Hurt Dispute

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Let's review the burgeoning Hurt Locker situation so far. The Toronto Star's Peter Howell started the buzz with his 8.31 rave. Then today Variety's Nick Vivarelli reported that Kathryn Bigelow's bomb squad actioner "gave the Lido a jolt and proposed itself as the Iraq pic that might break through to American auds."

I also got an e-mail today from cinema2000's Nuno Artunes saying that "our correspondent at the Venice Film Festival has just written to say Bigelow's movie is the best so far at the competition -- 5 stars out of five, and he's not easy to please."

I'm mentioning all this only to put the Hurt Locker pan from Variety's sourpuss critic Derek Elley in perspective. Nobody's "right," everybody has their persepctive, etc., but how could all these other guys be going "wow" and "whoo-hoo" and then aong comes Elley, less bowled over by the rush of it, and says "war may be hell, but watching war movies can also be hell, especially when they don't get to the point."

The best competition movie of the Venice Film Festival so far vs. a hellish unoriginal viewing experience. That's one hell of a gap. The Hurt Locker will screen for the TIFF press on Tuesday.