“For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism” is the first documentary to dramatize the rich saga of American movie reviewing. Directed by The Boston Phoenix critic, Gerald Peary, “For the Love of Movies” offers an insider’s view of the critics’ profession, with commentary from America’s best-regarded reviewers, Roger Ebert (The Chicago Sun-Times), A.O. Scott (The New York Times), Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), Kenneth Turan (The Los Angeles Times)

We also hear from young, articulate, Internet voices, including Harry Knowles (ainitcoolnews.com) and Karina Longworth (spout.com). Their stories are entertaining, humorous, and personal. Those who hear them may gain new respect for the film critic profession, knowing the faces and voices, and also the history. From the raw beginnings of criticism before The Birth of a Nation to the incendiary Pauline Kael-Andrew Sarris debates of the 1960s and 70s to the battle today between youthful on-liners and the print establishment, this documentary tells all. With narration by Patricia Clarkson.

We were in excellent company, too! Jeremy Renner, star of the acclaimed Iraqi war drama The Hurt Locker, was in Cambridge to claim his Best Actor honor from the BSFC, several weeks prior to the actual Oscars. Philadelphia Cousins, niece of celebrated chef and author Julia Child, accepted the BSFC Best Actress award for Meryl Streep, for Streep’s performance as Child in Julie & Julia.

Other local honorees include: Haden Guest, David Pendleton and the Harvard Film Archive; and David Bramante of the Stuart Street Playhouse.

You can see it all on YouTube here!

After that, Gerry traveled with the film to the Starz Center in Denver and to the St. Louis Film Festival, and, on both occasions, he was part of a panel with local reviewers about the state of film criticism. He also returned to Boston raving about both of these livable cities, which he’d never visited before.  He said: check out Denver for some fabulous used bookstores, and you haven’t lived until you’ve stood under the totally incredible St. Louis Arch.

Finally, back in New England, Gerry showed the film at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA, and joined Amy on stage for a showing at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Portsmouth venue is down the way from Amy’s home town, Hampton, New Hampshire, so the audience included Amy’s appreciative Mom and Dad.

More big news for 2009: in November, For the Love of Movies opened theatrically Nov.13-17 at both the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco and the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago, Nov.17-18 at the Smith Rafael Center in Marin County… Finally, Gerry speaks with For the Love of Movies at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, on December 11.

P.S.: What a thrill! Gerry came home one day to a message on his answering machine. It was from filmmaker John Waters saying how he’d seen our film and loved it! And there was an e-mail also from filmmaker Guy Maddin that he’s seen our movie twice, once on DVD and once bringing a bunch of friends to a screening in Guy’s native Winnepeg, He ended the e-mail saying : “I really love your movie.”

Gerry and the Buddha, Hong Kong

DECEMBER

George Eastman House, Rochester, NY: 11th

Portland Museum of Art – Movies at the Museum, Portland, Maine: 13th

West Newton Cinema, West Newton, MA: 18th-24th –Gerald Peary in person on the 19th & 20th

All above screening times are subject to change. So, be sure to double check each festival website for the most up-to-date info.

Festival that we’ve attended:

Gerry croons at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville

South By Southwest

Hong Kong International Film Festival

Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara

Nashville Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
RiverRun International Film Festival

Independent Film Festival Boston

San Francisco International Film Festival

Berkshire International Film Festival

Lake Placid Film Festival

Provincetown International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Jerusalem Film Festival

Maine International Film Festival

The New England premiere of “For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism” at the Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFB) was a great occasion. An audience of 275 came to the ICA/Boston on a Monday night, April 27, and about 25 of the crowd stayed on for an after-the-show gathering at the nearby Barking Crab restaurant: conversation, beer, and fried seafood.

Before our screening, our talented guitarist-composer, Bobby Keyes, and his svelte trio (Marty Ballou on bass, Jim Gwin on drums, and Billy Novick on clarinet and sax),  performed  a jam in the lobby of the museum.  Great stuff, including some of the evocative original music that Bobby wrote for the movie.

Show time!  All those who worked on the movie were asked to stand and take a bow, and that included crew, APs, cinematographer Ed Slattery,  and our two fabulous editors, Aleksandar Lekic and Sabrina Zanella-Faresi.  Yes, the audience was highly partisan, maybe why we got such a grand, good-hearted reception. As home-town heroes!

What did this stunning, mesmerizing night feel like? Amy and Gerry eloped five years ago, so this was like the wedding we never had: well-wishers coming up from all parts of our lives—relatives, friends, co-workers, and oh-so-many local filmmakers. Wow! Thank you very very much! April 27, 2009, will not be forgotten.

