Screening Gotham: Do Reviews Suffer From Buzz Kill?

Buzzing: Lindsay Lohan in Georgia Rule

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

--Over at the headquarters of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, an interesting discussion ensues regarding the place of "buzz" and gossip in movie reviews. "When should a reviewer include news of already much-publicized extracurricular factoids and foibles in order to help audiences evaluate whether or not they’ll enjoy a film?" asks the introduction, with responses from Susan Wloszczyna, Carrie Rickey and Reeler contributor Jennifer Merin among others. Me? I'm fine with buzz -- just leave out the box office and I promise I'll read to the end.

--Is that your dream of a Woody Allen/Sarah Polley collaboration in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

--If you've been wondering where Leonard Nimoy has been after so entrenching his authorial vision of three men, babies, good mothers and more in the American cinema zeitgeist, he has a heavy new cause. Here's the link to the story -- that's about as far as I'll take you.

--Even Armond White's unofficial translator/apologist/beat reporter at Armond Dangerous appears to given up trying to make sense of the krazy kritic's dense contrarian stylings, but an off-handed Guy Maddin slag was all it took for Mark Asch to pick up the slack and demand accountability: "I don't mean to get upset, it's not so much offensive as it is sloppy writing that's ultimately bizarre, and this post started off as a cheap joke at the expense of its silliness, but, I mean, jesus h." Let it go, Mark. Intervention is useless.

Posted at May 14, 2007 8:58 AM