Who are you?
Brad Weismann.
What are your writing credentials?
I have been writing for money since 1981, for a variety of magazines, newspapers and Web sites in America, England and Australia. I specialize in arts and entertainment coverage, and I’ve covered everything from grand opera to midget wrestling.
What are your movie credentials?
I was raised by film-mad parents who let me watch the gamut from Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast to Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I’ve consumed films voraciously for more than 40 years, from the Age of Drive-Ins to the DVD Era. I am looking forward to having films piped directly into my cerebral cortex soon.
Why should anyone listen to your opinion?
Because I know what I’m talking about, and I like to give the reader a good time. I don’t fart around. My only purpose in writing is to share information, ideas and enthusiasm, plain and simple.
Movie pet peeves?
Movies are like relationships — don’t waste my time if you don’t respect me. I hate cheap redemption, boring-ass dramas made specifically to win Oscars, too much CGI, gross-out horror, and the gratuitous placement of children in jeopardy.
And self-righteous, one-sided documentaries.
And I hate john hughes movies.
Do you have any non-movie habits?
When I’m not busy raising a family, I love baseball, opera, classical music, jazz, hiking, biking, bluegrass, reading, and gardening.
Give us some movie recommendations.
Any way into loving film is great, but you need a solid grounding in the classics. I was raised an auteurist, and my gods are Renoir, Kurosawa, Powell, Ford, Cocteau, Wilder, Fellini, Ichikawa, Huston, Lean, Truffaut, Lang and the like along with modern greats such as Campion, Alomodovar, Ridley Scott, Demme, Richard Lester, and yes, Tarentino. I am a sucker for American studio fare from the Golden Age (1929-1949), and the boldness of the American New Wave (1967-1981).
What are some of your guilty pleasures?
I love samurai movies (especially Zatoichi), blaxploitation, really bad epics, Westerns (especially Anthony Mann), silent film, any film noir, war films and anything with Vincent Price in it.