POLITI-FLIX MOVIE REVIEWS – HUGO & THE ARTIST

Posted on 11 January 2012

 

Re-viewing films celebrating the silent era

Hugo
Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz,
Ben Kingsley, Sasha Baron Cohen; directed
by Martin Scorsese

The Artist
Starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John
Goodman; directed by Michael Hazanavicius

This week’s Politi-Flix column launches an exciting new technique to reviewing films. Heretofore, film columns concerning new releases were limited to the standard method of textual paragraph formats whereby individual movies would be subjected to analysis of character, acting, plot, dialogue, special effects, symbolism and its place in cinematic
cannons. That seemed to work well given current print media communication technology and the expectations of the readers of film columns.

But, critical commentary cannot stand still and must evolve with the medium it considers and the tastes of viewers. This exciting new technique, called “multidimensional reviewing,” provides a whole new dimension and enhanced experience when reading columns, reviews and commentaries about movies.

So, here, for the first time, is a column that uses this new technique. It concerns two films recently released — Hugo and The Artist. At first glance, the column appears to be composed of the usual critical tools — text, analysis, plot summary, newsprint, ink, etc. In fact, it starts off with the familiar analysis of the differences of these two films in traditional
column format:

This is the sort of information that readers of film columns have come to expect. It is straight-forward and expository. But when readers put on the special reading glasses — called Re-VIEWERs — a special extra dimension appears, where the analysis of these two seemingly widely disparate films magically merge into a single review as if the two films
were in fact one and the same:

With the Re-VIEWERs, it’s as if you are reading about one film, when the column is in fact considering two films. The overlap is indeed amazingly revelatory. Using this new technology will make it hard for readers to look at and read traditional film columns in the same traditional way. In fact, when the Re-VIEWERs are removed, the column goes back to the standard format:

Unfortunately, many film critics seem to be threatened by this new “multidimensional reviewing” process. They either need to learn how best to use it or they may be relegated to the dust bin of history. In that respect, we understand that some are even going back to their old columns and applying this new method to them. Sadly, instead of working as intended, the Re-VIEWER glasses only result in these old columns becoming blurry and indecipherable.

 

Doug Young is the cutting edge film reviewer for The Statesman.  He also works as an environmental advisor for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

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