Telling it straight
Be honest. How many plays, films, bands, stand-up comedians that you've seen have you really loved? How many of them made you genuinely pleased that you shelled out hard cash for? I'll bet not many, if any.
Really? Genuinely? Go on, name them.
I can't remember that last film I saw that made me properly laugh. The best they do is make you smile or snort occasionally in the crowded (or often empty) dark. Yet the reviews you read (hopefully none I write) would have you believe people were falling into the aisles, crying tears of mirth.
Either that or you'll be so moved you will immediately sell all your possessions and kayak to Borneo to save what's left of the rainforest.
Most stuff is distinctly average, as Mark Ellis might say it, and you're happy for anything half-decent. I thought the "surreal" Ross Noble only fitfully funny, but maybe we're just grateful anyone comes at all.
But a lot of people have got wise to some of the language of the critics. Here are a few lines from the Guardian's primer for translating it.
Really? Genuinely? Go on, name them.
I can't remember that last film I saw that made me properly laugh. The best they do is make you smile or snort occasionally in the crowded (or often empty) dark. Yet the reviews you read (hopefully none I write) would have you believe people were falling into the aisles, crying tears of mirth.
Either that or you'll be so moved you will immediately sell all your possessions and kayak to Borneo to save what's left of the rainforest.
Most stuff is distinctly average, as Mark Ellis might say it, and you're happy for anything half-decent. I thought the "surreal" Ross Noble only fitfully funny, but maybe we're just grateful anyone comes at all.
But a lot of people have got wise to some of the language of the critics. Here are a few lines from the Guardian's primer for translating it.
Comedy
Comic genius: I'm copying this straight out of the press release
Madcap: Irritating
Like X on acid: I've never taken acid, but want to sound like I have
Observational: Full of unoriginal generalisations
Acute: We share the same prejudices
Humorous: Unfunny
Wry: Unfunny
Sidelong: Unfunny
Hilarious: Moderately funny
Comedy legend: An obscure, unfunny American
Surreal: I don't know anything about surrealism
posted by Mark Broatch at 8:24 PM
5 Comments:
i have inordinately fond memories of the utterly insane Sugar & Spice boys. kitchen utensils were no longer the bland and safe items i thought they were after one of their shows.
Sorry, never heard of them. But it's the ones that surprise you that really count. We are so rarely surprised these days. - MB
Being John Malkovich: genuinely surprising, funny and -in a rare moment for Hollywood- imaginative.
But that was a while back...
/ed
Isn't the problem really that critics get this stuff for free? That's why they over-rate CDs, films, books, concerts etc that are only passing fair - if they had to shell out their own money like the rest of us they might be a bit more... critical.
Yes, but how would you do that? Get them to pay and claim back at the end of the year? Then perhaps they/we would feel the pain of paying for something that's bad, or merely mediocre.
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