Armond White Says 'Ghost Rider 2' & 'Taken 2' Are Better Than 'Zero Dark Thirty' In 2012 Wrap Up

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by Kevin Jagernauth
January 11, 2013 9:22 AM
9 Comments

2013 is barely two weeks old, and already Armond White is being his Armond-iest. In case you missed it (via FilmDrunk), the cantankerous, contrarian film critic heckled Michael Moore at the the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony this week. In presenting the award for Best First Film to David France for the now Oscar nominated “How to Survive a Plague,” Moore reflected that “the Cardinal couldn’t get through Mass at St. Patrick’s,” citing the film's coverage of the ACT UP protests that interrupted Christmas mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in the '80s, and this set off Armond.

“[Bleep] you!” “You liar!” “Shut up!” and “Drop dead!” he shouted at Moore with a friend. Armond said that Moore “disparaged Catholics,” adding, “I was offended...He was there to present the film and not present a personal political diatribe.” But Armond being Armond, he had even more to say, describing Moore as "a paranoid leftie buffoon who assumed he was in a room of fellow-travelers" and adding that "as a member of the NYFCC I resent that he used our event for a political platform.” But that's not all the burnsauce in the Armond cupboard this week.

White dropped his annual "Better-Than" list which has become a must read each year, if only because it's amusing to see how outrageous he can be in order to get attention. In an assessment of 2012, the list is notable this year for being mostly tame, though there are a couple of choice selections. They deserve to be read in full, so here they are:

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Taken 2 > Zero Dark Thirty
Neveldine-Taylor and Olivier Megaton revealed the post-9/11 zeitgeist in genre tropes, while Bigelow reduced the zeitgeist to an enigmatic comic strip, a “mission accomplished” delusion.

A Thousand Words > Argo
Brian Robbins and Eddie Murphy dared the most personal Hollywood critique since Clifford Odets’ The Big Knife; Ben Affleck trivialized Hollywood accountability.

As usual, Armond tends to be watching entirely different versions of movies than the rest of us, finding a "post-9/11 zeitgeist" in brainless, cash grabbing sequels and Hollywood critiques in a shelved Eddie Murphy vehicle. Keep on keepin' on Armond. Read his full list at the New York Press.

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More: Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, Taken 2, Zero Dark Thirty

9 Comments

| Reply
Sailor | January 12, 2013 10:50 AMReply

Well, hes just not mindlessly following the herd, as way to many critics/ bloggers/ watchers tend to do...
Yod | January 13, 2013 9:54 PM

No, but he may well be mindlessly opposing the herd. It's no better.
Zinjo | January 11, 2013 1:53 PMReply

Well like most children, bad attention is the same as good attention so long as it is attention. We should collectively see if he "Jumps the Shark" by simply not reporting on his non-sense and ignoring him.

Now THAT would be amusing...
Chris | January 11, 2013 1:16 PMReply

He is an entertaining fellow.
Ade | January 11, 2013 12:09 PMReply

I like Neveldine/Taylor but Ghost Rider 2 was unwatchable.
jimmiescoffee | January 11, 2013 12:04 PMReply

in all honesty, this person is not right mentally. i mean that. he's either doing it for the ink or he is absolutely mentally ill. saying that any deep thought was behind a film like 'ghost rider 2' is delusion at it's best. i've paid attention to him for years, and the NY Press should be embarrassed.
No | January 11, 2013 10:36 AMReply

Armond White, the Spike Lee of film criticism. I stopped paying attention to White years ago. If he dislike something that's usually a signal that it is worth seeing.
BEF | January 11, 2013 1:24 PM

Woah, woah, woah, hold it back there a bit. Spike Lee is accomplished, lest you all forget. He made maybe the best movies of the 80's in Do the Right Thing. Jungle fever, Clockers and Malcolm X are pretty solid, too. So he took on QT withut seeing Django and that annoys Playlist readers; c'mon White is a nobody who is only printed about when he yells at someone or writes some ridiculous column.
ben | January 11, 2013 10:03 AMReply

Please stop writing about Armond White. Don't give this fuckin clown any more attention. He doesn't deserve it and we ignore him, hopefully this nonsense will stop.