BUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS PROCESS OF GOING HOME AND READING WAS SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT. HULK LOOKED AT WHAT A WRITER HAD TO SAY, LISTENED AND CAME TO UNDERSTAND. AND WHEN HULK DID THAT, HULK SAW THAT THERE WAS INDEED A WAY TO SEE THE FILM IN A POSITIVE LIGHT. EVEN IF HULK DISAGREED, THERE WAS A WAY TO SEE IT AS SOMETHING SENSIBLE, OPTIMISTIC AND EVEN DOWNRIGHT POETIC.

IT IS OFTEN REASONS LIKE THESE THAT MR. BEAKS IS ONE OF HULK’S FAVORITE CRITICS. HE SO CONSTANTLY COMES AT MOVIES FROM A DIRECTION HULK NEVER THINKS OF AND HULK ADORES THAT. SO WHY IS IT WHEN WE THROW AROUND THE NAMES OF OUR FAVORITE CRITICS THE PHRASE HULK USUALLY SEES ALL THE TIME IS “I USUALLY AGREE WITH…” WHY IS THAT THE MAIN CRITERIA IN CRITICISM? LOOK, HULK UNDERSTANDS THAT AGREEMENT HAS REAL VALUE IN THE PURE “CINEMA PURCHASE GUIDANCE” SENSE. BUT CRITICISM IS ABOUT FAR MORE THAN DECIDING WHERE TO SPEND YOUR OCCASIONAL 14 BUCKS. IT’S ABOUT BROADENING HORIZONS. LEARNING. GROWING. ALL THOSE TOUCHY FEELY WORDS WE’VE GROWN TOO CYNICAL FOR, BUT REALLY THEY’RE THE THINGS THAT MAKE US FEEL HAPPY AND ALIVE. THAT’S THE KIND OF CRITICISM HULK SEEKS OUT REGULARLY.

The hacker’s eyes widened as the image filled his screen. There, without her makeup, stood Scarlett Johansson, her famous face unmistakable in the foreground, her naked backside reflected in the bathroom mirror behind her, a cell phone poised in her hand snapping the shot. Holy shit, he thought. This was a find—even for him. For years, he had stealthily broken into the e-mail accounts of the biggest players in Hollywood. He had daily access to hundreds of messages between his victims and their managers, lawyers, friends, doctors, family, agents, nutritionists, publicists, etc. By now he knew more dirt than almost anyone in L.A.—the secret romances, the hidden identities, films in all stages of development. Still, this photo, a private self-portrait of one of our biggest stars, was something new, something larger than life, especially his. “You feel like you’ve seen something that the rest of the world wanted to see,” he says. “But you’re the only one that’s seen it.