I, Tonya

VIETgrlTerifa said:

Phil Hersh's take on the movie:

http://www.globetrottingbyphilipher...ya-harding-nancy-kerrigan-movie-margot-robbie



and



and in conclusion:



From the sounds of it, although Allison Janney's LaVona (or Sandy) might be the breakthrough performance of the film, it seems like the film makers were not interested in giving her a more multi-faceted, nuanced portrayal like they give everyone else as it would probably undermine Tonya's version of events that the film was going for. Rather, keeping her a one-dimensional monster serves the movies' purposes better. This is not to say LaVona didn't do some real effed up crap, abused and neglected Tonya, and was ill-equipped to be a real mother, but it seems like the movie's Lavonna is more of a full-fledged monster than a human with some real demons and probably a personality disorder or at least a master manipulator that made her take everything out on poor Tonya growing up which lead to their current estrangement.

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millie said:

That was a sad time for figure skating....Tonya was the underdog and and under so much pressure. Nancy got all the attention and Tonya was always fighting for the spotlight. In my opinion, watching all this go down in the media, was hard to watch. Tonya was driven by fame and pressure and acceptance in her sport. I think that it all got to her and she was pressured into doing things that she was sorry for...This is a hard sport if you are not beautiful and feminine. My opinion....

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Mathman said:

Here's a fun review.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454449/deplorables-mocked-i-tonya-and-disaster-artist

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Mathman said:

Here's a fun review.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454449/deplorables-mocked-i-tonya-and-disaster-artist

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Armond White is often regarded by fellow critics and audiences alike as a troll, whose purpose is not to criticise films in a fair and analytical fashion but merely to be contrarian.

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Mathman said:

Here's a fun review.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454449/deplorables-mocked-i-tonya-and-disaster-artist

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This new confidence likely has some thing to do with the success of the Margot Robbie film I, Tonya, which recounts the story and details the hardships Harding faced as the daughter of an abusive mother and wife of an abusive husband.

"It's my faith in myself and my father that comes back to me and makes me get back up off my butt and be something worth being proud of," says Harding.

"I always wanted my daddy to be proud." Harding then breaks down while adding: "And now, I want my son to be proud."

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WeakAnkles said:

Now now that's not fair. Armond White has made a career out of being a uhm, let me get the thesaurus...don't want to get banned here...

Curmudgeon! A Professional Curmudgeon! Oh poo! That will have to do do.

He's like the punchline to a Woody Allen joke in his 1970s movies.

ETA:Sorry but I read it again and thought, Oh yes, this is why so many many people say, When I want Incisive Cultural Criticism I turn to...The National Review!"

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luckyguy said:

Well, it is not about The National Review, it is about Armond White. He also wrote a review about I, Tonya for a LGBTQI magazine and received comments like:

"This review is the worst. I just think he s**tposts, and expects everyone to fall in line with his way of thinking. This movie is about Tonya. It's not titled I, Armond."
or
"Using a plethora of poetic words doesn’t mask how s**tty a writer you are."

https://www.out.com/armond-white/2017/12/08/camp-ice-i-tonya-desperately-need-gay-sensibility

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New York Film Critics Circle Awards chairman Armond White cut a dapper figure as the evening’s host on Monday night, but he was also something of a jerk at his own show.
Highlights included his snide suggestion that presenter Tony Kushner should explain why “The Social Network” deserved to win best picture and choosing to praise presenter Michelle Williams for the 2004 “Land of Plenty” (back when she was best known as Jen on “Dawson’s Creek”) rather than any recent work that includes “Blue Valentine, “Meek’s Cutoff” and “Shutter Island.”

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The awards are intended to be an evening of celebration, where the results of voting by all of the city's critics are honored, but NYFCC chairman and New York Press reviewer White kept making clear when he disagreed with the group's decisions, much to the discomfort of the audience, let alone the awards recipients. For example, when introducing the Best Actress award, which was won by Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right, a movie he hated, he barely mentioned the film. Instead, he focused at unnecessary length on her performance in Mother and Child, which he did like. And for all the time spent on that movie, he wasn't even introducing Bening, but rather her presenter. As chairman, White picked the presenters, so whom did he choose for Bening? Not her Kids co-star Mark Ruffalo or director Lisa Cholodenko — both winners and in the audience — but rather Kerry Washington, her Mother and Child co-star.

. . .

Later, he introduced Michelle Williams, who would be presenting to Ruffalo. He mentioned that he'd liked Ruffalo in 2007's Reservation Road, and then complimented Williams for an even older credit, 2004's Land of Plenty; it seemed like a deliberate snub of her current role in Blue Valentine. Said Williams upon taking the stage, "Um, thanks, that was, like, ten years ago. I'm not going to read any of your reviews of my other work because you really had to reach."

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WeakAnkles said:

But I do stand by what I said before. Do you honestly know a single person who reads The National Review for its cultural criticism?

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WeakAnkles said:

But I do stand by what I said before. Do you honestly know a single person who reads The National Review for its cultural criticism?

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anyanka said:

I had to actually Google what that publication was! But yeah, Armond is knowledgeable about cinemas, but let's say he's no longer taken seriously among the *ahem* more elite critics. I remember when he gave the first (and one of the very few) negative reviews for Get Out earlier this year, saying it was a "Kill Whitey" movie that's racist to Caucasians, or something ...

- - - Updated - - -

New profile in Portland Monthly, her home town's publication! It's extensive and well-written.

https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles...g-is-back-on-the-ice-and-on-the-silver-screen

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VIETgrlTerifa said:

Armond White is a very controversial critic who tends to make very personal jabs. He tries to be like Pauline Kael, who had her own issues, but White makes her look very tactful and it seems that she actually enjoyed films as a whole. White seems like he hates film sometimes and only chooses a select few to openly laud as if they belong in some exclusive club. He, like Kael did, has a lot of knowledge about films but it seems he uses references to other films in his reviews as a way of name-dropping his knowledge than anything else at times. It's like Sight and Sound without Sight and Sound's credibility, taste, and judgment.

Armond White once hosted the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and I don't think he was asked to host again.

http://www.indiewire.com/2011/01/ar...e-new-york-film-critics-circle-awards-243925/



http://www.vulture.com/2011/01/armond_white_is_why_people_hat.html



Years later, he was kicked out of the New York Film Critics Circle after he yelled profanities to 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen during the award ceremony:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/a...t-of-new-york-film-critics-circle-1201052799/



WORD.

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WeakAnkles said:

Do you honestly know a single person who reads The National Review for its cultural criticism?

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