The Projectionist's Take on Film Criticism and Blogging

NY Times' film critic, David Edelstein, on the argument that film criticism is a dying art form and whether bloggers aid in the threat: "...there has been a lot of chatter in the last few years that criticism is a dying profession, having been supplanted by the democratic voices of the Web. Not to get all Lee Siegel on you, but the Internet has a mob mentality that can overwhelm serious criticism. There is superb film writing in blogs and discussion groups — as good as anything I do. But there are also thousands of semi-literate tirades that actually reinforce the Hollywood status quo, that say: “If you do not like The Dark Knight (or The Phantom Menace), you should be fired because you do not speak for the people.” This quote was part of his negative review of The Dark Knight, titled "'The Dark Knight' of My Soul."