Mark Kermode - Reviews Where He Was Right OR Mental

[Puce Moment]

I find him infuriating and admirable in equal measure. The Mayo/Kermode show has disappeared so far up it's own hoop that it is unlistenable, at least to me. It scrapes it's fingernails down the blackboard of my soul and I have come to despise everything about it. I mean, have you listened to the podcast recently? The first 20mins are ghastly.

I also think that Kermode is a very whim based reviewer, he does seem to change his mind about various films, which is fine. But I think it is a symptom of the job - going to see bad films all the time will ultimately mean that your view becomes distorted and based on lots of other factors. I remember him once giving a film a really good review (I can't remember which one) but he did admit that he had just come out of the horrible mid-day heat into an air-conditioned cinema in central London and was immediately greeted by Mark Cousins, and they had a great chat and watched the film laughing together like they were on a date. That doesn't really communicate itself that well to you or I.

On the other hand, he is basically the UK's main film reviewer. Essentially, he is the mainstream when it comes to film reviewing and has a large effect on various people's film habits. On that basis, I think it is good that he is so cynical about a lot of Hollywood mainstream filmmaking, and bullshit like 3D, and has leanings towards horror, b-movies, mondo, world cinema and women filmmakers. It could be a lot, lot worse.

New page: I agree with him about This is the End and The Big Lebowski so take with a fist full of salt.

[Noleedmons]

If only that shitty radio 5 show was more like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6YRHluM9TA
Kermode in a mirror.

[checkoutgirl]

These were hugely widespread criticisms of Twilight, how could Mark Kermode, over the course of reviewing and championing every movie from the franchise, never (to my knowledge) address these issues? Doesn't that failure make him a poor reviewer?

You've got a point. It's disappointing that saying Twighlight is a big pile of shit is seen as lazy or cliched when it so clearly is such a big pile of shit. Kermode's failure to get stuck into it and point out it's numerous flaws is quite baffling. Bella is such an amazingly shit character poorly acted. You could argue that maybe he just has a blind spot for it but if the combined films come in at 8hrs 42 minutes then that's a hell of blind spot!

What the fuck is Kermode thinking defending that awful franchise? It just seems to get a free pass. Amazing when you think he's a relatively respected critic.

[monolith]

He obviously hasn't seen Lebowski enough times. It's still good on the first few watches but it's after around 6 that it becomes amazing. One of the few films where knowing what's coming makes it funnier.

[Dr Rock]

Actually when I said that Barry Norman had a problem with 'fun' I think Kermode is a bit of a misery-guts who prefers things to be serious in one form or another, and misses the appeal of films that are 'fun.' That's the only excuse I can see for not liking The Big Lebowksi, and even Blue Velvet appeals to a twisted sense of humour he might lack. He gave Minions a glowing review (not that I've seen it, but its fans seem to not be connoisseurs of comedy), I can't see he ever reviewed Alpha Papa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2UlyACDI40
A considered review of Four Lions where he admits there are a few laugh out loud moments, but was 'overwhelmingly tragic'. Well I suppose. He says it's 'well made' (he seems to use this phrase a lot) but he's coming down more on the bleakness and tragedy side than maybe others would. I think he finds the mix of funny and bleakness hard to compute, and has to decide it's one or the other.
'I didn't laugh very much, I didn't find it funny.'

Borat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYxUKj5AQJ8
'Everyone around me was howling with laughing, and I thought maybe I'm not part of the same species.'

No Mark, you just shouldn't be reviewing comedies as you don't have much of a sense of humour. At least not one that can escape being filtered by whether it's PC or not, whether it's ok to laugh at Americans or feminists or not. And even then, you can't work it out. A joke is only good if he approves of the target. It has to be utilitarian, it has to be PC, he's the joke police here and it's really tiresome. You can not like Borat, but listen to this review and tell me if he should be reviewing comedies (or you may agree with him, I suppose). 'Not once did I laugh.' Blimey.

[SavageHedgehog]

He can be entertaining, even likeable and charming, but very, very rarely insightful. I think what stopped me regularly watching his reviews was the sheer predictability and repetitiveness of his reviews. I pretty much know whether he's going to like a film or not and what he's going to say. Every time one of those post-Expendables ageing action star films came out he would say more or less the same thing, even the one time he enjoyed one (Escape Plan), the review was pretty much unchanged. He's also preoccupied with certain films he likes, and will habitually compare new films with them, often with very little relevance; remember Joe Cornish taking him to task for wittering on about Shaun of the Dead in his review for Attack the Block. I can believe Now You See Me 2 isn't great, but I suspect the problem isn't that it doesn't "psychologically deconstructs what a magic trick actually is" (paraphrased but that's the gist) in the manor of The Prestige. There's room for more than one film, and type of film, about magicians, surely.

