1. Where’s your byline?
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
2. Education:
University of Massachusetts, Florida International University
3. Film education:
Movie theaters (including the one that existed in my friend Clif's Fort Lauderdale warehouse in 1993 and featured, among other great works, screenings of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
4. Indispensable film books:
Collections of criticism by Anthony Lane
5. Favorite film magazines and/or websites:
Entertainment Weekly, Variety, Defamer, Rotten Tomatoes, CHUD (Cinematic Happenings Under Development), Sun-Sentinel blog
6. Describe a typical work week:
Stare balefully at work-related email. Stare balefully at stacks of work-related mail. Stare balefully at movies. Stare balefully at blank Microsoft Word documents. Grumble, at least once a day, and usually in response to a spectacularly subliterate and moronic email, "Oh, for the love of GOD."
7. How many movies did you review in 2006?
Roughly guessing, about 49 million.
8. What do you take with you to a screening?
Eagerly willing or grudgingly dragged companions. A notepad. A pen. (A REGULAR PEN; there is absolutely no reason anyone should ever have to use those ridiculous light-up deals, other than for the sole purpose of irritating everyone around them. Seriously, it's as bad as text-messaging.) A reasonably open mind, although frankly, it's often better for the movie if my expectations are really, really terrible. (If I also answer "vodka," will it reflect poorly on me?)
9. Movie you lambasted that then got you lambasted, & have you since backpedaled?
HA. HA. HA. Depending on the day, I am either accused of being a hateful conservative or an immoral liberal; a damned heathen or a blinded member of the Religious Right. I haven't backpedaled on anything since giving Bring It On
10. To what extent do you believe home theatres will make movie theatres obsolete?
If I had to pay to go to movie theaters, I would only watch movies at home -- provided, of course, that I didn't have to wait any longer to do so. Also, when I attend screenings that aren't press-only, there are usually people there who promptly discipline the half-wits with ringing cell phones and screaming children and those who provide running narration for their half-wit companions. In situations where no studio reps are present to at least attempt to shield the press contingent from these people, it is an ugly, ugly scene.
That said, attending movies at the Toronto film festival is absolutely my favorite way to see them. Packed theaters, everyone crazed and breathless, complete and utter rapt fascination. At this year's, the first movie I saw was Volver (which later would open the Fort Lauderdale fest), and as the lights darkened all of a sudden it hit me: "I love movies. I love movies AGAIN."
11. Advice for hitting a film fest; What are your objectives?
I've never attended one in a non-critic capacity, so I don't think I have anything to offer here. Arrive early (anyone who knows my tendency to dash into screenings at the last possible minute, or SLIGHTLY late, will laugh hysterically at this, but at Toronto I'll wait in stand-up lines for an hour before a press screening is going to begin to ensure I get a seat), with great determination.
12. Most over/under-rated film fest and why:
Lacking the budget to attend anything other than the locals and Toronto (I've never been to Sundance, Cannes, Venice, et al.), this is another question I am ill-equipped to answer.
13. What fests did you attend in 2006, and which would you like to attend in 2007?
See above.
14. How do you fuel yourself during a hectic fest schedule?
Adrenaline factors heavily. Caffeine, obviously. I can't say "vodka" again, right?
15. Your ideal film fest theme:
One in which the word "meditative" is not used in the synopsis of a single featured film.
16. What do you consider the most prestigious non-Oscar film award?
Venice's Golden Lion.
17. Movies/genres you can discuss better than anyone else:
Romantic comedies, particularly bad ones; crap teen movies; anything involving Miramax or the independent (and "independent") films of that era, the '90s. I turned 16 the month Pulp Fiction
18. If you were locked in a theatre with the work of three directors...
Oh, this is an AWESOME question, mainly because my answer could not possibly remain consistent for longer than a minute or two. Let's see:
1. Hal Hartley -- at least his movies before 1996.
2. This is cheating, because he's a screenwriter, but Charlie Kaufman (I'd like to treat Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze as one single director here).
3. Oh my God, this is impossible. I can't treat Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese as one person either, can I? And I want to say François Ozon here, too. And Gus Van Sant. And, even though it's ridiculously early in her career to say so, Sofia Coppola. Aaaargh. I'm sorry. This is as impossible for me as naming a favorite movie.
19. How often do you watch movies that you aren’t critiquing?
Not very, but I watch a lot of incredibly good TV, like "The Wire,"
20. Three favorite sick-in-bed/easy-on-the-head movies:
I can't do the favorite thing at all, AT ALL. Movies I have been known to find very nostalgically soothing, however, include The Goonies
21. Surprising turn from one of your least favorite actors/directors:
Taylor Hackford, Ray
22. Three essential movies for a proper film-snob library:
You'd really have to ask a film snob.
23. How did you become a film critic?
A combination of great luck and, I hope, at least some natural ability. I was 19 years old, in college and working full-time as a clerk at The Miami Herald (where I'd been employed since I was 15), and plucked from this relative obscurity to be one of their back-up critics. The rest is ... well, you know.
24. Career moment you’re most proud of:
I was the first female member of the Florida Film Critics Circle; now I'm one of three, AND the chairwoman. Uh, at least unless they oust me from that position at the end of the year.