Vivian Cross writes criticism for Reelist and edits Overrated / Underrated, the column that treats the canon as a hypothesis rather than a verdict. She reads films the way a close reader reads a novel — structure, image, the choices a director hoped you wouldn’t notice — and she is unmoved by reputation as an argument.
Her position is that “masterpiece” is the laziest word in criticism, a way of ending a conversation instead of starting one. So she reopens them: the sequel we’ve agreed to call the best of a trilogy, the maligned episode that’s quietly the finest hour a show ever managed, the remaster we’re told “fixed” a classic it actually flattened. She’ll defend a hated film as fiercely as she’ll prosecute a beloved one — the standard is the work, not the consensus.
