Dr. Cat in the Brain's Reviews > Cinema Speculation

A friend of mine who's an art professor once said to me:

"Great critics can make chicken shit taste like chicken salad."

A great critic doesn't just tell you if a work is good or bad. They help you learn to express your own appreciation for the works you love.

Because love is difficult to define. It's completely mad. It's irrational (no matter how many excuses we make for it) and trying to explain love is like trying to catch moonlight in a bottle.

But some times if a critic's heart is in the right place, and the stars are aligned, they can catch that moonlight. Just for a moment.

Maybe just for a sentence.

Or a word.

And like that?

It's magic.

Their connection to the art they love can be expressed so enthusiastically that they can even make people reexamine films or books or art that the audience hated or dismissed.

Or they can walk people into the door and make them check out films or books or art they otherwise would never have wanted to experience. They got the conviction and emotional sincerity to make you at least say "Lets look at that again." Or "I wanna check that out".

And once that happens the critic has served their purpose. They got you into the artist's web. And it's up to the artist to finish the job. If they're as good as the critic says? They will. And the proof will be in the pudding. Fifty years later people will still be talking about the film they saw or that book they read.

If not? Well, the critic just has 'eccentric' or 'contrarian' tastes.

Le shrug. Love is blind.

But a great critic turns that into a learning experience too. Sometimes a work that a critic adores will be absolute dog-balls to you. But their love of those dog-balls can challenge your own experience. Your own perspective. And that makes you want to defend or better express your love for the work you enjoy or your position.

Can their taste be wrong for you? Of course. Does that mean their taste is wrong? Nope. Because art can exist in more than one state at the same time.

Art changes based on the perspective of the audience. Changes based on the age and the era. Just like you. Just like me. Art is a reflection of us. And that mirror is different for everybody who looks into it. And it can change every single time you look into it.

A great critic that can explain to audiences their perspective, whether their connection to the work is personal, emotional, analytical, or even anecdotal (or all of the above) can help audiences mature and expand their appreciation for art in general.

So. I'll say this about Quentin Tarantino's Cinema Speculation. I read this book in 4 hours and as soon as I put it down, I went and watched Rolling Thunder on Tubi.

Did I enjoy it as much as Tarantino? No.

Did Tarantino talk me right into watching that film? Hell yeah.

And I'm gonna re-watch The Getaway and De Palma's Sisters, Taxi Driver, Dirty Harry and Bullitt. I'm even gonna read The Getaway novel and some of those Richard Stark novels featuring Parker, because now I'm intrigued.

Motherfucker got me curious. Gave me an itch I have to scratch.

That's good criticism.

Even though I already love Taxi Driver and Bullitt Tarantino's got me excited to go back and see them again. He talks about these films like they're old friends. And I think for him, they are. And I think he's right.

He appreciates them, flaws and all because sometimes flaws are what define us and make us interesting. There's no such thing as "Safe art" just like there's no such thing as a "Nice Guy". Because nice and safe is what you are in relation to something and someone. It's not what you are as a whole. We're all nice, we're all screwed up, we're all flawed, we're all problematic. All of us. We all have biases and blind-spots. And sometimes the difference between a total bastard and someone's true love, is a matter of perspective.

What they value in the moment. What they see and appreciate in a heartbeat.

And even if you disagree you can understand Tarantino's perspective on why he loves these movies.

And he does love them.

That gives you a deeper appreciation for film and for art in general. And maybe even the human experience. And it can walk you in that theatre. Where you can take another chance on a movie you might have missed or dismissed or go back to a classic you haven't seen in awhile and want to revisit like an old war buddy.

Grab some popcorn, maybe some Twizzlers or candy (unless you're on a date, you don't want people to think you're childish, right Floyd?) and then just sit back and let the artist do their work.

Tarantino wanted to explain why he loves movies. In this book he catches some moonlight in a bottle.

And it's magic. 9/10