-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-