Are any collections of her reviews available online?
Damn. Damn-damn-damn. The minute I saw the thread title I knew, she’s been pretty sick for a while.
I didn’t start reading her until she was generally acknowledged to be past her prime (and a bit too enamored of her own reputation) but one little phrase has always stuck in my head. It was in her review of Hairspray, one of my favorite movies - she described Divine’s performance as having a “great what-the-hell quality,” and that was so exactly right.
We’ve lost a great writer. I can’t think of anyone right now who comes close. Your choice is either the horrifically pretentious “cinemaphile” twaddle (Village Voice, etc.), or the vapidity of Time and Newsweek (we won’t even mention People-EW-US-E!-blaaargh). The only reviewer I can even name is the New York Times’s late* and unlamented Janet Maslin, one of the most undiscerning “critics” I’ve ever encountered.
Sigh.
[sub]*fired, not dead.[/sub]
There’s another thread on this in Cafe Society. Please continue the discussion there. I’m closing this one.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=85249