Current Movies Blog

After the news broke this morning that The New York Observer would rather fire all of its’ decent staff than produce a worthwhile newspaper, many on the Tweet-O-Sphere commented that Rex Reed wasn’t fired. This is despite the fact that Reed is old, cankerous and horribly racist to the point of parody.

But who IS Rex Reed?

Well, gather around you unlucky few who clicked the link and I’ll tell you!

He’s a cankerous old man now that used to be a saucy bit of Sixties Swinger in an argyle suit. Bam. End of story. But he’s notable enough for his roles in Superman, Inchon! and famously as pre-op Myron in Myra Breckinridge. The irony of the character “teaching” film history shouldn’t be lost on anyone. Nor should you deny yourself the chance to see this film. But he also had a catty style that was perfect for “the old days.”

He’s also a long-standing film and arts critic who could be found at Vogue, GQ, Holiday, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Observer and on the syndicated TV show, At The Movies.  Reed, despite his penchant for facepalming statements, has been around long enough to matter. Unfortunately, he’s never really matured or grown past being saucy. Now it’s turned into being bitchy and whiny more  than anything.

Reed infamously started his review of Park Chan-wook’s OldBoy with:

For sewage in a cocktail shaker, there is Oldboy, a noxious helping of Korean Grand Guignol as pointless as it is shocking. What else can you expect from a nation weaned on kimchi, a mixture of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots sold at the Seoul airport as souvenirs?

Shockingly, the Observer does not have this review on their website. Filmbrain has done his part in tweeting #RexReed into my morning reading list.

Our favorites?

“Pure undiluted crap, this is the worst movie since Synecdoche, New York.”

Reed on The Limits of Control.

“Unfortunately, all of the really great people to interview are dead–Hitler. That would be a great interview.”

No idea about this context.

and finally:

“He is like the perennial child: spoiled, grumpy, and rude, precocious in some ways and deficient in others……the child who refuses to respond to potty training and is therefore destined to go through life in a catharsis of oral-anal hysteria. As a critic, he reminds me of one of those tragic people who has to open his mouth in order to move his bowels.” Bob Guccione on Rex Reed

Yet once again, THE FUTURIST comes in with our favorite (fake) Rex Reed line:

“I’m up for the Glenn Kenny role in the THE BOYFRIEND EXPERIENCE, the sequel to THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. I can act.”

-John Lichman

Tags: Movies, Not News, Rex Reed, Sad Observations Made By John Lichman