I think I inherently find people recording themselves talking about film interpretations/deeper themes as worse than simply writing it out. Using video to analyze color/framing/cinematography, sure. But I almost always prefer writing about film to talking about it.
Video essays are cool when they’re done well, like with an interesting topic and/or angle, and an execution that takes advantage of the medium. Most of them are unappealing to me, and I don’t exactly seek out new people to follow. But, like, when a new Patrick Willems (or Contrapoints, or Folding Ideas) video drops, I get excited.
if you wanna call what Jon Bois does video essays he’s also a master. hbomb dominates the hyperlongform version for me too
Dorktown is some of the best documentary/video essay content on YouTube by a long ways. Especially when he does baseball content.
I try to find negative reviews of movies I like just to get some different perspectives and opinions. But you also don’t need negative reviews to get different perspectives. Richard Lawson is the critic I typically find whose tastes are very similar to mine. So if I’m on the fence about see something and he liked it I’ll usually check it out. But he often has completely different reasons for liking/disliking films than I do.
Every politician should have to answer what their favorite movie is but they also need to give a plot description without looking it up.
Is it unpopular to say that The Fifth Element is better than any of the Star Wars films, or is that just generally accepted as fact?
I feel like the fifth element very clearly take a lot of inspiration from Star Wars. Two futuristic sci-fi movies in space
The Empire Strikes Back is better than The Fifth Element, but it isn't like any of the Star Wars movies are great.
It’d be more accurate to say Star Wars and Fifth Element have some common influences. (Particularly the French comic series Valérian and Laureline, which Fifth Element director Besson later adapted into film.)