Comm Arts faculty alumns David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson were recently featured in Roger Ebert’s Journal on the topic of where critics and scholars habitually sit at the movies. Ebert also heaps praise on their collective scholarship, calling their jointly-written Observations on Film Art “the world’s best film blog.”
Referring to David’s recent post, “Down In Front! Notes on the Raccoon Lodge,” he reminisces about the many occasions he has spotted them sitting in their preferred near-first-row spots – a sight familiar to many of us in Vilas Hall. Bordwell explains, “Speaking for myself, I like scanning the frame in great saccadic sweeps and even sometimes turning my head to follow the action. CinemaScope and Cinerama give your eyeballs a real workout.”
To that, we can only conclude, with Ebert, “Great saccadic sweeps! Now there’s a writer for you.”