmock | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Media Criticism, The Oscars, Cartoon, Critics, Dogs, Movies, Comedy News
Jonathan Schmock

...

Read Post

New York Times: Why Criticism Matters

nytimes.com | The EDITORS | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: New York Times Criticism, Criticism Matters, Katie Roiphe, Criticism, Critics, Book Review, New York Times Book Review, Book Publishing, Books News

We live in the age of opinion­ -- offered instantly, effusively and in increasingly strident tones. Much of it goes by the name of criticism, and in ...

Read Whole Story

What Would Jonathan Swift Think of Jack Black's Gulliver?

Danny Groner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jack Black, Holidays, Film Criticism, Rob Letterman, National Post, Chris Knight, Movies, The Globe and Mail, Little Fockers, Movie Reviews, Gulliver's Travels, St. Petersburg Times, Rick Groen, Satire, Christmas, Guitar Hero, Transformers, New York Times, Jonathan Swift, Critics, A.O. Scott, Steve Persall, Humor and Satire, Entertainment News
Danny Groner

When director Rob Letterman took certain liberties in updating the tale to click with a younger, modern audience, did he stray too far from the original Swift story?

Read Post

La Bete

Gwen Davis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Broadway, Theatre, Critics, Arts News
Gwen Davis

I had been enchanted by Mark Rylance -- who plays the lead Valere in La Bete -- as a producer, Shakespearean player, writer and obvious man of many parts. I just wish that one of them had not been Valere.

Read Post

Lennon, Dylan, Sinatra And Marilyn Monroe

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Thomas Mcguane, Day John Lennon Died, Fragments Marilyn Monroe, Frank the Voice, Book Review Roundup, Still on the Road, James Kaplan, Reviewed Books, Critics, Book Review, Books News

'Fragments' by Marilyn Monroe The Los Angeles Times Unless, of course, that author happens to have been famous and somewhat mysterious, which is the c...

Read Whole Story

The State of the Crime Novel

Jason Pinter | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Book Publishing, Publishing, Publishing Industry, Huffpost Books, Crime, Crime Thrillers, Books, Thriller, Mysteries, Society, Critics, Criticism, Books News
Jason Pinter

I've asked six of the most renowned crime fiction critics in the country to weigh in with their thoughts on the state of the crime novel. I hope you find their responses as interesting as I did.

Read Post

Why Do These Wimps Need a Magazine?

Tom Matlack | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Hecklers, Macho, Critics, Wimps, Manhood, The Good Men Project, The Boston Globe, Video, Healthy Living News
Tom Matlack

From the very beginning, I said that ten percent of men will "get" the Good Men Project right away, ten percent will never get it, and eighty percent will need convincing.

Read Post

A Message to Right-Wing Defenders and Left-Wing Critics of the Catholic Church

Fred Rotondaro | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Catholic Church, Liberation Theology, Critics, Pope Benedict XVI, Catholic Right, Right-Wing Catholicism, Christianity, Right-Wing Catholics, Left-Wing Catholics, Catholic Left, Left-Wing Catholicism, Religion News
Fred Rotondaro

Catholic critics of the Church can expect to find themselves attacked by both the left and right wings of the Church and the community at large -- and they are rarely disappointed.

Read Post

Next to Normal: Broadway's Different Family

Danny Groner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Musical, Show, Next to Normal, Michael Greif, Bipolar Disorder, Rent, Play, Broadway, Critics, New York City, New York, Happiness, Family, New York News
Danny Groner

Next to Normal begins with a show tune you'd expect: one that showcases "just another day" in the Goodman household. Only later do you discover that this average family is not so typical.

Read Post

Forest for the Trees: How Some Critics Missed the Complexity of Hit Girl

Scott Mendelson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hit Girl, Controversy, Reviews, Kick-Ass, Sexism, Critics, Scott Mendelson, Movies, Entertainment News
Scott Mendelson

We all say we want empowering female characters who can play in the action sandbox. Yet we collectively cringe when said female heroes receive the same kind of brutal violence that is visited upon male action heroes.

Read Post

Are Newspaper Critics Obsolete?

Howard Kurtz | Howard Kurtz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Food Critics, Movie Critics, Newspaper Critics, Critics, Media News

Scott is a full-service film critic for the New York Times. But are he and his colleagues -- who opine on cinema, theater, television, books, music, a...

Read Whole Story

Bard Blog -- Israel's Critics & Perspective

Ken Adelman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gaza Flotilla, Turkey, Leadership, Shakespeare, Critics, Israel, Politics News
Ken Adelman

So my most humble advise to the Israeli cabinet would be "Brush up your Shakespeare" and think more broadly -- move from a narrow-gauged Henry IVth to a wider track Henry Vth perspective.

Read Post

No More Verdicts From On High: Are Book Reviewers Changing To Keep Up With The Age Of Engagement?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer | Karen Long | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Los Angeles Times, Book Publishing, Digital Reviews, Egalleys, Nbcc, Critics, Readers, Word of Mouth, Bea 2010, Book Review, Books News

This year, the conversation was mellower. Participants in the National Book Critics Circle panel on the future of book reviews chatted about e-galley...

Read Whole Story

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me....

Lisa Solod | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Salinger, Joyce Maynard, Critics, Criticism, The Internet, Lizzie Skurlnick, Writing, Judith Warner, Media News
Lisa Solod

"I'm going to go out in the yard and eat worms," is how the rest of that sad ditty goes. If you didn't say it as a child, you know someone who d...

Read Post

Iran Targets Online Critics And Their Relatives Back Home

Wall Street Journal | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Protests, Youtube, Iran, Twitter, Critics, Facebook, World News

In recent months, Iran has been conducting a campaign of harassing and intimidating members of its diaspora world-wide -- not just prominent dissident...

Read Whole Story