Movie Monday: Favorite Critics

I've been reading movie reviews every Friday since junior high.  I'd read them on vacation, trawling through my late grandmother's Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the entertainment section.  I remember reading the local review of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl then going to see it with her.  Now, every weekend, I pick up the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Weekender section from my maternal grandmother.

The Weekender is helpful in the strangest way because I almost never agree with Christopher Kelly.  Movies he loves, I hate.  Movies he hates, I love.  It's the rare occasion when we agree.  Look, the man thinks the Shrek series is brilliant.  Shrek.  Honestly.

I read the A.V. Club, but find their movie reviews so-so.  They're helpful, but none of the critics really spark with me.  A.V. Club coverage is particularly helpful for finding out about weirder, smaller films.  They cover things local papers don't.  And while their commetariat can be a bit much, they've got a wide range of pop culture knowledge and are very willing to announce and defend their opinions.  The comments are also a great source for movies to watch.

It may be cliche, but I love Roger Ebert's reviews.  He's got a genuine love of film and the ability to write memorable phrases multiple times a week.  I don't agree with him all the time, but we're both very positive about movies.  People claim that his ratings are too high, but I'm all for enjoying things for what they are and only marking down for a true fiasco.  (Although he's tougher on violent films than I am.)  But it basically comes down to the writing.  I could read Ebert all day.  When he loves a film, he's poetic.  When he hates it . . . no one writes a burn like Roger Ebert.

I think my addiction to movie reviews helped me start this blog.  The way I structure my reviews is based on what I learned from reading these guys.