Thompson on Hollywood

Obit: New York Film Critic Judith Crist

News

Judith Crist, the tough, witty, and often caustic film critic who combined a passionate love for movies with an equally passionate distaste for movie rubbish, died Tuesday, August 7 at the age of 90. According to her son, Steven Crist, she died at her Manhattan home after a long illness. Director Billy Wilder once remarked that inviting Crist to review one of your films was “like asking the Boston Strangler for a neck massage.” And Wilder was one of her favorites. She was arguably the most powerful film critic of her era because of her two-prong status as main reviewer at both the New York Herald Tribune and NBC’s “Today” show.

By Aljean Harmetz
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August 7, 2012 9:06 PM
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Weekend Preview: 'Total Recall' a Noisy, Shallow, Costly Misfire

Reviews

For a reported budget of $200 million, you'd think that if nothing else "Total Recall" would be visually dazzling. Sadly, Len Wiseman's futuristic universe lacks believable depth and texture, and the actors are stuck with a truly uninspired script. A zero-gravity sequence is an exception to the otherwise incessant and forgettable action.

By Sophia Savage
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August 2, 2012 1:58 PM
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'Sight & Sound' Top 50: Editor Nick James Talks Changes in List and Voters

Features

Finally, the citadel has been stormed. Orson Welles’s masterpiece "Citizen Kane" is no longer “The Greatest Film of All Time,” according to the latest poll from "Sight & Sound." The magazine has conducted these polls every 10 years since 1962, and "Citizen Kane" emerged at number one five times. Finally it has been dethroned...

By David Gritten
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August 1, 2012 4:07 PM
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Watch the Trailer for Lee Daniels' Sweaty Southern Gothic, 'The Paperboy'

Video

Check out the new trailer for Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy," the Cannes reviews for which inspired our sweaty found poem. It's been called everything from "Lurid, florid, humid, flaccid and insipid" to "Southern pulp trash," with one critic declaring that the "stench will always linger on the filmographies of everyone involved"...

By Sophia Savage
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August 1, 2012 2:24 PM
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'The Dark Knight Rises' Early Reviews: 'Grand' 'Spectacular' & 'Triumphantly Cinematic'

Box Office

We can finally feast our eyes on Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20; in the meantime Warners opened the embargo doors Sunday to a flood of ecstatic early reviews:

By Sophia Savage
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July 16, 2012 1:06 PM
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Weekend Preview: 'Trishna,' 'Farewell My Queen,' 'Alps' & 'The Imposter' Join 'Ice Age' At the Box Office

Box Office

With Comic-Con occupying the fanboys, there's a great selection of limited-release indie and foreign films arriving this weekend to satiate hungry cinephiles...

By Sophia Savage
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July 12, 2012 2:17 PM
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Weekend Preview: 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' is Essential Viewing; Don't Judge 'Magic Mike' by its Package

Features

If you only see one movie this weekend, make sure it's Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which we'll all be talking about until Oscar night 2013 and beyond. This is the kind of film that makes you believe in magic; heartbreaking, one-of-a-kind and debuting force-of-nature Quvenzhané Wallis, it's a jolt to heart of independent cinema...

By Sophia Savage
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June 28, 2012 4:26 PM
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Rotten Tomatoes' Matt Atchity Takes on Critics and Movie Tastemaking

Reviews

In MediaBistro's recent "So What Do You Do?" interview with Rotten Tomatoes' editor-in-chief Matt Atchity, he weighs in on the state of film criticism, the discrepancy between critics and the public, and the "pitfall" of journalists being too "indie-focused." Come again?

By Sophia Savage
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June 28, 2012 1:08 PM
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Early Review Roundup: 'Magic Mike' Has Bare Bods, Backstage Fluffing and Right Amount of Heart

Reviews

Early reviews are coming in for Steven Soderbergh's male stripper confection "Magic Mike," last night's closing gala at LA Film Fest. The ever adventurous Soderbergh seems to be in good form...

By Beth Hanna
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June 25, 2012 12:56 PM
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Weekend Preview: Must-See 'Invisible War'; 'Brave' for Gay Marriage Rights; 'Seeking a Friend' & 'Rome' Disappoint

Features

It's Summertime and the theaters are filling up. There's a varied selection of new releases, from studio pics "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Brave" to excellent documentaries "The Invisible War" and "Kumaré"...