ESSENTIALS
Kevin L. Lee – – – Film Critic, Film Inquiry
FILMOTOMY RECOMMENDS
WANT TO KNOW MORE
Robin Write: What are your Go-To Sites for Film?
Kevin Lee: Rotten Tomatoes, IndieWire, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter
Classic Film you Shamefully haven’t seen?
Ikiru (1952)
A Film that Genuinely Scared you?
Ringu (1998)
A Film that still makes you Cry like a baby?
Up (2009)
A Film that still has you Pissing Your Pants Laughing?
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
An Old film you would love to see on an IMAX screen?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
What is your Favorite Film of 2019 so far?
The Art of Self-Defense
Which Screenplay do you wish you had Written?
Columbus (2017) and Locke (2014)
Who should Host the Oscars next year?
Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele
Whose Zero Oscar wins or nominations hurts the most?
Zero nominations for Blindspotting last year.
The Internet is no more – what is your Job now?
Probably still writing about film but for a physical magazine.
What is one of your greatest Childhood Movie Memories?
Crying over Satsuki trying to find her sister in My Neighbor Totoro.
Seeing the T-Rex appear in Jurassic Park.
Who were your Movie Star crushes growing up?
Emma Watson, Keira Knightley.
Pick 5 words that best describe going to the Cinema?
Exciting
Honorable
Open-minded
Accepting
Supportive
Where do you stand on Streaming Services and their place in film?
Though it creates new challenges for physical movie theaters, it’s an incredible platform to allow more content to be available to more consumers. Furthermore, it increases the opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to share their works.
What is your Honest Opinion on the entire Star Wars saga?
It was in danger of becoming a dead-end franchise (a franchise that repeats the same thing over and over like Terminator and Jurassic Park), but I honestly believe Disney is taking it in the right direction. Please give us new stories that are not about Skywalkers and Solos, though. Rian Johnson opened that possibility up. Someone needs to commit and continue that path.
We really need a Film Twitter definition – what is yours?
A community consisting of opposing cults where passionate talented people will point fingers at others and strawman arguments they don’t agree with. So basically political tribalism!
Share one of your most Controversial movie world opinions?
Finding Dory is better than Finding Nemo.
All the Pixar movies are good to great.
All the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are good to great.
Return of the King, amazing as it is, is the weakest Lord of the Rings movie.
The Phantom Menace is the best Star Wars prequel.
Change one thing about a Masterpiece, and tell us why?
I want just a few minutes of closure in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I want to see him return to his hometown. Some form of closure, could even be through newspaper headline montages like the second act used. For a masterpiece, it ended quite abruptly.
What is the Role of a Film Critic – and how important are they?
To me, a film critic needs to do more than share their opinion on a film. Just like how a director has an audience, a critic has a reader base. I believe critics have a responsibility to consider other factors outside of their own personal opinions. In my reviews, I often use the phrase “Your opinion on this film will depend on if you […].” As a result, I sometimes would recommend films even if I myself didn’t like it. Because at the end of the day, my opinion doesn’t really matter. I’m just one guy out of billions. The best a film critic can do is to speak honestly, with an interesting perspective and insight, and hope that the readers/listeners can learn something from it.
A Film Buff asks you for advice starting a Website / Podcast – what do you tell them?
Definitely figure out yourself first. What kind of person are you when you talk about films? How do you present yourself as a writer/speaker? Starting a website/podcast is a great way to figure that out.
Once you get there, I encourage you to start branching out and working with other people. Film is a community thing. It’ll be tough to do it all alone!
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