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The Movie Cricket:
All about flicks by Sean P. Means
The departed - No. 55, Phil Villareal
 Usually the Cricket hears about movie critics who have lost their jobs from second-hand sources. This one comes from the critic himself. "I've been reassigned to GA on the Metro desk. They're not replacing the position," read the e-mail the Cricket received this afternoon from Phil Villareal, movie critic for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. Villareal's reassignment was "particularly disturbing," opined Movie City News editor David Poland on his Hot Blog, because "Phil has been one of the most net-forward print critics in adding a New Media edge to his work, with video before video got cool, but also with reach-outs to aggregators, always concious of delivering content that was more than 'just another review.' " Villareal is the 55th movie critic who has lost his or her job - to reassignment, buyout, layoffs, retirement or publication failure - since January 2006. He's also the 11th this year. Here's the full list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006 4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006 7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008 44: Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News, laid off, December 2008 45: Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, laid off, January 2009 46: Andy Klein, LA CityBeat, laid off, January 2009 47: Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York, laid off, January 2009 48: Larry Ratliff, San Antonio Express-News, laid off, January 2009 49: Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News, reassigned, February 2009 50: William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, laid off (paper folded to online only), March 2009 51: Soren Andersen, The News-Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.), buyout, March 2009 52: Daniel Neman, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, laid off, April 2009 53: Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer, reassigned, April 2009 54: Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle, buyout, April 2009 55: Phil Villareal, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), reassigned, May 2009 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 53, Lawrence Toppman (officially)
Based on a tip from The Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore, the Cricket reported earlier this month that Lawrence Toppman, movie critic at The Charlotte Observer, was being reassigned. On Friday, Toppman made it official. Toppman will be covering Charlotte's theater scene and other local culture coverage, as well as writing a column about arts in the community. "I understand why the paper took me off movies, but the change does make me sad," Toppman wrote in his farewell column. "Except for a very few television shows, movies are still the art form that most influences the way Americans perceive the world. It was always a challenge getting people to think more about their lives by thinking more about movies they watched." Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 54, Ruthe Stein
Had the Cricket been paying close attention since the first of the year, he could have put Ruthe Stein on this list then - since the veteran movie critic for The San Francisco Chronicle (and a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle) hasn't had a review published in 2009. She's been busy, though: Covering the Sundance Film Festival, making Oscar predictions, keeping tabs on the San Francisco film scene and interviewing stars of all sorts. Reviews, though, have been mostly the domain of the Chronicle's lead film critic, Mick LaSalle. About 120 Chronicle staffers accepted buyouts last week - and two different web sites, the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club and the blog Ghost Word (run by Bay Area free-lancer Frances Dinkenspiel), list Stein among them. That makes Stein the 10th movie critic for a print publication to lose his or her job this year - and the 54th since January 2006, which is when the Cricket started keeping track. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 53, Lawrence Toppman
Roger Moore - the Cricket's counterpart at the Orlando Sentinel (and possibly the coolest name among movie critics, being similar to the name of a former James Bond) - reports that his friend Lawrence Toppman, the movie critic at the Charlotte Observer, has been reassigned. One of Toppman's last reviews, of "Adventureland," ran today. That puts the tally of print-publication movie critics who have lost their jobs - to layoff, buyout, reassignment or defunct papers - to 53 since January 2006, and nine since the first of this year. Time for a reminder of why this list is being compiled. It's the Cricket's belief that a multitude of critics' voices helps foster a dialogue about movies across the country - and the more critics reviewing movies, the better. But the trend in a contracting newspaper industry is to eliminate jobs - particularly in the arts fields - and rely on national news wires for movie reviews, book reviews, and the like. Unfortunately, such job cuts silence regional voices in favor of monolithic viewpoints from the media centers of New York and L.A. As Roger Ebert recently opined, movie critics "are the canaries in the coal mine." As the plight of movie critics gets more dire, so does the plight of newspapers in general. Here's the updated list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006 4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006 7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008 44: Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News, laid off, December 2008 45: Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, laid off, January 2009 46: Andy Klein, LA CityBeat, laid off, January 2009 47: Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York, laid off, January 2009 48: Larry Ratliff, San Antonio Express-News, laid off, January 2009 49: Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News, reassigned, February 2009 50: William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, laid off (paper folded to online only), March 2009 51: Soren Andersen, The News-Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.), buyout, March 2009 52: Daniel Neman, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, laid off, April 2009 53: Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer, reassigned, April 2009 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 52, Daniel Neman
The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch laid off 59 employees today. About half, according to Richmond's alt-weekly Style Weekly, were in the newsroom - and one of them was the paper's movie critic, Daniel Neman. Neman, Style Weekly said, confirmed to friends this morning that he was being laid off. This brings to 52 the number of full-time print-publication critics who have lost their jobs - laid off, reassigned, bought out or lost their papers out from under them - since January 2006. He's also the eighth this year. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 51, Soren Andersen
