"I believe that we respond most and best to work in any art form (and to other experience as well) if we are pluralistic, flexible, relative in our judgments, if we are eclectic," wrote Pauline Kael, the undisputed queen of journalistic film criticism. Born in tiny Petaluma, California, Kael went

Eclectic, In-your-face, Smart, Witty

Manny Farber, though still much-revered as a film critic, eschewed film in favor of painting. Farber began writing film reviews for The New Republic in 1942. He continued his film career through the 1970s, writing most notably for publications such as Film Comment. As his book "Negative Space" (1970)

Agitated, Dense, In-your-face, Quirky, Smart