Guest Blogger

Premiere critic Glenn Kenny, whose humor and insight was evident on his website In The Company of Glenn, announced that he too was being let go. The comments offer a sad tribute to a fine critic. Kenny has started a new website all his own called Some Came Running.

There was a massive outpouring of sympathy at Kenny's departure — as of now there are 91 comments on his farewell post. Commenting over at The House Next Door, The House's recently retired head blogger Matt Zoller Seitz (currently working on an animation film) wrote "Hey, Glenn, those punks at Premiere don't deserve you anyway. Wanna work with puppets?" Kenny's response? "I just might, Matt. I just might."

Another critic who, like Kenny, is setting up a space for himself online is Jonathan Rosenbaum who has used his newfound time after retirement to set up the appropriately titled JonathanRosenbaum.com. In addition to archived reviews from Rosenbaum's long career at the Chicago Reader, plus newly published essays such as, Two Neglected Filmmakers, about Eduardo de Gregorio and Sara Driver.

Over at Notes from Underdog Craig Phillips has been following (and dodging) the brickbats being tossed at film bloggers these days and, recounting the recent controversy generated by author Buzz Bissinger's anti-sports-blogger ravings on Bob Costas's HBO show, learns that this dust-up is happening in other fields as well. In his post, though, Phillips gives as good as bloggers get. "The idea that there is this Institution Called a Newspaper that is still a bastion of the best writing journalism has to offer is laughable," he writes.

Meanwhile, Rodrigo Perez at The Playlist draws a simple lesson from all the sour independent industry news (the closing of Picturehouse and Warner Independent, Glenn Kenney's firing over at Premiere.com) this week: "High school students, pay attention: go to law school. Don't start a blog and certainly not a movies blog with a focus on music."

Documentary-biased blogger A.J. Schnack at "All These Wonderful Things" calls for "DA Pennebaker to finally come clean." At issue, a YouTube piece from the documentary The War Room, in which "Clinton advisor Mickey Kantor calling the people of Indiana 'shit' and 'white niggers'." Sure the comments are 15 years old, but isn't there another Clinton in Indiana?

Next to politics, war gets people's engines started. Andrew O'Hehir at Beyond the Multiplex's entry "The Iraq movie we've been waiting for" was clearly the post everyone was waiting for. While most people agreed with his praise of Nick Broomfield's Battle for Haditha, others protest on political grounds.

At the Guardian Blog, Lauren Cochrane, inspired by a current Fashion in Cinema festival, was prompted to ask the most serious of questions. "Who are you most Fatal Femes?" As you can imagine, nearly 50 readers were up in arms arguing what woman should kill them.