It's getting lonelier in the critics' screenings in the Cricket's former hometown, Seattle. After the shutting down of the print version of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer - and the layoff more than 100 staffers, including film critic William Arnold - comes word (from David Poland's Hot Blog) that Soren Andersen, film critic at the neighboring Tacoma News-Tribune, is taking a buyout and will be leaving the paper at the end of the month. Andersen's departure brings the list of movie critics who have lost their jobs - layoffs, buyouts, reassignments, publications shut down, whatever - since 2006 to 51. Here's the full list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006 4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006 7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008 44: Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News, laid off, December 2008 45: Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, laid off, January 2009 46: Andy Klein, LA CityBeat, laid off, January 2009 47: Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York, laid off, January 2009 48: Larry Ratliff, San Antonio Express-News, laid off, January 2009 49: Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News, reassigned, February 2009 50: William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, laid off (paper folded to online only), March 2009 51: Soren Andersen, The News-Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.), buyout, March 2009 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 50, William Arnold
This is a little like that "Monty Python" sketch in which a newsreader (Michael Palin) starts delivering "The News for Parrots": "No parrots were injured today when..." With Tuesday's final edition of the print edition of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and its transition to a thinly-staffed online edition, about 140 people at the paper lost their jobs. One of them was the P-I's veteran film critic, William Arnold. Arnold was an alumnus of the University of Washington, same as The Cricket, and wrote for the student paper there, The Daily, a few years before the Cricket did - by which time, Arnold was firmly in place at the P-I. In the new online rendition of the P-I, movie criticism - heck, arts coverage of any form - seems to be absent. The last locally generated A&E copy on the site was posted Tuesday, the last day of the print version. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - Another list kept
David Poland, editor of the industry blog Movie City News, is compiling a list of the full-time movie critics who are still gainfully employed in this country. The title of the list, "The Last 122 Film Critics in America," is already misleading in two ways. One, five of the 122 have already lost their jobs since Poland started compiling the list on Jan. 1. Two, there are some names missing from the list - notably, the Cricket's friend Jeff Vice at the Deseret News. (Poland recently solicited help in updating and expanding the list - and the comments turned into a debate over who qualifies as a "full-time movie critic.")  Jeffrey Wells, writer of the Hollywood Elsewhere blog and no great friend of Poland's, noticed the new list looked rather familiar. "It seems to me that Poland is looking to more or less elbow aside The Salt Lake Tribune's Sean P. Means, who's been keeping the definitive list of laid-off film critics for the last two or three years." (Actually, the list of "The Departed" was first printed on this blog last April - but the list goes back to 2006.) The more the merrier, the Cricket says. The point is to show the threat faced to newspaper journalism - using the movie-critic job as (as Roger Ebert put it) "the canary in the coal mine" for the whole industry's health. "The lengthening toll of former film critics acts as a poster child for the self-destruction of American newspapers," Ebert wrote in November. Both the Cricket's list of "The Departed" and Poland's list of the current survivors - one growing, one shrinking - aim to monitor the damage. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 49, Larry Ratliff
 OK, technically this should be No. 47 or 48, because the Cricket was tipped to this in January - in the middle of the Sundance Film Festival, and on the day of Barack Obama's inaugural - and he couldn't follow up until now. Larry Ratliff, movie critic for the San Antonio Express-News, was let go in January. Ratliff (whose own movie blog is here) is known as "The Jalapeno Guy," because of his use of jalapenos instead of stars to rate the movies. According to Deborah Potter's "Advancing the Story" journalism blog, Ratliff left a clever message alluding to his unemployment on his Twitter feed: "Will Work for Milk Duds: Nationally known film critic Larry Ratliff looking for new gig." Ratliff won't be alone in San Antonio, though. The Express-News (where the Cricket's uncle, age 81 and a retired copy editor at The Washington Post, worked part-time on the copy desk until a couple of years ago) recently announced another 75 newsroom jobs will be cut by March 20. UPDATE: Here's the full list, for those of you following at home. 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006 4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006 7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008 44: Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News, laid off, December 2008 45: Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, laid off, January 2009 46: Andy Klein, LA CityBeat, laid off, January 2009 47: Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York, laid off, January 2009 48: Larry Ratliff, San Antonio Express-News, laid off, January 2009 49: Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News, reassigned, February 2009 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 48, Bob Strauss
Word from blogger Gary Scott (a former newspaper reporter in California, now a producer at public-radio station KCRW in Santa Monica) is that the Los Angeles Daily News is cutting its entertainment staff to the bone.  Among other things, this means that veteran movie critic Bob Strauss has been reassigned to the city desk and TV critic David Kronke has been laid off. (The Daily News' other movie critic, Glenn Whipp, was laid off earlier this year.) Strauss did live-blog the Oscar ceremony Sunday night. (By the way, the Daily News is owned by MediaNews Group, the company that owns The Salt Lake Tribune.) Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 47, Melissa Anderson
