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Mick LaSalle | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 7, 1959 United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Film critic, writer, author |
| Spouse | Amy Freed |
Mick LaSalle (born May 7, 1959) is an American film critic and the author of two books on pre-Code Hollywood. Up to March 2008, he had written more than 1550 reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle [1] and he has been podcasting them since September 2005. [2]
LaSalle is the author of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood, a history/critical study of the actresses who worked in the film industry between 1929 and 1934. It was published by Thomas Dunne Books in 2000. In his review in The New York Times , Andy Webster called it "an overdue examination of a historic conflict between Hollywood and would-be monitors of morality" and added LaSalle "has an avuncular but informative style, and makes his points with a relaxed economy." [3] Nationally syndicated columnist Liz Smith called it "a brilliant work."
The book served as the basis for the documentary film Complicated Women, directed by Hugh Munro Neely and narrated by Jane Fonda, which originally was broadcast by Turner Classic Movies in May 2003. LaSalle provided commentary for and was associate producer of the project. [4]
LaSalle's follow-up to Complicated Women was Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man, published by Thomas Dunne in 2002. LaSalle has lectured on film subjects at various film festivals, including those in the Hamptons, Denver, Las Vegas, and Mill Valley and at New York City's Film Forum and San Francisco's Castro Theatre. His third book, "The Beauty of the Real: What Hollywood Can Learn From Contemporary French Actresses," was published in 2012. His fourth book, "Dream State: California in the Movies" (Heyday Books) was published in 2021.
In the late 1990s, LaSalle was the on-air film critic for KGO-TV. He was a panelist at the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019 Venice Film Festivals. He was also a panelist at the 2009 Berlin film festival. In addition to his reviews, he answers film-related questions in the Chronicle column Ask Mick LaSalle. As the primary film critic for the Chronicle, LaSalle's reviews appear in all the Chronicle's sister newspapers of the Hearst chain, including the Connecticut Post , the Albany Times-Union , the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle .
LaSalle is married to playwright Amy Freed. [5] He owns a grey cat named Stinky, named after the French actress Sandrine Bonnaire.
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. A prolific performer whose screen career spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as one of the era's most popular sex symbols. The recipient of various accolades, she has received a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2007, she was awarded a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Pompatus of Love is a 1996 American comedy film that tells the story of four guys discussing women and the meaning of the word "pompatus". This made-up word is found in two Steve Miller songs, "Enter Maurice" and "The Joker", the latter of which contains the line "Some people call me Maurice / 'cause I speak of the pompatus of love". Wolfman Jack can also be heard using the term in his spoken lines in The Guess Who's "Clap for the Wolfman."
George Washington is a 2000 American indpendent drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green. Its story centers on a group of children in a depressed small town in North Carolina who band together to cover up a tragic mistake.
Lovely and Amazing is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener.
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The Secret Lives of Dentists is a 2002 drama film directed by Alan Rudolph. The screenplay was written by Craig Lucas, based on the novella The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley. It had its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and was subsequently screened at several other festivals, including Sundance and Cannes. It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 1, 2003.
Secret Things is a 2002 French erotic drama film written and directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau, starring Coralie Revel and Sabrina Seyvecou. The film is sometimes associated with the New French Extremity. Cahiers du Cinéma named Secret Things, jointly along with Ten by director Abbas Kiarostami, as the best film of 2002. The film was awarded the French Cineaste of the Year title at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Brisseau was found guilty of sexually harassing two actresses between 1999 and 2001 during auditions for the film.
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Crazy Love is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Dan Klores and Fisher Stevens. The screenplay by Klores explores the troubled relationship between New York City attorney Burt Pugach and his ten-years-younger girlfriend Linda Riss, who was blinded and permanently scarred when career criminals hired by Pugach threw lye in her face.
The Savages is a 2007 American black comedy-drama film written and directed by Tamara Jenkins. It stars Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Philip Bosco.
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I've Loved You So Long is a 2008 French-Canadian drama film written and directed by Philippe Claudel. It tells the story of a woman struggling to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.
Steven Rea is an American journalist, film critic, web producer, and writer. He was a film critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1992 through late 2016.
Happythankyoumoreplease is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by Josh Radnor in his directorial debut. The film features Radnor, Malin Åkerman, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Michael Algieri, Pablo Schreiber, and Tony Hale, in the story of a group of young New Yorkers, struggling to balance love, friendship, and their encroaching adulthoods.
Praise is a 1998 Australian drama film directed by John Curran and adapted by Andrew McGahan from his novel of the same name. The film stars Peter Fenton and Sacha Horler and is about two outcasts who fall into an unlikely relationship.
Still Alice is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and based on the 2007 novel by Lisa Genova. It stars Julianne Moore as Alice Howland, a linguistics professor diagnosed with familial Alzheimer's disease shortly after her 50th birthday. Alec Baldwin plays her husband, John, and Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, and Hunter Parrish play her children.
Nina Takes a Lover is a 1994 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Alan Jacobs. The film stars Laura San Giacomo, Paul Rhys, Michael O'Keefe, Cristi Conaway and Fisher Stevens. The film was released on March 3, 1995, by Triumph Films.
The Artist's Wife is a 2019 American drama film directed by Tom Dolby. The film, shot in New York City and East Hampton, stars Lena Olin, Bruce Dern, Juliet Rylance, Avan Jogia, Catherine Curtin, Tonya Pinkins and Stefanie Powers. The film premiered at the 2019 Hamptons International Film Festival. It was scheduled to release in the United States on April 3, 2020, at the Angelika Film Center and Landmark Theaters in New York City, with additional engagements to follow, but was postponed to a streaming and virtual cinema release on September 25, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released in the U.K. on April 30, 2021, and is scheduled to be released in Australia and New Zealand on May 20, 2021.
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The Lost Daughter is a 2021 psychological drama film adapted for the screen and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante. The film stars Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, with Peter Sarsgaard, and Ed Harris. Colman also serves as an executive producer.
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