I love this examination of the rise and fall of the professional film critic... while today we have Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael and A.
What, no mention of John Simon? Shirley, you can't be serious.
While ostensibly a survey of 100+ years of American film criticism, and while it spends half its time discussing Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris the film never even mentions John Simon.
This is an affectionate look at American film critics and the rise of criticism that was already out of date when it came out. It's not the movies fault, but it does make a viewing a quaint experience.
Since the subject matter is unique for a film, I'm glad a got a modicum of information from it. I have watched thousands of films (like so much of the population) but most of the critical stuff has come from books.
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009) *** (out of 4) Somewhat uneven but entertaining documentary taking a look at film critics from the past to the present. The documentary from director Gerald Perry actually features plenty of interviews with actual critics, which is a major plus as they get to comment on various subjects including the history of film criticism, how they got into doing it, their relationship with studios and directors and there's even some nice talk about the theory that everyone is a critic.
Kinda weird to be on this site reviewing a film about film reviewing and how sites like this have brought about the egalitarianism of said reviewing. Anyway, I guess, like most social phenomena, this has its pluses and minuses.
... but then this is about film criticism, not really the love of the movies.
This film gave me the fun of listening to various people talking on a subject that interests me. I love,also, the way that it was done in a 1907 to the future manner that gave a historical form to it.
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