None.
Watch the movies instead, make up your own mind, draw your own conclusions, form your own opinions.
I see where you’re coming from, but the original question was which film critics do you read. When you read a critic it doesn’t have to be because you are looking for their approval. I like watching movies. I like reading. I like reading about movies. Whether it’s evaluations or analysis some people just find that reading about films they love or are interested in seeing is pleasurable.
Also, without these books and columns I’d be making blind investments of my time and money into millions of films. That can be fun at times, but without focus it can also lead, for me, to wasting a lot of time on crappy films with cool covers or well known “stars.” A good film book or critic can help people narrow down their wide variety of choices It doesn’t mean you won’t still be disappointed, but at least you had an idea of what you might expect before plunking down hard earned cash and losing 2 hours.
I have my own criteria at this point. What’s so wrong with watching the movies, making up your own mind, drawing your own conclusions, forming your own opinions, and then reading about what others think? Critics can’t hurt you, the more information you have the better off you are.
There is nothing wrong with reading other people’s opinions unless you arrogantly think you are capable of all the possible thoughts in the world and nobody else can possibly come up with a thought that cannot arise in your mind. But evaluate and compare what you read and what you conceive rather than merely accepting something because some esteemed person (someone else or even yourself) is the source of the thought…
I agree. That’s why sites like Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, an the rest are so much fun. You aren’t focused on only one opinion but are getting a wide spectrum. The thing is, when I read whichever critic, I see it as merely a one-sided conversation between two film lovers. Despite my issues with Ebert, I can tell he loves films. He just loves different ones for different reasons than I do. If you love film, why would you avoid reading about it? Look at the fascinating, sometimes personal insights David Ehrenstein has provided us with on this very site. I suppose if you don’t care for reading and just want to watch films that’s understandable but I love both and criticism is a nice bridge between the two.
I don’t read film reviews.
“What’s so wrong with watching the movies, making up your own mind, drawing your own conclusions, forming your own opinions, and then reading about what others think? Critics can’t hurt you, the more information you have the better off you are.”
Absolutely nothing. Never said there was. I have never read a film or record review. Ever. Not because I think I know it all, or because I hate critics, etc, etc
I just have no interest in reading reviews. Non issue.
I just realized i didn’t list the ones I read here.
The critics at Film Quarterly
The critics at Film Comment
The critics at Rouge
The critics at Cinemascope
The critics at Sight and Sound
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Ray Carney
I actually read more but these are the ones I read regularly who I consider worthwhile.
I usually don’t read Critics, because if you think your opinion is more important than anyone else then your a pompous ass-hole.
Or maybe, if you studied film studies extensively and want to share your love with everyone, your opinion is more informative than that of the general public.
Lately I cannot stop reading David Thomson.
“I usually don’t read Critics, because if you think your opinion is more important than anyone else then your a pompous ass-hole.”
Lol.
Roger Ebert
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19720101/REVIEWS/201010313/1023
Another great critic is Martha Nochimson. She writes for a variety of publications but I first discovered her when she had an article in Film Quarterly that is still the most insightful approach to the meaning of Twin Peaks that I have read. The essay was included in the book Full of Secrets and is worth reading even if you are not that big a fan of the work.
hmm, lets see…
Jugu Abraham
Taran Adarsh (indiaFM)
Dalton L. (The Film Street Journal)
Rashid Irani (Hindustan Times)
Johnson Thomas (DNA)
Zia Us-Salaam (The Hindu)
Deepa Gahlot (Afternoon Courier and Dispatch)
James Agee (Time, The Nation)
Hollis Alpert (Saturday Review)
Eric Armstrong (The Moving Arts Film Journal)
Michael Atkinson
James Berardinelli
Peter Biskind
Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)
Tom Brook (BBC)
Ty Burr (The Boston Globe)
Ernest Callenbach
Vincent Canby (The New York Times)
Godfrey Cheshire
Richard Corliss
Bosley Crowther
Mike D’Angelo
Manohla Dargis
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff (Santa Fe Reporter)
David Denby
Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times, At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper)
David Edelstein (New York Magazine, NPR’s Fresh Air, CBS Sunday Morning)
