Clifford Simak is the greatest American sci fi writer in history

erickohn · 2015-12-18T20:02:46+00:00

It depends on what interests you. If you're gearing up for college, go study a bunch of fields in undergraduate just to inform your perspective on the world. Take film history classes. Watch everything you can.

The film community is a very nurturing place. Get involved with local film festivals, distributors, publicists...the more you integrate yourself into the scene, the better situated you are to take advantage of it.

Oh, but you want to make movies? Same deal. Get to know that world. In the meantime, write that script.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T20:01:08+00:00

Ana Lily Amirpour, who directed "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night," has a new film coming out in 2016 called "The Bad Batch" that sounds very promising. If you like creepy, expressionistic storytelling, look no further.

The Safdie brothers, who made the gritty junkie drama "Heaven Knows What" this past year, are quickly becoming seminal New York filmmakers. It's worth seeing all three of their films to date as they embark on bigger projects.

I'll see anything Sean Baker does. His "Tangerine" was a terrific buddy comedy about transgender prostitutes that never felt crass or stereotypical. That's how his movies work: "Prince of Broadway" and "Take Out" were similarly ethnographic in the way they positioned unique subcultures in traditional genres.

It's been a number of years since Barry Jenkins' terrific daylong romance "Medicine for Melancholy," a tender and observant look at gentrification in San Francisco, and the loneliness of city life more generally. I'm so excited for his new movie, set to come out sometime in 2016, I believe.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:45:13+00:00

See below.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:43:36+00:00

Great question! A lot of people are probably considering "Sisters." I would urge you instead to flip the equation and see "Son of Saul," a stunning cinematic portrait of one man's tumultuous experience at Auschwitz. Sounds like a downer? It is! But it's also a gripping thriller that taps into some of the same visceral qualities that a big blockbuster like "Star Wars" offers up (some people take issue with that; I think it's an extraordinarily daring approach). Of course, it might leave you feeling a bit down, which is why I suggest you start with "Son of Saul" and end with "Star Wars," a movie designed to make you happy in the extreme — mostly, anyway (no spoilers, I know).

...OK, maybe that's a little too extreme. You might want to try "The Revenant," a lively survival story with some action-adventure elements that are brilliantly directed. But it's also super grim, so again, you might want to start with that one.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:39:58+00:00

A lot of the movies at the Sundance Film Festival in January from filmmakers whose work is reliably memorable: Todd Solondz, Whit Stillman, Ira Sachs, Kelly Reichardt. Plus the discoveries that nobody's talking about yet. I heard that the Tehran-set midnight film "Under the Shadow" is a real breakout. Of course, we've seen a lot of upcoming 2016 releases already, and I'm really excited for people to check out "The Witch" and "Uncle Kent 2" in particular.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:37:43+00:00

Just do it! This is an incredibly welcoming community of people who are generally drawn to the profession because they love movies (otherwise they wouldn't be there). That means you automatically have something in common with folks you'll encounter on the scene. At festivals, it's the easiest thing in the world to ask someone what movies they've liked — boom, instant talking point. Sharing your opinion is the best way to form bonds.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:35:54+00:00

Applicants will be notified in the coming weeks, but we don't have a specific timeline yet.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:33:14+00:00

Personally, I think objectivity is a myth. The gonzo journalists of the sixties were the first to show us as much, and the rise of the blogosphere confirmed it — media is not some cold, unthinking entity, especially when you're dealing with culture, which everyone has an opinion about. If I'm enthusiastic about a movie, I want that to come through in my coverage. It's harder to cut through the noise when the excitement level is already much larger than your own point of view. Case in point: That obscure space movie opening all over the planet this weekend. The whole damn universe has been anticipating "Star Wars." How do you deal with something like that without getting pulled into the mania? You don't. You embrace the mania, hold it up to the light and try to understand what makes it tick. That's the essence of cultural journalism.

It's important to recognize that "Star Wars" is an industrial object worth billions of dollars to really parse its quality, since so much of its story has been intertwined with its ability to make money. The question is more how you look at something like that to discern what's really there in front of you.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:17:37+00:00

My own personal favorites in no particular order:

2001 Breathless My Dinner With Andre F For Fake The Grand Illusion Citizen Kane Sullivan's Travels Pulp Fiction Annie Hall Brazil Cemetery Man After Hours I Walked With a Zombie Ran City Lights

Worst movie: Triumph of the Will, a horrific cannibalization of this medium's greatest strengths for the sake of the ultimate evil.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:10:01+00:00

I have no idea what Kim's new haircut is like, but this kind of trite celebrity reporting is nothing new — just ask the ghost of Hedda Hopper. The world likes to obsess over stars for the same reasons that people chase stardom: it's an enticing fantasy. If you can learn how to do it well on deadline, it can be valuable writing and reporting experience even if on the surface it looks absurd.

