1. Where’s your byline?
New York Press & The Reeler
2. Education:
B.A. in cinema studies and journalism, NYU
3. Film education:
Seattle Film Institute, NYU's Dept. of Cinema Studies
4. Indispensable film books:
Film Art
5. Favorite film magazines and/or websites:
Film Comment, Filmmaker, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Movie City News, Hollywood Elsewhere, Deadline Hollywood Daily
6. Describe a typical work week:
Screenings. Interviews. File reviews/features.
7. How many movies did you review in 2006?
Roughly 50.
8. What do you take with you to a screening?
Notepad and pen.
9. Movie you lambasted that then got you lambasted, & have you since backpedaled?
Secret Sunshine, the surprise hit this year at Cannes. Also, it sort of stung when I ripped apart Disturbia and it stayed number one for three weeks.
10. To what extent do you believe home theatres will make movie theatres obsolete?
Theaters will always have some sort of appeal, even if they become a luxury for a while. They will always hold some sort of additional experiential quality that home viewing doesn't have (take the drunken insanity of Austin's drafthouses as a good example). You can see from the way that 3-D cinema is making a comeback now, after first appearing 50 years ago, that these things come in waves.
11. Advice for hitting a film fest; What are your objectives?
See everything! Some stuff really needs to get noticed in order to have a continuing lifespan beyond the festival circuit. You can really make a difference if you get behind a particular movie that's worth watching and encourage others to do the same.
12. Most over/under-rated film fest and why:
The Seattle International Film Festival gets treated as second tier since it arrives in the midst of Cannes and Tribeca, but it's longer and (in some ways) meatier than both, and the film scene is stripped of the industry's infamous pretentiousness.
13. What fests did you attend in 2006, and which would you like to attend in 2007?
Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes. I'm looking forward to the L.A. Film Fest, Telluride and Toronto.
14. How do you fuel yourself during a hectic fest schedule?
Clif Bars and coffee
15. Your ideal film fest theme:
Horror with a purpose
16. What do you consider the most prestigious non-Oscar film award?
Palme D'Or at Cannes
17. Movies/genres you can discuss better than anyone else:
Blockbusters, early romantic comedies, French New Wave
18. If you were locked in a theatre with the work of three directors...
Werner Herzog, Steven Spielberg, Orson Welles
19. How often do you watch movies that you aren’t critiquing?
Several times a week.
20. Three favorite sick-in-bed/easy-on-the-head movies:
Smiley Face (not released yet), The Cable Guy
21. Surprising turn from one of your least favorite actors/directors:
Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love
22. Three essential movies for a proper film-snob library:
Battleship Potemkin
23. How did you become a film critic?
Writing about movies in high school lead to the discovery of film theory, which lead to further academic pursuits related to the subject.
24. Career moment you’re most proud of:
Plugging several films from Sundance that didn't get immediate distribution and watching as nearly every single one of them did.