Scene - Blogs - Movies good and superbad

Movies good and superbad
Published: 12/24/2007 4:57 PM
Last Modified: 12/24/2007 4:57 PM

Perhaps I just don't get this film critic thing, because I'm under the impression that great movies can come out any time of year.

I voted in the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle awards recently, and when the results were released this week, they looked pretty much like every other group's assessment: Movies released before October don't count.

Did all of you out there know that only motion picture garbage comes out the first four or five months of the year, then you go see sequels all summer and then starting in the fall, good films are released?

This simplistic view is not all there is to quality moviegoing, though some with short-term memories would have you believe it.

Not that there's a plethora of fine films released in March, April and May. There's not. It can be a pretty dry well.

But as my 2007 top 10 list of movies will show in this weekend's Scene 2 section, I found four of my top six best pictures this past year from those three supposedly meaningless months.

The 17 Okie film reviewers did combine to find room for "Zodiac," the marvelous, moody thriller from March. So did I. For the rest of my selections, buy a paper on Sunday.

I'll also include top 10 lists from our film writers James Vance and Kim Brown, a few more favorites outside the top 10, and even a list of the year's worst dreck in theaters.

Admittedly, more than a fair share of the bombs come from the early part of the year, when, as any good Okie should know, you have to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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I See Movies for Free

“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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Archive

Past Articles By Michael Smith

2/16/2013		Broken Arrow movie theater moves to discount showings
2/15/2013		Review: 'Amour'
2/15/2013		Review: 'A Good Day to Die Hard'
2/15/2013		Review: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/14/2013		Review: 'Quartet'
2/14/2013		Shirley MacLaine to speak at Osage Casino
2/14/2013		Weekly rewind: February 14
2/14/2013		REVIEW: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/12/2013		Belgian best picture hopeful 'Amour' opens in Tulsa on Friday
2/10/2013		'Die Hard' marathon at AMC Southroads on Wednesday ends with new film
2/9/2013		Review: 'Identity Thief' a stupid movie from stupid idea
2/8/2013		Oscar audit: Critics choices for best picture hold up over time

Michael Smith's Blog Archive:

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