Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog

I'm never going to see half the movies this guy reviews, but every so often you get a little gem that makes it all worth it. My personal favorite Ebertism is when he spends too much time talking about a peripheral (or unrelated) topic, because he just doesn't like the movie that much. The latest example is from his review of Mondovino, a movie apparently intended to convince us that Big Wine is making all wine across the world taste the same. A more depressing Sideways? Anyway, this is what he writes:

He makes this argument in a film that is too long and needlessly mannered. There is no particular reason for a restless hand-held camera in a documentary about wine. If we are watching a documentary about cockfighting or the flight of the bumblebee, we can see the logic of a jumpy camera, but vineyards don't move around much and are easy to keep in frame. I am more permissive about Nossiter's other camera strategy, which is to interrupt a shot whenever a dog comes into view, in order to focus on the dog. This I understand. Whenever a dog appears at a social occasion, I immediately interrupt my conversation to greet the dog, and often find myself turning back to its owner with regret.