Main content

For the Love of Movies

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film. This film is also available on our home streaming platform, OVID.tv.

For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism is the first documentary to dramatize the rich saga of American movie reviewing. Directed by Boston Phoenix critic, Gerald Peary, For the Love of Movies offers an insider's view of the critics' profession, with commentary from America's best-regarded reviewers, Roger Ebert (The Chicago Sun-Times), A.O. Scott (The New York Times), Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), and Kenneth Turan (The Los Angeles Times). We also hear from young, articulate, Internet voices, including Harry Knowles (ainitcoolnews.com) and Karina Longworth (spout.com). Their stories are entertaining, humorous, and personal. Those who hear them may gain new respect for the film critic profession, knowing the faces and voices, and also the history.

From the raw beginnings of criticism before The Birth of a Nation to the incendiary Pauline Kael-Andrew Sarris debates of the 1960s and 70s to the battle today between youthful on-liners and the print establishment, this documentary illuminates the role that film criticism has played in the evolution of American film.

With James Agee, Jami Bernard, Vincent Canby, Bosley Crowther, David D'Arcy, Manny Farber, Owen Gleiberman, Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman, Harlan Jacobson, Stanley Kauffmann, Stuart Klawans, Harry Knowles, Vachel Lindsay, Leonard Maltin, Janet Maslin, Elvis Mitchell, Wesley Morris, John Powers, Rex Reed, B. Ruby Rich, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Richard Schickel, Robert Sherwood, David Sterritt, Mike Szymanski, Scott Weinberg, Frank E. Woods, Lisa Nesselson, Otis Ferguson, Richard Corliss, Gene Siskel, Michael Wilmington.

Related Films

Passage

A brilliantly innovative telling of the story of Dr. John Rae who discovered…

The American Ruling Class

A dramatic, musical, documentary satire on class in America that attempts…