2004: The Year in Movies

Each year, film critics gather in Slate's "Movie Club" to kvetch about the year in movies. This year's club includes David Edelstein of Slate, A.O. Scott of the New York Times, Charles Taylor and Stephanie Zacharek from Salon, and Armond White from the New York Press. (Also joining the conversation late: Scott Foundas is a film critic for LA Weekly. Christopher Kelly is a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Wesley Morris is a film critic for the Boston Globe.)

Who are these people?

Briefly, as well. I hate once more to get this on the film reviewing track, but I need to respond to Chris's latest post.

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"Shouldn't a critic relish when movies—and movie reviews—get people so worked up? It means people are engaging with your work."

Not if the movies under discussion do a disservice to the art. And no, when people are responding in a knee-jerk manner—because to deny The Passion is to deny Christ; to deny Fahrenheit is to affirm Bush—engaging with your work is exactly what they're not doing.

I'm not tsk-tsking Gibson and Moore for not doing things the "proper" way. I'm calling them out for making shit—anti-Semitic shit in Gibson's case; opportunistic showboating shit based on real death and war in Moore's.

And, Chris, while I believe you got death threats, panning The Passion when your last name is Kelly isn't the same thing as panning it when your last name is ... well, I won't name the critics I'm talking about. But in one of the cases I referred to, a critic was offered protection because of the level and volume of hatred. I'm talking about e-mails on the level of, "You're ugly even for a kike."

Not to deny the creeps who wrote to you. But I think this was a case where critics with Jewish names were in for it in a way the rest of us weren't.

More tonight.

Best,
Charley

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