56 Richard Corliss Quotes for You to Enjoy

Richard Corliss

American Writer

Born: Mar 6, 1944

Died: Apr 23, 2015

Age Also Few First Made You

Related authors: Dale Carnegie Denis Waitley Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Ray Bradbury W. E. B. Du Bois William Arthur Ward

The exact meaning of irony is so narrow that the word is hardly worth using; in its broad, current definition, it's a euphemism for sarcasm. 'I'm not being sarcastic; I'm being ironic.' No, you're not. You're evading the responsibility for being sarcastic. Richard Corliss

You Worth Word Responsibility Broad Definition Exact Narrow Ironic Irony Current Being Meaning Meaning Of Euphemism Sarcasm Sarcastic Using Hardly

'Noah' is about a man whose mission is to obliterate Earth's past and godfather its future. Replacing the word 'God' with 'Creator' and taking other scriptural liberties, the movie risks confusing those who don't take the Bible literally and alienating those who do. Richard Corliss

Future God Bible Man Risks Word Past Other Earth Those Liberties About Obliterate Take Noah Taking Mission Replacing Godfather Movie Literally Confusing Who Creator Whose

If you think of the 1930s in film as the decade of Gable and Lombard, Cagney and Harlow, Stanwyck and the Marx Brothers, think again. The biggest star - No. 1 in the 1936, '37 and '38 exhibitor polls - was a three-time box-office champ before she was 10. Shirley Temple, singer, dancer, and prime exemplar of Movie Cute, owned the '30s. Richard Corliss

How many mothers have emerged from a family trip to a Disney movie and been obliged to explain the facts of death to their sobbing young? A conservative estimate: the tens of millions, since the studio's first animated feature, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' premiered in 1937. Richard Corliss

Death Family Conservative First Young White Seven Trip Emerged Feature Obliged Facts Animated Studio Tens Tens Of Millions Since How Mothers Been Snow Snow White Dwarf Movie Estimate Explain Disney Many Millions

In the movies, every crazy old fart needs a cool old car. Jack Nicholson drove a spiffy yellow 1970 Dodge Challenger two-door in 'The Bucket List.' In 'Gran Torino,' the cranky pensioner played by Clint Eastwood not only owned a 1972 GT Sport, he also used to build cars like that at the Ford plant. Richard Corliss

Needs Crazy Old Plant Car Build Every Eastwood Only Bucket He Drove Like Also Sport Dodge Ford Clint Clint Eastwood Yellow Jack Jack Nicholson List Owned Cranky Movies Used Fart Cool Challenger Nicholson Played

Bad movies: they can be tatty classics of crazed ineptitude, like Edward D. Wood's 'Glen or Glenda' and 'Plan 9 from Outer Space,' or big-budget misfires like the 1987 'Ishtar,' a would-be comedy that sent Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman on a Hope-Crosby Road to Dystopia. Richard Corliss

Comedy Space Bad Would-Be Outer Outer Space Classics Beatty Road Like Edward Dustin Hoffman Wood Movies Dystopia Sent Plan Warren Warren Beatty

Nixon, with his mellifluous baritone, was a great politician for radio but creepy on TV. Richard Corliss

Great Politician Nixon TV His Baritone Radio Creepy

In my experience, copy editors, like the stalwart staff I've worked with and learned from in my 34 years at 'TIME,' are linguistic conservatives - the keepers of the flame ignited by the Strunk-White 'Elements of Style,' published in full in 1957 and chosen by 'TIME' as one of the 100 most influential nonfiction books of the past century. Richard Corliss

Time Experience Style Past Flame Conservatives Books Like Most Learned Nonfiction Editors Years Linguistic Staff Influential Century Worked Full Chosen Elements Published Keepers Copy

'Under the Skin' is handsome, in a dour way, but inert - a cunning experiment that died in the shooting or on the editing table. You'll want to get the DVD, though, and not just for its study of Scarlett. Odds are that the Making-Of documentary will be far stranger and more fascinating than the movie that was made. Richard Corliss

You Editing Will Made Odds Experiment Skin Way Though Table Scarlett More Study Documentary Cunning Than Get Shooting Handsome Died Just Want Movie Far Stranger Fascinating

