When people stumble upon my
not-so-secret identity as a movie critic, they often start chucking questions
at me. Most believe that getting paid to give your unsolicited and subjective
opinion sounds like a dream, and I do spend a great deal of time pinching
myself. But when the clock strikes midnight and I’m trying to get enthusiastic
about a film I had zero interest in seeing, it can seem a little nightmarish.
What follows are the questions I am
asked most frequently, and the last two were posed to me less than an hour
before I wrote this. Since it will be part of our Fall Guide, I’d say it was
rather serendipitous.
How did you get a job reviewing films?
Allow me to share some advice: Don’t
make a brash statement like “This town could use a female movie critic” unless
you’re ready for someone to call your bluff.
But it’s true: There aren’t that many
women reviewing movies in print, which is odd since statistics show that it’s
the fairer sex who traditionally decides where the moviegoing dollars will be
squandered.
Why does it seem as though you like all the
movies?
Actually, I don’t review all the
movies. Believe me, I see some dumb flicks, and it’s way easier — and far
more fun — to write a bad review than a favorable review. Each week I have to
decide whether I want to turn readers on to a gem or warn them away from a
stinker, and I usually opt to share the love.
What’s your all-time favorite film?
I am completely head-over-heels for
Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves,
a brutal exploration of passion and faith with an ending that everyone but me
thinks is silly.
Are there any good movies coming out?
I don’t know yet if they’re good, but
these are the ones I want to see:
In
Her Shoes: A chick flick by Curtis Hanson (8 Mile, L.A. Confidential)
starring the tolerable Cameron Diaz and the amazing Toni Collette as very
different sisters sounds just crazy enough to work. (10/7)
Elizabethtown:
Cameron Crowe’s (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) latest is a dramatic
comedy starring Orlando Bloom as a guy who deals with professional and personal
loss by revisiting his small-town past. (10/14)
Breakfast
on Pluto: Neil Jordan (The Crying
Game, Michael Collins) returns
with this tale of an Irish lad (Cillian Murphy) who was fathered by a priest
(Liam Neeson) and goes on to make a cross-dressing life for himself in London.
(11/18)
Walk
the Line: Joaquin Phoenix portrays Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon plays
June Carter in this eagerly awaited biopic about the life and times of the Man
in Black. (11/18)
What happened to Terrence Malick’s Jamestown
epic “The New World”?
It got moved to January, but I
haven’t heard why. I’m far too upset to discuss it.
Mark the calendar
The following are a selection of fall
movie release dates. These are subject to change at the whim of production
companies, and movies with a limited release (ltd) may take a while to reach
Rochester. Patience is a virtue.
September 23
Dirty Love (ltd)
Dorian Blues (ltd)
Flightplan
Into The Fire (ltd)
Paradise Now (ltd)
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
Roll Bounce (ltd)
Three Dancing Slaves (ltd)
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
September 26
Carlito’s Way: Rise To Power (ltd)
September 30
Art School Confidential (ltd)
The Baxter
Capote (ltd)
The Greatest Game Ever Played (ltd)
A History of Violence (ltd)
Into the Blue
MirrorMask (ltd)
Oliver Twist (ltd)
Proof
Serenity
The Thing About My Folks
The War Within (ltd)
October 7
Before the Fall (ltd)
In Her Shoes
Kinky Boots (ltd)
Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave (ltd)
Two for the Money
Waiting
The Wallace & Gromit Movie: Curse of the Were Rabbit
ImageOut Film Festival
opens, continues through October 16. www.imageout.org
October 14
Domino
Elizabethtown
The Fog
Nine Lives
North Country
Summer Storm Don’t Come Knocking (ltd)
October 21
Derailed
Doom
Dreamer
Goose! Kids in America (ltd)
Separate Lies
Shopgirl
Stay
October 24
Bob the Butler (ltd)
October 26
Ballets Russes (ltd)
October 28
The Legend of Zorro
New York Doll (ltd)
The Passenger (ltd)
Prime
Saw II
The Weatherman
Three… Extremes (ltd)
November 4
Chicken Little
The Family Stone
Good Night, And Good Luck
Jarhead
Legend of Zorro
The Matador
National Lampoon’s Pledge This!
Protocols of Zion
Where the Truth Lies
The White Countess (ltd)
November 9
Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Grilled
High Falls Film
Festival opens, continues through November 13. www.highfallsfilmfestival.com
November 11
Jesus Is Magic (ltd)
Rent
Zathura
November 13
Polish Film Festival
opens at the Little Theatre, continues through November 18.
November 18
Breakfast On Pluto (ltd)
Foodfight
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Walk the Line
Pride and Prejudice
November 23
Dying for Dolly
The Ice Harvest
Paradise Now
Syriana (ltd)
Yours, Mine And Ours
December 2
Aeon Flux
December 9
Brokeback Mountain (ltd)
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Memoirs of a Geisha
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2005.
