More reasons to love A.O. Scott
From The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3:
“Mr. Washington, perhaps the most effortlessly charismatic American film actor since Paul Newman, is, like Newman, best when his magnetism is dented by failure or tarnished by meanness or sleaze. In this case his quiet, stoical everyman heroism is deepened by the suggestion of a smudge on his character, a sense of moral compromise that both connects him with, and distinguishes him from, the would-be criminal mastermind who becomes his nemesis.”
Item the first: there are few writers who do the 2-sentences-in-1 via commas as well as Mr. Scott.
Item the second: there’s little current writing (news, though entertainment especially) that doesn’t shortcut but takes the long way ‘round using constructions like “a sense of moral compromise that both connects him with, and distinguishes him from, the would-be criminal mastermind…”
Previously, we loved A.O. Scott for his pop-culture mash-ups.
