Conference on Movie Criticism at Northwestern

Posted on April 8, 2011 at 8:52 pm

Northwestern University is hosting a three-day conference April 21-23 called Illuminating the Shadows: Film Criticism in Focus, with top critics from around the country discussing the past, present, and future of serious writing about film. All sessions are free and open to the public. The event also features four screenings, including Errol Morris’ new documentary, “Tabloid,” about a former North Carolina beauty queen who, in 1977, kidnapped her Mormon sweetheart and a racy pre-Hayes Code 1933 film from director Raoul Walsh called “Sailor’s Luck.” Through on-stage discussions and introductions to a slate of critically acclaimed contemporary and archival films, Illuminating the Shadows will provide insight into the role film criticism, and film writing more generally, has in our contemporary, media-saturated cultural life and how critics and writers on film view the work they do.

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Critics Festivals

Be a Movie Critic for Ovation TV

Posted on June 23, 2010 at 12:08 pm

Want to be a movie critic? Here’s your chance! Ovation TV is showing some certified classics this summer and inviting viewers to submit their reviews. They will show landmark films from big-time directors like David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sofia, Peter Bogdanovich, Woody Allen, and many more. These are movies that critics adore. Are they right? Ovation wants to know what you think about these films — Pioneering? Overrated? Better than “Citizen Kane?” Worse than “Howard the Duck?” The films include “Wall Street,” “Harold and Maude,” “The Conversation,” “The Producers,” “The Virgin Suicides,” and “Sweet and Lowdown.” Love them or hate them, send in a 1-minute video of your critique, get your friends to vote for you, and you just might see it broadcast on the air.
To get your opinions seen and heard on national TV, simply log in to the Ovation community, and upload your critique video anytime from June 22-July 12. Ovation will select the best videos with the most votes to air on TV between July 25-31. So sign up and get critiquing today!

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Critics Television

What Are Movie Critics For?

Posted on January 31, 2010 at 8:00 am

Thanks to the Online Film Critics Society for including my thoughts in their round-up of commentaries about what movie critics are for. The question was “Do critics do anything nowadays except give out awards? What is the purpose of a film critic in today’s entertainment industry?” Here is what I said:

The film critic is not a part of the entertainment industry. The film critic is a part of the journalism industry. We are there to report on, assess, and illuminate the entertainment industry and its products. We are there to guide audiences away from the over-marketed and under-produced products of that industry and to encourage them to try movies they might not have heard of, even those without big stars and in other languages. We are there to challenge their thinking, provide context, and provoke discussion. And we are there to set an example with the diligence of our study and the excellence of our writing to engage them in our passionate attention to stories, characters, meaning, and even entertainment.

All of the entries are provocative, well-written, and worth reading. Take a look.

10 Things Critics Won’t Tell You

Posted on May 10, 2009 at 10:50 am

Thanks to Shawn Levy for pointing me to this piece from “Smart Money” about movie critics’ secrets. I enjoyed #5: “I could say a film’s ‘about a lovable misfit,’ but I’ll go with ‘it limns alterity.'” But I don’t think anyone will be surprised by #8. “Sure, I’m a bellwether of taste–my own.” Um, that’s what critic means. I warn my readers and radio audience all the time about the dregs of February and August. And I have no problem with top 10 lists filled with titles no one has seen — the critic’s most important job is bringing the audience’s attention to films they would otherwise have missed. I’m happy to give “Star Trek” a good review, but have no illusions it will affect ticket sales. But when someone tells me they saw — and loved — “Once” or “I Could Never Be Your Woman” because I suggested it, that makes my day.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture