It’s a rare critic among us who can elevate the dissection of someone else’s work into its own separate art form. The New York Times‘ A.O. Scott, with his combination of whimsical praise and scorched-earth snark, happens to be one of them. His reviews are driven by movie narratives, but they are also mini-lessons on film theory, biting satirical commentary, and extremely literary. It’s worth reading his reviews of movies you aren’t even planning to see. (We still maintain that his Melancholia review might have been as beautiful and poetic as the film itself, if not more so.)

Really though, we read every A.O. Scott review secretly hoping he hated the film, so we can giggle over his  hysterically funny take-downs. (See: Shutter Island, perhaps our favorite non-Observer movie review of all time.) And now there’s a Tumblr for that, too! Read More