Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Offers divergent yet always enlightening views of films, film makers, performers, and trends -- an in-depth alternative to the familiar TV reviewer debates.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This collection presents differing opinions of top American critics on selected films, with reviews situated back to back. For instance, Richard Schickel loved almost everything about Terms of Endearment (1983), while Pauline Kael liked only Shirley MacLaine's lead performance. Critics included are all members of the National Society of Film Critics, and the films were chosen because, according to editor Peter Rainer, they ``define the ways these writers approach both movies and criticism.'' The reviews are all reprints, which Rainer cites as a benefit, since they were written without any intention of debate. Yet, the scope of this book is vague. There is an overwhelming emphasis on recent films, yet several from the 1970s are included. Nearly every well-known reviewer of the last 30 years is represented. Though some of the material makes for interesting reading, this book ultimately lacks focus. Recommended only for libraries with extensive film literature collections.-- Mary C. Kalfatovic, Telesec Lib. Svcs., Washington, D.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Perhaps in response to the fashionable "thumbs up/thumbs down" approach popularized on movie-review TV shows, the latest collection of reviews by members of the National Society of Film Critics pairs contrasting views on more than 20 years' worth of controversial movies, from The Wild Bunch and Last Tango in Paris through JFK and Basic Instinct. It also pairs opposing opinions on the period's directors, from the outre (Godard, Fassbinder, Cassavetes) to the mainstream (Spielberg, Lucas). The pro-and-con approach makes for some provocative exchanges among the 150 reviews. While Jay Carr calls sex, lies, and videotape "cool, fresh, funny, almost unnervingly assured," Gary Arnold pans it as "schematic, shallow, and insufferably dinky." An "On the Contrary" chapter offers divergent voices in praise of such universally reviled flops as Heaven's Gate and Hudson Hawk. Kenneth Turan even has the gall to defend colorization. The 36 contributors include the country's best-known film critics--Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, Roger Ebert, etc.--as well as some who deserve wider recognition, such as Dave Kehr and Jonathan Rosenbaum. ~--Gordon Flagg