New Articles on Superheroes and Movie Critics

It's another day of double the Peter-article fun (think of it as the 2,000 word grand finale to a written fireworks show), with two new offerings for your reading pleasure (or grumbling displeasure, if you want to get technical about it). First up, I've got a piece in The Washington Times on the recent wave of superhero movies:

In some ways, the fantastic action set pieces on which the films stake their identity are like the flashy costumes worn by their heroes. Beneath their outsized exteriors, each of these films has a mild-mannered secret identity as a movie about ordinary problems and ordinary people. From the personal to the political to the pathological, each uses the backdrop of high-flying action to explore a different realm of everyday life. These costume-clad marvels are both icons and everymen.

And if you're still in need of something to mull over after you're through with that, I've got a review of Phillip Lopate's new anthology, American Movie Critics, over at National Review Online. Can't get enough of critic on critic inside baseball? This is the article for you.

Seen by some as a parasitic endeavor for obsessives and narcissists, Lopate introduces the book with an essay arguing that movie criticism is "a branch of American letters" that, in the last half century, has generated "more energy, passion, and analytical juice" than any other writing about the arts. Lopate's charming, straightforward essay makes a strong case, and the ensuing collection further bolsters the notion that film criticism is a distinct, vibrant art unto itself.