Review Culture in Film

Helen O'Hara You've written for numerous publications such as Empire, Daily Telegraph, Digital Spy and GQ, was a career in film journalism/criticism always your main aspiration? Yes and no. I always loved film, and started reading Empire in my teens, but I was far too sensible to aim for that originally. I actually went all the way through college and law school and qualified as a barrister before giving up in sheer boredom. As luck would have it, an internship came up at Empire a couple of months later and I managed to get it despite a total lack of qualifications or experience. It helped that I read the mag and website religiously and knew their style very well, and my basic film knowledge was good, so that saw me through. Were there any particular reviewers whose work you appreciated/admired? I didn't really pay attention to named reviewers before getting into journalism myself, but I'm a big fan of Anthony Lane and Dorothy Parker's collected work. I

There's a significant shift happening in the entertainment industry - women are no longer staying silent. Not silent about sexual abuse and harassment in the work place. Not silent about unequal opportunities. Not silent about the gender pay gap. Women have been given a voice, and with that voice, they intend to project it loud enough to shatter the glass ceiling. The ripple effect of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements had spread far and wife, revealing that it's not just famous actresses and musicians that have suffered in silence. It's every woman across every industry, including film criticism where there is a huge gender disparity. Actress and Hollywood star Jessica Chastain has vocalised her disapproval at the dismal statistics surrounding film criticism, stating in 2017 in an interview with  The Guardian : Jessica Chastain "Critics are the ones that suggest to an audience what stories are valuable and worthwhile and when you have 90% of film critic

David Ehrlich The glaring divide between audience and critics has never been more pertinent than it has in the last year or so, and my previous blog posts explore this phenomenon using the films Bright (2017) and Blade Runner 2049 as case studies.  I reached out to film critic David Ehrlich and interviewed him regarding this issue amongst other pressing components that are entailed in his profession, such as the consideration of audience and readership.  Ehrlich was previously a Staff Writer at rolling Stone, Associate Film Editor of Time Out New York, the US editor of Little White Lies Magazine, the Senior Editor of Film.com and a contributor to various outlets including Vanity Fair and The Guardian.  Ehrlich is currently the Senior Film Critic for IndieWire. This interview took place over email on 1st February, 2018. How would you describe your film taste and what are some of your favourite films? This is a hard one! Maybe the hardest   one of all. I like movies about mov