Duncan Shepherd was the Reader's sole movie critic for nearly 40 years. Shepherd was a disciple of Manny Farber, a man Roger Ebert once called "the great iconoclast of American film criticism." Like Farber, Shepherd sought to assist moviegoers "in seeing what was in front of their faces, to wean them from Plot, Story, What Happens Next, and to disabuse them of the absurd notion that a film is all of a piece, all on a level, quantifiable, rankable, fileable." Instead of simply describing a film's attributes, he took hold of it like Jacob wrestling the angel, and sought to see it face to face. He retired in 2010.

Read about Shepherd on Wikipedia.

Some of Shepherd's notable work:

Thick Skin, Dec. 4, 1975 (Shepherd's view on pornography)

Naysaying, June 10, 1976 (response to Shepherd critics)

Gorin by Himself, Oct. 18, 1979 (collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard, friend of Shepherd's)

Cease Fire, April 30, 1981 (another frontal stand against Shepherd's critics)

Upside, Downside, July 7, 1994 (the new phenomenon of films on video)

More Than Money, March 7, 1996 (review of Fargo)

One Cent's Worth, Sept. 27, 2001 (reflections on 9/11)

Bloop, Nov. 1, 2001 (review of The Man Who Wasn't There — first Coen Bros. film to disappoint him)