 Here's one the Cricket heard on the grapevine in Park City, and now has confirmed by IndieWire blogger Anthony Kaufman: Melissa Anderson, the film editor at Time Out New York and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, has been fired. According to Kaufman, TONY's current film critic David Fear will take the editor's spot, and some newbie will take Fear's slot. This is the third movie critic to lose his or her job this month, and the 47th since the Cricket started keeping track in January 2006. Here's the complete list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006 4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006 7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008 44: Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News, laid off, December 2008 45: Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, laid off, January 2009 46: Andy Klein, LA CityBeat, laid off, January 2009 47: Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York, laid off, January 2009 Labels: disappearing critics
The Departed - No. 46, Andy Klein
The movie capital of the world, Los Angeles, is running out of movie critics in print. Less than a week after LA Weekly canned Ella Taylor, LA CityBeat has laid off its movie critic, Andy Klein, according to LA Observed. Klein still has jobs at KPCC and Off-Ramp, so his voice will still be heard. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 45, Ella Taylor
 It's the first of 2009: Ella Taylor, longtime film writer for the LA Weekly, is being laid off, according to the LA Observed blog. The alt-weekly will soldier on with film editor Scott Foundas. Labels: disappearing critics
Film criticism: Considering the new landscape
Is there a future for film criticism? And is there any money in it? Those questions got a going-over this weekend, with the answers being "probably" and "who knows?". Daily Variety's David Mermelstein surveyed a few of the old hands of movie criticism - Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal, Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer and Kenneth Turan at The Los Angeles Times among them - and the outlook was rather gloomy. "A lot of publications are dispensing with movie critics," said Time's Richard Schickel. "The people who run newspapers and magazines never liked us much, and they like us even less now." Elsewhere in Daily Variety, Peter DeBruge talked to the young guard of Internet movie critics - such people as Kevin Uhlick at The House Next Door - who do it more for love than for money. "I want to be a critic," Uhlich said. "But more important, I am one already. A lot of people get hung up on the monetary issue, and I understand why. If you're looking at this as a (paying) profession, at this point it seems untenable." And Craig Outhier, writing in the East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz., opines on the paradox that while film-criticism jobs (including his) are drying up, the membership of the Phoenix Film Critics Society is increasing - again, thanks to the Internet. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 44, Glenn Whipp
 The Los Angeles Daily News laid off Glenn Whipp, one of its two film critics, on Friday, the media -watching LA Observed blog confirmed. Whipp had been at the Daily News (which, like The Salt Lake Tribune, is owned by the Denver-based MediaNews Group) for 11 years. Bob Strauss stays behind as that paper's sole movie critic. In October, the rival Los Angeles Times dropped to a single movie critic, Kenneth Turan, when that paper laid off Carina Chocano. Whipp makes 44 movie critics who have lost their jobs since January 2006 - and 21 since the start of this year. Labels: disappearing critics
Critics on the web: Quantity vs. quality
Just as two critics can see the same movie and have different reactions, Bill Wyman (the former arts editor for Salon, not the aging Rolling Stones bass player) and the Cricket had different takes on Roger Ebert's recent blog post about the sorry state of newspapers. Ebert takes the evidence of fewer newspaper jobs for movie critics, and the AP's new plan to trim all feature stories (including movie reviews) to 500 words or less, and finds ominous portents for thoughtful criticism. He also sees newspapers dumbing themselves down with celebrity gossip and other junk-food journalism. Wyman, in this post on his Hitsville blog, disagrees. "For virtually everyone interested in film criticism, today’s state of affairs is great," Wyman writes. "Ebert’s vista is the too-narrow one of daily newspapers. That’s an artificial construct that has no resonance to anyone with a computer. And even in that limited sphere film criticism was not a savior. A lot of highly profitable newspapers never had anything but crummy critics covering any arts medium you can think of." Wyman points to aggregator web sites, like MetaCritic. "Today, if I’m interested in critical takes on, say, 'Australia,' in a click or two I have at hand the writings of Manohla Dargis, Ebert himself, Ken Turan, Ella Taylor and Todd McCarthy on that film. A click or two more and I have at my disposal the collective wisdom of the internets’ collective film writing, the intellectual equivalent of that sandworm in 'Dune,' majestic and slightly nauseating at the same time." Wyman's vista is none too wide, either. The critics he points out are (except for Ebert, based in Chicago and a fiefdom unto himself) from New York and Los Angeles - two insular cultural capitals that become echo chambers for their own bicoastal pomposity. And as for his tunneling into the rest of the Internet, the Web is like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates from which one never knows what one will get. There are great critics working at regional papers around the country - Roger Moore in Orlando, Chris Hewitt in St. Paul, Rene Rodriguez in Miami, the Cricket's friend Moira McDonald in Seattle, just to name a few. There have been others who, because of management decisions at their newspapers, aren't there anymore. Every time one of those voices is stilled, those local bylines replaced by wire copy or syndicated critics, the pool of "collective wisdom" Wyman praises gets a tiny bit shallower. Labels: disappearing critics
The "benefits" of buyouts
 So there is an upside, according to former movie critic Mary F. Pols, to taking a buyout. In a recent article in The New York Times' "Modern Love" column, Pols - who left California's Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune in March when the papers were downsized - recounts with brutal honesty her experiences with "Buyout Sex." Pols, a single mom who tells that story in her unflinching memoir Accidentally on Purpose, wrote in the Times about a co-worker she had always been attracted to - and how her imminent departure from her newsroom gave her the freedom to pursue an affair with him. Pols describes how the affair started, and ended, and how it smoothed over her transition into unemployment. "Our time together managed to turn a singularly depressing event into something exciting and alive," Pols writes. "We all do what we can to get through hard times. And although our escapade may also have borne the stamp of a shelf life, it was, however briefly, far sweeter than a farewell cake." Labels: disappearing critics
Bow down to the CelebCult!