[Default to the negative]

I find him infuriating and admirable in equal measure. The Mayo/Kermode show has disappeared so far up it's own hoop that it is unlistenable, at least to me. It scrapes it's fingernails down the blackboard of my soul and I have come to despise everything about it. I mean, have you listened to the podcast recently? The first 20mins are ghastly.

I only felt like this when I heard their live audience shows. When they were playing up the "we're like an old married couple!" shtick to the crowd. And every audience question seemed to be aiming to goad Kermode into one of his vaunted epic rants. Pretty cringey.

[Puce Moment]

He's also preoccupied with certain films he likes, and will habitually compare new films with them, often with very little relevance; remember Joe Cornish taking him to task for wittering on about Shaun of the Dead in his review for Attack the Block.

He does put people's back up - especially Garth Jennings in the Son of Rambow interview. Mayo was really sniffy about Charlie Kaufman recently because he was so detached in their interview. Yeah, he isn't Lord of the Bantz like Paul Greengrass ffs.

[Default to the negative]

Mayo also complained about Chris Pine looking at his watch during their interview.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

He does put people's back up - especially Garth Jennings in the Son of Rambow interview. Mayo was really sniffy about Charlie Kaufman recently because he was so detached in their interview. Yeah, he isn't Lord of the Bantz like Paul Greengrass ffs.

Indeed. If we can take anything from Kaufman's work, it's that he's clearly a socially confident gag-meister in real life. He must've been tired during that Mayo/Kermode interview.

[Puce Moment]

Mayo also complained about Chris Pine looking at his watch during their interview.

I heard that mentioned in the show the following week. Fucking hell, how much time does Mayo spend looking at the clock in his job?

The Kaufman thing was funny, because they interviewed the Coen bros the same week and made a point of saying how nice they were.

[MojoJojo]

One interesting thing is that the books and films did not just appeal to teenage girls - they also had a slightly creepy middle aged women fanbase. By the time of the last books, and the last adaptation, the teenage girl section of fans had significantly dropped away. They'd grown up - and got bored. This means a large swathe of the audience were 40-50 year old women swooning over teenage boys (ok, some are meant to be hundreds of years old, but never mind that) with their shirts off.

I'm amazed you didn't drop off the Twilight/50 Shades of grey thing at this point. I'm not sure of the details so I won't do the honours.

Kermode... can be ok. Mostly cos he brings in loads of stuff I don't know about and is interesting. I'm not a film geek. His opinions are a bit - well, his. Mayo does get annoying.

[Sin Agog]

Pine did act defensive when Mayo said that the new Star Trek was much more in the spirit of the orig Trek series.  Took Quinto to clear the air after that.  Those press junkets, man.  That's what the real meat of those Hollywood paychecks goes towards.

You want a really awkward interview, listen to Mayo's one with Naomi Watts about Diana.

[Puce Moment]

Or Mark Lawson's interview with Russell Crowe.

It's weird hearing his voice falter with adrenaline/nerves.

[Dr Rock]

I'm amazed you didn't drop off the Twilight/50 Shades of grey thing at this point. I'm not sure of the details so I won't do the honours.

If people don't know, 50 Shades started out as Twilight fan-fiction by one of the middle-aged lady fans, the sub-dom nature of Bella and Edward was easily transferred to a non-vampire setting. I don't think you can blame Kermode for that, but it made me look for this, his review of 50 Shades Of Grey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOT6pe30Qas

and he does mention the Twilight fanfic origin. To be fair, much of fanfic takes something innocuous and makes it dirty. But for someone I now realise applies a lot of concern about how politically correct a work is (and I'm not saying he should not), it makes his blind spot about the Twilight series more curious. He is happy to repeatedly attack the crappy writing of the source material here, plus says that it is 'problematic' - which by all accounts it is a bit, though I've not seen the film like I have watched all the Twilight films, so can't judge -  its weird he can't see the very similar flaws in Twilight.

[Glebe]

'Everyone around me was howling with laughing, and I thought maybe I'm not part of the same species.'

That's from his Twilight review, actually (heh!).

[phantom_power]

I don't know how a proper film critic could like Twilight. It is just such an objectively badly made set of films, based on objectively badly written books. I can understand normal people liking them as they might not notice how badly made they are but it must be an affront to the senses of someone who has knowledge of that sort of thing

[Shit Good Nose]

I don't know how a proper film critic could like Twilight. It is just such an objectively badly made set of films, based on objectively badly written books. I can understand normal people liking them as they might not notice how badly made they are but it must be an affront to the senses of someone who has knowledge of that sort of thing

Not that I'm defending Kermode's liking of Twilight, but everyone seems to be thinking that he is the only critic on the planet that likes them.  He isn't.

[phantom_power]

Not that I'm defending Kermode's liking of Twilight, but everyone seems to be thinking that he is the only critic on the planet that likes them.  He isn't.

I'm sure he isn't but the same would apply for them as well. I wouldn't trust their judgement on anything if they liked those films. There aren't many films I could say that for but those are definitely examples.

