A.O. Scott loves him some Roger Ebert

A.O. Scott had a great piece over the weekend on the return of Roger Ebert's written reviews, pointing out rightly that his writing, not his T.V. arguing, has always been his greatest strength. He even makes some choice observations about the state of film criticism that—gasp!— have not been repeated ad nauseum over the last 3 years:

Such attrition is hardly limited to movie reviewers, and it has more to do with the economics of newspapers than with the health of criticism as a cultural undertaking...

It seems to me that “Sneak Previews” and its descendants, far from advancing the vulgarization of film criticism, extended its reach and strengthened its essentially democratic character.

While he still feels the need to make a point about a glut of online critics, his point about newspaper economy and democratization are surprisingly insightful. I'm glad he didn't resort to the mother's basement line of arguing. That would just make him look silly. Oh wait: