PAUL WUNDER
Agrees with the Tomatometer 62% of the time.
Biography: BORN: November 19, 1941 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
As a young child, Paul Wunder, whose parents were both teachers in the
New York City School system, was fascinated by fantasy and "play acting."
At the age of eight, he was making 8mm home movies with dramatic
plots and friends as actors. He experienced his first theatrical movie
when his parents took him to see a revival of "NANOOK OF THE NORTH"
(1922 by Robert J. Flaherty) in 1947. Wunder became "hooked" on the
cinema in 1950 when his father took him to the premiere of George Pal's
"DESTINATION MOON"
Seminal films during Wunder's formative years as a critic were:
The HORROR movies of the 1950's
THE KILLING(1956) Dir: Kubrick
VERTIGO(1958) Dir: Hitchcock
ON THE BEACH(1959)Dir: Kramer
MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE(1962) Dir: Frankenheimer
2001(1968) Dir: Kubrick
Wunder graduated from college in 1963 as an Electrical Engineer and
immediately got a union job as an associate film editor for MPO, then, the
largest producer of commercial and industrial films in the US. His uncle
was an attorney for the union - the I.A.T.S.E. In 1966, Wunder was
"forced" by his political, moral and social views to leave MPO, where he
was now an assistant film editor, and become a teacher in the N.Y.City
school teacher; a job that was exempt from the draft. In 1969, Paul
Wunder wrote his first review for the "UNITED TEACHER," a newspaper
that was distributed to all of the teachers in the school system. The film
was Robert Altman's "THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK." The review was
strongly negative. Thanks to the fact that millions of Public School
students were affected by Wunder's reviews, his importance, in the eyes
of the movie companies, rose quickly. In September, 1976, Wunder
began his still running weekly show on WBAI Radio, "SOUNDTRACK."
The show featured film music, interviews with film makers and reviews.
The first program was dedicated to film music composer Bernard
Herrmann (still his favorite), who had recently died. In its current
incarnation, SOUNDTRACK concentrates on interviews with major film
makers, and can be heard over WBAI in N.Y. on Thursday's at 10 PM.
Portions of his programming are broadcast nationally by satellite.
Wunder has taken graduate level courses in THE HISTORY OF FILM, and
various other related topics.
Paul Wunder reviews films on 99.5FM WBAI which airs on Thursdays at
10PM.
Favorites: PAUL WUNDER'S TEN BEST FILMS OF 1998 (In alphabetical
order):
BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR: "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN"
TEN BEST:
- ELIZABETH
- HILARY & JACKIE
- LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
- PLEASANTVILLE
- SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
- SHAKESPEARE
IN LOVE
- A SIMPLE PLAN
- THE THIN RED LINE
- WAKING
NED DEVINE
- YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
Publications: WBAI Radio