Except that they both died recently.

Two very different, which is not to say inimical, critics died in the last two weeks. Each was extraordinarily talented but I doubt either had interest in the other. Manny Farber was an oddball artist with a quirky interest in genre film and a talent for phrase making; John Russell was a fluid and erudite enthusiast with a broad and seemingly endless range.

John Russell (New York Times)

Manny Farber (New York Times)