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God, I miss the heyday of Prince. But this is not about me: I offer you this clip of the day, from Purple Rain–in which Prince breakdances, vogues and licks his lips at his girl in the crowd, all the while lipsyncing “I Would Die 4 U” whilst wearing high-waisted leather pants and the puffiest man-blouse I’ve ever seen–in honor of Jeffrey Wells. Today on Hollywood Elsewhere, Wells challenged any critic who disagrees with him to a deathmatch. Sort of.
I would like to challenge any film critic or blogger who strongly disagrees with me about the excellence of In the Valley of Elah (particularly in the snobby-ass, Paul Haggis-hating, nyah-nyah manner in which Slant’s Ed Gonzalez has recently expressed himself) to a bare-knuckles, John L. Sullivan-styled fist fight. I really and truly would be willing to bleed and get bruised and maybe knocked down over this. I know what I know and right is right, and I for one would be willing to stand up and go to the mat to defend my cinematic principles.
Now, at this point, you’re thinking, “Alright! Critic on critic violence!” And then, “So why’d Karina match this blurb up with a Prince video? Has she lost it? Let’s see some shirtless Brad Pitt!!! “
Hold your horses. Check out Wells’ very next paragraph:
If I wasn’t such a wuss, I mean. Saying I’d “like” to challenge an Elah hater to a fist fight doesn’t mean I’m doing that. My knuckles would get all swollen and I wouldn’t be able to type for a few days, and then where would I be? I haven’t been in a fight since the seventh grade.
So obviously, he’s not really willing to go to the mat for Haggis at all. I’m not doubting Wells’ Elah love; in fact, I admire his deliberate use of masculine posturing as misdirection. It makes his puffy man-bloused statement of passion seem all the more sincere by comparison.
Originally posted on:
Spoutblog