"A newspaper film critic is like a canary in a coal mine. When one croaks, get the hell out." So begins one of the most trenchant critiques of the newspaper industry you're likely to see - written by the Chicago Sun-Times esteemed film critic Roger Ebert, examining the decline in our industry from the vantage point of movie criticism. Ebert looks at the job losses among movie critics - a trend reported on in this blog ad nauseum - and sees that newspapers are no longer interested in intelligent analysis of movies. Instead, papers think their readers want "affairs, divorces, addiction, disease, success, failure, death watches, tirades, arrests, hissy fits, scandals, who has been 'seen with' somebody, who has been 'spotted with' somebody, and 'top ten' lists of the above." What Ebert calls "CelebCult" is a virus that "is eating our culture alive, and newspapers voluntarily expose themselves to it. It teaches shabby values to young people, festers unwholesome curiosity, violates privacy, and is indifferent to meaningful achievement. One of the TV celeb shows has announced it will cover the Obama family as 'a Hollywood story.' I want to smash something against a wall." Amen, Brother Roger. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - Roger Ebert's opinion
Roger Ebert has weighed in on the shrinking ranks of movie critics writing for print publications. In a comment to The Cricket's April 2 blog post "The Departed" - the first to list the critics who have lost their jobs (to layoffs, buyouts, reassignment, retirement or shuttered publications) - Ebert had this to say: "It's part of the dumbing-down, not so much of America, but of newspaper proprietors. As they face hard times, they are more and more eager to pander to the their "base," which I suspect comes down to those readers who don't care how much read-worthy content disappears so long as they can find their horoscopes, lottery numbers, favorite comics, the morning line at the track, and Celeb Nuggets. After all what kind of reader wouldn't prefer to read about the DUI arrest of a big star than learn that the star's latest movie is probably the reason he got drunk?" The list stands at 43 critics who have lost their jobs since January 2006 - 20 of them just this year. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 43, Betsy Pickle
 Another local voice quieted: Betsy Pickle, critic for the Knoxville News-Sentinel for 23 years, who was one of 50 employees (13 from the newsroom) laid off from the Tennessee paper. On his movie blog, Orlando Sentinel movie critic Roger Moore (not to be confused with the former James Bond, who used to work at a rival paper in Knoxville, gives Pickle a good send-off - praising her tireless work ethic, her good humor and her willingness to pay her own way to movie junkets when her paper's travel budget ran out. Pickle also was a co-founder of the Southeastern Film Critics Association. Two more names are being added to the list of The Departed, thanks to a tip from Christopher Lloyd, a writer at the Indianopolis Star (not the guy who played Doc Brown in the "Back to the Future" movies): The Indianapolis Star's movie critic, Bonnie Britton, who was reassigned to home and garden stories in fall 2006 and took a buyout in August 2007; and the Cincinnati Enquirer's movie critic, Margaret A. McGurk, who was reassigned to the city beat in the spring of 2006. Here's the list in full: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, reassigned, spring 2006 4. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 5. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 6. Bonnie Britton, Indianapolis Star, reassigned, fall 2006 7. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 8. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 9. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 10. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 11. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 12. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 13. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 14. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 15. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 16. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 17. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 18. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 19. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 20. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 21. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 22. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 23. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 24. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 25. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 26. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 27. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 28. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 29. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 30. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 31. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 32. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 33. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 34. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 35. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 36. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 37. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 38. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 39. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 40. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 41. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 42. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 43. Betsy Pickle, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, laid off, November 2008 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 40, Carina Chocano
 Carina Chocano is - or, unfortunately, was - one of the young and fresh voices at the paper at the epicenter of the movie world, The Los Angeles Times. Chocano sent an e-mail to Fishbowl LA today, confirming that she is one of the 75 newsroom employees laid off in the Times' latest round of staff cuts announced today. That leaves the Times with only one full-time movie critic, the veteran Kenneth Turan. In what is a strange and (I hope) unintended irony, Chocano's byline appeared today on an essay about the kind of movies that get released during economic upheavals - whether in the 1930s or today. Chocano makes 40 movie critics who have lost their jobs - through layoffs, buyouts, reassignments, forced retirements, etc. - at print publications since January 2006. She's also the 19th this year. Here's the list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 4. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 5. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 6. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 7. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 8. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 9. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 10. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 11. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 12. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 13. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 14. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 15. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 16. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 17. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 18. Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2007 19. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 20. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 21. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 22. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 23. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 24. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 25. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 26. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 27. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 28. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 29. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 30. Kevin Crust, The Los Angeles Times, buyout, March 2008 31. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 32. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 33. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 34. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 35. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 36. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 37. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 38. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, October 2008 (effective January 2009) 39. Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle, buyout, October 2008 40. Carina Chocano, The Los Angeles Times, laid off, October 2008 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 39, Eric Harrison
