Negative Positive
Title: Bios by a Badmouth
Review: I was looking forward to something more opinionated than the useful and comprehensive but rather dry film bios of Katz's Film Encylopedia. Well, I got opinion in this Biographical Dictionary.Unfortunately, that opinion is from someone who apparently thinks one must be a curmudgeon in order to be a critic. It is obvious from this massive and hard-laboured work, that David Thomson is a pedant and a misanthrope. He really doesn't like much of anyone, especially those whose output is entertainment.Woe be unto the actor or director deemed here as (a) politically incorrect or (b) an audience pleaser. As George Lucas has said, Thomson doesn't know much about the movie business. But he does know about Ceenéma Art.If you are the type who thinks himself a cinema Enthusiast, who lives at the Penultimate Picture Palace, swooning at spittle on the faces of Dreyers's close-ups, you will no doubt relish Thomson's tome.
Is the review positive or negative? 