The guiding principle of my cinema writing is simply to share what I like. My writing doesn’t often address mainstream films because I don’t often watch mainstream films, but I am not taking a stand against Hollywood, I’m just looking for something novel. I don’t care if its a low budget exploitation film or the latest epic from Bela Tarr, when I sit down to watch a film I’m just hoping to see something stimulating which often means something a little odd or off the beaten path. There is nothing wrong with a movie that uses familiar tropes to play out a genre formula. Such movies can be fulfilling, I’m just more interested in what is strange or unpredictable.

I have no cinema education. I rely on what I learned about criticism when I was analyzing paintings and sculpture in art school. My writing is intended for cinephiles more than academics. I refer to lots of different films and use some specialized vocabulary but nothing a fan of film wouldn’t be familiar with.

My undergraduate degree is in psychology with a minor in philosophy. My graduate degrees are a masters in photography (all outdated analogue stuff) and an MFA in painting (all out dated oil stuff). I grew up in New York City with punk from CBGB’s and porn from Times Square on one end and art from The Metropolitan Museum and opera from Lincoln Center on the other.
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Now I am a professor and teach general survey courses in Art and Film.