The Houston Chronicle's movie critic, Eric Harrison, has taken a buyout offer, according to a blog post by Pete Vonder Haar, movie critic for the alt-weekly Houston Press. Vonder Haar reports that Harrison sent an e-mail to members of the Houston Film Critics Circle, informing them that he was leaving the Chronicle. That (and the late addition of The Los Angeles Times' Kevin Crust, who took a buyout in March, and Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle, who put in his own name after taking a buyout in October 2007) brings the tally of movie critics who have lost their jobs - to layoffs, buyouts, resignation, retirement, reassignment or having their paper shot out from under them, to 39 since January 2006. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 36, Craig Outhier
East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz., will lay off 46 of its 142 newsroom staffers, according to the Phoenix New Times - and movie critic Craig Outhier is one of them. The laid-off staffers will have their jobs until January. (A hat tip to Phil Villareal at the Arizona Daily Star, for tipping off the Cricket.) That brings the count of movie critics who have lost their jobs - laid off, bought out, retired or reassigned - since January 2006 to 36. Here's the updated list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 4. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 5. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 6. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 7. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 8. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 9. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 10. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 11. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 12. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 13. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 14. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 15. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 16. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 17. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 18. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 19. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 20. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 21. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 22. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 23. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 24. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 25. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 26. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 27. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 28. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 29. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 30. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 31. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 32. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 33. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 34. Bruce Bennett, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 35. S. James Snyder, New York Sun, paper ceases publication, October 2008 36. Craig Outhier, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), laid off, January 2009 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - Nos. 34 and 35, Bruce Bennett and S. James Snyder
 It's not often a movie critic sees their paper shot out from under him or her. In most of the instances on this list, the critic's job goes but the paper moves on. Not in the case of the six-year-old conservative New York Sun, which ceased publication with Tuesday's edition. Here's what The Sun's editor, Seth Lipsky, told his staff, and here's The New York Times' story on The Sun's closure. The Sun boasted two movie critics, Bruce Bennett and S. James Snyder. Labels: disappearing critics
Voynar takes a walk
The Cricket isn't sure whether to count this on his list of departed movie critics - because it's not a print publication, the critic is leaving under her own steam, and because the critic will still be out there critiquing for somebody. But this is a milestone of sorts: Kim Voynar, one of the leading critics on the Internet - and one of the most prominent female voices in film criticism - has left her perch at Cinematical, where she labored since early 2005, as movie critic, reporter and managing editor. Her last post went up Sunday, a review for the movie "Goodbye Solo" at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Voynar (pictured at left with a convalescing Roger Ebert at EbertFest 2007) describes the amicable breakup on her blog, Film Essent, assuring everyone that she jumped and was not pushed. "This is something I’ve needed to do for a while now, but it was hard to let go of Cinematical, after working so hard and putting my heart and soul into it for so long," she wrote. Voynar will land on her feet. She's too good a writer, too powerful a voice, to be silent for long. (Photo: Jim Emerson, Scanners blog)Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 33, Lance Goldenberg
Tampa's alt-weekly, Creative Loafing, has "let go" its movie critic, Lance Goldenberg. This is according to critic Philip Booth, a contributor to the St. Petersburg Times and other publications, on his blog. Booth is incensed that Creative Loafing, which publishes four alt-weeklies under that name in Southern cities (as well as the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper), will be running reviews from its Atlanta branch. "Yes, sure, the paper is likely to cite sound 'financial' reasons for this decision. But, really, THIS from a publication that has regularly (and rightfully) taken local daily newspapers to task for the same type of decisions? Hmmmm," Booth writes. Eric Duggans, TV writer for the St. Pete Times, also weighed in on his blog - and included a statement from Creative Loafing's editor. That brings the count of movie critics who have lost their jobs - laid off, bought out, retired or reassigned - since January 2006 to 33. Here's the updated list: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 4. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 5. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 6. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 7. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 8. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 9. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 10. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 11. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 12. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 13. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 14. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 15. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 16. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 17. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 18. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 19. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 20. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 21. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 22. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 23. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 24. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 25. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 26. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 27. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 28. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 29. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 30. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 31. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 32. Hap Erstein, The Palm Beach Post, buyout, July 2008 33. Lance Goldenberg, Creative Loafing (Tampa Bay), laid off, August 2008 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 32, Hap Erstein
The Palm Beach Post said "yes" to the more than 300 employees who applied for a buyout, according to the alt-weekly there, The Broward-Palm Beach New Times. One of those, according to the New Times, is the paper's movie and theater critic, Hap Erstein. He makes 32 movie critics who have lost their jobs, in one way or another, since the beginning of 2006. Labels: disappearing critics
Life after the buyout
 So, what do you do when you're no longer a "film critic"? Mary F. Pols - who was film critic for the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times until she took a buyout in March - writes, on the web site of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, about the mental shift that comes about from no longer doing the job she loved. I still wake every Tuesday with that familiar expectation that my day will end, as it did for nearly eight years, and as it does for most film critics, with a drive home from a screening, the fresh material of a new movie dancing in my head, with both the dread and adrenaline rush of Wednesday morning's deadline ahead of me. If it's Tuesday, this must be the multiplex. The job may be gone, but those circadian rhythms linger.