Manny Farber
Otis Ferguson
The Filthy Critic
John H. Foote
Scott Foundas
Gary Franklin (KABC-TV)
Philip French (The Observer)
Sebastian Zavala (Star Reviews)
Jack Garner (Gannett newspapers)
Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly)
Graham Greene
Rick Groen (Toronto Globe and Mail)
Randor Guy
Leslie Halliwell
Jake Hamilton
Molly Haskell
Jarrett Mazza-Anthony
Jeremy Heilman
Sky Hirschkron
J. Hoberman (The Village Voice)
Kamran Jawaid (Dawn Newspaper)
Madhan
Pauline Kael (The New Yorker)
Stanley Kauffmann (The New Republic)
Glenn Kenny (Premiere)
Mark Kermode (Sight & Sound, BBC Radio Five Live)
Anthony Lane (The New Yorker)
Terry Lawson (Detroit Free Press)
Dennis Lim
Matt Lotti
Tim Lucas (Video Watchdog)
Jeffrey Lyons (WNBC)
John Maguire (Sunday Business Post)
Derek Malcolm (The Guardian)
Leonard Maltin (Entertainment Tonight, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide)
Janet Maslin (The New York Times)
Harold McCarthy
Michael Medved
Nell Minow (Beliefnet)
Elvis Mitchell (The New York Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, The Detroit Free Press)
Khalid Mohammed (Hindustan Times)
Joe Morgenstern (The Wall Street Journal)
Wesley Morris (The Boston Globe)
Barry Norman
Robert Osborne
Theo Panayides (Cyprus Mail)
Michael Phillips
Margaret Pomeranz (At the Movies)
Dilys Powell (The Sunday Times)
Dustin Putman (The Movie Boy)
Rex Reed (New York Observer)
Richard Roeper (Chicago Sun-Times, At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper)
Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader)
Jonathan Ross
Andrew Sarris
Dan Sallitt
Richard Schickel
Dan Schneider (Cosmoetica)
Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly)
A. O. Scott (New York Times)
Gene Shalit (NBC’s Today Show)
Tom Shone
Joel Siegel (Good Morning America)
John Simon
Alison Bailes WNBC, (Reel Talk)
Gene Siskel (Chicago Tribune, Siskel & Ebert)
David Stratton (At the Movies)
Elliott Stein (Village Voice)
Frank Swietek
Amy Taubin
David Thomson
Desson Thomson (The Washington Post)
Scott Tobias (The Onion)
Peter Travers (Rolling Stone)
Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times)
Parker Tyler (Film Culture)
Alexander Walker (London Evening Standard and others)
David Walsh (World Socialist Web Site)
Armond White (New York Press)
Dennis Willis (KGO-AM)
Stephanie Zacharek
Wow. You’ve read a lot in a few days.
I really like Anthony Lane. Even when I don’t agree with him, I’m always impressed by his willingness to remain archly highbrow and then still call Captain Kirk a “dickhead.”
David Thomson. He’s one of the few critics who has the knack for triggering a reader’s own thinking about films rather than simply positioning himself as an authority. He seems like the kind of writer who would welcome a debate.
Ray Carney
Currently writing, I’ll go with Hoberman (tops), Rosenbaum, Kent Jones (and most of the Film Comment crew) and Ed Gonzalez (he’s become less prolific and more battle-ready of late). When I get a chance to, I like reading Armond White, Dennis Lim, Amy Taubin, Manohla Dargis, A.O. Scott, Nathan Lee… that crowd. Online and bloggers I scope out when I can include Nathan Lee, Nathaniel Rogers (the best Oscar dude out there), a couple of the House Next Door crew, Reverse Shot and a few more I’m forgetting right now. But, seriously, Hoberman pwns today’s crop.
guilty pleasure: armond. every week.
otherwise…basically anyone who happens to write for the house next door, spout, twitch, /film, nyt, indiewire, av club, ny press, voice.
i’m terrible about checking up on LA critics despite being out here.
leonard maltin
I forgot all about Peter Bradshaw. When I first started regularly reading reviews I was reading the Guardian every day… I need to get back on that.
And yes, RAY CARNEY. That guy is tough, it seems he’s constantly forcing me to re-think everything. Imagine if he was a daily critic, for the Times or something… Heads would roll.
I’ve read some of Ebert’s and Bazin’s reviews [the latter is naturally more interesting ;)] and heard some of Kermode’s. Anyone have any particulary good books/critics to recommend?
Ebert for years!
Leonard Maltin doesn’t actually write many of the reviews in the Leonard Maltin’s [year] Movie Guide.
Josh S.
Hoberman has written a bunch of books which are interesting reads.
Mike D’Angelo, J. Hoberman + Village Voice, Karina Longworth, Scott Tobias, Gone Cinema Poaching, Tim Brayton, NY Times, The House Next Door, Glenn Kenny
Sites = I read everyone there more or less equally.
Older gen: Kael, Rosenbaum
The one who I most remember to read is Michael Sicinski; Rouge and Cinemascope are other sites I read with much regularity.
Mike Spence
“and especially Leonard Maltin.”
Wow. Maltin is so bad, I forgot he existed when the “Which film critics do you hate” thread was around a few months ago. He is terrible but I must admit I read his big book when I was young. After a short period it was great for finding that any film he dismissed was probably awesome. His so-so review of the Devils made me want to go out and see it immediately.