Neat idea

Ed Park, in the Village Voice, offers a comparison of The Life Aquatic and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. It's brief, but the idea of contrasting a well-reviewed "serious" film with an "entertainment" movie is a really good one. I often think that the difference between films that are supposed to have deeper resonance, those taken seriously as art, are at best no different than and often shallower and stupider than movies made, so we are led to believe by their critical reception, as "mere" entertainments. After seeing Lost in Translation, I recall wondering whether I wouldn't have gotten more out of seeing the similarly-themed Lizzie McGuire Movie. I never got around to seeing that, but imagine it would have been pretty much the same, perhaps less flattering to middle-aged men.

Park promises next to explain why he prefers Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to The Aviator. Sounds interesting.