1. Where’s your byline?
Vue Weekly, Key West Magazine
2. Education:
B.A. (History and English), M.A. (English), LL.B.
3. Film education:
I've taken several film classes in university, but I don't have any degrees in film appreciation.
4. Indispensable film books:
Guide for the Film Fanatic
Movie Wars
5. Favorite film magazines and/or websites:
Film Comment, GreenCine Daily, Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, The House Next Door, Hollywood Elsewhere, The Moviegoer
6. Describe a typical work week:
My main job is editing Key West Magazine, which takes up my Monday-Friday/9-to-5 hours, and often more. But I also write my weekly column "The Moviegoer" for Vue Weekly in Edmonton, so I try to watch as much interesting new and old stuff as I can, often three or four films a week, to provide me with fodder for the column, which I usually write on either Saturday or Sunday morning. Each 700-800 word column takes me about two or three hours to write.
7. How many movies did you review in 2006?
Only about 50, if you count movies I discussed in my column, which is devoted more to highly personal "think pieces" about film rather than straightforward reviews. In previous years, when I was more on the week-by-week reviewing beat, I'd probably review close to 100 films a year.
8. What do you take with you to a screening?
Nothing except a coffee. I don't like to take notes while I'm watching a movie.
9. Movie you lambasted that then got you lambasted, & have you since backpedaled?
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
10. To what extent do you believe home theatres will make movie theatres obsolete?
To a great extent. Moviegoing has become the most miserable entertainment experience there is. I can't think of another product, entertainment-related or not, that is so regularly delivered to the public in conditions as shoddy and careless as first-run movies. It's scandalous. I don't know why the public puts up with it.
11. Advice for hitting a film fest; What are your objectives?
It's a combination of getting in on the ground floor on upcoming "buzz" movies so that I can arrange interviews with directors for future issues of the newspaper; and seeing interesting-looking movies that I know *aren't* going to be showing everywhere in the next couple of months, and which I will have to catch now or else never see again.
12. Most over/under-rated film fest and why: --
13. What fests did you attend in 2006, and which would you like to attend in 2007? --
14. How do you fuel yourself during a hectic fest schedule? --
15. Your ideal film fest theme: --
16. What do you consider the most prestigious non-Oscar film award?
Palme d'Or. Still tops after all these years.
17. Movies/genres you can discuss better than anyone else:
I don't know if I'm the ultimate expert in any movie or genre. I've probably seen Robert Altman's Secret Honor
18. If you were locked in a theatre with the work of three directors...
Robert Altman, David Lynch, Akira Kurosawa
19. How often do you watch movies that you aren’t critiquing?
Constantly. At least two a week.
20. Three favorite sick-in-bed/easy-on-the-head movies:
Dick
21. Surprising turn from one of your least favorite actors/directors:
Pennies from Heaven
22. Three essential movies for a proper film-snob library:
You've gotta have The Rules of the Game
23. How did you become a film critic?
I've always wanted to be a film critic. I signed on as a movie critic at my campus paper when I began attending university, and I've always had a forum for my reviews ever since.
24. Career moment you’re most proud of:
Writing an appreciation of Marcia Jean Kurtz, a character actress who gave wonderful performances in small roles in Inside Man
