ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

General Archives Reviews Women on Film 

GHOSTBUSTERS, GHOSTHEADS, THE INFILTRATOR, EQUALS, CAFE SOCIETY and more July 15 Openers – Reviews by Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin 0 Comments , , , , , ,
0 Flares 0 Flares ×

ghostbusters posterGhostbusters in no way satisfies the clamor for more women’s stories on screen. Ghostheads, a documentary about the phenomenally loyal fans of the Ghostbusters franchise, doesn’t delve into the controversy over Feig’s female reboot, but shows the impact the original has had on people’s lives. The Infiltrator is the truth-bases story of undercover agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston), who bagged Columbian drug lords with female partner Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger), a brilliant rookie agent. Equals, a dystopian romance, stars Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult as star-crossed lovers in an era when human emotion is completely repressed. Café Society also stars Stewart as the “love interest” in Woody Allen’s latest glam romantic romp set in the 1930s. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is an unnerving twist on the horror genre, set in an all-girls Catholic boarding school. The Student Body is Bailey Webber’s first film, documenting her protest against state-mandated body mass index (or BMI) testing of her high school peers. Don’t Blink – Robert Frank is Laura Israel’s profile of the life and work of the legendarily inventive photographer and filmmaker, creator of images for the ages. Read the reviews>>

0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 0 Flares ×

Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for Women on Film, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and (currently) Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and, currently, for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association in the Film, Documentary and TV branches and a voting member of the Black Reel Awards. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).