Jonathan Rosenbaum is a prominent American film critic. He is the author of many books on film, including Film: The Front Line 1983 (1983), Placing Movies: The Practice of Film Criticism (1995), Moving Places: A Life at the Movies (1980; reprint 1995), Movies as Politics (1997) and Essential Cinema (2004). His most popular work is Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See (2002). He has also written the best-known analysis of Jim Jarmusch's film Dead Man; the volume includes recorded interviews with Jarmusch. He edited This is Orson Welles (1992) by Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, a collection of interviews and other materials relating to Welles, and was consultant on the re-editing of Welles's Touch of Evil released in 1998, based on a lengthy memo to Universal Pictures written by Welles in the 1950s. Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. ... Jim Jarmusch Jim Jarmusch (born January 22, 1953 in Akron, Ohio) is a noted American independent film director. ... Dead Man is a 1995 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. ... Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (born July 30, 1939) is an American film director and writer, born in Kingston, New York. ... Touch of Evil (1958) is considered one of the last examples of film noir in the genres classic era (from the early 1940s until the late 1950s). ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ...

He is considered an important figure in American film journalism because he openly promotes the dissemination and discussion of foreign film. Indeed, his strong views on filmgoing in the U.S. hold that Hollywood and the media tend to limit the full range of the films Americans can see, at the Cineplex and elsewhere. Much like American popular music, American cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. ... Cineplex Odeon Cinemas was one of North Americas largest movie theatre operators, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States. ...

Rosenbaum is the main film critic for the Chicago Reader. He is also a regular article contributor to the DVD Beaver website, where he offers his alternative lists of genre films, including Offbeat Musicals, Overlooked Noirs and Fantasies, Eccentric Westerns, Neglected Science Fiction and Undervalued Satires. He also writes for the Global Discovery Column in the online film journal Cinema Scope, where he reviews international DVD releases of films not widely available. The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ...

Biography

Rosenbaum grew up in the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Alabama, in which state his grandfather owned a small chain of movie theaters. He later lived in Paris, working briefly as an assistant to director Jacques Tati and appearing as an extra in Robert Bresson's Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971). Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867—April 9, 1959) was one of the most prominent and influential architects of his era. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... Jacques Tati as Monsieur Hulot. ... Robert Bresson (September 25, 1901–December 18, 1999) was a French film director well known for his mastery of minimalist film-making. ...

Alternative Top 100

In response to the AFI list of 100 greatest American movies published in 1998, he published his own list [1], focusing on less well-established, more diverse films. It also includes works by important American directors (such as John Cassavetes) who were absent from the AFI list. The first of the AFI 100 Years. ... John Nicholas Cassavetes (Greek: Ιωάννης Νικολάου Κασσαβέττης) (December 9, 1929–February 3, 1989) was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. ...

In his most recent collection, Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons (2004), he appended a more general list of his 1,000 favorite films of all nationalities, slightly over half of which were American.

Bibliography

As Author

• Moving Places: A Life in the Movies (1980)
• Midnight Movies (1983) (with J. Hoberman)
• Film: The Front Line 1983 (1983)
• Greed (1993)
• Placing Movies (1995)
• Movies as Politics (1997) ISBN 0-520-20615-0
• Dead Man (2000) ISBN 0-85170-806-4
• Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Films You See (2002)
• Abbas Kiarostami (Contemporary Film Directors) (2003) (with Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa)
• Essential Cinema (2004) ISBN 0-8018-7840-3

J. Hoberman (Jim Hoberman) is the lead film critic for The Village Voice. ...

As Editor

• This is Orson Welles (1992)
• Movie Mutations: The Changing Face of Cinephilia (2003) (with Adrian Martin)

Dr. Adrian Martin is an Australian film critic from Melbourne. ...

External links

• Chicago Reader - movie reviews
• Chicago Reader: Jonathan Rosenbaum bibliography
• Jonathan Rosenbaum's 1000 Essential Films
• Interview with Rosenbaum on Orson Welles
• CineScene interview
• The House Next Door blog interview