The Filthy Critic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Filthy Critic (or "Filthy," as he calls himself) is an online persona of Matt Weatherford, a film critic. Starting in 1998, Filthy's reviews have appeared on his web site on a fairly regular basis. His writing style is notable in that it makes allusions to Filthy's fictional personal life, uses vulgar language, and often makes scathing remarks toward Hollywood.
Filthy frequently comments upon perceived expository clichés and nonsensical devices. He sees many of the films reviewed as overly reliant on special effects to dull awareness of poor character development. He also feels many of the reviewed movies rely on deliberate pomposity to give the appearance of "art house" cinema.
His ratings range from one to five "fingers." As of December 5th, 2005, the average score of his more than 300 reviews is 2.28, and his rating distribution looks like this:
5 fingers: *** 9 (3 %) 4 fingers: ************* 40 (12 %) 3 fingers: ************************* 76 (23 %) 2 fingers: ****************************************** 125 (37 %) 1 finger: ***************************** 87 (26 %)
Filthy's fictionalized private life frequently appears in the articles, including personal and often self-deprecating accounts of his life in the Colorado town of Arvada serving as a backdrop for his views toward a film. Recurring themes include his constantly shifting state of employment, his loving relationship with his wife, and his interaction with the locals at the "Arvada Tavern" (particularly an oft-mentioned meth addict, the Harelip).
The Filthy Critic was (temporarily) killed in a bicycle collision late on August 7, 2003. "He died the way he lived--wobbling aimlessly in the slow lane." appeared on the web site. He was later resurrected to continue his career.
Another notable aspect of the writing style is that occasionally The Filthy Critic is "guest-written" by the author's fictional relatives, including his mentally retarded cousin Larry and his nerdy and virginal nephew Jimmy. Usually in the week preceding the release of a major science fiction or fantasy film, such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or The Matrix, Jimmy would write a journal detailing his camp out in front of the movie theatre in order to purchase tickets.
Matt Weatherford has been referenced by Stephen King in an Entertainment Weekly column and has written for and been featured in Rolling Stone magazine.
[edit] Quotes
Review (excerpt) of The Italian Job: "It's a well-made bad movie. It's efficient and has confidence in its blandness. It's loud and brash enough to be confused for cool. But those are the characteristics that frat guys use to win the hearts of insecure sorority girls, not what I pay eight bucks for. Two Fingers for The Italian Job."
Review (excerpt) of Office Space: "I'm just a lowly gas jockey. I flunked my civil service test, they say because I used too many fucking cuss words, so they won't even let me deliver your mail to you. I am not worthy of one of them fancy jobs in an air-conditioned office, sitting on my ass in a cubicle playing solitaire on a computer. Office Space is about miserable office workers, a world I do not understand. However, I get the message that it's about ramming the rod of justice up the MAN's ass, and that's something we can all relate to, from kindergartner to retired old fart."
Review (excerpt) of Torque: "The Third Man is a great Orson Welles movie based on a Graham Greene/Carol Reed story. A western writer goes to post-war Vienna to visit his pal Harry Lime, a man he has always looked up to. Upon his arrival he discovers his friend was just killed in a car accident. The truth is, the friend isn't dead; he has faked his death to elude the police. They're after him for selling diluted penicillin to hospitals, which is killing children. Harry Lime is one of the all-time super creeps, and when we first see him, he's a sniveling coward. Greene and Welles wanted to make him the most despicable criminal imaginable[.] They couldn't think of anything worse than someone who'd kill children out of pure greed. They never met the people that made Torque."
review (complete text) of The Man: "Fu-uck."
