Bernard's Diet Book

email this story
read comments (3)
post a comment

With everyone doing articles about established film critics getting whacked or demoted and/or losing their influence because they're thought to be out of touch with the cyber generation (here's an argument against that myth by Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman), I naturally presumed that a forthcoming book by recently dismissed Daily News film critic Jami Bernard called "The Incredible Shrinking Critic" would be about this syndrome. And it's not. It's a book about Bernard's "excellent adventure in weight loss." It'll probably sell, come to think of it. (Sorry for misspelling Ms. Bernard's first name in an earlier edit.)

<< previous | next >>

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 13, 2006 at 5:04 PM

comment #1

Dan R% says ...

Gotta love how the people commenting under the article start taking it to Owen and Lisa for being too snobbish in their reviews.
I dunno, maybe I'm in the minority, but I tend to like their reviews, even if I don't agree some of the time. At least they tend to be somewhat thought out.

Posted by Dan R% at June 13, 2006 10:17 PM

comment #2

jesse says ...

The EW critics are probably smarter than average, but OG's reviews in particular bother the crap out of me (yet I read many of them, so I guess I must have some sort of rooting interest there). He re-uses the same phrases and sometimes even the same words ooooover and over and it drives me insane. I know many other reviewers do this, but most don't sound as mannered as Gleiberman. I've also noticed an odd quirk to his reviews -- he reacts strongly against any movie he perceives as trying to (to put it vaguely) be a certain way. Basically, if he feels like the filmmakers are telling him the movie or a character is supposed to be particularly funny or cool or interesting, he chastises them for the effort (even though that effort is present in about 90% of all movies)... so effectively, many of his negative reviews say, "so-and-so thinks he's so cool... BUT HE'S NOT!" On the revere side, he loves to read into minor but enjoyable movies and explain why they represent something so much greater and more important than you might think -- hence the "A" grades for A Mighty Wind, Bend It Like Beckham, School of Rock... all moderately successful (or better) in their own way, but Gleiberman's reviews of them are textbook cases of bringing more to the movie than the filmmakers did.

He does seem to like Spielberg as much as I do -- maybe that's why I keep reading ;)

Posted by jesse at June 14, 2006 10:55 AM

comment #3