I have another favorite blog, it's Sunset Gun by Kim Morgan. She is my favorite writer about movies too. I hesitate to call her a "critic." I'm somewhat leery of critics. Often critics have steered me wrong. Most of them have probably seen way too many movies or listened to too much music, and are way to jaded and cynical to be relied upon.
The best of those who write about movies (or music), are usually the ones who find those little gems that you might have missed, and must see. Or they see the movies or listen to the music that everyone else has seen and heard too, but they give you a new perspective or insight. Kim is one of the best on both counts.
I guess it also helps that her movie "taste and sensibility" seems so in-line with my own. She's smart, and she sees movie-making as an art form that can be important, inspiring, and says something about our human condition.
Her latest post on Scorcese's "Wolf of Wall Street," is pitch perfect!
"DiCaprio balances his character's evil, humor and movie star charisma with a unique sociopathic dimension. Is that possible? Yes, it is. And he makes it look all so effortless. Elizabeth Taylor once said (I believe it was Taylor) something to the effect of, screaming and hollering and playing drunk is easy, walking through a door and saying, "Hello, I'm home" is hard. In the case of DiCaprio, who dynamically drinks and drugs and yells and rages (I get excited watching him and largely because of him, I've seen the movie three times), it's also his quiet act of bitterly drinking a Near Beer that impresses. When DiCaprio answers how sobriety is faring he states it perfectly: "It fuckin' sucks... So boring. I'm gonna kill myself." - Kim Morgan