Featured Audience Ratings

• Byron B

  
  I saw this at the Cleveland International Film Fest. The director, Gerald Peary, was there to answers questions and meet people after the movie. I really liked the look into the history of film criticism. The doc highlights the earliest players, the major players, and the major… More
  I saw this at the Cleveland International Film Fest. The director, Gerald Peary, was there to answers questions and meet people after the movie. I really liked the look into the history of film criticism. The doc highlights the earliest players, the major players, and the major events tied to people who wrote about movies through the twentieth century. At the advent of the computer, the doc falters in seeing the real diversity of people writing about movies online, or foreseeing a bit more of social networking's effect on how audiences choose what movie to see. This documentary originally screened at festivals early in 2009 and the director said it was nine years in the making. As most people are aware, the rate of change in technology is fast and accelerating, so I really can't hold it against Mr. Peary that he could not see the popularity of sites like Flixster, Facebook, and Twitter affecting how friends recommend movies to other friends. It simply is the case that the last chapter of the movie on the apparent end of print journalism and the explosion of online reviews with anyone thinking they can be a film critic has already become quite dated. I enjoyed the interviews with several famous film critics. I appreciated being able to put a face and voice with many of the names. I would have liked to see the interviews structured better with the through line of the doc's story. The graphics could have been better and the editing lagged especially between chapters. Overall it was a worthwhile picture about a topic I love.