Criticism
I refer to my viewing of films, and to these reviews, as critical. Due to current English usage, that deserves a bit of a disclaimer.
I do not use the word “critical” to mean “negative.” I use it in the sense of “critical thinking,” a concept you may have heard about in University, or, if you were lucky, in High School. Critical thinking can be contrasted with passive consumption. If you ask yourself questions while watching something, or even have thoughts like “gee, that’s a nice shot,” or “this music is disturbing,” you are thinking critically. I think most of us think critically at least part of the time. I’ve been honing my critical approach to cinema for over twenty years.
[…] I see the laziness creeping in is the language of criticism. I have seen classic movie bloggers write that a movie was “shot by” or even “lensed by” […]
[…] of this, even if they did see the movies at the same time; they were not used to “reading” film critically the way we do today. What I wonder about is their reaction: Shock? Digust? Cheering? Were they […]