PAINTEDSHOES:
LOL. You are nice. Obviously I've seen a lot of movies, but have made it a point to see virtually everything on the world's best movie lists, like Sight & Sound, Cahier du Cinema, Cinemateque Belgique, plus a number of terrific web sites that compile lists of great films. The way I see it, if I'm gonna take the time see a movie, I might as well take a chance on something that others who have studied film consider good, and 9 times out of 10 I have seen way. So in a way, yeah, I guess I do study film, by seeing the great ones. As you know, the more you see, the more you learn, the better a "judge" you become. Occasionally I just don't get it - like Antonioni's L'Avventura, in the 60s considered in the top 5 films ever made, still in the top 25 - plodding, dull. But thanks to these lists, and the good fortune of being in a classic-film-friendly city (NYC), plus VCR's, I've gotten to know a lot of amazing stuff. I hope that's not totally snobby, it's not meant to be, it's just like studying anything else, whether it be literature, physics or music: practice, LOL. Of course I have my own sensibilities like anyone else. For example, you'll never see "What's Up, Doc?" on any great movie lists, but it is in my personal 100, makes it me laugh.
Also, I know a bad film when I see it, and Crash is a bad film. Needless to say I respect anybody's right to say they enjoyed it - like I said, everyone has their own sensibilities - but as a work of art, I believe in using objective standards. To state the most obvious, Citizen Kane is a masterpiece. It may bore some, fine, but if they say it's bad, well, they're as wrong as people who think 1 + 1 = 3 (in base 10 - haha). Anyone who knows anything about film will tell you that. Then, it gets a bit less obvious - Au Hasard, Balthazar (Bresson) and The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer) are great - again, a fact. People don't always get to see these films, they are harder to find, so those who study them know, and will concur. There's maybe 50 to 100 films ever made that fall into this category, and after that, reasonable movie-educated types will debate. So, once again, Crash is a bad film. When you look at the lists of the nation's top film critics, virtually all agree. Sorry, I'm a broken record, but I'm still kind of having a problem with what happened on March 5th!! As soon as I have time, I'm going to start posting my personal analsyses of Oscar history decade-by-decade, arguing the Academy is wrong about 75-80% of the time. Misery loves company. Thanks again PS.