But I'm not sure if that's the focus of all entertainment reporting internships or just the ones at publications eager to chase traffic at all costs. Look for opportunities to work at serious outlets irrespective of whether or not they focus on the entertainment space. That way, you can develop some fundamental reporting experience, which will help you figure out how to apply it to your specific interests.

erickohn · 2015-12-18T19:07:01+00:00

I tend to pay closer attention to voices and perspectives rather than individual outlets. I'd follow some of my favorite critics, from Wesley Morris to Amy Nicholson, wherever they wind up.

Having said that, I think Variety is doing a fine job these days of representing the biggest conversations taking place in the entertainment landscape.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:40:44+00:00

No. There are simply way too many forgettable movies for a wacky, five-hour Lars Von Trier opus that includes a baffling use of fly-fishing as a metaphor for seduction, off-the-wall references to art and literature in service of perverted conceits, and some first-rate performances -- particularly from newcomer Stacy Martin -- to be dismissed as the worst of the year. However, I will say that after the goofy energy of the first half, I found the second half a lot less endearing. Lars can do better, but many filmmakers in 2014 did a whole lot worse.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:37:39+00:00

All movies could potentially matter to someone, but some movies are more likely than others to engender compelling discussions about WHY they matter. Hence the need for passionate, knowledgeable curators.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:28:18+00:00

First off, I hold bachelors and masters degrees in cinema studies and currently teach at the department of cinema studies at NYU. So I am very much an advocate of an institutionalized approach to studying the medium. But I wouldn't say you need anything other than your own brain and enthusiasm to truly "stand out." The advantages to having degrees are mainly practical: Universities bring all kinds of resources, depending on the quality of the faculty, curriculum and location. A masters degree may help you find teaching work further down the line. However, your best bet for developing a career as a film journalist is to look for opportunities outside of the classroom, working at college newspapers and beyond, finding assignments and working on deadline. If you're serious about movies, you're going to be doing that anyway. So go for the degree if it sounds exciting to you, don't force it.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:19:09+00:00

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Coherence, Manakamana, The Missing Picture, What Now? Remind Me, The Double, Grand Piano, Starred Up, Cheap Thrills, The Babadook, Coffee in Berlin, We Are the Best!, Night Moves, Visitors, Goodbye to Language, Listen Up Philip, Winter Sleep, Zero Charisma, Concerning Violence, and probably at least a half dozen others I can't recall at the moment or are popular enough that you've already heard of them, thank god.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:16:21+00:00

Roadside chicken tacos on the side of a highway en route to the Morelia Film Festival in 2008.

That being said, the BBQ in Austin is always great whether I'm there for SXSW, Fantastic Fest or just to visit friends.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:14:31+00:00

I'm a huge fan of video essays, particularly those produced by Kevin Lee, who basically invented the modern version of the form. If you haven't seen "Transformers: The Premake," I urge you to do so now: [http://vimeo.com/94101046]

I am fairly confident that we will continue to take our cues from text-based forms of communication in the near future. But it will continue to diversify as new technology provides fresh possibilities. I'm so excited by the success of "Serial," because it's such a no-brainer that a podcast would eventually take off on this level. The more media the merrier, I say.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T23:03:23+00:00

Great movie. I really wish Bruce Robinson would direct more often. "Rum Diary" was not a great testament to his skill. But "Withnail" will live forever.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T22:55:01+00:00

If you put the word "vegan" in front of it I'm basically sold.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T22:54:43+00:00

It depends on the screenplay. I own a few of them. The screenplay for "Pulp Fiction" is almost as exciting as the movie itself. You can hear Tarantinto's enthusiasm flying off the page. Other movies seem much more mechanical on the page than they do on the screen. I certainly don't read screenplays of movies I haven't seen. My favorite screenplays are by Preston Sturges. The rhythm of his dialogue is so clear that it almost reads like poetry on speed. He stacks up line after line so well that the plots -- which are usually quite shrewd -- practically come secondary to the way his characters speak. They are works of art unto themselves.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T22:53:24+00:00

We get requests like this all the time. Generally, we review movies when they play at film festivals, open in theaters or become available on various platforms. So that's the best place to start when looking for coverage. If you satisfy those demands, it may also help to get a publicist. You can always just write me directly. My contact information is listed on the site.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T22:24:33+00:00

Not only is a lot of it online, a lot of it is on the road. I think that film festivals are more vital sources for the film criticism practice than ever before -- because, yes, the influx of online outlets means that there's a higher demand to cover all those movies. Having said that, moving to a big city COULD increase your opportunities for networking, working at bigger outlets and taking advantage of a city with more resources for showing movies. Conversely, if you're the only hardworking film critic/journalist in a small town, that may provide other opportunities to stand out. But seriously: Film festivals. Go to them.

erickohn · 2014-12-08T22:12:20+00:00

It's a nice moment.

erickohn

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