December
29
Lyons and Me
I have been a frequent critic of the new At the Movies movie reviewing team, Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz. In fact, at a screening of Tropic Thunder at Comic-Con, I was sounding off on Lyons to my colleagues when a man turned around from the seat in front of me and said, "Hello, I am Ben Lyons." Was my face red. Later, Lyons approached me in one of the convention hallways as I was sitting on the floor juicing up my laptop, and I snapped the picture above.
Clearly, he's a genial telegenic young fellow who loves movies and film fests (he was all over Toronto, getting his picture taken with celebs he was interviewing, like Keira Knightley). But these qualities do not necessarily a good film critic make. I couldn't help wondering, when Lyons recommended that audiences see Valkyrie (I also liked the movie, btw), if he wasn't keeping future E! access to Tom Cruise in mind.
The LAT went after Lyons last week, as others happily piled on. (UPDATE: here's Kim Voynar.) Does he have any supporters, as ratings plummet? Well, the one demo that seems to like him is 20ish young men like him. And I confess that when I visited Charles Fleming's USC entertainment journalism class, a few of the kids admitted to watching the show.
But how long can Lyons last against this barrage of naysayers? The other Ben, Mankiewicz, would be so much better if he had someone sharper to play against. I'd take even youngsters Matt Singer or Karina Longworth over Lyons any day. They are capable of a little depth of discourse, at least.
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Ben Lyons is such a joke, it's not even funny. He does not have one single clue about American culture (which is NOT the same as MTV pop culture... sorry Ben), American cinema, American arts, or anything else relevant to the history of American films (sorry again, Ben, but watching 80s movies doesn't count as studying "history").
This whole media obsession for idolizing frat boys needs to stop. It's not amusing and it does nothing for anybody... oh wait, except for fellow frat boys who are too busy getting drunk and watching mediocre movies with "mega-babes" like Megan Fox.
Anyway, back to you, Ms. Thompson
Posted by: UGLY PUNK GURL! | December 29, 2008 at 01:55 PM
Ben Lyons is a complete deusche
Posted by: Deusche Police | December 29, 2008 at 03:19 PM
Once again, the L.A. Times front page story is news that's several decades old. How long have broadcast film critics been treated with contempt by their print brethren? They've never been schooled enough, hip enough, avant garde enough, etc. etc.
I was a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for about a decade and I still remember the us cool breezes vs. them rubes attitude that permeated the awards voting every year as the broadcast pundits had to defend their plebian choices against a deafening chorus of outraged cinema aesthetes.
They usually had nicer hair than the print critics, though.
(To be clear here, I count myself among the poorly coiffured, cinematically enlightened and ink-stained strain of critic.)
So the Hoberman vs Shalit argument is deader than the auteur theory and I'm not sure why Po' Ben, though no Woolcott he, is getting whiplashed so badly, but there may be some clues in this piece I wrote for The Circuit here a few weeks ago.
http://www.variety.com/blog/1390000339/post/1640037764.html
Posted by: Steven Gaydos | December 29, 2008 at 03:30 PM
dunno about broadcast vs. print movie critics or any of the rest, just know that watching the new 'at the movies' twice was quite sufficient for one lifetime.
Posted by: mitkid | December 29, 2008 at 04:22 PM
Some of the naysaying can be a tad mean spirited, but it really burns me as a 22 year old critic to see someone close to my age who seems to know so little up there making a fool of himself for a national audience, while there are so many other, worthier critics, who are losing their jobs.
I like Jeffrey Wells' take on this - it's part of an overarching dumbing down trend of film and film criticism. Ben Lyons is film criticism's McDonald's.
Posted by: Matthew Lucas | December 29, 2008 at 08:47 PM
I remember when film criticism was taken seriously--as a means of truly getting to the marrow of a film, exploring subtleties and nuances, making astute comparisons--but more than that, showing a true love of the medium and its possibilities. Now more than ever it seems to be a solipsistic exercise, in which reviewers ARE chosen to dumb down content and play to some elusive demographic that is manufactured by bean counters and editors (in print) and production executives (on television) apparently proudly modeling systemic ADHD and pandering to celebrity. This--rather than trusting the public to be drawn to something more substantive, challenging their perspectives, and encouraging true thought about what they're choosing to see. I used to write film reviews--see an old one on the link, and a few others on humanitarianmedia.org--my best, and this one unpaid, as it was for the HMF: The Lives of Others (http://humanitarianmedia.ning.com/profiles/blogs/1974476:BlogPost:166), which was one hell of a film and even more a pleasure to write about because of the ideas and conflicts evoked. A friend in the industry told me to "dumb it down" because it was too intelligent. Go figure.
Posted by: Repanse de Schoye | December 29, 2008 at 11:04 PM
i think At The Movies should replace Lyons with a smart but truely critical female blogger whose only flaw is that she posts about her secret love for Robert Pattinson every other day ;)
Posted by: seanH | December 30, 2008 at 03:03 AM
I remember reading similar criticism about Siskel and Ebert back in the day due to the format for television and the dreaded 'thumbs up/thumbs down'. Personally, I liked watching them, but I never felt the same way about Ebert and Roeper (as a duo).
That said, I listen to podcasts regularly such as Filmspotting (Adam Kempenaar and Matty Robinson), IFC(Matt Singer), and Filmcouch (Kevin Buist,Paul Moore,and often Karina Longworth). I would recommend any of these "youngsters" over Ben Lyons any day. There is NOT a lack of talented and intelligent young people out there.
Posted by: Wray | December 30, 2008 at 07:31 AM
I had a hard time watching the show when Roeper became Ebert's permanent partner. When Ebert's health forced him to leave, I watched it less and less. I've seen enough of Lyons salivating over "his future bride" Keira Knightley on E! that I haven't even bothered to check out the train wreck I'm sure it's become. It's a shame. Places for intelligent discussion of film seem to be relegated to fewer and fewer locations and are only read by the buffs. Then again, why should that be much different than the news? Lyons was tailor-made for the dumbing down of America.
Posted by: Edward Copeland | December 30, 2008 at 07:46 AM
Let's face it -- Ben Lyons is COOL!!!!!! And 'e's here to stay, matey.
I wouldn't kick 'im outta bed.
Posted by: Heavyweight Intellectual | January 01, 2009 at 01:34 AM
I agree with one of the commenter because I also know only watching the movie but around its composition I don't have any idea.
Posted by: Celebrity Gossip | January 01, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Keira Knightley is thinking: "Who is this dork?"
Posted by: markj | January 02, 2009 at 04:06 AM
He happens to be a great guy who is well intentioned, but has horrible PR people.
Posted by: onewhoknows | January 03, 2009 at 12:58 PM