Circle of Critics Loses Another.

It was last year that Premiere Magazine succumbed to the pressures of online, and published its last issue (it had Will Ferrell on the cover promoting Blades of Glory) only to retreat to a tiny corner of the internet where their old prominence and clout became virtual anonymity wrapped up in ugly page designs. Do you think the site will last much longer next to more extensive and expansive sites like Empire and even Entertainment Weekly (which is less a cinema mag and more a tome of pop culture and box office numbers) who have successfully made the transition to digital? It's the scenario that many print publications are facing - either go online, or get out. I'm not so sure Premiere.com will last, especially now with the forced departure of one of their best, one of their vets who was also one of the only to draw any kind of traffic (so says Anne Thompson; I'm sure a majority of readers for any given columnist/critic don't look them up online and probably don't even know their names - a sad truth). Glenn Kenny was one of my personal heroes at the magazine and he was one of the earliest to leave an impression on me (Peter Travers of Rolling Stone is the other), so his absence there will surely be felt (and tallied and analyzed on their feed, since that's how these publications have to do it now). (Read his comments to some other "critics" in defense of his art, which is a dying art.) He's got a great mind and a lucid, distinct writing style, so I'm sure he'll surface again soon, and hopefully on a better-looking interface. Read his final words on the Premiere Blog.

IMAGE from: GeekRoar