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Show #5-14 – February 19, 2006
The Word This Week Presents: Critical Mass - The Culture of Film Critics
 Who are the film critics? What role do they play in defining film culture? What role have they played in shaping the way we look at the cinema. And why does film have such a strong body of writing about it?
In this special, The Word This Week interviews a range of critics. Some, like Now Magazine's Cameron Bailey, are film reviewers who write for weekly magazines and try to assess local films for local audiences. Others, like Film Comments Nicole Armour, write for magazines that mostly look at contemporary films, but also feature lengthier articles about film culture.  We even feature high-level academics like Robin Wood, author of the landmark book Hitchcock's Films or Andrew Sarris, one of the pioneers of the 'auteur' theory. These writers are akin to cultural theorists, discussing everything from contemporary cinema to film from fifty to a hundred years ago.
We also look at the different kind of film critics, the history of film criticism, the 'auteur' theory, the origins of a film critic, politics and cinema, the legacy of Pauline Kael, and what makes a classic film a classic?
Guest interviews featured include:
- Andrew Sarris - author of the 'auteur' theory, legendary New York Critic (The Village Voice, New York Post, Film Culture)
- Robin Wood - considered one of the world's experts on the films of Alfred Hitchcock and co-founder of the radical film magazine, CineAction
- Nicole Armour - contributing editor of the cultural mag, Film Comment (published by the New York Film Society)
- David Ehrenstein - Los Angeles based critic, and author of the book Open Secret: Gay Hollywood
- Richard Shickel - film critic for Time Magazine for the last thirty years
- Stephen Farber - Los Angeles critic who writes for MovieLine
- Jonathan Rosenbaum - author and critic for the Chicago Reader and one of the most respected film critics in America today
- Cameron Bailey - critic for Now Magazine
Recommended Film Books and Magazines
- The American Cinema - Andrew Sarris
- Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan - Robin Wood
- Hitchcock's Films Revisited - Robin Wood
- Essential Cinema - Jonathan Rosenbaum
- Open Secret: Gay Hollywood - David Ehrenstein
- Woody Allen: A Life in Movies - Richard Schickel
- Cary Grant: A Celebration - Richard Schickel
- Chick Flicks - B. Ruby Rich
- Film Art - David Bordwell
- Movie Purgatory - Rick Trembles
- Film Comment Magazine
- CineAction Magazine
- Sight and Sound Magazine
- RES magazine
- Projections Journal - edited by John Boorman
- The Cahiers Du Cinema Vol. 1 & 2 edited by Jim Hiller
Great film websites/links:
Download Word Transcripts for Show #5-14
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