Critic!

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is well known for primarily being the Former Mayor of NYC. He has nestled into that niche of stardom where an individual acheives fame merely by becoming a version of themself. Societal parasite Paris Hilton and meltdown artist Courtney Love are examples from this catagory. Koch's sub-fame springs from his self-created PR, starting with the release of his autobiography while serving as mayor. Since then he has done much to inject himself in the public eye, evidenced by the amount of times he plays himself on camera. The effort also involves a line of tepid mystery novels, and an ill-fated turn as a syndicated magistrate.

One other "job" that Eddie-K has taken on is as weekly film reviewer for the web site of the New York City Mayor's office of Film, Theater, and Broadcasting (That's a letterhead that'll cost you at Kinkos.) Koch lends his unique ability to sound like the everyman when reviewing his film choices. Here's a series of excerpted insights:

* On the Irish film "Intermission"--It would help tremendously if the producers of Irish and English films provided subtitles.

* It would be tedious to describe the twists and turns of the plot. This from his review of the intellectually complex "Starsky & Hutch"

* With the poorly received "Secret Window" Koch takes a bold stand. Let’s teach Depp that he cannot dismiss us as cretins willing to accept any movie in which he appears.


* "Robot Stories", a collection of tales involving Asian-Americans provoked this discovery: The actors are overwhelmingly Japanese

* On his viewing of "The Passion of the Christ" Eddie gives some historical background, mentioning the Second Vatican Counsil and referring to it as Vatican II, like it is a sequel.

* The important aspects of a movie get discussed in his review of "Girl with the Pearl Earring": I saw the film at the Landmark Sunshine Theater on East Houston Street where I always enjoy going. I especially appreciate its stadium seating that provides unobstructed sight lines

My favorite however has to be his take on "The Lord of Rings: The Return of the King". After a synopsis he never really says if it is good or bad, but it has a "negative" sign after the title, (his version of "Thumbs Down") and I can only guess it is because his knees were hurting during the long movie. And he dutifully frames his position by referencing his review of one of Broadway's biggest plays in the last decade or two--When I saw the Broadway show, "The Producers" in previews, I predicted that it wouldn't last two weeks so don't let my review of this film stop you from going
Judging by his critiques I would hazard a guess that many people have been doing just what he suggests.