Maybe the most prestigious film critic job is writing for the New York Times, or at least it was before A.O. Scott changed his tune in and around 2016 and became a social Justice warrior. Ever since then I’ve been tuning out his movie reviews.
Scott’s decision to shift into book reviewing was announced on Tuesday. That basically leaves us with Manhola Dargis, another SJW who has still been more interesting to read than Scott.
I’ll never forget Scott’s anti-Woody Allen piece from five years ago. That was one of the more pathetic displays of journalistic malfeasance. In a nutshell, Scott was embarrassed by his love for Allen’s films over the years and admitted that even if he wanted to, he couldn’t unwatch his movies. The horror.
So, who replaces Scott? Times contributors Wesley Morris or Glenn Kenny? Dargis could just take over as chief film critic but NYT would still need a second fiddle.
There are rumors that Morris may not want the job, as he allegedly prefers being a critic-at-large. That leaves us with Kenny or a newly hired outsider. I don’t, for a second, believe the job will go to a white male, sorry Glenn — it is more likely the Times see this as an opportunity to make “history,” maybe an all female duo or the first POC chief film critic.
Some of the noteworthy film critics the NYT have employed over the last 5 decades include Vincent Canby, Bosley Crowther, Dave Kehr, J. Hoberman Elvis Mitchell and Janet Maslin.
Back in 1999, there was a whole brouhaha over the exact reasons why Maslin was stripped of her duties as Times critic ,with many believing it was due to her overtly positive reviews of “The Phantom Menace” and “Eyes Wide Shut.”