1. Where’s your byline?
Seacoast Media Group, Portsmouth, NH
2. Education:
B.A. Communications, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
3. Film education:
Cinema studies minor, NU, watching films!
4. Indispensable film books:
The Story of Film
5. Favorite film magazines and/or websites:
Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, www.imdb.com, www.rottentomatoes.com
6. Describe a typical work week:
As features editor, my full-time job is assigning features stories, I only get to write about film once a week or for special sections
7. How many movies did you review in 2006?
50 or so
8. What do you take with you to a screening?
An open mind
9. Movie you lambasted that then got you lambasted, & have you since backpedaled?
I knocked Lost in Translation
10. To what extent do you believe home theatres will make movie theatres obsolete?
Worst case scenario is the shutting down of classic independent theaters, but hopefully it will only mean the closing of multiplexes as going to the movies becomes an event instead of a pasttime. Some of the best stories are on TV right now, so the forcing of Hollywood to make fewer films and compete for viewers is a great thing.
11. Advice for hitting a film fest; What are your objectives?
Find the films other reviewers won't already be reviewing en masse. Spot new talent, give them a leg up.
12. Most over/under-rated film fest and why:
Sundance seems to be on its way out, it's coasting on reputation now
13. What fests did you attend in 2006, and which would you like to attend in 2007?
I've never been to Cannes and would love to.
14. How do you fuel yourself during a hectic fest schedule? --
15. Your ideal film fest theme:
An all documentary fest; an all writer/director fest; an editor's choice fest
16. What do you consider the most prestigious non-Oscar film award?
Screen Actors Guild Ensemble Award
17. Movies/genres you can discuss better than anyone else:
Dead Poets Society
18. If you were locked in a theatre with the work of three directors...
Peter Weir, Terry Gilliam, Vittorio De Sica
19. How often do you watch movies that you aren’t critiquing?
At home, all the time
20. Three favorite sick-in-bed/easy-on-the-head movies:
Oscar and Lucinda
21. Surprising turn from one of your least favorite actors/directors:
Mandy Moore, Saved
22. Three essential movies for a proper film-snob library:
The Bicycle Thief
23. How did you become a film critic?
Asked the college paper if I could; asked the first newspaper I worked at if I could
24. Career moment you’re most proud of:
Getting kudos from Neil LaBute after bashing two of his movies