For The Love Of Movies The Story Of American Film Criticism Apr 2026

But have you ever stopped to wonder: Who decided that movies should be taken seriously in the first place?

But For the Love of Movies makes a subtle, powerful argument:

Enter a few stubborn visionaries.

Because the next time you type "This movie slaps" or "This movie sucks," remember: You are participating in a century-old argument. And thanks to the rebels in this documentary, that argument is a sacred one. for the love of movies the story of american film criticism

We live in the age of the “amateur critic.” Scroll through Twitter, Letterboxd, or TikTok for five minutes, and you’ll find a thousand hot takes. We all have a star-rating system built into our thumbs.

Suddenly, the amateur critic wasn't a voice of liberation. They were just... cheap labor for SEO. You might be thinking, "I don't need a critic to tell me if a movie is good. I have a 92% on the Tomatometer."

Why Your Hot Take on Morbius Owes Everything to a Dead White Guy in a Bowtie But have you ever stopped to wonder: Who

If you want the answer, you need to watch Gerald Peary’s documentary, . And fair warning: it will ruin the way you think about Rotten Tomatoes forever. The Origin Story (It’s Not About Thumbs Up/Down) Peary’s film is essentially a loving, 80-minute genealogy lesson for film nerds. It starts with a radical idea: In the early 20th century, movies were considered garbage. They were nickelodeon peep shows for immigrants and illiterates. No "respectable" person would dare critique them.

But then the business model collapsed. Newspapers fired their veteran critics to save money. The documentary shows a montage of empty desks. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Rocky Mountain News. The voices that had spent 30 years learning the history of cinema were replaced by generic wire service roundups or algorithmically generated "what to watch" lists.

Without critics like Kael and Sarris, we wouldn't have the vocabulary to argue about "cinematography" or "pacing" or "subtext." Without Ebert, we wouldn't have the empathy to sit through a slow foreign film. And thanks to the rebels in this documentary,

For a while, it looked like utopia. Suddenly, anyone could be a critic. No gatekeepers. No editors. Just pure democracy.

The documentary ends on a bittersweet note. The old guard is gone (or dying out). The new guard is yelling into the algorithmic void. But the love remains. For the Love of Movies is not a slick Hollywood production. It’s a scrappy, passionate, slightly academic love letter. If you are the kind of person who stays for the credits, who watches the director’s commentary, or who has ever defended a Star Wars prequel at a party—you owe it to yourself to watch this.