Film Criticism Just Got Dumber
Joel passed this along to me this morning.
Just a day after posting a lovely and moving tribute marking the passing of his wife in 2006, The House Next Door’s Matt Zoller Seitz has announced he’s leaving behind the world of print journalism after seventeen years.
I don’t know Matt. I’ve never met him or had a conversation with him, but he’s one of the good guys. Smart, articulate and passionate, I didn’t always agree with him, but he always made a compelling argument. Whenever there was a film I especially loved or hated, his voice was one of a handful I sought out for validation. I’ll miss doing that from here on out.
I wish Matt the best of luck in whatever he pursues next, yet I curse him jokingly for raising the bar for anyone who wants to write about movies.
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Hopefully he will continue to post the occasional insightful piece at House Next Door, but this is troubling. It’s difficult to lose the folks doing some of the heavy-lifting for less articulate, less gifted, less intellectual film lovers like myself.
There are a number of pieces from him that I love, most notably his No Country for Old Men review (which I continue to pass on and link to) and his open conversation on the state of film from 2007.
http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/01/grainy-haze-of-dreams-denby-lynch-mann.html
Matt, the words will be missed.
Dammit! I love the House, visit it almost every day, it’s one of the few places where pieces full of insight (but probably too long for regular media) can get posted.
You are right indeed. The dumbing down continues, as one of the most intelligent voices (and enablers of intelligent voices) quits.
I feel like we should hold a telethon or something…
Although, just listening to the podcast now, it’ll be interesting to see what he’ll make. After all, some of the most interesting filmmakers were critics first (Nouvelle Vague, anyone?)
I loved his take on The New World, particularly because of my own experience with it and how I kind of felt in the wilderness on that one.
The same thing replayed with Blueberry Nights, though not quite as strongly.
That’s too bad. I’d only been recently introduced to THND from your blogroll.
Thanks for the link, Joel. I’ll have to set aside an hour for that one!
What a blow to film criticism.
No matter what I thought of his opinions–it always helps when you tend to largely see many things in a roughly similar way–he was always remarkably articulate and eloquent in his analysis.
Whether I predominantly agreed or disagreed–and, again, to be fair, and in the interest of full disclosure, more often than not I agreed–I found his reviews of recent films such as The Passion of the Christ, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Spartan, The Terminal, House of Flying Daggers, Osama, Primer, Alexander, Sideways, Crash, The New World, Munich, World Trade Center, The Black Dahlia, Zodiac, No Country for Old Men and My Blueberry Nights and a great many others to be truly fine pieces of criticism, enlivened by a genuine passion for cinema and fascinatingly probing in their unconventional and intellectual explorations. As well as vital discussions he had with others and hosted on subjects ranging from Coppola to Herzog, from DePalma to Spielberg, from Tarantino to Tarr, from Kubrick to Malick, from Fincher to Stone and from Haggis to the Coens. His “Five for the Day” feature was always a blast as well, on whichever subject he was looking at.
I’ll miss his takes on the newest releases greatly.
He is an excellent writer and will be missed.
Unfortunately, the media and the corporate muscle behind it is trying to dumb down the public in every dimension of life - politics, film, music, everything. It makes me appreciate even more the opportunities to read intelligent, thoughtful, articulate writers, whether they write about film, music, politics, economics, anything. When we lose one more of a dwindling population of writers of this calibre, it’s deeply felt.
Well said Alison.
Just as a point of clarification, House Next Door will go on without Seitz, it just won’t be the same.
I think he and editor Keith Ulhich shared duties on the Five for the Day, so hopefully that feature will continue.
I might have finally crossed the line at Hollywood Elsewhere after Well’s typically bizzaro and insulting post on Matt’s departure. In response to people calling Jeff out for his insinuating tude towards Matt, I basically wrote what should one do if the host of the party (to use the all-popular metaphor) was rude and insulting to all in his path and how Jeff’s insights into others actually reveal his tangled soul.
That brief comment didn’t show up at all in the thread and when I posted in another, I got a message that my comment would be posted after being approved. I’ve pretty much had it with HE as Wells seems to delight in insulting reader after reader while tossing out barbaric insults at whomever. My retort was pretty damn mild or the truth hurts. Anyway. HE loses another regular. What’s new?
I composed and deleted six different insults to Wells over his latest bit of bullshit. I kept feeling like I was just playing into his hands by calling him out on it so I just chose to ignore it.
Having said that, I’d be shocked if he actually blacklisted you since you’ve always been pretty tolerant of his BS…more than some people anyway.
I’ve said it before, but the man has soul cancer.
Christian, I was just looking at that thread over at H-E.
That is a new low in so many ways I can’t even begin to enumerate them.
I’d be surprised too since I’ve always made it my netiquette to not childishly insult or tell people to “fuck off” but ever since Wells started power-trippin’ and banning those who dared dish back what he dishes out, I had a feeling I would come under his random anger pendulum. Like I said, Jeff is a web sociopath. I love his site but less so these days (and I dislike the new format as the comments don’t flow anymore) and he clearly needs time off to smell the flowers. Me too.
But Christian, Jeff doesn’t want to smell the flowers. He wants to see movies and write about movies and attack those who make the entirely innocent point that, as brutal a truth as it may be, there really is more to life than movies. Matt is a single parent, getting along in the world like the rest of us. But for Jeff… As long as there is a Spielberg to “take down” or a Peter Jackson project to denounce or a Tim Burton to be declared “over”–until he makes Sweeney Todd and suddenly he’s not “over” anymore–or a Michael Mann movie to get off on, Jeff will be there and he’ll “die at his desk.”
What’s more hilarious is his claim that there’s no way one can work full-time and write a screenplay, so he stopped. That’s right, in Los Angeles, only professional screenwriters are writing scripts. Nobody else. It’s impossible. He projects his own insecurities onto others, no?
And I guess I know the answer to my own question of what to do if you arrive at a party and the host is drunkenly insulting all.
Leave!
Quite true.
Not to tout myself or anything but I’m trying to get one of my two written novels published and I’m still going to college and I have a part-time job. There are doubtless millions of others, writers, artists, etc. Obviously it’s not easy. The real problem is the typical Wellsian suggestion that, as is the case for him, so it is with everyone else.
Goodnight. And again, thanks to Matt. As Joel says, the words will be missed. Hedwig does make a great point, though–Mr. Seitz could become this generation’s Bogdanovich or better!
Bummer. So when he says ‘print criticism’ he means ‘criticism’ period, right? Because if he’s leaving THND in other hands, it’s a bigger step than just leaving the NYT.
I hope everyone realizes at this point that H-E is a farce. It’s a bitter, twisted place that encourages anyone who goes there to become bitter and twisted as well, and the more we all ignore it, the better off we all are.
I’ve been ignoring H-E for years. I don’t remember the last time I visited over there. It’s an annoying, toxic place, a festering web-wound of sensationalistic negativity and egomaniacal bombast. I decided long ago that the interesting stuff found there sooner or later made its way over to other more palatable sites and that it wasn’t worth my time or energy to put up with all the personalities over there. Wells is a crazy-maker and I have enough of those in my real life.
I wish I’d discovered The House Next Door much earlier, though. Matt Zoller Seitz will be missed.
I just read the HE post. Really, really ridiculous stuff.
Apocolypse Now…..that is all I am saying
The HE post is idiotic.
Jeff MCM, yes, from what I’ve read Ulhich is taking over full-time duties on HND and likely the same roster of regular posters will continue undeterred. MZS has said he still post occasionally, but he’s getting out of the game professionally.
Jennybee, I never had you pegged for an HE reader…you seem so nice and level headed :)
It was all I could do to keep references to Wells and his sad little MZS rant out of the original post. Kicking him in the balls comes so automatically anymore, but I wanted to stay focused on the real news. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have come up in the comments section…I was actually hoping someone would break the ice so I didn’t have to…I’m just saying.
HND may go on, but my interest in it was primarily because of MZS. I could give fuckall what’s happening on Lost or whatever.
Like cigarette smoking I decided never to take up HE in the first place :-)
Well, I’ve been that way with smoking and alcohol, Sartre, but H-E has been a self-destructive vice in the past.
That said, Craig, you’re right. The real story here is the loss of a wonderfully unique writer, not the rantings of a belligerent, hateful old weirdo.
“HND may go on, but my interest in it was primarily because of MZS. I could give fuckall what’s happening on Lost or whatever.”
Beautifully said and I wholly agree!
Some of my best readers came from H-E so forgive the hypocrisy of my continuing to post there from time to time. I’ve cut way way back in the last few months…pretty much ever since the Heath Ledger BS, but I haven’t given it up entirely.
It helps to get banned from there after making an offhand comment about Wells’ age.
Granted, HND gets a little too fanboyish with Doctor Who or Battlestar Galactica or whatever, but they have so many other voices and pieces that it’s worth just fishing around for something that you like. Right now there are pieces up about Ozu, Lynch, and Harold & Kumar, and the eclecticism is great.
One gripe that I have: not a fan of the ‘Directorama’ cartoons.
Did Jeff really ban you? I wondered why you hadn’t posted in awhile.
Anyway, it’s weird and just bad bidness to eliminate your site’s loyal voices. It also shows how thin-skinned some macho guys are.