It's not all bad news, though. Pols has been on the book-tour circuit, flogging her critically acclaimed memoir, Accidentally on Purpose. She also notes the best benefit of quitting: "No more obligation to retain the absurdities that spring forth from George Lucas’s mind." (Photo: Benet Pols)Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - Nos. 30 and 31, Stephen Hunter and Desson Thomson
 Two of the three movie critics at The Washington Post are taking buyouts: Desson Thomson and Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Hunter. They are among more than 100 Post newsroom staffers who are leaving in the most recent round of buyouts, the paper announced today. They include the Post's veteran political columnist David Broder and military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, both Pulitzer winners, and sports columnist Tony Kornheiser. (Kornheiser, who hasn't filed a column since 2005, will continue his daily Talking Points video; Broder will continue his column, on a contract basis.) The Post story quotes Hunter: "I realized about a year ago I no longer had to be the film critic. ... Part of it was New York Avenue fatigue, part of it was movie fatigue, part of it was CGI fatigue. I'm doing what The Post would not do: I'm firing myself for being too old." (Hunter also writes detective novels; one of them was the basis of the movie "Shooter.") Thomson, during his final online chat this morning, said he would be writing on his website, DessonThomson.com. He will also continue to write reviews for the Post as a free-lancer. Hunter would do the same, at least until August. Whether anyone will be moved in to back up Ann Hornaday, the Post's remaining movie critic, is yet to be seen. Hunter and Thomson become the 30th and 31st writers on the list of movie critics who have lost their jobs since 2006. The list was first published here in April, and it looks like it's time to run it again: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 4. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 5. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 6. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 7. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 8. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 9. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 10. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 11. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 12. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 13. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 14. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 15. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 16. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 17. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 18. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 19. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 20. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 21. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 22. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 23. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 24. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 25. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 26. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 27. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 28. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 29. Glenn Kenny, Premiere, terminated, May 2008 30. Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 31. Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, buyout, May 2008 Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - No. 29, Glenn Kenny
When the Cricket compiled his list of movie critics who have lost their jobs in print publications in the last two years, he deliberately left Glenn Kenny of Premiere magazine off the list on a technicality: The magazine ceased publication in April 2007, but Kenny was still employed as senior editor for Premiere's web site. Scratch that technicality. Kenny is getting the boot from Premiere.com, as he announced on his blog today. He hopes to keep the blog going, and says he needs some free-lance work. Labels: disappearing critics
The incredible disappearing film critic (continued)
The plight of film critics - and whether the declining numbers of critics in print publications are offset by the boom in do-it-yourself criticism online - was hashed out in a couple of forums yesterday. On Wednesday's "Talk of the Nation" on NPR, The New York Times' A.O. Scott opined on the subject - along with Margo Mealey, who writes the blog DC Girl @ the Movies. A good conversation on the subject, but too brief. Michael Ventre, writing for MSNBC.com, offers a perspective on the situation. Too bad that he begins with the old saw that it's all the fault of Siskel & Ebert - their darned thumbs having dumbed down film criticism to an either/or proposition that paved the way for aggregators like Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes, where opinion is reduced to a number between 1 and 100. But the most disturbing aspect of Ventre's article is the accompanying collection of comments from readers, who find movie critics to be elitist or preachy or (worst of all) unnecessary. The biggest misconception about critics is that we don't actually like movies, and our criticisms somehow suck the joy out of moviegoing. For the Cricket, nothing could be further from the truth. If he didn't enjoy seeing movies, he'd hightail it into another line of work - preferably one that paid better. Most of the critics the Cricket knows got into this job because they love movies so much they had to share that experience through writing about them. Labels: disappearing critics
A critic walks out on his own
Not sure whether to count this on the list of "the departed," because this one is walking out of his own volition: Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz, most recently writing for The New York Times but before that for New York Press, has decided to chuck it all and start making movies. All this is detailed on Seitz' popular blog, The House Next Door, in a lengthy podcast (transcript included) with blog editor Keith Uhlich. Scroll far down into the comments, and you also learn that Nathan Lee - who was laid off by The Village Voice (and is No. 27 on the list of the departed) - will take over Seitz' spot at the Times. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - life after criticism
Yes, movie critics do land on their feet. Sometimes in fuzzy slippers. Jami Bernard, who left her perch as the New York Daily News' movie critic two years ago when her contract wasn't renewed, was profiled in Crain's New York Business on Sunday - talking about her new career running her own home business, Barncat Publishing. ( Here's the story, from Jami's website - and a tip o' the hat to Movie City News. If you search for the story on Crain's website, one finds it's behind a paywall.) And speaking of Movie City News, that's where Michael Wilmington, late of the Chicago Tribune, has found a new place to give his opinions. (Bernard had a blog there briefly after leaving the Daily News.) Labels: disappearing critics
Know thy critic
In recent columns about the demise of movie-critic jobs, both Daily Variety's Anne Thompson and the Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein asked students at USC which critics they read. Goldstein wrote that the entertainment-journalism students he met like to use web sites that post a consensus of critics, like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. Thompson said her film-criticism class at USC could name Roger Ebert, but that's it. They read Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, but can't name the critics who write for those publications. And they visit Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, too. The Cricket tried the same question on some University of Utah students last night, at an opinion-writing class taught by the Tribune's editorial-page editor Vern Anderson. The results were largely the same: Though one student mentioned Peter Travers at Rolling Stone and the New York Times' A.O. Scott, the others couldn't cite a critic by name who they read regularly. They also rely on the aggregators, though most of them had never heard of Rotten Tomatoes. Goldstein summed up the situation best: "They do listen to critics, but largely as a group, not as individual brands. The age of the singular critical voice is ending - people prefer the wisdom of a community." Labels: disappearing critics
The departed: Asking ourselves why
