For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism

I love this examination of the rise and fall of the professional film critic... while today we have Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael and A. O. Scott, in the beginning this was just not so. This documentary shows how the critics (notably Frank Woods) pushed how film was more "subdued" in its acting than theater and how Pauline Kael helped get Martin Scorsese noticed.

I loved the bit on "Two Thousand Maniacs" from Elvis Mitchell, which briefly touched on the b-movie sensibility. Indeed, not all films can be reviewed by the same meter.

I also liked how they used "Amelie" as a example of difference, with one critic loving it and another saying it was nothing but a "cartoon" with "no human dimensions". This is quite the difference.

And, of course, one much touch on the effect of the Internet Movie Database and the Internet in general on film criticism. Is it democracy on the rise, or a race to the bottom? I can see it both ways.