Criticwatch - "There’s nothing respectable about Ben Lyons"

Erik Childress at Criticwatch writes in his review of this week's episode of At the Movies:

This column and all the ones out there offended by Lyons’ modus operandi are not exclusively focusing on his film taste as the motivation for our attacks. It’s his insipid comments, clear lack of knowledge about film, insistence on introducing awards talk into every conversation, celebrity photos and singling out his buddies for self-promotion and the hope that they’ll attend his 28th birthday party. I don’t care how young he is and use that against him the way some elders of the profession may. Truth is I know a lot of critics around his age and even younger who not only know more about the details of filmmaking and storytelling but also represent a willingness to want to learn more. Taste in film though is nevertheless at the forefront of how film lovers identify with certain critics. We choose who represent us and dismiss the rest. But when we disagree with that particular percentage, most of the time we have enough faith in them to be able to engage an argument and to back up their points in the debate to where we may almost agree but certainly respect their opinion. There’s nothing respectable about Ben Lyons. So just because I share six of my Top 11 films of 2008 with his ten choices doesn’t mean I necessarily want him on my team defending them at my side.

Absolutely. As I said before, Ben has a lot of good picks in his top ten but he falls down in the analysis. In particular, Erik reminds us what Ben said about The Boy in the Striped Pajamas:

"This is a movie that will remain with you for the rest of your life!"

That, however, would be another movie that did not make it onto Ben's top ten list. It is a pretty big weakness of Ben's--he finds it hard to just say "It's a pretty good movie and worth seeing", but has to gush all over it, especially if there is anything sentimental about it. Erik does us the favor of listing a whole series of Ben's gushtastic praise at the bottom of his posting.

Finally, he posts a funny reminder from the hilarious Ricky Gervais series Extras hinting about Kate Winslet's real motivations for playing a Nazi.

Read the full article here . . .


(The whole things is funny, but check it t about 3:20)