Every Oscar season, there are those few films that get nominated that most people absolutely cannot stand -- or, at least, they're the ones that are very fashionable to despise. For Gawker and Deadspin, I rise to the defense of one of this year's most popular whipping boys: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
You can read the article here, but there's one thing I'd like to add: This is not one of those reactionary, contrarian pieces where I take the opposite viewpoint just because it goes against the grain. I first saw Extremely Loud right before the LAFCA vote in early December, which was weeks before it hits theaters or before reviews had come out. When I saw it, nobody yet had any opinion on the movie. I thought, despite its obvious flaws, that it was a very genuine, affecting work. So the amount of vitriol that soon greeted it caught me by surprise -- except not really, because it is one of those types of movies that invites such strong reactions. In preparation for this article, I went back and watched the film again in the theater just to see if my rosy opinion of it held up. It did. In fact, I felt almost exactly the same way as I had the first time. Just wanted to mention that. OK, here's the article.
(P.S. One other thing: This is my first piece for Gawker and Deadspin, which is part of a very exciting development. If, like me, you miss The Projector, you'll be happy to know that Will Leitch and I are back at it in a revised form for Gawker Media. Will explains it all here. We're both thrilled.)
