From yesterday's Boston Globe [again, can not send an *operable*
Globe webpage to MM List] see esp. 3rd excerpt below. Leo
THUMBS UP OR ALL THUMBS? Author: BY STEVE GREENLEE
Amateur criticism may be America's new favorite pastime.
Log on to any website that sells CDs, books, movies - you name it -
and you'll find reams of capsule reviews written by regular folk
just like you. Roger Ebert? Who needs his 2 cents about the DVD
release of "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" when
'Frostgiant' from Santa Cruz, Calif., opines that "there are some
cool battles and stuff - Jango Fett is cool, Yoda. But the movie is SO
Bad."
Just how valuable are these reviews by your peers?
To gauge their worthiness, we dug out some counterintuitive comments.
Here are some excerpts:
On F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby":
"I thought that his book was very boring. I wasn't into it at all.
But what I did like about the book was that it was very descriptive.
I loved how everything he wrote, I could see it, or hear or touch it.
I just didn't think that the book had much of a point." - Ashlie on
BarnesandNoble.com
On Miles Davis's seminal jazz record "Kind of Blue":
" `Kind of Blue' is adequate at best. It has no feel, no mood,
and no form. I do not see what the hype is. It's pretty basic.
When I want to hear real jazz, I will just play my Kenny G's
Greatest Hits." - A music fan from Columbus, Ohio, on Amazon.com
On the band Television and its album "Marquee Moon":
Despite its reputation this album is totally overated man!
Van Halen can play licks Verlaine and Loyd would cream for.
The lead singer's vocal style is stolen from Chrissie Hynde - but not
as cool.
Most of the solos are unmelodic and go nowhere. The song Maquee Moon
sucks. -Musician and music fan, Casey Fossum, Visalia, CA, on
Amazon.com
On Styx's art-rock album "Kilroy Was Here":
"Styx, if you're out there, man, all i can say is: thanks. Your song
mr. roboto changed my life, man . . . my name,
too." - MR-ROBOTO on Amazon.com
On Orson Welles's landmark film "Citizen Kane"
"Only a nerdy film student intent on nitpicking every scene for themes,
intent, tone, pace, irony, and whatever else they look for could
possibly
like this movie." - David M on Netflix.com
On Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, "Crime and Punishment":
"Well what can I say, I would much rather find myself engrossed in
some soup label literature than this atrocity. Who is this
guy?" - Scorpian on Amazon.com
More on "Kane" [Letter to Boston Globe]
"This flick epitomizes the silliness of the cultural elite. This past
winter,
some friends and I rented the lauded Citizen Kane.
I felt we should rent a so-called classic now and then for the sake of
personal growth. We suffered through its pitifully outdated newsreel
opening, hoping the film would improve. Instead, we found
ourselves stultified by its vapid plot,
not to mention its treacly music and poor acting.
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