Listening To The (Movie) Crickets

The precious few movie critics still on a payroll are watching the axe swing ever closer, and plaintively making their case. Thomas Doherty's argument is a variation on "Teh Interwebz iz maakng us stoopid" while Richard Schickel argues that ... well, frankly, whatever point Richard was trying to make was obliterated by my concern that his GP get the dosages right. Schickel's earlier argument was more cogent, and I replied to it, here.

The core concern remains largely unstated by these people. Culture critics must surely be the most optimistic and subtle group of people you could hope to encounter, because the question that dares not speak its intent is, "Am I going to get paid for this?" One answer occurs to the only surviving critic-at-large: as ever, the tech-savvy and fiscally-minded Roger Ebert leads the pack when it comes to innovative commercial/critical enterprise.

Ebert does it because he can, and God love 'im for it. As for the others, who can say? Perhaps it's not too late for a Luddite colony.