Originally posted by tabuno
And prior to replying and after re-reading arsaib4's post I came to understand that what followed arsaibr's statement above was Mr. Jone's description of supporting argument for his own statement about Mr. Murray's miscasting.
Where is my statement about Mr. Murray's miscasting? To refresh your memory, this is what I wrote: "...one thing I don’t consent with is his blame laying squarely on the shoulders of the film’s star: Bill Murray." And then I went on to mention a couple of other concerns I had.

In fact if one doesn't "feel strongly one way or the other on Bill Murray and the film" then why even bother? What's the point?

Unfortunately, this kind of attitude is quite prevalent in film criticism today (especially in this country). Every film is hailed by the quote-happy critics as either a "masterpiece" or is thrown aside (Tabuno would certainly enjoy reading Armond White). And that's why we need critics like Kent Jones and Jim Hoberman. They aren't afraid of making strong statements, but they also realize that most films don't qualify to be discussed in that manner.

It is far to easy comment on a movie by saying, "I don't have a big problem" with something and feel that it adequately will address other people's more strongly felt convictions about a movie. Film discussion that becomes completely subjective and restricted to internal statements like, "I liked that," "I didn't care for that," "It was ok, but it really wasn't important," "Oh well," makes it difficult to have any substantive conversation about a film. It's like talking about the weather. "It's 65 degrees, it's a bit chilly." For Arsaib4 to imply he really doesn't feel strongly one way or another about this film and his response seems to imply that perhaps there's more to it than he's leading on. At least when I take the time to watch a movie for a second time, the movie means more to me than I don't feel strongly one way or another. If it was me and I didn't feel strongly one way or another about a film, I'd forget about it and not even think about it again or even discuss it.


To me it's far to easy to make grand, generalized statements, which is apparently something you prefer to do. Here's one from me (although a necessary one): Film criticism is subjective, whether you like it or not. If you felt strongly about the film after watching it for the second time, then bully for you. I didn't. I found certain aspects to be quite worthy, while others, not quite so.