Everyone’s A Critic

I picked up the Hollywood Reporter last week (Jan. 4-6 weekend edition) and on the front was the usual “For Your Consideration” Oscar full page cover ad. This time it was for the foreign film “Bella” which I have yet to see. The lone review listed to bolster the case for Oscar worthiness was bizarre to me. Here’s what it was….

“A Perfect Film, An Artistic Masterpiece.”
-Tony Bennett, Grammy & Emmy Winning Singer-Songwriter

My reaction was one of confusion at first. Was this THE Tony Bennett? Well, of course it was. There aren’t two Grammy & Emmy winning guys by that name. Then my second thought was: What in God’s name are they thinking wasting their single review space on Tony Bennett??? Where’s my Peter Travers of Rolling Stone? My David Ansen of Newsweek? My Kenneth Turan of the LA Times? Of course, then I remembered that Larry King’s halfass opinions about movies are thrown in by the studios quite often to bolster a film’s credibility. Larry King raves, “It’s a good movie. I liked it.” Larry King calls Alvin & The Chipmunks “The feel good movie of the year. The twins loved it. I fell asleep after the previews.” But here’s the thing about Larry King… I kind of actually get it with him. I mean, I know he’s no Ebert, but he is a guy that is on TV every night and interviews movie stars and sees films of the people he’s interviewing, so on that level I can at least grasp why his name might carry an ounce or two of weight with really dumb moviegoers. But Tony Bennett? And an ad aimed at Academy voters? It seemed very bizarre, almost like self-sabotage.

Now I was a irritated. This was a monumental error by the film’s producers! Fools! I decided I had to investigate it further. A few clicks later I was almost moved to tears. Tony Bennett is a wonderful man. An articulate, kind, artistic, generous, noble man who any movie studio would be LUCKY to have praise their film. I’m inspired to go make my first movie before he passes away so I can get just one or two words from him like: “Nice try.” -Tony Bennett, Grammy & Emmy Award Winner or Tony Bennett says of Chris Cox’s film “Hmmm, yeah, uh…”

See Tony Praise Film

Tony Bennett Media Excellence Award

I do wonder on some level if this could’ve been a strategic move to appeal to the notoriously geriatric Academy voting crowd. No matter. You can have your Ansens, your Turans, your Travers. Tony is now my gold standard. If he don’t like it, I ain’t seein’ it!