Film Critics

In For Kids of All Ages, members of the National Society of Film Critics celebrate the wonder of childhood in cinema. In this volume, original essays commissioned especially for this collection stand alongside classic reviews from prominent film critics like Jay Carr and Roger Ebert. Each of the seven sections in this collection takes on a particular aspect of children's cinema, from animated features to adaptations of beloved novels. The films discussed here range from the early 1890s to the present. The contributors draw on personal connections that make their insights more trenchant and compelling. The essays and reviews in For Kids of All Ages are not just a list of recommendations—though plenty are included—but an illuminating, often personal study of children's movies, children in movies, and the childish wonder that is the essence of film.

I'll admit I'm not objective, but I enjoyed "For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism," a documentary made by an American film critic about American film critics. Gerald Peary, longtime Boston Phoenix critic and a professor of film, spent four years conducting interviews for this breezy history, which starts with the origins of American reviewing in descriptive notes.