“I’m trying to get one of my two written novels published and I’m still going to college and I have a part-time job… ”
And you watch up to 30 movies a week, comment at sites like LiC and somehow squeeze in time for your girlfriend, friends, family, and following the Giants fortunes.
Crikey, you’ve written 2 novels by your early 20s! Whether published or not, that’s an amazing achievement.
And Wells calls his readership “cattle.”
Wells did ban me, because I made an offhand joking comment about him being 60, and he erupted and told me I was endangering his business.
Being 60 is an endangerment to his business? Who knew?
That’s odd since as a participant you’re helping his business. I find it typical of those who claim to be tough, enlightened liberals (and an Obama supporter) but love to squash criticism through bullying. I mean, Wells is clearly a sociopath. Doesn’t he endanger his own business by asking for nude pix from directors? Anyway, onward.
All the other paranoid, desperate-to-be-hip obsessives putting a kid in college out there.
Well yeah, I apologized for hurting his feelings, but then when he said he’d rescind the ban if I promised to never, under any circumstances and in any place, online or off, mention the fact of his age, I said thanks but no thanks because it was clearly unreasonable.
Apparently being 60 is bad for business, but being a flagrant, inflamed asshole isn’t. This is why he’s the AM talk radio host of bloggers.
Also, not having anyone telling DZ to shut the fuck up is just another way the place is going to the dogs.
I realize it’s relatively classless of me to keep bagging on him like this, but if you complain about it, I will ban you.
Aha, Sartre, thanks for those words of support, encouragement and kindness. It means a lot, particularly coming from a distinguished and tirelessly thinking person like yourself. I also try to work out 60-90 minutes a day.
The secret is, I’m like Christian Bale in The Machinist. I don’t sleep. Nah, I do, just not as much as I probably should.
Speaking of the Giants, how ’bout Zito being placed in the bullpen, Sartre? While watching that nightmarish first inning on Sunday afternoon–where the usually solid Randy Winn made seemingly six errors in six minutes in the outfield and Zito couldn’t control anything he threw–I realized that this season can officially be called a “rebuilding” one. Thank goodness for Lincecum. That guy is a young demon.
Okay, there’s my brief rant about the Giants… At least they aren’t teasing me like the damnable Sharks, who go through the same story arc every year. Ugh. Sorry, everyone, Sartre left a cracked door open and I kicked it off the hinges. But the Bay Area teams do create a certain frustration.
Wells is demonstrably insecure about age, physical appearance and many other things. His wishing for concentration camps for “red state gorillas” and/or dumb mouth-breathing moviegoers is obviously not in jest.
Getting rid of Jeff allows that imbecile DZ to post without much recrimination, another sin.
Also, he wore very funny-looking shoes when I saw him.
The fact he called Kal Penn an “animal” was really too much. Penn would be within his rights to slap Wells in person. Does he actually see himself as some kind of evolved being?
Craig please don’t ban me. I have…nowhere…else…to…go.
DZ is the ultimate time waster, but I honestly think he must have some kind of mental issue, either actual physical or emotional retardation. Best case scenario, he’s got Asperger’s Syndrome.
Kal Penn? The guy who’s teaching a class at a University in Pennsylvania about media representations of Asians, in his free time?
And Wells, I believe, is a college dropout?
(in Bill O’Reilly voice) “Welcome back to The Elsewhere, your Galumph-free zone.”
Christian I could never ban you. I’m thrilled anyone comes here at all. I would lovingly fondle each and every one of you if the law and geography didn’t conspire against me.
In addition to these current strong feelings of closeness to others Craig, are you feeling more self confidence; a rise in blood pressure, body temperature and pulse rate; thirsty all the time and the need to dance at a club?
Hahahah. Thanks for breaking the uncomfortable silence my little joke created.
Heh. What joke?
Alexander, tonite at the PFA: MOCK UP ON MU! I expect full report.
Yeah Craig, what joke? Sip on this orange juice and you’ll start feeling better soon.
Screengrab did a little commentary on MZS leaving the criticism world here: http://nerve.com/CS/blogs/screengrab/archive/2008/05/02/in-other-blogs-seitz-and-sounds.aspx
hat tip to Paul and the folks for running such a fun blog.
My real point is that they link to a Jim Emerson/Scanners post that links to a bunch of Jim’s favorite MZS posts, including his excellent post that connects the dots from Deadwood to McCabe and Mrs Miller.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/04/the_seitzgeist.html
I know there may not be a hell of a lot of enthusiasm amongst some quarters here for the Lost and BSG posts at THND, but their Wire and Deadwood commentary (nicely linked on the main page) is excellent stuff.
Thanks for the tip Joel. Deadwood and The Wire are two of my all-time favorites.