With at least 28 print-publication movie critics losing their jobs in the last two years, those of us still employed are huddled around the virtual bonfire asking each other, "Why?" Anne Thompson, deputy editor at Daily Variety, tackled the matter in her most recent column - and found part of the answer among her film-criticism students at USC. They read other critics, in magazines like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly or from the Rotten Tomatoes website, but they don't know the names of the critics they read. These students, who are film junkies, "can't name a working critic other than [Roger] Ebert, and that's thanks to his TV fame," Thompson writes. So who do the kids listen to? "These students - and today's youth auds in general - more often get their movie info straight from the studio marketing departments, who couldn't be happier," Thompson writes. "These kids go to YouTube, Yahoo Movies and Apple to find trailers. As they surf the Web, bits of movie flotsam and visuals planted by the studios on MSN Movies or IGN or JoBlo eventually cross their eyeballs. But they also listen to their friends more than any authority figures, and distrust obvious studio hype." Patrick Goldstein at the L.A. Times today ran through the list of usual suspects - it's the Web, or media downsizing, or media dumbing-down, or studios shutting out critics, or lousy critics making the rest of us look bad - before deciding "maybe it's time critics, like many artists, realize they should pay more attention to their audience." The source for Goldstein's revelation: Talking to his 9-year-old son about video games. Goldstein's column brought out a stern rebuke from Movie City News' David Poland on his Hot Blog. Poland discounts Goldstein's thesis that movie critics have ever had influence over the mass of moviegoers. The influence of Pauline Kael (to which all movie critics are supposed to genuflect) was with New York arthouse audiences and the marketing people who pay attention to those audiences, Poland argues. "It's not about pandering or figuring out what people really want... any more in journalism than in the movie business," Poland writes. "People who lead strongly end up with followers. People who ask 9 year olds why they don't trust critics in the LA Times are very, very confused." Labels: disappearing critics
The departed - the reaction
Some reaction to yesterday's blog post listing the movie critics who have left their jobs - some jumping, some pushed - in the last two years: -- Alex Klenert, vice president of publicity at ThinkFilm, e-mailed with three more names (which the Cricket will add once he confirms how and when they left their jobs). That executives at a distributor are keeping tabs on this stuff raises an interesting point, one David Carr made in his New York Times story on Tuesday: That indie distributors are losing business because there are fewer critics around (especially in the New York market) to champion little movies that don't have the big marketing bucks. -- Jeffrey Wells linked to the list from his Hollywood Elsewhere blog, but with a mildly snarky attitude (a natural for Wells) suggesting this is just the last bubbles from the tar pit as we print-media dinosaurs sink into oblivion. This may be true, but some of us are learning to adapt - and, for now, the critics with a publication behind them still have more credibility than most (not all) web-based critics. Labels: disappearing critics
The departed
Movie critics who write for print publications are "on the endangered species list," proclaimed a headline in The New York Times on Tuesday. To which the Movie Cricket replies, "Welcome to the party, folks." The Cricket has been writing about this particular issue for awhile, and he is happy that the New York media - whose collective sun rises and sets in their own navels - is realizing that it's happening to them, too. As his contribution to the discussion, the Cricket has been compiling a list of the movie critics who have lost their jobs - to retirement, layoffs, buyouts or reassignments - in the last two years. In compiling the list, the Cricket did not include critics who died over that period (a list that includes "Good Morning America's" Joel Siegel and the Arizona Republic's Bill Muller) or critics whose print publications were shot out from under them (e.g., Glenn Kenny, who continues at Premiere.com now that Premiere magazine has folded). The Cricket expresses gratitude to the critics he asked to peruse the list and suggest additions. But the list is by no means complete, and the Cricket welcomes any and all comments on who should be included (or excluded). Here, then, is the list of movie critics who have left or are leaving their jobs: 1. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, buyout, 2006 2. Steve Ramos, Cincinnati CityBeat, position eliminated, April 2006 3. Jami Bernard, New York Daily News, contract not renewed, May 2006 4. Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News, buyout, fall 2006 5. Dennis Lim, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 6. Michael Atkinson, Village Voice, laid off, October 2006 7. Mark Burger, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, laid off, November 2006 8. Barbara Lester, CityLink (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), position eliminated, early 2007 9. Bob Ross, Tampa Tribune, laid off, April 2007 10. Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News, buyout, May 2007 11. Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reassigned, May 2007 12. Dave Gathman, Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, staff reorganization, May 2007 13. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, buyout, summer 2007 14. Jack Garner, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, retired, June 2007 15. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, quit, July 2007 16. Rob Nelson, City Pages (Minneapolis-St. Paul), position eliminated, August 2007 17. Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, reassigned, October 2007 18. Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press, buyout, December 2007 19. Jack Mathews, New York Daily News, retired, December 2007 20. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, retired, December 2007 21. Ed Bradley, Flint (Mich.) Journal, buyout, January 2008 22. David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune, laid off, January 2008 23. Jan Stuart, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 24. Gene Seymour, Newsday, buyout, March 2008 25. Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News, reassigned, March 2008 26. Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune, buyout, March 2008 27. Nathan Lee, Village Voice, laid off, March 2008 28. David Ansen, Newsweek, buyout, March 2008 UPDATE (Thursday): Two names - a sports columnist and an editor - were put on the list in error, and have been deleted. Mark Burger, formerly of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, has been added. More names have been submitted, and will be added once confirmed. UPDATE (Friday): Two more confirmed names for the list: Barbara Lester at CityLink (a Fort Lauderdale alt-weekly run by the Sun-Sentinel) and Ed Bradley at the Flint (Mich.) Journal. Labels: disappearing critics
If the Times says it, it must be so
The New York Times today noticed what the Cricket and others have been warning about for some time: The movie critic in print is "now on the endangered species list." Reporter David Carr - acting in his daytime persona, rather than his secret identity as The Carpetbagger - took note of three recent personnel moves in New York (the layoff of the Village Voice's Nathan Lee, buyouts at Newsday that included critics Jan Stuart and Gene Seymour, and a buyout at Newsweek that included critic David Ansen) and concluded things are tough all over. If there's one rule at The New York Times, it's that if things are happening in New York, they must be happening everywhere. Of course, it already is happening everywhere: In the last two years, critics at papers in Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and San Jose (just a name a few cities) have either retired (often with a managerial nudge), been laid off, taken buyouts or been reassigned. And why should you, the moviegoer, care if a bunch of 40ish-and-older journalists are losing their jobs when there are movie blogs, as Carr puts it, "strewn about the Web like popcorn on a theater floor"? Carr quotes movie producers and distributors who argue that, without critics, a lot of intelligent and award-worthy movies wouldn't get the attention they deserve. "For those of us who are making work that requires a kind of intellectual conversation," said producer Scott Rudin, "we rely on that talk to do the work of getting people interested." Rudin should know - two of the movies he produced last year were the Oscar winners "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." Labels: disappearing critics
Will the last critic leaving New York please turn off the lights?
