'The critic is dead.' 'Everyone's a critic.' These statements reflect
some of the perceptions of film criticism in a time when an opinion can
be published in seconds, yet reach an audience of millions. This book
examines the reality of contemporary film criticism, by talking to
leading practitioners in the UK and North America - such as Nick James,
Mark Cousins, Jonathan Rosenbaum and Richard Porton - and by covering a
broad spectrum of influential publications - including Sight & Sound,
The Guardian, Cineaste, indieWIRE and Variety. Forming a major new
contribution to an emerging field of study, these enquiries survey the
impact of larger cultural, economic and technological processes facing
society, media and journalism. Historical perspectives on criticism from
ancient times and current debates in journalism and digital media are
used to unravel questions, such as: what is the relationship between
crisis and criticism? In what way does the web change the functions and
habits of practitioners? What influences do film industries have on the
critical act? And how engaged are practitioners with converged and
creative film criticism such as the video essay?In the face of
transformative digital idealism, empirical findings here redress the
balance and argue the case for evolution rather than revolution taking
place within film criticism.