For a while in the twenties and thirties, art was talked about as a substitute for religion; now B movies are a substitute for religion. Pauline Kael More Quotes by Pauline Kael More Quotes From Pauline Kael Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them. Pauline Kael appreciatelittlesart The first prerogative of an artist in any medium is to make a fool of himself. Pauline Kael foolartistfirsts Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open. Pauline Kael feetdoorsneeds If there is any test that can be applied to movies, it's that the good ones never make you feel virtuous. Pauline Kael virtuoustestsfeels Protagonists are always loners, almost by definition. Pauline Kael lonerdefinitionshero When a picture can't make it on its own, the producers pull in a 'controversial' message - the way a couple whose marriage is falling apart decide to have a baby. Pauline Kael moviecouplebaby The problem with a popular art form is that those who want something more are in a hopeless minority compared with the millions who are always seeing it for the first time, or for the reassurance and gratification of seeing the conventions fulfilled again. Pauline Kael minoritieswant-somethingart Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. If somewhere in the Hollywood-entertainment world someone has managed to break through with something that speaks to you, then it isn’t all corruption. The movie doesn’t have to be great; it can be stupid and empty and you can still have the joy of a good performance, or the joy in just a good line. An actor’s scowl, a small subversive gesture, a dirty remark that someone tosses off with a mock-innocent face, and the world makes a little bit of sense. Pauline Kael stupidbelievedirty Economy, speed, nervousness, and desperation produce the final wasteful, semi-incoherent movies we see. Pauline Kael desperationmoviefinals The words "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which I saw on an Italian movie poster, are perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of movies Pauline Kael moviekissingitalian There is something spurious about the very term 'a movie made for TV,' because what you make for TV is a TV program. Pauline Kael programtvstelevision Movies are our cheap and easy expression, the sullen art of displaced persons. Pauline Kael movieexpressionart Moviemaking is so male-dominated now that they think they’re being pro-feminine when they have women punching each other out. Pauline Kael punchingmalesthinking Trash has given us an appetite for art. Pauline Kael trashappetiteart What this generation was bred to at television's knees was not wisdom, but cynicism. Pauline Kael this-generationgenerationspolitical The critical task is necessarily comparative, and younger people do not truly know what is new Pauline Kael criticaltaskspeople Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. Pauline Kael moviecarebelieve The romance of movies is not just in those stories and those people on the screen but in the adolescent dream of meeting others who feel as you do about what you’ve seen. Pauline Kael romancedreampeople If you're afraid of movies that excite your senses, you're afraid of movies. Pauline Kael sensesmovieifs It is a depressing fact that Americans tend to confuse morality and art (to the detriment of both) and that, among the educated, morality tends to mean social consciousness. Pauline Kael depressingmeanart