Last week, after the Village Voice's Nathan Lee was laid off, S.T. VanAirsdale of The Reeler joked about the shrinking membership of the New York critical community. "If this keeps up, who will compose the New York Film Critics Circle?" VanAirsdale wrote. "At this rate, it'll be Armond White splitting the Jim Hoberman and Rex Reed votes, with 'Indiana Jones 4' ekeing out a narrow Best Picture victory come December." VanAirsdale may not be kidding. Another lion among New York's movie critics is hanging it up: David Ansen, Newsweek's main movie critic since 1977, is among 111 of the newsmagazine's staffers - in the news and business departments - who have accepted a buyout, according to Radar Online. Anne Thompson at Daily Variety reports that Ansen found Newsweek's offer too good to pass up. He'll continue until year's end, then take a one-year contract as a contributor - reviewing occasionally and writing longer features. He also plans to teach and write books. Labels: disappearing critics
Another critic axed
The Village Voice has laid off movie critic Nathan Lee, for "economic reasons" according to the e-mail Lee sent around to friends (and wound up on S.T. VanAirsdale's The Reeler blog). "I am, as they say, 'looking for work,' though presumably not as a staff film critic as such jobs no longer appear to exist," Lee writes in his e-mail. Good luck, Nathan. Newsday just gave buyouts to its three-member movie crew, and the Cricket recently counted about 20 critics who have either taken buyouts, retired or been laid off in the last two years. Labels: disappearing critics
More critics get the ax
This job of movie critic is getting lonelier by the day. Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, announced Monday that it avoided layoffs when 36 employees took the buyout offer. According to this report on Defamer, that number includes the paper's entire movie section: Movie editor Pat Wiedenkeller and critics Jan Stuart and Gene Seymour. (David Poland, editor of Movie City News, blogs that the Newsday moves will leave only five full-time movie critics within the 11 major dailies of the Tribune Company chain: Carina Chocano and Kenneth Turan at the Los Angeles Times, Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune, Michael Sragow at the Baltimore Sun, and Roger Moore at the Orlando Sentinel.) Closer to home for the Cricket, two critics' jobs at papers in the Media News Group chain (which also owns The Salt Lake Tribune) are going away. At the San Jose Mercury News, critic Bruce Newman has reportedly been reassigned to a general-features beat. And Mary F. Pols, the critic for the Contra Costa Times, is listed here as one of 107 employees at MNG's Bay Area papers to take a buyout offer. (The Cricket counts these critics still working for MNG papers: Himself, Lisa Kennedy at the Denver Post, Tom Long at the Detroit News, Chris Hewitt at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Glenn Whipp and Bob Strauss at the L.A. Daily News. There may be others, though, that have slipped the Cricket's mind.) When the folks who own newspapers run the numbers, the math tells them that a staff movie critic can be more expensive than running wire-service reviews. But something else is lost: The flavor of a unique voice. Look at what happened to the San Diego Union-Tribune, which found itself apologizing for running an AP review of "The Other Boleyn Girl" that was deemed sexist. (Hat tip: Movie City News.) Every time we lose a movie critic's job, we lose a unique voice championing movies. Often that voice is female or a person of color (Pols, for example, is a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists), in a profession that needs as much diversity as possible. Labels: disappearing critics
More critics leaving the balcony
"Foreman says these jobs are going, boys, and they're not coming back." -- Bruce Springsteen, "My Hometown"
The Detroit Free Press, one of the top 20 papers in America, has decided it doesn't need a full-time movie critic. That's the word, according to this item on Defamer.com, after The Freep's veteran movie critic Terry Lawson took an early buyout over the holidays. (Disclosure: The Freep, owned by Gannett, shares a joint operating agreement with The Detroit News, which is owned by MediaNews Group - the corporate overlord of The Salt Lake Tribune.) Last week, Movie City News posted a farewell letter from Jack Mathews, longtime New York Daily News movie critic, who's retiring next month to the Oregon coast after 30 years in the biz. And just before Sundance, word came down that David Elliott, movie critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune with 37 years as a writer, was among five newsroom staffers to be laid off in a corporate cutback. These three critics join a long list of major critics - including Robert Denerstein at Denver's Rocky Mountain News, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Phoebe Flowers at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale, Jack Garner at the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, Philip Wuntch at the Dallas Morning News, Michael Wilmington at the Chicago Tribune and Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Chicago Reader - who have retired, taken early buyouts, been laid off or reassigned in the last couple of years. The rationale papers make is that money's tight, critics are a luxury, most critics have been around for years (and draw bigger salaries because of their seniority), and there's plenty of movie criticism out there on the wires and the Internet. The problem is that fewer critics mean fewer voices, fewer champions for smaller movies that don't have ten tons of studio marketing behind them. Fewer critics, especially regional critics, mean the voices of New York and Los Angeles critics get disproportionally louder - which means regional filmmakers (like Jay Craven in Vermont, Victor Nunez in Florida, Richard Dutcher in Utah or the up-and-comers in Austin) never get the critical appraisal they need. Labels: disappearing critics
Another critic bites the dust
In the last year or so, movie critics at the Chicago Tribune, Rocky Mountain News, Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Akron Beacon Journal, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Tampa Tribune and other papers have left their jobs - either through retirement, buyouts or staff re-organization. Here's another one: Matt Soergel, for nearly 14 years of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, is being reassigned. ( Here's his farewell column, which includes a friendly dig at Real Salt Lake.) "The reasoning goes: Film reviews are available through wire services, and local news isn't. So the film critic goes," Soergel writes. Of course, the problem is that if every paper goes that way, then every paper in America - from Florida to California, from Utah to Minnesota - will be running the same reviews, either from Roger Ebert or The New York Times or the Associated Press. Hundreds of voices engaged in a dialogue will be reduced to a handful of experts talking in a vacuum, and the quality of film criticism and the films themselves will suffer for it. More voices means more champions for unusual movies, and more chances for those movies to catch on with audiences. And regional movie critics can speak up for their readership in ways that a nationally-known critic can’t. Labels: disappearing critics
Another critic gone
Bill Muller, film critic for The Arizona Republic, died Thursday after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 42. His paper posted this obituary, filled with fond remembrances. Sounds like to know him was to love him. Labels: disappearing critics
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Sean P. Means is the movie critic for The Salt Lake Tribune.
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