Film Critic Dance Fight!

Mix an Indonesian avant-garde film, a catty New York Times review, and Mr. Jonathan Rosenbaum and what do you get? That's right, critic-on-critic action. All relevant links here. (Chicago Reader)

Rosenbaum:

Back in the days of Crowther, you could treat a knock of his as a recommendation -- at least that's what I often did when I was a freshman at NYU, and the gamble usually paid off. It would be nice to think that some readers today use Catsoulis the same way, but frankly I doubt that many will rush off to the Museum of Modern Art to see Opera Jawa after reading her short review, buried at the bottom of the fifth page of the arts section. And I'm even more depressed when I think that the odds of this film making it to Chicago may be reduced because it's now possible for a potential programmer to shrug and say, "The Times says it stinks."