Jack Matthews Signs Off

Thanks to Ed for forwarding the last column by our pal Jack Matthews, who signs off his decades-long column to “write books and enjoy the view”:

When I began reviewing and seeing everything, I was warned by a veteran critic that for every movie that would inspire me, nine would drain my soul. I thought, “He just doesn’t like movies as much as I do.”

Some 6,000 screenings later, I’d say he had the ratio about right. But those exceptions – that “Pulp Fiction,” that “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” that “No Country for Old Men” – kept my glass half-full and the passion alive.

That passion has been with me since I was younger than those kids in Detroit, and I get as excited by movies now as then. But as I return to civilian filmgoing, I will be counting on other critics to do for me what I’ve tried to do for you: cut through the hype and publicity and tell me which films are actually worth seeing.