For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009)

Director: Gerald Peary

Writer: Gerald Peary

Composer: Bobby B. Keyes

Starring: Roger Ebert, Andrew Sarris, Pauline Kael, Patricia Clarkson, Leonard Maltin, Janet Maslin, Elvis Mitchell, Rex Reed, Richard Schickel, and tons of other film critics

More info: IMDb

Plot: The history of American film criticism.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Probably not.

I'm obviously a movie fan/freak and I love talking about and hearing people talk about movies so naturally, this is right up my alley.  It's a great little history of just what it says it is.  When you think of movie critics, most people can probably think of two and that begins and ends with Siskel & Ebert.  What I found interesting is not necessarily how many of these critics got their start (which is usually what I dig about these pictures) but how film criticism began and evolved.  Nowadays it seems like it's a lot of bozos like me praising and bitching but there's a whole history to film critics that I never knew existed and it's pretty darn interesting.  I've never found a critic that I agree with all the time and that's OK.  Hell, I've never met anyone I agreed with 100%.  I'd be both delighted and afraid if I ever did.  But it's the reviewers that know the history of the type of film they're writing about and have a talent for entertaining and informing that I dig the most.  Ultimately it's still praising and bitching but some people can disguise it with charm and wit to make it more easily digestible without leaving a bad taste in your mouth.