Critics, 8/23.

"What more insulting for New York critics and their acolytes than having the season's pet movie open in Texas and across the South prior to saturation in urban markets far better able to appreciate such ground-breaking artistry? The fact [that] Bonnie and Clyde went wide first in the South was something camp followers would never get over. To this day, they call it a black mark against Warners." John McElwee has a fascinating entry at Greenbriar Picture Shows on the studio's rollout and a few myths surrounding a long-faded revolution.

The Boston Phoenix's Gerald Peary lands a role in the movie, has fun with it and recalls past onscreen performances by film critics.

You may have heard about the Windmills of My Mind incident. If not, DK Holm will fill you in at the Vancouver Voice Blog. This, though, is the interesting part:

Updated through 8/25.

I don't know how many others are going to pick up on this story and pontificate on it, but one thing that needs to be said is that plagiarism of the gross kind that Mr Arlyn engaged in is not the real problem in contemporary film criticism. There is another kind, that is more pervasive and insidious and nearly invisible. That's the group think that sweeps across the nation as certain reviews and reviewers set the tone and limit the terms of response to a film. What these writers are doing is plagiarizing a tone, the way the Paulettes from long ago, and even to this day, took their cues from Pauline Kael's New Yorker reviews and her private exhortations. Plagiarists such as Mr Arlyn are always eventually caught out. Plagiarists of the second kind never are, yet can unduly influence the fortunes of a film. In this light, perhaps it's a good thing that no one pays attention to movie reviewers any more.

Your first thought might be: Are these really plagiarists - or simply pushovers? But passing off an idea, maybe even a tone as your own, unattributed... well, it's probably not actually plagiarism, but DK's is a provocative thought.

Update, 8/25: a target="_blank" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2007/08/the_stepford_critics.html">Jim Emerson comments and then asks, "Are established critics and reviewers, and relatively new bloggers, plagued by unoriginality and sameness? Do they emphasize a restrictive or uniform perception for some films?"

Posted by dwhudson at August 23, 2007 2:16 PM