[Pepotamo1985]

I used to love a good ole Kermode rant, but then a friend of mine made the rather obvious point that you don't need talent or intelligence to pan shit films for being shit, and he lost a lot of his lustre[nb]This said, the SITC 2 and Revolver reviews are things of beauty[/nb]. Some of his endorsements in recent years have been absolutely bizarre (didn't he love Prometheus and Looper?), and he has a worrying tendency for getting a bit [banned troll] every now and then.

Case in point, his review of Palindromes (see below), where he criticises the movie largely on the basis of the imagined hipster demographic who he thinks would enjoy it, employs some pseudo psychology to explain why 'they' like it (they're smug and pretentious and want to look edgy and clever), and also gets a bit 'ban this sick filth' by suggesting paedophilia and incest are topics which you just shouldn't do in cinema, yeah, because they're well taboo. Well fuck you Marky Mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qut0tEpULU0

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Some of his endorsements in recent years have been absolutely bizarre (didn't he love Prometheus and Looper?

Prometheus is obviously a load of shit, but what's wrong Looper?

[Dr Rock]

Case in point, his review of Palindromes (see below), where he criticises the movie largely on the basis of the imagined hipster demographic who he thinks would enjoy it, employs some pseudo psychology to explain why 'they' like it (they're smug and pretentious and want to look edgy and clever), and also gets a bit 'ban this sick filth' by suggesting paedophilia and incest are topics which you just shouldn't do in cinema, yeah, because they're well taboo. Well fuck you Marky Mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qut0tEpULU0

Yeah weird, when he says he loved Happiness (as do I, and haven't seen Palindromes - will now just to spite that shit review). The film is bad because... hipsters in lofts drinking cappuccinos would probably like it. That's all I got from that review. And Solonze shouldn't experiment with changing the actress playing the main character because Bertolt Brecht had that idea already. I don't even know what the movie's plot is or if there are any good performances or anything. It's something to do with abortion and underage sex, that's all I can gather.

[Avril Lavigne]

No Mark, you just shouldn't be reviewing comedies as you don't have much of a sense of humour.

Realizing this over the past few years has sort of put me off Kermode a bit, or at least made me less likely to trust his opinions on films.

Recent favourites of mine like Her and Anomalisa seemed to have their humour completely ignored in his reviews, almost as if he hadn't understood that plenty of lines and scenes and characters in those movies were meant to be funny.  Fair enough if the jokes didn't work for him, but to not even acknowledge them is odd.

He also called Her emotionally uninvolving which I find bizarre.

Edit: Listening back to the Anomalisa review, he does briefly talk about the humour involving the toy shop standing out for being 'crass and infantile', but it's a weird approach to say that while giving no examples of what the rest of the jokes are like for comparison.

[greenman]

I would say his biggest failing of more recent years is being drawn into the geekish net "whats hot and whats not" culture.

[Pepotamo1985]

Prometheus is obviously a load of shit, but what's wrong Looper?

It was an immensely stupid, nonsensical, overlong movie with pretensions of grandeur. The Omen child deus ex machina is hateful.

[Dr Rock]

It was an immensely stupid, nonsensical, overlong movie with pretensions of grandeur.

I liked that about it.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It was an immensely stupid, nonsensical, overlong movie with pretensions of grandeur. The Omen child deus ex machina is hateful.

To each his own. It's generally well regarded by critics, so I wouldn't think of his loving it as bizarre (unless he loved it physically).

[Pepotamo1985]

To each his own. It's generally well regarded by critics, so I wouldn't think of his loving it as bizarre (unless he loved it physically).

So I see from RT/IMDB. Fair enough, there are probably better (ie worse) examples of duds he liked anyway. Prometheus was particularly egregious because he subsequently became a bit of a defender of the movie in his vlogging (not that matters much I suppose), he was utterly convinced it was a great movie that would one day be viewed on a par with Alien.

[Dr Rock]

He touches on a good point about Phantom Menace in his review though - if it's the first movie, should it have an opening scrawl? The others do because like film serials of the past, they are telling you what already happened, what you may have missed. Yes the original SW wasn't called 'Episode IV: A New Hope' when it first came out, but the scrawl was intended to suggest it was part of a serial, right? But Episode One, Phantom Menace... you haven't missed anything. You don't get any text telling you what's happened at the beginning of episode one of King Of The Rocket Men (I just checked), just every episode after.

[Shit Good Nose]

He also called Her emotionally uninvolving which I find bizarre.

I actually completely agree with his review of Her, although I did spot and get the humour.


I still remember his odd Tree of Life review, in which it sounded like he wasn't sure if he liked it or not (which I can actually understand - I still think there's a great film in there somewhere, but loads of faults as it stands), but my main problem with it was that he REALLY anthropomorphised the bit with the dinosaurs and seemed to be criticising something that wasn't even there, at least in the way I watched and read the scene.