Many of them came from NYU, U of WI Madison and the U of Texas -- most out of film societies and film programs. To be fair, there can be a wide disparity of opinions about critics not because one is smarter than the other, but because of the media they work for and/or the time constraints they're under. For example, Leonard Maltin is one of the smartest and most passionate out there and one of the most fun to talk to, but because he doesn't write for the New York Times, you might not consider him at all. Same with Roger Ebert, of course. The best critics to me are the ones who see something in the film that others miss, are political and social minded enough to see that There Will be Blood and Dodgeball both have messages for better or worse, are able to be objective enough to see value and meaning even in something they didn't believe in before the went into the screening, and brave enough to make a decision about a film's worth and not worry how others will critique their opinions. They have to be passionate about their work, all the arts, language, people and literature. And it helps to have a sense of humor -- especially about themselves. I'm not the best on past critics (though Sheila Benson, Dave Sterritt, Jay Carr and Vincent Canby are critics I always admired for different reasons), but of the current in the US print media only and in no particular order: Stuart Klawans, The Nation Dave Kehr, NY Times Manohla Dargis, NY Times Kenny Turan, LA Times Ann Hornaday, Washington Post Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post Armond White, NY Press J. Hoberman, Village Voice Scott Foundas and Ella Taylor, LA Weekly Lisa Swarzbaum and Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly Kent Jones, Film Comment I don't read Desson Thompson, Peter Rainer, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jim Ridley, Richard Corliss, Richard Brody, Michael Sragow or Wesley Morris enough to judge them, but good from what I've read. On radio, the best people that cover film are Howie Movshovitz, Leonard Lopate and Elvis Mitchell. And of writers of books, it's Kevin Brownlow, Scott Eyman and John Canemaker. Some of that is personal, however I'm SURE I've forgotten some (and I completely apologize in advance) because this is completely off the top of my head, but in my position of knowing many of them and getting to read 100 critics on the same film (Milestone's releases, of course -- I'm not that compulsive about other distributor's films), I have found the profession as a whole of being fairly good quality. There are certain major institutions (papers and magazines) that disappoint me greatly. Best, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 [log in to unmask] www.milestonefilms.com www.exilesfilm.com www.killerofsheep.com www.wintersoldierfilm.com ************** Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020) ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org