If there is any test that can be applied to movies, it's that the good ones never make you feel virtuous. Pauline Kael More Quotes by Pauline Kael More Quotes From Pauline Kael McLuhanism and the media have broken the back of the book business; they've freed people from the shame of not reading. They've rationalized becoming stupid and watching television. Pauline Kael readingstupidbook Writers who go to Hollywood still follow the classic pattern: either you get disgusted by 'them' and you leave or you want the money and you become them. Pauline Kael patternshollywoodwant In a foreign country people don't expect you to be just like them, but in Los Angeles, which is infiltrating the world, they don't consider that you might be different because they don't recognize any values except their own. And soon there may not be any others. Pauline Kael differentcountrypeople Reality, like God and History, tends to direct people to wherever they want to go. Pauline Kael wantrealitypeople Movies, far more than the traditional arts, are tied to big money. Without a few independent critics, there's nothing between the public and the advertisers. Pauline Kael independentbigsart Being creative is having something to sell, or knowing how to sell something, or having sold something. It has taken over what we used to mean by being "wised up" knowing the tricks, the shortcuts. Pauline Kael knowingtakenmean If there's anything to learn from the history of movies, it's that corruption leads to further corruption, not to innocence. Pauline Kael innocencecorruptionifs We will never know the extent of the damage movies are doing to us, but movie art, it appears, thrives on moral chaos. When the country is paralyzed, the popular culture may tell us why. After innocence, winners become losers. Movies are probably inuring us to corruption; the sellout is the hero-survivor for our times. Pauline Kael herocountryart All our advertising is propaganda, of course, but it has become so much a part of our life, is so pervasive, that we just don't know what it is propaganda for. Pauline Kael propagandaadvertisinglife-is It seems likely that many of the young who don't wait for others to call them artists, but simply announce that they are, don't have the patience to make art. Pauline Kael waitingpatienceart Great movies are rarely perfect movies. Pauline Kael perfect Kevin Costner has feathers in his hair and feathers in his head. The Indians should have called him 'Plays with Camera. Pauline Kael should-haveplayhair A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. Pauline Kael good-moviecitiesbelieve We read critics for the perceptions, for what they tell us that we didn't fully grasp when we saw the work. The judgments we can usually make for ourselves. Pauline Kael sawsperceptioncriticism A book might be written on the injustice of the just. Pauline Kael readingmightbook Imagining [The Wizard of Oz] without Judy Garland is a bit like dancing on wet cement: you can do it, but why would you want to? Pauline Kael wizardsdancingwant Vulgarity is not as destructive to an artist as snobbery. Pauline Kael vulgarity-isdestructiveartist Citizen Kane is perhaps the one American talking picture that seems as fresh now as the day it opened. It may seem even fresher. Pauline Kael movieairtalking It's sometimes discouraging to see all of a director's movies, because there's so much repetition. The auteurists took this to be a sign of a director's artistry, that you could recognize his movies. But it can also be a sign that he's a hack. Pauline Kael repetitionsometimesdirectors Really, it's not people who don't understand us who drive us nuts—it's when those who shouldn't, do. Pauline Kael nutspeople
