Fall 2005 PDF - Milton Academy

Ty Burr ’76“On one level what I do is a service job,”Ty says. “People want the market report.‘Should I spend my nine dollars to seethis movie?’” In July 2005 alone, Ty deliveredmore than 20 such “consumerreports.” But thanks to former New Yorkerfilm critic Pauline Kael, who revolutionizedthe art, film criticism now rivals literarycriticism in its sophistication and culturalsignificance.“Movies don’t take place in a vacuum,” Tyexplains. “They’re informed by all sorts ofcultural assumptions, whether they’rebrain-dead Hollywood product or intellectualart house fare. In fact, I’d argue thatmainstream studio movies say more abouthow our society views itself—socially,politically, sexually—than independentmovies do, if only because studio filmstake such assumptions for granted andaren’t aware of them. But I am: It’s myjob, among others, to pick apart thestrands of movies and examine what theysay about the people who made them,about the audiences that watch them. Thisis especially important given how successfulAmerican movies are around theworld.“I think this country’s most effectiveimport, for better and for worse, is its popularculture. But what does it say aboutus? That’s both fun and necessary tofigure out on a movie-by-movie basis,”Ty says.Ty says that he learned to write and analyzeat Milton—think Kay Herzog, A. O.Smith and Paul Monette and, later, atDartmouth and New York University’sfilm school, he continued his preparationfor his role as cultural critic.“It’s silly to compare a movie like Sidewaysor Vera Drake to a big-budget entertainmentlike Wedding Crashers or BatmanBegins. I try to judge any movie against themovie that it wants to be. This seems onlyfair: Is Wedding Crashers as good a nobrainerfratboy farce as it aspires to? (No,but mighty close.) Is Vera Drake effectiveboth as drama and pro-choice provocation?(Yes.) At the same time, you have toindicate to the reader that while honestentertainment tastes better, artistic and/ornarrative ambition is more filling.”In a December 2004 column, Ty points toan interesting cultural phenomenon: politicalpolarization in choosing films. Amicrocosm of the now well-noted polarizationof the country appears in audiences ofHollywood: He notes how anyone whodidn’t swallow The Passion of Christ wasdeemed godless, while anyone who didn’tbuy all of Fahrenheit 9/11 was consideredhopelessly conservative. He argues thatwe’re missing out by choosing sides.“Not only did it become possible in 2004,even acceptable, to avoid completely pointsof view other than your own, the rise ofpartisan forms of media made it simplerto do so. Real liberals don’t listen to talkradio; true conservatives don’t go to theCoolidge [arts cinema in Brookline,Massachusetts]. Religion, politics, whatabout the eternal verities of the heart?Could we at least believe in love?” That,too, is hard in movieland, but Ty givesexamples such as Million Dollar Baby asremarkable attempts.In a July 15, 2005, column, Ty goes wellbeyond his customary 700 or so words topraise Tim Burton’s Charlie and theChocolate Factory. His praise for films isfar from universal, however. He bashed2003’s The Cat in the Hat, lamenting thatbad reviews don’t always kill bad movies:The Cat in the Hat grossed over $100 million,even after Ty deconstructed it:“At one point in The Cat in the Hat, theCat, played by Mike Myers, is mistaken fora piñata by a group of children at a birthdayparty. One by one, they line up tosmack him, and the scene culminates witha husky lad swinging a baseball bat directlyinto the unfortunate feline’s cojónes.For Your Netflix Queue:Ty’s Top 20“Sometime I have trouble with the‘What’s your favorite movie?’ question,if only because I get asked it sooften.” Ty says “But I do have a sort ofrolling top 20 [see below].“I do think that Hollywood has gottenaway from craft in the past 20 years,so that a movie like Chinatown todaylooks like a model of streamlinednarrative and characterization,” Tysays. “And, yes, there are plenty ofunknown great films. One of myfavorites is a 1972 French film, Celineand Julie Go Boating, a dreamlikefable about life and art that few peopleknow—and those who do tend toprize it. It’s not an easy movie, but itsticks with you for a long time.”Bringing Up BabyAliensThe GodfatherCeline and Julie Go BoatingAguirre, the Wrath of GodI Know Where I’m GoingRear WindowWritten on the WindPierrot le FouProofThe Seven SamuraiThe DecalogueDazed and ConfusedBeing John MalkovichL.A. ConfidentialBabeMy Neighbor TotoroRe-AnimatorSweet Smell of SuccessPulp Fiction“That’s a remarkably precise metaphor forwhat this movie does to the memory of Dr.Seuss. If the producers had dug up TedGeisel’s body and hung it from a tree, theycouldn’t have desecrated the man more,”Ty wrote.“I can’t say that I have a favorite review—the job is mostly a case of 20-20 hindsight.I’m extremely glad when I’m able toget people to a movie they might not otherwisesee and that might challenge theirideas of what movies and life are for,Broken Flowers, Before Sunset, movieslike that.21 Milton Magazine