What criteria do film critics use when they develop their essays, reviews and recommendations? Why would two respected critics disagree over the same film? Many critics simply tell you what they like and don’t like, relying on nothing but their taste and culture. Through the work of French critic André Bazin, this class will introduce students to some of the major rubrics of film criticism—ontology, epistemology, ideology, aesthetics and realism—and will provide a foundation for gleaning the specific reasons behind various critical approaches.