Does anyone miss Barry Norman?

Pigman II · 26-03-2005 10:04am #1

You remember, the overly verbose guy who used present 'Film 19xx' before Mr. Wibble Wobble Jonathan Ross took over in 1998?

I just loved the guys flow and think that Ross is too much of a sycophant & fan-boy and seemingly only ever gives good reviews to film productions that'll give him access to star interviews

Anyway, opinions welcomed ....

Karl Hungus · 26-03-2005 12:27pm

Hmm... Now that is a tough question. I do indeed remember Mr. Norman, but I quite like Jonathan Ross too.

Pugsley · 26-03-2005 1:51pm

I always like Ross, he always gave a very brute honest view of a film, if he thought it sucked he wasnt long telling you 'this film is pants, avoid it'. Hes also one of the very few TV reviewer's who actually review asian films, and manga, while I havent seen many other reviewer's on TV, I have certainly only seen one reviewing manga.

monkeyfudge · 26-03-2005 2:02pm

It was Sky that poached Barry Norman wasn't it?

But his series with them was pretty short lived.

I think Ross is grand though. But BBC really should respect that show better. They have always just bounced around in the arse regions of the evening schedule. I always thought it was a very a disrespectful way to treat such long running show.

And they should bring back One Man and His Dog while they're at it.

Tusky · 26-03-2005 5:17pm

I think Ross does a good job.

billy the squid · 26-03-2005 5:20pm

I think jonathan ross did a better job of film reviewing. barry norman was too polite,

Zaph · 26-03-2005 5:39pm

I prefer Barry Norman, but that said I think Jonathon Ross has proved to be a pretty decent replacement. I was very dubious in the beginning as I doubted that he'd be as knowledgable as norman, but he definitely knows his stuff.

gandalf · 26-03-2005 10:28pm

Ross is good but Barry Norman was a fair superior presenter of that show and yes Ross can be a bit of a fan boy alright. It could be worse thou it could be his brother presenting it.

Brerrabbit · 27-03-2005 6:40am

NO! no no no no and no again! I do not miss that arrogant snobby git at all! he blighted our screens for years! Ross is a faaaaaaarr (Imo

better presenter; more objective, more fun and possessing more charisma, charm and intelligence in his fingernail clippings than barry Moron had in his entire (interminable) carreer) )
I remember in the bad old days watching the show to see footage of new flics and then having to mute the volume while he prattled on about how much of an arse he was.

Btw ta for the thread; its given me a little smile to think that I never have to listen to that braindead sloth ever again!

Sangre · 27-03-2005 7:27pm

Quite good, never really watched Norman though. I am a fan of him interviewing an actor about inane crap then it cuts to him tearing the film apart.

You can tell he has a real passion for the industry.

Mossy Monk · 28-03-2005 11:11pm

bah, i like Ross and also liked Norman

hence the Atari Jaguar selection

BolBill · 29-03-2005 1:22pm

Miss him like I'd miss a kick in the bollox.

But seriously, I like both of them.

Playboy · 29-03-2005 11:12pm

Brerrabbit wrote:

NO! no no no no and no again! I do not miss that arrogant snobby git at all! he blighted our screens for years! Ross is a faaaaaaarr (Imo better presenter; more objective, more fun and possessing more charisma, charm and intelligence in his fingernail clippings than barry Moron had in his entire (interminable) carreer) )
I remember in the bad old days watching the show to see footage of new flics and then having to mute the volume while he prattled on about how much of an arse he was.

Btw ta for the thread; its given me a little smile to think that I never have to listen to that braindead sloth ever again!

completly agree m8 .. well said

skywalker · 30-03-2005 10:24am

Pigman II wrote:

. . . think that Ross seemingly only ever gives good reviews to film productions that'll give him access to star interviews

You must have missed the oceans 12 show so. He interviewed most of the cast, then absolutely panned the film like ive never seen any film reviewer do before. Then he showed interviews from oceans 11, where the majority of the cast said there would never be a sequel as there'd be no point and it would be crap. I was left open mouthed.

having said that on the whole I prefer Barry Norman, wossys reviews tend to be very either love it or hate it.

Retr0gamer · 30-03-2005 12:07pm

I always seem to disagree with Jonathans views on blockbusters especially the ones based on comic books. However he never annoys me and I like to hear his opinion.

mycroft · 31-03-2005 1:41pm

Retr0gamer wrote:

I always seem to disagree with Jonathans views on blockbusters especially the ones based on comic books. However he never annoys me and I like to hear his opinion.

I remember norman, the week before he reviewed trainspotting, did a piece of the set and Danny Boyle said that they were not glorifying or condemning the heroin lifestyle. Norman went one of those red top rants that people go off on when they condemn a film before they see it(see also crash,9songs) When he actually reviewed the film, before he started, he offered an apology to Boyle, stating that he shouldn't have said what he said, before seeing the film, and thought the film was absolutely brillant, and saw the directors vision.

Very few people will eat humble pie so well.

Ross is a bit too zany and wacky, and Norman did review the odd japanese film but this was before the dirth of films from Japan. So it's not like he's covering new terrority that Norman choose not to.

I prefer Norman. He reminds me of Alexander Walker in the evening standard and Pauline Kael. He had a cerberal air to him, but could judge a film on his individual merits, one gem of his thats stays with me, was about the first Batman.

"The art direction, like in all Burton's work is stunning, overwhelming in fact its one of those films you leave humming the set design"

Ross has always struck me as a fanboy. Even kicking Ocean's 12? c'mon, there are villages in the deepest amazon, who've not met white people more than a handful of times, who are dissing Ocean's 12.

satchmo · 31-03-2005 2:33pm

The thing that pisses me off about Jonathan Ross is the way he'll interview someone and be absolutely charming and lovely and kiss ass, and then turn around to his studio camera and completely slate the film they're in. If he's got a criticism about them he could at least say it to their face.

skywalker · 31-03-2005 2:41pm

mycroft wrote:

Even kicking Ocean's 12? c'mon, there are villages in the deepest amazon, who've not met white people more than a handful of times, who are dissing Ocean's 12.

Would they not be guilty of judging the film before they've seen it too so

mycroft · 31-03-2005 2:42pm

satchmo wrote:

The thing that pisses me off about Jonathan Ross is the way he'll interview someone and be absolutely charming and lovely and kiss ass, and then turn around to his studio camera and completely slate the film they're in. If he's got a criticism about them he could at least say it to their face.

Johnaton Ross

'Christ but the last samurai is a load of overblown sh*t"

Tom Cruise

"Excuse me?'

JR

Sweriously big pile of pants overblown jingoistic sh*t could america make a film set in a foreign country that doesn't feature an american lead?"

TC
'Get this asshole outa here"

Flash forward to War of the Worlds press schmoozing

JR

"Hwello again time"

TC

"Arent you that stupid pr*ck with the lisp who was rude to me, get the hell out of here"

All press pre release is fawning and complimentary. All journalists do, print or tv.
"What were

Slutmonkey57b · 01-04-2005 10:46am

Don't miss Barry Norman at all. He was far too interested in the sound of his own voice and trying to appear overly intellectual.

Ross is clever enough to explain why he thinks a film is crap but not so arrogant as to take his own opinions as gospel.

Does anyone miss Barry Norman?

Who do you prefer? 42 votes

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