The Hot Blog

Dave,

I rapped you recently on your anti-Clinton/pro-Obama stuff but you can do no wrong in my eyes from now on. As a natural-born Chicagoan, one of the highlights of my life was reading Michael Wilmington's reviews from 1993 to 2005 in the Tribune until I moved to Texas...where I kept up online but missed having the actual paper in my hands when I read Wilmington's reviews. I have over 800 reviews saved in a storage box of Wilmington's reviews from the mid 1990's. When Siskel was alive, Ebert was at full steam, & Jonathan Rosenbaum/Ray Pride were doing their thing, Michael Wilmington was still the best critic in town bar none. Michael Phillips is really a pathetic downgrade from Wilmington, and seeing Ebert endorse Phillips & Roeper really makes me cringe. Michael Wilmington is the one critic that has consistently taught me as a avid moviegoer and I feel that I grow as a student/fan/lover of movies almost everytime that I read his reviews.

By the way, is Mr. Wilmington going to continue his DVD column at the Daily Isthmus newspaper in Madison, WI? That is also a fantastic read. Great job, Dave.

Gilbert O'Sullivan? On the Hot Blog? It's more likely than you think!

Djiggs, you're so spot on about Wilmington. What a terrific and underrated critic. I, for one, am so proud to see my name bylined on the same page as him and I'll be anxiously awaiting each of his columns.

Back before Wilmington was at the Tribune, I remember his excellent writing at the LA WEEKLY through the 1980s. Among other excellent reviews was a dissection of Beverly Hills Cop which pinpointed the strengths of the film and a gentle pan of 2010: The Year We Make Contact with the somewhat harsher title "A Comic Book is Not a Poem". I missed his writing when he left the WEEKLY, and it's good to know where he landed.

Here here.

Wilmington's always been a reliable, enthusiastic Ebert-esque kind of critic.

Good hire... if it is a hire.

Wilmo is *brave* to enter with a bang (and banging) on "Shine A Light."

Finally, maybe, Dave has put windfall to good use to hire a critic with potential to thrill us (?). A model for the web, please dear god (no question mark necessary).

Hope MW understands THIS though, he's stepped onto enemy territory! Witness A & B:

A) The web's open distain for print critics and

B) Bountyhunting, linked-to-the-nines, web-citizen journalists and factcheckers.

I'll start the ball rolling because I like him:

Ertegun didn't die on concert night and the two night show (we're led to believe only the second night was used) wasn't part of the Bigger Bang tour, but took place in the midst of it, in support of (and I guess a fundraiser for) the Clinton Foundation, and was a self-proclaimed birthday present for Bill (one can only assume it was another "gift from" Steve Bing, but I digress). MW does give the birthday part a mention later. Interesting work, carry on!

My understanding on this issue, THolly, via Michael, is the following:

"The two Beacon concerts were added at Scorsese's request because he wanted to shoot in a small venue. Mick wanted Rio de Janiero. (Too bad Orson Welles wasn't around.) One of the two nights was a Clinton charity benefit, but I think it was the first one, which they mostly didn't use (except for Bill and Hillary).
Anyway, the benefit question seems academic even if it's right technically or business-accounting-wise. They were on the tour, and the show was part of it, with the same musicians and setup, even though the filmed shows were added for Marty and his movie."

And I might point out that U2-3D was combined from concerts in several cities, but as I was watching it, I woulda sworn it was all in the same venue.

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