I’m not sure what it says about the state of film criticism, but the widely agreed upon opinion that much of the most thoughtful, interesting and bold writing about movies right now comes from a guy who cloaks his real identity by writing in the character of a comic book monster is somehow noteworthy. The issues I have with him writing in all caps in third-person Incredible Hulk-speak are overshadowed (JUST BARELY) by his general approach to viewing movies and the way he likes to talk about them, which is in-depth but not emotionally detached, genuinely curious but not overly theoretical, occasionally a tad pedantic but usually just terrifically informative and smart.
Once you sort of get past the feeling that a person is yelling at you, which he seemingly refuses to ever change because he wants to invert your expectations and not take himself seriously or something, his essays are terrific, long reads. He cites time and again his philosophy about not hating a movie, a fresh and wonderful perspective that too many reviewers and commenters couldn’t be bothered to consider: that even movies we think are bad are valuable learning experiences about movies and about ourselves, taste, culture and so on. I would go a step further and argue that even movies we’re convinced are bad may not be, that while our own impression of a movie is important but it’s ultimately incomplete—hence reading and talking about them further. Whoever this Hulk guy is, his perspective is one desperately needed in movie discussion today, even if the all-caps gimmick, although it may have more meaning to him and readers than being a mere gimmick, is still a really annoying gimmick. He is excellent in spite of the Hulk persona.
Continue reading on the next page…