/Film is for dunces

For a hot minute I was working on an in-depth critique of /Film, the immensely popular movie news site and early proponent of the client journalism which has become the standard for online film criticism. The site routinely features some of the worst composed, most poorly edited, uninformed and generally ill-conceived writing on the web. A more trenchant analysis may well be worth a pop, but I’m just going to direct your attention to this passage from a recent news post, “‘The Matrix 4’ Star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Teases Cutting Edge Camera Rigs, Ambitious Tech”:

THR’s full profile of Abdul-Mateen II contains some other interesting tidbits about him and his life. Like James Earl Jones, an actor known for his iconic voice, Abdul-Mateen II overcame a stutter; and like many of us out here in TV land, he’s a fan of The Office. Is it just me or does hearing that make anyone else’s brain enter a bullet time state?

Yeah, dude. Hearing that an actor enjoyed the phenomenally popular television sitcom The Office made a sophisticated camera rig appear in a circle around my brain, take a number of still photographs in sequence, and then take those images to render a 3D image where my brain appears to be floating motionless in mid-air. They get paid to write this shit! It means nothing! This is the most popular independent film site on the internet! Peter Sciretta retire bitch!