There are an awful lot of thankless jobs in Hollywood. The vast majority of movie watchers understand (and hopefully appreciate!) that the movie they love is made by more than the very pretty actors who appear on-screen. There are far more people involved than simply the very overworked director, and the utterly ignored screenwriter.  To me, one of the more fascinating heads of the cinematic hydra is the marketing department. In an extremely brief window of time, these folks need to explain what the general premise of the movie is, what the emotional tone of the movie is, and why you should see... Read More

A common belief is that movie critics love to trash movies. It’s thought that we critical types, after emerging from coffins buried in consecrated ground, stalk film festivals and multiplexes looking for weaker prey. We fire up our laptops to crush innocent filmmakers, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of their producers. I mean, that’s what we do, right? Not so much. See, every movie is an opportunity. The very best part of a film for me is the moment after the previews have finished and there’s a half-second or so where the screen is black. That moment is all about potential,... Read More

On the cinematic Venn diagram, there can be an awful lot of overlap between a great movie and an awesome movie. Before we go too much further, let me stake out what I mean by that. A great movie is one with impressive production design, acting, screenwriting, and direction — essentially all the ingredients have been baked in to give us a film of quality. Apollo 13 is a great movie, as is Monster and Deliverance. An awesome movie, on the other hand? That’s a movie that directly tickles our reptile brain, delivering a thrill, a joke, something purely designed to elicit an immediate response.... Read More