I first discovered Ain't It Cool News when the media predicted "Titanic" as the biggest belly flop ever produced in Hollywood. I followed Harry Knowles' grass-roots defense campaign of that film almost from the very beginning. Over the years I've continued going there for their mostly honest-to-goodness film coverage (excluding Tarantino or Rodriguez films, which will never see a bad review at AICN). And it was at AICN that I discovered Drew McWeeny, aka Moriarty.

As a film student at UT Austin, I was introduced to the world of film criticism. The real stuff, not the "Two Thumbs Up" stuff. Where the critics were thinkers. Where they engaged the films from a larger perspective. Guys like Kracauer, gals like Kael - critics asking tough questions, reading into subtext, pinpointing the small, overlooked messages in a film. This is the world of criticism where Moriarty belongs.

This past year, Moriarty switched sites, to www.hitfix.com - where he's got his own column, Motion/Captured. Now, I'm not a Puritan, but I must say that AICN's all-too-frequent use of the "F-bomb" just for the "F-bomb's" sake, or all of their salivating over sex and nudity, make their reviews seem a little less . . . canonical.  Drew's new home at Hitfix fits him just fine, and it's a pleasure reading his column.  If they made a book of his reviews, I'd put it on my shelf next to Kracauer and Kael.  Click on the pic to check it out.

Update on Friday, August 21, 2009 at 6:29PM by Sruli Broocker

Just as a follow-up to my comment that a Robert Rodriguez film will never see a bad review at AICN, I stand very corrected. Love your site, Harry - still one of the best movie sites around, gratutitous F-bombs and all.