If you're like me and think culture and equality are things that actually matter, you're not only concerned about the fact that merely one-quarter of all film critics in the U.S. are women, you also want to help spread the work of women film critics and respond (whenever cynicism and sexism-exhaustion don't prevent you) to critical pieces by film critics that totally miss the mark and venture into sheer awfulness as they forgo criticism for preaching or waxing voyeuristic about an actress' face or body or simply ignoring obvious sexism in film. (I'm looking at you Gleiberman and Berlatsky.) Those parentheticals could learn something from fellow men David Reed and Marek Larwood who regularly call out sexism in film on their podcast Film Fandango, by the way.
Some examples of this awfulness resulted (in the summer of 2016) in actress Rose McGowan issuing a gutsy and much-needed response in The Hollywood Reporter to Owen Gleiberman's preachy critique about Renee Zellweger's face and her film Bridget Jones's Baby. Her face! What? Wait, no seriously, what? Her face? If you missed it last year, just click here to read McGowan's response. Or you might've also seen Noah Berlatsky's sadistic reveling in the mutilation of female actresses -- not just characters, but actresses -- in the guise of a critique of Blake Lively's recent film The Shallows. If you're interested, you can search for it off-site as I won't be linking to either Gleiberman's or Berlatsky's utterly heinous articles from this sacred space. So, with that said, here are a few female film/TV critics and journalists as well as groups you might like to follow who are based both in and outside of the U.S. If you're on Twitter, you can check my list of women film critics and journalists to see what they're discussing, too.
Critics
Meenakshi Shedde
Curator, programmer, and critic based in Mumbai, India. Shedde is also South Asia Consultant to the Berlin and Dubai Film Festivals.
Twitter: @MeenakshiShedde
Manohla Dargis
Film critic for the New York Times and a much-referenced name for some of us who think, talk, and write about women in film. Dargis is the critic who introduced the idea of a "DuVernay Test" similar to the Bechdel Test (which gauges women's roles in film) to measure whether or not racial and ethnic minority characters are fully developed and not there simply to support the story of white characters.
Twitter: @ManohlaDargis
Some examples of this awfulness resulted (in the summer of 2016) in actress Rose McGowan issuing a gutsy and much-needed response in The Hollywood Reporter to Owen Gleiberman's preachy critique about Renee Zellweger's face and her film Bridget Jones's Baby. Her face! What? Wait, no seriously, what? Her face? If you missed it last year, just click here to read McGowan's response. Or you might've also seen Noah Berlatsky's sadistic reveling in the mutilation of female actresses -- not just characters, but actresses -- in the guise of a critique of Blake Lively's recent film The Shallows. If you're interested, you can search for it off-site as I won't be linking to either Gleiberman's or Berlatsky's utterly heinous articles from this sacred space. So, with that said, here are a few female film/TV critics and journalists as well as groups you might like to follow who are based both in and outside of the U.S. If you're on Twitter, you can check my list of women film critics and journalists to see what they're discussing, too.
Critics
Meenakshi Shedde
Curator, programmer, and critic based in Mumbai, India. Shedde is also South Asia Consultant to the Berlin and Dubai Film Festivals.
Twitter: @MeenakshiShedde
Manohla Dargis
Film critic for the New York Times and a much-referenced name for some of us who think, talk, and write about women in film. Dargis is the critic who introduced the idea of a "DuVernay Test" similar to the Bechdel Test (which gauges women's roles in film) to measure whether or not racial and ethnic minority characters are fully developed and not there simply to support the story of white characters.
Twitter: @ManohlaDargis
CITATION: Dargis, Manohla. "Sundance Fights Tide With Films Like ‘The Birth of a Nation’." New York Times, 29 Jan 2016. Web. 24 July 2016. (Emphasis mine.) Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/movies/sundance-fights-tide-with-films-like-the-birth-of-a-nation.html?_r=0
Quatoyiah Murry
Film critic at The Cinephiliac and based in Atlanta, Georgia. Quatoyiah focuses on film across genres while injecting a socially-conscious perspective. She's also Assistant Editorial Manager at Turner Classic Movies.
Twitter: @toyiahM
FB: /thecinephiliac
Begoña Piña
Film critic based in Madrid, writes in Spanish. Begoña writes articles and conducts interviews for the Spanish newspaper Diario Público.
Twitter: @begonapina
Ann Lee
Film and music journalist for Metro UK, writing articles and doing interviews.
Twitter: @_ann_lee
Candice Frederick
Blogger and Cinema In Noir podcast co-host, Candice runs the very active Reel Talk Online blog.
Twitter: @ReelTalker
Monica Castillo
Film critic for the New York Times' "Watching" and based in New York.
Twitter: @mcastimovies
Bitch Flicks
Bitch Flicks provides some of the best criticism and reflective pieces on film from a feminist perspective around and hosts Tuesday chats on Twitter.
Twitter: @BitchFlicks
Groups to follow
FEMALE CRITICS
This group was created to give voice and exposure to more female film critics. The group hosts a Thursday #femcritcircle chat on Twitter and is generally an excellent place to discuss films, reflect on mainstream film criticism, and network with others.
Twitter: @FemaleCritics
Hashtags: #womenwatch #ladycritics
Twitter chat on Thursdays: #femcritcircle
Tumblr: Female Film Critics
AFRICAN-AMERICAN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
This group is very active on Twitter, like the above group, and shares stories about African Americans in the film industry, popular culture news, information on film history, award winners and much more. The AAFCA was established in 2003.
Twitter: @theaafca
Website: aafca.com
Film critic at The Cinephiliac and based in Atlanta, Georgia. Quatoyiah focuses on film across genres while injecting a socially-conscious perspective. She's also Assistant Editorial Manager at Turner Classic Movies.
Twitter: @toyiahM
FB: /thecinephiliac
Begoña Piña
Film critic based in Madrid, writes in Spanish. Begoña writes articles and conducts interviews for the Spanish newspaper Diario Público.
Twitter: @begonapina
Ann Lee
Film and music journalist for Metro UK, writing articles and doing interviews.
Twitter: @_ann_lee
Candice Frederick
Blogger and Cinema In Noir podcast co-host, Candice runs the very active Reel Talk Online blog.
Twitter: @ReelTalker
Monica Castillo
Film critic for the New York Times' "Watching" and based in New York.
Twitter: @mcastimovies
Bitch Flicks
Bitch Flicks provides some of the best criticism and reflective pieces on film from a feminist perspective around and hosts Tuesday chats on Twitter.
Twitter: @BitchFlicks
Groups to follow
FEMALE CRITICS
This group was created to give voice and exposure to more female film critics. The group hosts a Thursday #femcritcircle chat on Twitter and is generally an excellent place to discuss films, reflect on mainstream film criticism, and network with others.
Twitter: @FemaleCritics
Hashtags: #womenwatch #ladycritics
Twitter chat on Thursdays: #femcritcircle
Tumblr: Female Film Critics
AFRICAN-AMERICAN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
This group is very active on Twitter, like the above group, and shares stories about African Americans in the film industry, popular culture news, information on film history, award winners and much more. The AAFCA was established in 2003.
Twitter: @theaafca
Website: aafca.com
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