In a 9.10 piece called “Deathbed State of Film Criticism Plays Key Role in Endless Awards Prognostication,” Fishbowl NY‘s Richard Horgan suggests that awards-blogger coverage by the top few is…well, it’s a little complex as he acknowledges the death of old-style film criticism as practiced by Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel, which is nothing to jump up and dance about, but he’s being more or less complimentary toward myself and a few others.

“If you filter the enterprising work of folks like Anne Thompson, David Poland, Jeffrey Wells, Sasha Stone, Roger Friedman and Anthony Breznican through the prism of changing-with-the-film-criticism-times, awards season journalism becomes suddenly a very different animal,” he states. “It’s not just an attempt to keep the ad dollars rolling in. It’s also a clever and necessary way for film journalists to keep their opinions relevant. Not an easy feat in a world where most people no longer cite or read long-form reviews but rely instead on the briefest of Smartphone glances. In conclusion, film criticism is dead. And alive. And well.”