The only consolation I have in the face of behavior like this is that anyone who acts like this clearly holds hatred for acts of resistance, that those actions get under their skin and one day they will run out of people to outlive and they will be left with nothing but hate and bitterness.

-in her work that makes it impossible to feel like you're reading someone who, much like Doug Walker, has some kind of built in rubric for what a perfect movie is that they measure all works against. "the Desperate Art" ends up being a verbose 'the popular movies of today just aren't as good' rant.

I still have a Kael book on my shelf that I tell myself I'll force my way through one of these days. Initially got a lot of value out of "Movies, the Desperate Art." But rereading it today after reading this thread I was immediately put off by it. She poses such a claim over objective truth-