Another One Bites the Dust
Chuck just brought this to my attention: Premiere critic Glenn Kenny announced on his blog this morning that he is, as they say, no longer with the firm. I’ve never been a huge Premiere fan, but I’d grown to like Glenn’s blog over the last several months. He’s smart, occasionally combative and often entertaining. I hope that he lands on his feet somewhere.
These are dark days indeed for people who make a living talking about movies and a little bewildering for those of us who don’t do it for money. Time and again I keep telling myself that all these firings aren’t a symptom of the death of criticism, they’re a sign of the death of printed media. But I wonder: is there no room in the world for professional critics anymore?
Whether or not I agree with this or that critic, I believe there need to be strong voices raising the creative bar higher to counteract the forces of commerce that always seem to want to lower it.
Strange days indeed.
Filed under: News
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A little too strange for me, to be honest.
Print news is going the way of the dinosaur in general. Not that people don’t still read the newspaper; but everything is online as well - NYTimes, L.A. Times, etc. I don’t think newspapers will disappear entirely, but a lot of them are figuring “hey, why have three film critics when we only need one.”
I believe there need to be strong voices raising the creative bar higher to counteract the forces of commerce that always seem to want to lower it.
Is that ever true. Not only that, the forces of commerce are changing the face of the criticism that is left. I’m more apt to read the reviews written by bloggers like you who don’t rely on ads to keep their sites up. You guys write on a very professional level from a truthful, genuine point of view without being swayed by friendships or motivated by allegiances to certain studio publicists, directors, etc. who are buying ad space. You’re not selling anything, which is what the trend for critics is now. I particularly see it in music, but it’s everywhere.
Welcome to the future.
Progress sure is progressing.
A real shame.
I keep thinking that H.G. Wells was right. In the future, we’ll all be Eloys listening to our iPods and the Morlocks down below will torment us… And all of the books (and newspapers, as Alison says) will just fall apart in one’s hands.
That’s pretty wild. The weird thing is that Premiere is a publication devoted to film, not a daily newspaper or something more broad.
“I believe there need to be strong voices raising the creative bar higher to counteract the forces of commerce that always seem to want to lower it.”
As Marx said, Karl not Groucho, “the writer must earn money in order to be able to live and to write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money.”
There has never been a better time to be a movie lover… or a worse time to try to make a living off it. Kenny was one of the best around, not just a fine writer but a truly democratic filmgoer, as keen to discuss highbrow artsy stuff as to talk about lowbrow stuff like Bava and porn. His skill as a critic and genuine love for movies stood as a rebuke to catty, Armond White-style snobbery.
I hope he lands on his feet. Even if he can’t keep the blog going, I wish the best for him. In the meantime, plenty of fine critics getting ousted, retiring, or quitting (Nathan Lee, Rosenbaum, MZS, and now Kenny), and more sure to come. I give Hoberman until the end of the summer. Meanwhile, Luke Y. Thompson’s being printed more widely than ever.
Sometimes, life just ain’t fair.
Daniel~~
The writing was sort of already on the wall already though, since Premiere folded up as a print publication some time ago and Glenn was only writing for the site since then. Still, this sucks. And just before Cannes too…
Paul sums it up nicely and yeah, Premiere was a sinking ship, but it’s still troubling.
Good point, Paul. Still seems odd that an insitution like Premiere is having such a tough time adapting to the new media. Doesn’t seem like it was for lack of quality writing.
Yeah, the timing blows, too.
Even before it stopped publishing actual magazines, Premiere had been degenerating for years- less critical pieces, more celebrity news and fluff. It was never Film Comment or anything, but early on in its run it was well worth reading. But Kenny was pretty much the only thing worth taking seriously about it for the last few years it was running. Even when it was web-only, he always took everything he saw seriously, even when other critics were largely dismissive (see his recent SPEED RACER review). Now that he’s gone, there’s no reason to bother with it anymore.
Kenny was the only thing I paid attention to. I read it in college, but it was in a long downward spiral. Still better than EW I think…or was it?
Even Wells is showing respect. Meanwhile, p.Vice assheadedly posted this witty little rejoinder:
“Calling Kenny one of the country’s best film critics is like calling a Whopper one of the country’s best hamburgers. ”
Fuckhead.
p.Vice needs a hug.
Damn….
Oh well. At least when it comes to deciding about my future, I can definitely cross off the option “professional film critic”. Somehow, I doubt there will still be such a thing 10 years from now, maybe even not in 5 at the rate it’s going.
p.Vice gives me a rash. Does he even like movies?
Don’t fret Hedwig. I really don’t think film criticism is going to go away. It’s just changing venues. Will it be as high paying for the elite? Probably not.
Or maybe I’m wrong.
Oh, writing about movies will still pay the bills in the future. I just hope you like posting celebrity upskirt pictures and paparazzi topless shots next to your insights into the new media inspirations behind SPEED RACER…
… which is so awesome, by the way. Don’t believe the hate.
So as long as I continue to do it for free, I don’t have to worry about whoring with upskirt pictures and paparazzi BS?
I want to believe you regarding SR very badly. You’re the third commenter who’s seen it who has said so. K Bowen liked it and Ari liked it too.
I can’t wait to see it tonight and start reading reviews.
My sense is that the geeks might hate it because it’s not smug enough and the youngsters will love it because it’s a ginormous colorful cartoon. I can’t wait to see. Plus there’s a monkey.
“plus there’s a monkey” and, as has been discussed in these parts before, monkeys make every movie better.
Hopefully I can be more kid and less geek tonight. I really want to like this thing.
Yes, monkeys make everything better. And there’s another semi-surprise element of the movie that generally elevates every movie in which it appears. More I will not say.
What’s that? Sex? :-)
Sweet, Speed and Trixie finally get to it!
At newspapers, it comes down to this …. with dwindling financial resources, I can either have a local story produced by a city desk reporter every day and a newswire film review every week, or a localized film review every week but a non-local wire news story every day. That might be an oversimplification, but it gives you the basic idea. It probably doesn’t help that the editorial staff is likely drawn from nail-chewing hard news guys who look down on entertainment and feature reporting as barely tolerable fluff. Believe me, I’ve been both.
That said, it’s surprising that a magazine dedicated to film coverage would remove its main film critic. That’s something a little different. It’s not like they can replace Kenny with a David Germain or Christy Lemire wire review. Hm.
I think it’s just one more sign Premiere is going down the crapper. I’m sure that doesn’t make Mr. Kenny feel any better, but there it is…
OMG, they killed Kenny. You bastards!
[sorry, someone had to say it]
Heh heh, funny sartre. Thanks Paul, for all the insightful and wise comments and to k. Bowen, for a rather sobering insight into adventures in journalism. I imagine it’s hard for anyone working in a “non-news” field at the dailies or the magazines these days.
Premiere did use to be pretty good, about 15 years ago, but back then it was one of the only games in town, today’s internet was a glint in Al Gore’s eye, and cable TV hadn’t turned into an entertainment news bordello lorded over by the Joan Rivers clan and Ryan Seacrest.
Things have changed pretty drastically in the last ten years. I suppose the slow slide of Premiere just shows how weak the print industry is these days in the face of rising costs and the wide acceptance of our beloved series of tubes.
Good luck Kenny.
LOL, sartre.
You’re right. Someone had to say it.