Some favorite bits from Nobody's Perfect, the Anthony Lane collection I mentioned earlier.
"All this is a way of saying that Con Air was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. With his late partner, Don Simpson, Bruckheimer was responsible for Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, Crimson Tide, and a host of other quiet, Bergmanish delvings into the agon of a godless world." (p. 187)
"I had heard vile rumors that Meet Joe Black ran for almost three hours. The rumors were true, but let's be fair: what matters is not how long a film is but how long it seems, and Meet Joe Black doesn't seem like a three-hour film at all. It seems like a ten-hour film." (p. 263)
"Who is responsible for Charlie's Angels? According to the credits, it was 'directed by McG,' thus raising the intriguing prospect of the world's first motion picture to be made by a hamburger." (p. 329)
And that's just what I could find in a quick flip through the book for the express purpose of crafting this entry. I've been reading through the volume through the last couple of days, and there are many other funny, interesting, and cannily written pieces. Some of the smartest criticism I've seen, certain shortcomings of depth notwithstanding.