The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle is one of the few U.S. film critics whose commentaries and reviews I consistently enjoy reading. Whether or not I agree with his opinions on any particular film, I find LaSalle invariably articulate, witty, and informative. Additionally, unlike most of his peers Mick LaSalle – the author of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood and Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man – is one film critic who actually knows his film history.
Check out his take (in his column Ask Mick LaSalle) on both the term "actor" – as in "actor Julia Roberts" – and on cult figure Louise Brooks.
Here's a brief snippet:
"But there are other silent actresses who are more beautiful, more interesting, more innovative and more talented, whose bodies of work are more distinguished, and yet they remain, mute and still, languishing in film cans through critical neglect and archival uninterest. Still, I give Brooks credit for one thing. While other actresses slept with producers to get a career, Brooks realized the significance of sleeping with film scholars in order to fix that career in the public consciousness. Producers forget, but scholars tend to be endlessly grateful."
If I remember it correctly, LaSalle is an inveterate Norma Shearer fan. One has to give him credit for his choice, considering that Shearer – though not very well remembered today – could be quite effective.