Gawker: Manohla Dargis

Manohla Dargis Stoops to Cribbing Notes from the 'Post'?

Emily Gould — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:40:00 EST

Mr. Williams, who these days is better heard than seen . . .

led by Robin Williams, who as usual is better heard than seen . . .

OMG stop the PRESSES! Plagiarism scandale! Well, either that or everyone agrees that Robin Williams is annoying.

Bring In Da Hoofers On Ice [NYT]

Ice, Ice, Baby [NYPost]

Earlier: Gawker's coverage of Manohla Dargis

Jesus Christ, Manohla, How Hard Is It To Type "Jack Nicholson Phones It In Again"?

abalk2 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:10:44 EDT

This Janus-like actor has long presented two faces for the camera, the jester called Jack and the actor named Nicholson. He has worn both faces for some of his famous roles, but over time he has grown fond of the outsize persona called Jack, with his shades and master-of-ceremonies sneer, and it's hard not to think that the man has become his mask.

Scorsese's Hall of Mirrors, Littered With Bloody Deceit [NYT]

Manohla Dargis Missing; Presumed Trapped In Sentence of Her Own Construction

abalk2 — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:00:04 EDT

We've finally figured out Manohla Dargis: She's running a post-modern contest! We're no strangers to prolixity ourselves, but if you can wend your way through the convoluted structure she erects in today's review of How to Eat Fried Worms, consider yourself granted an honorary M.F.A. in comparative literature.

For Billy — whose predictably useless if warmly loving parents (played by Tom Cavanagh and Kimberly Williams-Paisley) can offer him no help, largely because he doesn't tell them what's going on — the crucible of the worms has the potential glory, certain agony and epic dimension of a knight's quest. If he succeeds in completing his gastronomic journey, he earns his freedom and more; if he fails, it will be an exceedingly long school year. For as the worms and his stomach turn, so does his life.

The Organic Snack That Builds Character [NYT]

Critic Decodes Subtle Phallic Imagery in Snake Movie

abalk2 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:50:16 EDT

As is the case with more and more movies these days, Snakes on a Plane declined to hold advance screenings for critics. Not one to be dissuaded, Manohla Dargis took in the flick with the commoners and issued her review a shockingly short time after. Which is probably how she slipped this one past Sifton's standards police: "Naughty by nature or perhaps more by design, these snakes don't just dart out of toilets; they also slide up bare legs and under dresses, moving in and out of more bodily orifices than the adult-film star Ron Jeremy did in his prime."

A Slithering Menace at 30,000 Feet in 'Snakes on a Plane' [NYT]

Film Critic Starting to Think Every Slightly Decent Movie 'La Grande Illusion'

abalk2 — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:45:46 EDT

Let's take a moment to look at the fascinating crew that makes up the Big Three Times flick describers. There's Stephen Holden, who, when not busy starting beefs with Disney Channel talent, can be found working out his issues in public. There's Tony Scott, who does whatever the hell it is he does. And then, of course, there's Manohla. Ms. Dargis, brought in when Elvis Mitchell decided that spending time with Cambridge co-eds was preferable to drawing the short straw that forces you to share space in the screening room with Lou Lumenick, takes a look at new Jack Black vehicle Nacho Libre. The film, already noted elsewhere for its "implicit racism," inspires Dargis to ascend to this apogee of critical assessment:

Mr. Black's arrhythmic use of the word "whatever" verges on the Brechtian — and it also works to the film's liberating vision of identity as a performance space, an existential wrestling ring, if you will, in which each of us, if only given the opportunity, can cavort freely in the mask and colored tights of our choosing.

Now, that seems a little freighted for what's essentially a one-note Mexican wrestling comedy. But what do we know? We're not Manohla, who presumably found Cars to be "a Pirandellian cavalcade of spiritual searching in which each of us, animated the right way, can determine our drives and desires."

Actually, that's harder than it looks. Our hats are off to you, Ms. D.

Jack Black Plays a Tender Heart in Stretchy Pants and Ankle Boots in 'Nacho Libre' [NYT]
Down for the Count [Slate]

Earlier: Bitchy McBitchfight: Holden vs. Duff

UPDATE: It all makes sense: Dargis is fucking crazy. Also, doesn't Michiko Kakutani hold the copyright on this bit?

Media Bubble: 'New York' to Pick Hot Young Editors, Who May or May Not Be Hot and Young

Jesse — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 16:40:57 EST

• New York to anoint hot young editors; those photographed rumored to include TNR's Franklin Foer, The Atlantic's James Bennet, Roger Hodge of Harper's, and the Paris Review's Philip Gourevitch, who, at 44, calls the whole conceit into question. [Media Mob/NYO]
• The Times nominated Dargis for a Pulitzer, and no one there understands why; New York is pitching a Look Book book. [WWD]
• The Washington Post gets 88 New York Timeses every day, costing $18K annually. At least it's nice to know someone other than us isn't getting free papers. [WCP]
• Cargo was confused, and nobody will miss it. Um, yeah. [Slate]
• Bob Woodruff, the ABC anchor badly wounded in Iraq, last night received the Radio and Television Correspondents Association's David Bloom award, named for the NBC correspondent who died while covering the early days of the Iraq war. [B&C]