Thoughts on Barry Norman?
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Norman

I've been watching a fair few of his reviews from the 80's and 90's. He has a good way of reviewing film. But he's too snobby for me.

Been watching a lot of Siskel and Ebert reviews as well. Kinda hooked on these 2 atm.

Well he’s dead

Can't help but laugh. Thread killing post.

On topic. I also find him rather highbrow and snobbish.

So are Siskel and Ebert, that's not the point of the thread though.

he was a great reviewer in his day, he really took the piss out of things he didnt like. The reason he comes across as snobby now is because the films in those days at least attempted to provide some intellectual stimulation which is sadly lacking these days

Is he the one that use to have the catchphrase " and why not" ?

Yes he was a not that bad,
at least you knew if he hated a film,

I dunno if that's necessarily totally true... There were plenty of brain dead action movies in the cinemas in the 80's and 90's and plenty of interesting movies in recent years, although these days admittedly the interesting ones tend to be a little more niche rather than getting full cinematic releases.

I mean yes you can say that superhero movies etc are pretty formulaic, but so was the average 80's Action Movie, so much so that the 80's Action Hero became a trope/meme. I mean, the entire Arnie movie "Last Action Hero" plays on breaking the 4th wall of the formulaic nature of that type of movie.

These days the interesting ones seem to be biopics, of which, there are numerous.

The Mandela one, ten years a slave, the one about the pilot on the hudson river, the one with the somalian pirates..etc etc...most are massive at the box office.

Have you watched Ebert and Martin Scorsese picking their top ten films of the 1990s?

The show was never as good after Barry left. I was a regular viewer when he was hosting but stopped watching when Jonathan Ross took over, it just didn't seem the same.

Yes i have. Im strangely addicted to watching Siskel and Ebert on youtube atm. Reviews, tv interviews, anything with them two.

I used to think he was brilliant...I can understand the 'snobby' way he could come across but he had a very dry sense of humour.