Week of real hatred: film critic suffers backlash to 'Passion' review

New York Daily News ^ | 2/29/04 | Jami Bernard

[Brian Mosely]

In 18 years as a professional movie critic, I've never gotten the response that I had this week to my one-star review of "The Passion of the Christ."

I knew the reaction would be hostile - movie critics routinely get hate mail, even one time for a review of "Bambi."

But, as they would say in an action movie of the kind Mel Gibson formerly made, this time, it's personal.

[.38sw]

Are the comments on this thread about the woman's personal appearance any different than the attacks on Katherine Harris's personal appearance.

As I said, it's easier to trash someone's appearance than to make substantive comments about their writings.

[dagoofyfoot]

"Fugly.com" Candidate for sure!

[Cowboy Bob]

Good thing for her whale hunting has been banned, or she'd have been harpooned a long time ago.

Advice to Jami: Stay away from Eskimos!

[sakic]

She has wide disparity in her reviews too so I'm not sure what your point is.

[Sofa King]

If it is, then alot of movie critics are without it.

[dagoofyfoot]

Look at this thread. There is nothing resembling the love and teachings of Christ from these post.


I'm a Christian, but I'm not Christ...

So don't piss me off too much 'cause you never know when I just might backslide a bit!


:^(

[Tamzee]

There is only one reason you give a movie of this quality 1 star and it has nothing to with art.

Precisely.

[Poser]

"As I said, it's easier to trash someone's appearance than to make substantive comments about their writings."

You have to admit that it's fun, though.

[drjimmy]

Perhaps if you had not compressed your response, you would have explained why you thought what she wrote was pretentious, rather than repeating one quote from her review and calling her so. Rightly or wrongly, she gets paid to give her reviews in one of the most highly circulated newspapers in the country. On further review of my own, I agree that I was wrong to include your post among the ones that were truly hateful.

[Porterville]

Okay, how about her being a hypocrite. Here is a snipit from her review on The Passion:

"The movie is a compendium of tortures that would horrify the regulars at an S&M club."

Here is what the rotund beast says about Terrantino's flicks when reviewing Kill Bill: "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" fans will be delighted with the in-jokes, gore, movie references, and chunks of flesh and brain splattering the walls.

She wrote the 1995 book "Quentin Tarantino: A Man and His Movies.

"Worshiped like a film star by fans of his ultrahip and violent movies, reviled and condemned by the self-appointed guardians of morality, Quentin Tarantino has become the cult hero of the nineties. Using exclusive material from her interviews with Tarantino and those close to him, Jami Bernard traces his fascinating rise from high school dropout and B-movie junkie to the darling of Hollywood, exploring the philosophy and mythology of the writer and director who has, with just a few explosive films, turned the movie world on its head. With the furor over Reservoir Dogs, the triumph of Pulp Fiction, and the bitter conflict over Natural Born Killers, Tarantino's meteoric rise has been turbulent and headline grabbing. Through the unique inside perspective of those who have worked, played, and done battle with him, Jami Bernard looks beyond the media icon and reveals the man - and his message."

[McGavin999]

It's it amusing that critics can't take criticism?

[sakic]

MMMMMMM

[westerfield]

How deep is the hatred for and prejudice against Christians in the Jewish community?

It was disheartening to me that out of all the Jewish leaders who commented on this movie, only Rabbi Lapin seems to "get it". Even those movie critics and writers who weren't overtly hostile to it had trepidations over certain aspects of the film leading me to suspect that there was some underlying anti-Christian bigotry at the root of the criticism.

[sakic]

It's it amusing that critics can't take criticism?

According to what she wrote today it sounds like what she received was far more than criticism.

[OldFriend]

Sure hurts the credibility of those posters......but I see lots of hypocracy on any given day....from all sides of every issue.

[Moonmad27]

Last night at a comedy club, a comedian called The Passion "Reservoir God" for its violence. Like I said in another thread, "Dogs" was fiction and pointless, while God is the truth - and has a definite point. Some people just refuse to get that point!

[.38sw]

Good! But rotund beast? Before I can pay much attention to your comments, I need to see a photo of you, so I can evaluate your mental efficiency. Thanks.

[dagoofyfoot]

Actually, The Last Temptation of Christ is a fine film,


I have seen both, and this film (Last Temptation) is a secular, anti-Christian piece of garbage that was made to inflame and offend any true believers.


No true believer would ever call this celluloid excretement a fine film!

[IronJack]

The subtext in this tepid defense is that this reviewer is simply better than the people who liked the movie, because he knows things like "Soviet montage" theory, while the bumpkin viewers are unable to appreciate Gibson's cinematic shortcomings.

Due to space limitations, film reviews are like compressed files. Not all readers are able to "unstuff" them.

Oh, the places I could go with THAT!

[sakic]

Never seen Last Temptation and don't plan to.

Why?