I can't quite decide in what order to do these two related items in this post. I have an interesting vodcast from movie critic Mark Kermode on the purpose of critics and then I have my own view on a recent film I've seen.
The problem is that I agree with what Kermode is saying about critics and the purpose they have and I respect his opinion on films. But I never listen to any of his reviews or read any others before I see a film because I prefer to make my own mind up and don't want to be influenced by someone else's opinion.
Kermode is probably the reviewer I go to the most after I've seen a film because I'm interested in hearing his take and whether our opinions match. And that's the thing, they don't always.
He points out that what critics say has little standing with the paying public anyway as the number of films which are box-office smashes but were are poorly received by critics attests.
Which kind of leads me onto the second point: Why should anyone be interested in what I think about a film when I write my own views? Naturally I am extremely flattered if anyone is interested but I like to think that in some utterly microscopic way that my love of films might mean that someone gets to hear about or consider a film they wouldn't normally have seen which is, if you watch the clip below, sort of what Kermode is saying.
So I guess I have sorted out my initial dilemma so here is clip where Kermode talks about the role of the critic followed by some thoughts about a film I saw recently. (I'm still awaiting Kermode's opinion on that one.)
I'm not massively into graphic novels or films of that genre, although I'm not totally adverse, but the idea of a nine year old girl being an assassin in non-Disney, adult film appealed to me. Oh and the fact that she swears like a trouper. (OK I can do low-brow just as much as high-brow).
As a Friday night, with a glass of wine movie it is great. The tongue is firmly in the cheek as it tells the tale of a slightly geeky but essentially ordinary school kid who questions why more people aren't super heroes. Not the sort of super heroes who can fly or who have special powers but who just stand up to the bad guys.
He decides to take matters into his own hands, buy a costume on the internet and goes off in search of ordinary citizens to save and more by luck than skill quickly gains a reputation as a superhero, to the point where the really bad baddies think he's the one ruining their drugs business.
That, in fact, is Hit Girl who has been trained as an assassin since a toddler in order to mete revenge for her ex-cop father's wrongful conviction.
There is naturally lots of action, lots of swearing but also lots of funny lines. And it's a nicely paced, silly and thoroughly entertaining film. It put a smile on my face.