fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Armond White (born 1953/1954)[1] is an American film and music critic who writes for National Review and Out. He was previously the editor of CityArts (2011–2014), the lead film critic for the alternative weekly New York Press (1997–2011), and the arts editor and critic for The City Sun (1984–1996). Other publications that have carried his work include Film Comment, Variety, The Nation, The New York Times, Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, and First Things.

Armond White
Born	1953/1954 (age 68–69) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Columbia University (MFA)
Occupation	Film critic

White is known for his provocative, idiosyncratic[2] and often contrarian reviews, which have made him a controversial figure in film criticism.[3]

Early life

White was born in Detroit,[4] the youngest of seven children. His family was the first African-American family to move to a primarily Jewish neighborhood on the city's northwest side, where he grew up. Raised Baptist, he later became Pentecostal, and identifies himself as "a believer."[5]

His interest in journalism and film criticism began as a student at Detroit's Central High School, when he first read the book Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by film critic Pauline Kael,[5] whom he cites for "her willingness to go against the hype," along with Andrew Sarris, for his "sophisticated love of cinema,"[6] as being a major inspiration on his choice of professional career.[7][8][9] White received a Master of Fine Arts degree in film from Columbia University's School of the Arts in 1997.[10]

Career

White was the arts editor for The City Sun, where he wrote film, music and theater criticism, for the span of its publication from 1984 to 1996. He was hired by New York Press in 1997 and wrote for the paper until it ceased publication in August 2011. He then assumed the editorship of its sister publication CityArts starting in September.

White is a member of the National Society of Film Critics[11] and New York Film Critics Online.[12] He was the three-time chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle (1994, 2009 and 2010),[13][14] and has also served as a member of the jury at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Mill Valley Film Festival and was a member of several National Endowment for the Arts panels.[10] He has taught classes on film at Columbia University and Long Island University.[7]

In 1992, White was one of nine newspaper and magazine writers to win the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music criticism.[15]

In January 2014, White was expelled from the New York Film Critics Circle for allegedly heckling director Steve McQueen at an event for the film 12 Years a Slave.[16][17] White maintained his innocence,[18] and characterized his expulsion as a "smear campaign."[19] White received an Anti-Censorship Award at the 35th annual American Book Awards for being "unfairly removed" from the critics' organization.[20]

Views on film

White has notably given negative reviews to widely acclaimed movies such as The Dark Knight, There Will Be Blood, Up, WALL-E, Toy Story 3, 12 Years a Slave, and Get Out.[21] He has also championed critically disliked films such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Jonah Hex, Grown Ups, Jack and Jill, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.[22]

White has referred to A.I. Artificial Intelligence as the best film of the 21st century[23] and considers Alain Resnais, Zack Snyder, Clint Eastwood, and S. Craig Zahler to be the four most important filmmakers of the 2010s.[24] In 2020, White compiled his favorite films of the preceding decade:

In 2021, he listed Don't Look Up as the worst film of the year.[25] White also described 2021 as a turning point in film culture, "where the glut of content, streaming or in theaters, overwhelmed concerns about quality, craft, and the destructive messages being sold to us." He then created his own list of 17 great films of 2021,[26] to watch as an alternative, which included:

Personal life

White is gay and a Christian.[28]

Public reception

White's work led film critic Roger Ebert to label him as a "smart and knowing [...] troll" in his 2009 essay Not in defense of Armond White.[29] White has in turn criticized Ebert, stating "I do think it is fair to say that Roger Ebert destroyed film criticism. Because of the wide and far reach of television, he became an example of what a film critic does for too many people. And what he did simply was not criticism. It was simply blather."[30]

In 2014, film critic Walter Biggins of RogerEbert.com penned an essay titled In defense of Armond White, a reference to Ebert's earlier essay. Biggins criticizes White's combative style, but defends him as a critic, describing White as "an important, distinctive, and...necessary voice in film criticism". Biggins states that "He's no troll, and he's one of the few critics capable of noting the inherent—and latent—racism of much of cinema and its discourse... he has provided a rare black voice, and perhaps an even rarer conservative voice, to film/video commentary."[31]

White has responded to negative criticism of his reviews stating, "If there were a whole bunch of critics who I thought were doing a good job, then I would stop...Because really, the reason why I do what I do is because I think there are things that need to be said about movies, about culture, about the world, that nobody's saying.[30]

Critic Thelma Adams has cited White as an influence on her work.[32]

Books

• The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop Culture That Shook the World, 1995 (ISBN 978-0879515867)
• Rebel for the Hell of It: The Life of Tupac Shakur, 2002 (ISBN 978-1560254614)
• Keep Moving: The Michael Jackson Chronicles, 2009 (ISBN 978-0984215904)
• New Position: The Prince Chronicles, 2016 (ISBN 978-1536878561)
• Make Spielberg Great Again: The Steven Spielberg Chronicles, 2020 (ISBN 978-0984215911)

Further reading

• Roberts, Jerry. The Complete History of American Film Criticism. Santa Monica Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59580-049-7
• Lopate, Phillip (ed.). American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now. Library of America, 2006. ISBN 1-931082-92-8

See also

• Elvis Mitchell – African-American film critic
• African-American Film Critics Association
• Vulgar auteurism

References

External links

• Official website
• Armond White at IMDb
• Armond White at Rotten Tomatoes
• Armond White at New York Press
• Armond White at National Review

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