His mother, Joan Wallach Scott, is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the School of Social Science in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

And I think what had happened through the ‘90s was the flowering of, what’s sometimes called, the indie boom of independent American filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Todd Haynes, Lisa Cholodenko, Julie Dash, Cheryl Dunye...

I think by the end of the ‘90s, there was a sense that this formerly adventurous, often politically provocative and socially conscious filmmaking, was really maturing and was taking its place in the Hollywood mainstream."

"[5] Looking back on his career as a critic, Scott says: Movies have been part of my dream life and my worldly education since my first traumatic encounter with the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.

I’m still in awe of their power (the movies, not the monkeys) — to conjure up intense emotions, to invent new worlds and to disclose unsuspected truths about the one we inhabit.

When my kids were little — they were my regular companions at Saturday-morning preview screenings — I often objected to the pandering cynicism of “family-friendly” films like The Lorax and Despicable Me.

Similarly, I was pleased with the first couple of Spider-Man pictures, impressed by Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (which my brilliant colleague and fellow chief critic Manohla Dargis reviewed) and admiring of the way George Lucas connected the mythic dots in Revenge of the Sith.

It’s more that the behavior of these social media hordes represents an anti-democratic, anti-intellectual mind-set that is harmful to the cause of art and antithetical to the spirit of movies.

Fan culture is rooted in conformity, obedience, group identity and mob behavior, and its rise mirrors and models the spread of intolerant, authoritarian, aggressive tendencies in our politics and our communal life.

I will always love being at the movies: the tense anticipation in a darkening theater, the rapt attention and gasping surprise as the story unfolds, and the tingly silence that follows the final shot, right before the cheers — and the arguments — start.

Between 2002 and 2014, Scott made 15 appearances on Charlie Rose, where he predicted the Academy Award winners and spoke about recently released films.

He often appeared alongside David Denby of The New Yorker and Janet Maslin of The New York Times and guest-hosted the program on a number of occasions.

[1][18] He was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism "for his incisive film reviews that, with aplomb, embrace a wide spectrum of movies and often explore their connection to larger issues in society or the arts".

[19] In conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, he named his five favorite films as La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, Sullivan’s Travels, McCabe & Mrs. Miller and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.