Favorite movie theorist

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I mean no sarcasm here, but I really would like to read a movie theory. It's so antithetical to the way I see movies, which is one at a time, reacting to what it is in that moment, that I'm curious to read one of these theories. When I think of them, I think of some broad content categories and probably supplement that with some 0 - 10 ratings by someone whose opinion I value or the statistical ratings of some site like IMDB. Tonight, it's a rom-com with a 7.5 rating, tomorrow, I'm in the mood to do some slumming, so it's a cheesy horror movie that rates no higher than 5. Analyzing it to death is the last thing I want to do.



I'm a fan of Andre Bazin too, I don't necessarily agree with everything that he says but it's always fascinating and he has great in-depth knowledge of the history of cinema. I would say I've moved more away from realism towards an interest in formalism.

Jean-Luc Godard I find fascinating too and love listening too, reading, watching his work which you could make an argument for all being relating to film theory. Anything from the old Cahiers du Cinema I normally find to be of some value, Truffaut's conversations with Hitchcock are great.

Beyond that I don't have too much to add, I find most modern critics are uninteresting bar a handful. I like Jonathan Rosenbaum and Michael J. Anderson who although not necessarily theorists themselves, have a rich knowledge of history and relate their own analysis to film history and theory.
I just began reading cahier du cinéma but what I mostly dont agree with his their absolute believe of realism. Most of them believe that a good movie is one that re translate the most reality but I believe a movie should do more and the research of realism should be for documentary. But they still are interesting and I appreciate reading their work



I mean no sarcasm here, but I really would like to read a movie theory. It's so antithetical to the way I see movies, which is one at a time, reacting to what it is in that moment, that I'm curious to read one of these theories. When I think of them, I think of some broad content categories and probably supplement that with some 0 - 10 ratings by someone whose opinion I value or the statistical ratings of some site like IMDB. Tonight, it's a rom-com with a 7.5 rating, tomorrow, I'm in the mood to do some slumming, so it's a cheesy horror movie that rates no higher than 5. Analyzing it to death is the last thing I want to do.
I first want to apologize for the past few comments that felt a little unpleasant towards you. First of all, when I think of movie theory, I think of philosophy in the way that there are no real answer or wrong one and people can say that they dont agree. All this to say that if you feel like movie theory isn't a thing and you have compelling arguments, we should respect that. Not necessarily agree but respect. Second, a very good exemple of movie theory is the one concerning long take.
You basically have two sides. One side think the less you cut the more realistic the movie will appear. Their reason is that in life, we don't <<cut>>. In fact, when we see everyday life, there is no transition. Therefore, the less you cut the more realistic the movie will appear. André Bazin thought that cinéma should be the more realistic possible and the best at it were neorealism director, who by the way used a ton of long shot. So for him long shot= realism.
With time tough his thoughts were being contasted. Walter Murch, in his book, stated that he was against that believe saying that even if we don't cut when we perceive life, our vision is still fragmented. So cutting in movies allows us to fragment the action like our brain do naturally. One of the reasons why some people get distracted by long shot, because the action is not divided. To this day, the debate still reign and directors still believe that long shot are realistic or distracting.
So this is an exemple of movie theory. We recognise something about the medium and develloped that observation and trying to understand why.
By the way, Im writing this at 1 oclock and I'm tired plus english is my second language so my text might not makes sense.