Mausoleum air and anguished pauses: If this production were a poem, it would be mostly white space. Richard Corliss

Space White Air Would Would-Be Poem Anguished Mostly Were Production

The music was the best thing about the Four Seasons and the central asset of the 'Jersey Boys' show. By concentrating on the group's personal wrangling, to the near exclusion of their songs, Clint Eastwood has jettisoned the joy and made this a one-Season movie: winter in New Jersey. And, man, that's bleak. Richard Corliss

Music Best Winter Man Joy Made Group Eastwood About Songs Bleak Exclusion New Concentrating Boy New Jersey Clint Clint Eastwood Personal Movie Central Show Jersey Near Seasons Asset Thing Four

Disney features, especially the early ones, were horror movies with cute critters: Greek tragedies with a hummable chorus. Forcing children to confront the loss of home, parent, friends and fondest pets, these films imposed shock therapy on four-year-olds. Richard Corliss

Home Forcing Cute Films Parent Horror Horror Movies Features Were Imposed Loss Tragedies Friends Shock Greek Children Movies Confront Disney Therapy Chorus Pets Early

There are movies whose feel-good sentiments and slick craft annoy me so deeply that I know they will become box-office successes or top prizewinners. I call this internal mechanism my Built-In Hit Detector. Richard Corliss

Me Will Become Slick Top Detector Annoy Know Call Hit Craft Movies Successes Sentiments Internal Mechanism Whose Deeply

I had grown up thinking of movies as something to eat popcorn with. Bergman and the other European directors were the first ones to open my eyes to film as art. Richard Corliss

Art Eyes First Thinking Other Bergman Eat Something Directors Open Had Were Up Movies Popcorn European Film Grown Grown-Up

Icy and earthy, Helen Mirren is a rare, regal presence in a movie age that values the plebeian over the patrician and mass over class. Lauded with an Oscar and an Emmy for playing both Queen Elizabeths, Mirren has matched her cool aristocracy with a boldness of performance and display. Richard Corliss

'Divergent,' directed by Neil Burger, displayed an admirable seriousness and some grim verve in laying out the boundaries of novelist Veronica Roth's dystopia - six segregated but ostensibly harmonious regions defined by their inhabitants' skills. Richard Corliss

Burger Harmonious Defined Out Neil Admirable Some Divergent Directed Segregated Laying Boundaries Veronica Six Grim Dystopia Regions Inhabitants Skills Roth Displayed Novelist Seriousness

The big gamble in 'Focus' - it's a Will Smith movie that dares to be small. Richard Corliss

Will Focus Big Will Smith Dares Small Smith Movie Gamble

The 1930s birthed two great agrarian novels: 'Gone with the Wind' from the viewpoint of the ruling class, 'The Grapes of Wrath' for the underclass. And both were turned into movies that dared to be true to the books' controversial themes. Richard Corliss

A movie like 'Selma' should be a relic in a time capsule from 1965, a clue to how well we heeded King's words and how far we have advanced. Instead, it is a reminder that the 'American problem' has yet to be solved. Richard Corliss

Time Problem Words King Relic Solved Advanced Instead Reminder Like Well How How Far American Movie Clue Heeded Far Should

Hollywood has always seen Sondheim as a caviar brand unsuitable for a popcorn industry. Richard Corliss

Seen Sondheim Unsuitable Industry Always Caviar Brand Hollywood Popcorn

Though not really a comedy, 'Rosewater' is a demonstration of the creed behind 'The Daily Show': belief in the crucial need for impious wit against entrenched power. The freedom of the press is also the freedom to depress - and to inspire. That's a message that can outlive any Oscar season. Richard Corliss

Daily Freedom Inspire Comedy Power Press Though Outlive Entrenched Crucial Wit Also Message Demonstration Any Behind Against Depress Really Show Belief Season Daily Show Oscar Creed Need

Fess up, 'Hunger Games' fans: Does anyone care about Peeta or find him attractive? He's the Ron Weasley of the series: he gets points for callow valor and sympathy for his run of bad luck, but he remains a pasty, earnest bore. Richard Corliss

Bad Luck Fans Care Luck Sympathy Earnest Valor Hunger Hunger Games Run Bad Find Bore About Remains Points He Attractive Him Does His Up Gets Anyone Ron Games Series

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