Over- and Underrated in 2011 (Republished from Loomings)

Overrated Film of the Year: The King’s Speech/Scott Pilgrim v. The World

To pick the one overrated film this year was tough. Critically, yes, The King’s Speech was by far the most overblown. But god help me if I have to hear one more fan boy talk about Scott f***ing Pilgrim. I put them both together because the only thing that irritates me more than The King’s Speech winning Best Picture is when the response is “I know, and Scott Pilgrim didn’t even get a nomination!”. The King’s Speech is a nice little film. A nice little film we’ve all seen 1,000 times before. There was nothing unique, or groundbreaking, or even terribly interesting about it. It’s appeal lie mostly in the elderly being comforted that there was finally a movie back in the cinemas that they “got”. Conversely, Scott Pilgrim was a flashy, hip Edgar Wright film, but ;lacking the wit and sophistication or Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead. If The King’s Speech is the bland Cream of Wheat for the seniors, Scott Pilgrim is the sugary cereal without any nutritional value. It was a fun, cute little movie. Flawed, sure, but fun. Yet, there ain’t much more to it than what’s on the surface. It is not a statement on our “video-game saturated generation” any more than Debbie Does Dallas is a critique on the economy of the 70’s. So, observe, the current plight of cinematic accolades: The old don’t like anything new, and the young believe anything “cool” is classic.

Underrated Film of the Year: Blue Valentine

How many love stories to we see fill our multiplexes each year? How many time do you see love conquer all on the big screen? What exactly is the ratio of “love conquers all” on the big screen as compared to real life? Yet try and put reality on screen, to capture so perfectly the dissolution of a romance on screen, and the world turns a blind eye. A stuttering king and a precocious nerd took home all the prizes this year, and Blue Valentine barely made its budget back. We delight in seeing Jigsaw massacre another batch of victims, and giggle as breasts bounce across our silver screens in 1,000 summer sex “comedies”, but we’re truly scared of the harsh reality of despair in the eyes of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (both giving their finest performances to date, the kind that would define their career if people would stop watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt spin around a hallway and actually see Blue Valentine) and completely uncomfortable with sex (if it looks realistic. Realisitc isn’t sexy, so it’s not ok. Women aren’t being slammed into walls and loving it, and Mila Kunis isn’t making out with anyone, so let’s slap it with an NC-17.) The DVD and Blu-Ra comes out May 10^th, and my only hope for humanity is that it outsells Battle: Los Angeles.

Overrated Album of the Year: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West

What can be said about Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that hasn’t already been said by every major music publication and website? Well, that it’s not amazing would be one thing. Actually, anything short of obnoxiously over-exaggerated praise could be said, and you won’t find it in any music mag or webpage. Everyone from Pitchfork.com (home of the hipster) to Rolling Stone (home of print journalist desperately trying to be relevant by pretending to be Pitchfork.com) has been practically (insert your own term for fellatio)-ing this album. The truth is, I’ve said it many times, it’ an extraordinarily well-produced album about nothing. For an album being praised for it’s deep, confessional lyrics, all the depth that can really be sifted out is “I’m an a**hole, and ya’ll need to deal.” Yes, he is truly St. Augustine. Sure, Eminem’s album Recovery doesn’t sample King Crimson or Bon Iver, but he packs more honesty and self-evaluation into “Love The Way You Lie” than is in the entirety of Kanye’s album. Unless your idea of depth is “Have you ever had sex with a pharoah, I put the p***y in a sarcophagus.” (Now to wait for the complaint letters/wall posts. Not Facebook wall posts, mind you. Just angry letters taped to the wall outside my office. Yeah, that happens.)

Underrated Album of the Year: High Violet by The National

Ok, footnote to my frustration at Kanye’s new album? It’s distracting hipsters. Normally, I hate when hipsters praise their obscure albums and try and claim the best album of the year came from Arcade Fire or Vampire Weekend or some other band within the “indie” world where obscurity is a badge of honor. Yet this year, the best album of the year, in my opinion, is in fact “indie” and all the hipsters are too busy with Mr. West to notice. You want honest lyrics? Forget “Power” and put on Matthew Berninger’s cryptically confessional “Conversation 16”. Every track on High Violet lives up to the hype being laid on MBDTF, and doesn’t even need a cameo from Nicki Minaj (can you believe that? People can actually make good songs by themselves). Just download “Bloodbuzz Ohio” if you doubt the brilliance o this record. It sounds like Leonard Cohen and U2 made a beautiful baby. Yet did anyone here of this record? Nope. Your hipster buddy would have actually been doing you a favor this time, bugging you about his newest obscure obsession. Well, thank goodness I’m here to set things straight. I’d gladly take The National’s “Runaway” to Kanye’s any day.