DAILY BLOGS

Sun, 4/26/09

I’ve been having a fantastic time at the IFFB while Gerry has been away at the RiverRun Film Festival.  Great parties, wonderful films and very friendly filmmakers.  I especially liked the “Lost Son of Havana” about the great Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant, who attended the event with his family.  What an unbelievably genuine man! And, I’ve never heard an audience go so crazy, clapping and howling and laughing.  And, we all yelled “Luis, Luis” when he came up on stage.  It was so special.

Me on Automorphosis car

While I didn’t get to see “Automorphosis,” which I heard was also a terrific movie, I did ask someone to snap a photo of me with one of the cars that was transformed into a phone.  Tomorrow night is our big screening at the ICA.  Hope to see you all there!

Tues, 4/21/09

Some good news: Boston Globe critic Ty Burr included “For the Love of Movies” as one of his 10 films to watch at the IFFB.  Check out his review.

Chris Faraone of the Boston Phoenix calls the movie a “…feat fit for civilians and fellow arbiters alike…”

Read review.

Tickets are still available at the link above or at the box office the night of the show.

Wed, 4/15/09

We are thrilled to announce the New England premiere of “For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism” at the Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFB).  The screening will be held on Monday, April 27 at 7 PM at the ICA/Boston. Tickets ($9) are now on sale on our page at the IFFB website.  To purchase, scroll down to the “screenings” section, and click on the “buy tickets” button.

For this special occasion, our talented composer, Bobby Keyes, and his incredible trio (Marty Ballou on bass, Jim Gwin on drums and Billy Novick on clarinet and sax), will perform a pre-screening jam in the lobby of the museum.  Snacks and wine will also be available for purchase in the cafe’ area prior to showtime.

The Fest started out on March 13 with a  hearty lunch for the out-of-town filmmakers.  Many of Austin’s finest film community came out to greet us – Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Morgan Spurlock, Catherine Hardwicke, John Pierson.  And everyone was really accessibl,e and happy to hear about our movie. ( We gave a DVD to Terence Malick’s wife, and hope that the masterly filmmaker watched it at home.) March 14, Gerry moderated a panel on the state of film criticism, and some of the best moments were the quarrels between print and Internet critics on the panel.

Finally, our screenings. Amy and Gerry attended both at the downtown Alamo Ale House, and are happy to report sold-out screenings and definitely appreciative audiences for our world-premiere screenings. Were we nervous ahead of time? A friend of Gerry’s went tavern to tavern on 6th Street, site of the Alamo, trying to get a shot of whiskey to go for Gerry, the anxious filmmaker!

DAILY BLOGS

March 18, 2009

Another sold-out screening of FOR THE LOVE OF MOVIES (FTLOM) at SXSW.  We were much more relaxed and therefore were able to really enjoy the experience.  What a thrill to hear an audience roaring with laughter during different points of the movie.  This just in:

Ira Deutchman from Emerging Pictures, who was inspired by our movie, created a list of “critics that matter to me.”

iradeutchman.com

March 17, 2009

We had our big premiere last night at the Alamo in downtown Austin.  We are happy to report that our screening was sold-out – we actually had to turn people away – and we even had a few distributors there.  It was a thrill to be in the audience and hear people laughing throughout.   What a night!

To the left, we’ve posted a photo of Gerry and I with our editor Aleks Lekic.  At this point in the night, we all had pre-screening jitters, which abated once the movie started.

Here’s Gerry during our spirited Q&A in which the audience wanted to know our thoughts about the future of film criticism and what’s going to happen next.  Of course, we can’t predict the future.  But, we did our best to answer the questions anyway.  Our next screening is Wednesday at noon at the Alamo Ritz.  We hope to have some time to get away from the Festival today and enjoy the beautiful weather before we head back into the theater for more films.

March 14, 2009

Where can see both trannies and trolls roaming around the same movie theater?  Well, SXSW of course.  And the fan have been lining up around the block to watch these movies.  Documentaries no less.  These pics are from two great docs that we saw yesterday – “Sissyboy” and “The Best Worst Movie.”  Hope movie fans show up to our first screening on Monday in similar numbers.

There’s been tremendous internet buzz about “For the Love of Movies.”  Plus, over 70 people turned out for Gerry’s panel discussion about the shrinking and expanding world of criticism.  People do care about the state of criticism today!

To read a few reviews and previews:

Hollywoodelsewhere.com

Variety.com

March 13, 2009

Today, SXSW had a big lunch for the filmmakers, very welcoming place this Festival!  Many of Austin’s finest film community came out to greet us – Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Morgan Spurlock, Catherine Hardwicke, John Pierson.  And everyone was really accessible and happy to hear about our movie.  More parties and movies tonight.