Critiquing a Media Critic

David Edelstein studied at Harvard University and is now the chief film critic for New York, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. Edelstein is seen as one of America’s top filmed critic and was also dubbed the “Champion of Snark”. To give a little insight about what he likes in a film I have laid out a list of some of his favorites gathered from Rotten Tomatoes .

·         The Lady Eve

·         The General

·         McCabe and Mrs. Miller

·         Shop Around the Corner

·         The Godfather

·         Jaws

·         Bride of Frankenstein

·         Seven Samurai

·         Touch of Evil

·         Night of the Living Dead

 

Recently Edelstein did a movie review over a newer film known as Get Out. In his review he stated, “Jordan Peele’s Get Out is the satirical horror movie we’ve been waiting for, a mash-up of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? and The Stepford Wives that’s more fun than either and more illuminating, too.”, and “Get Out is a ludicrous paranoid fantasy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not alive in the unconscious. Having it out there in so delightful a form helps us laugh at it together — and maybe later, when we’ve thought it over, shudder.” To be honest I really enjoyed his review. Of course this is not the whole review but I like how he took time to make a thoughtful review. When I saw the movie I can say I was not all that impressed but after reading his review it made me think about the movie more in depth. I think his review made me appreciate the movie more than I had before, that is what a great movie review is for in my opinion.

One of Edelstein’s reviews I didn’t totally agree with though was the one he did on the movie Split. First of all I want to start by saying I very much enjoyed this movie, it was very deep and had a good plot in my opinion. Edelstein stated, “My loathing of Split goes beyond its derivative ideas and second-hand parts. Though Shyamalan doesn’t use a lot of blood in Split — there’s barely any — his framing sexualizes the torture of the other two teenage girls in a way I found reprehensible. And his depictions of childhood sexual abuse are clinically accurate enough to make anyone with experience of such things feel sick. All this is used in the most opportunistic way imaginable, to prop up astonishingly dumb ideas about the human psyche.” Vulture

With the many other reviews if read of him I can say I am quite impressed by his work. His ability to breakdown every piece of a movie to me is mind boggling. He really steps past the outside of the film and takes a deeper look and I can appreciate that. When reading his reviews I gained insight on films I never would have thought of. He makes me want to go back and watch movie a second time just to get an idea of what he sees.