Harlan Ellison's Watching

Infobox Book
name = Harlan Ellison's Watching
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First Edition Hardcover
author = Harlan Ellison
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject = Film criticism
genre = Non-ficiton
publisher = Underwood-Miller
release_date = 1989 (1st edition)
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 514 pp "(first edition)"
isbn = ISBN 978-0887330674
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Harlan Ellison's Watching" (ISBN 0-88733-067-3) is a 1989 compilation of 25 years worth of essays and film reviews written by Harlan Ellison for "Cinema" magazine, the "Los Angeles Free Press", "Starlog" magazine, and "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" among others.

In the book, Ellison explains, in an entertaining introductory essay, how he became a film critic and his views on film criticism in general. At the time that many of these reviews were written, he was one of the few people who worked within the genres of science fiction, horror and fantasy to openly criticize some of its most popular works. Highlights include a thorough savaging of "" (entitled "Luke Skywalker is a Nerd and Darth Vader Sucks Runny Eggs"), wherein he describes it as "shallow" and "a film without soul, without a core," and writing that "Gremlins" "suffers from the dreaded Jerry Lewis Syndrome: it vacillates between a disingenuous homeliness and an egomaniacal nastiness."

Ellison also used his status within the industry to expose what he felt were unjust handlings of films like "Brazil" and "Dune" by their respective studios. He also championed obscure films that he felt were of exemplary quality, like "Big Trouble in Little China", which had "some of the funniest lines spoken by any actor this year to produce a cheerfully blathering live-action cartoon that will give you release from the real pressures of your basically dreary lives" and "Joe", which he said was "a visceral experience on a par with going black-belting with Bruce Lee. "Joe" will kick the shit out of you. It will set the blood slamming against your cranial walls. It will make you as cold as Ultima Thule."

For a few years after this book was published, Ellison continued to write a film criticism column for "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" but these have yet to be compiled into book form.

Reaction

In his review for the "New York Times", Robert Moss wrote, "In contrast to the detached, impersonal tone of the average film critic, Mr. Ellison pronounces almost exclusively at the top of his voice...His style routinely mixes a standard critical idiom with esoteric vocabulary, slang, a liberal use of obscenities and many homemade coinages." [cite news
last = Moss
first = Robert F
coauthors =
title = 'A Critic at the Top of His Voice
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = New York Times
date = September 17, 1989
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DB143FF934A2575AC0A96F948260
accessdate = 2007-11-19 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.islets.net/essays/watching.html "Harlan Ellison's Watching"]
* [http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/61/61booksharlan.html "Bright Lights Film Journal" review by Matthew Sorrento]