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Glenn,
a cinephile from Germany here. Got a question for you.
My canon of indispensable American film writers consists of the names Agee, Farber, Sarris, Bordwell and Rosenbaum so far. I am aware of Kael and Ebert, but don’t think they are on the same level. If you had to add a couple of authors to my list, who would they be?
(Of course, the implication here is that your opinion is very much worth reading.)
Is that from the Region B Blu-Ray? Damn, I have to pick that up. Along with Le Mepris and Une Femme Mariee. There goes all my Christmas money.
@ michaelgsmith: No, it’s not from the Blu-ray (I don’t have the capacity to do direct rips yet), but I do have it, and it’s wonderful, and it did inspire me to grab this from an old Optimum standard-def disc. It is Region‑B locked, incidentally, so you’ll need a region-free Blu-ray player to watch it on. “Mepris” is region-free, and I guess the upcoming Lionsgate version of it will be the same transfer. Since there’s no PAL-to-NTSC issue to compensate for with high-def, the good news is that Lionsgate wouldn’t be able to fuck up the domestic version even if it wanted to. Haven’t gotten the BR of “Femme” yet but of course I’m drooling.
@ Peter Lehmann: Of the American film critics active today who I believe carry on the tradition of the greats you cite, I think Kent Jones absolutely belongs among them, as does Dave Kehr, even though these days Dave’s film criticism (and it is film criticism) appears in the form of DVD reviews for the Times. I also like Amy Taubin, and think Dennis Lim is very astute and talented. Both Film Comment and particularly the Canadian magazine Cinemascope publish very lively work by critics both established and emerging. There’s sometimes a lot of chaff to pick through—some of the unsupported polemicizing in Cinemascope is particularly off-putting—but the good stuff is there, and it’s valuable.
@ Peter Lehman: Kent Jones definitely belongs amongst that group. His stuff in Film Comment consistently blows me away. But I’d add Jim Hoberman to your list as well. He’s keeping The Village Voice alive single handedly.
Yes, Match Cuts, Hoberman for sure.
I now know what the “J.” in “J. Hoberman” stands for. Awesome.