David Sterritt

Agrees with the Tomatometer 73% of the time.

Biography:
David Sterritt has been Film Critic of The Christian Science Monitor, an international daily newspaper, for more than 30 years. As a syndicated writer for the Monitor News Service he has contributed articles on film, theater, and music to The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many other periodicals. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Film Comment, Cineaste, Variety, American Film, Stagebill, down beat, and other publications. His reviews were heard for many years on Monitor Radio, carried by Public Radio International, and he is a former film critic for All Things Considered on National Public Radio. Television appearances include ABC’s Nightline, the CBS Morning News, PBS’s Cinema, the Discovery Channel’s World Monitor, and programs on CNN, MSNBC, the Fox News Channel, MSG Metro, and CNBC. He is Professor of Theater and Film at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University and a member of the Film Studies Faculty at Columbia University, and he has taught at New York University and the City University of New York. His collected Monitor film criticism is housed by invitation in the Harvard Film Archive at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University. He served for five years on the Selection Committee of the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, and is Chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle, as well as a member of the National Society of Film Critics and other professional organizations. He lectures frequently at museums, universities, film festivals, libraries, cinema clubs, etc. His book "The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible" was published last year by Cambridge University Press, which published his book "The Films of Alfred Hitchcock" in 1993. He is also the author of "Mad to Be Saved: The Beats, the '50s, and Film" (Southern Illinois University Press, 1998) and the editor of "Jean-Luc Godard: Interviews" and "Robert Altman: Interviews," both from University Press of Mississippi. Other recent publications include "From Psychology to Spirit" in the anthology "Jean-Luc Godard’s Hail Mary: Women and the Sacred in Film" from Southern Illinois University Press; "Notes" in the anthology "Meredith Monk" from The Johns Hopkins University Press; essays in the Hitchcock Annual, the Austrian film magazine Blimp, the Columbia University magazine 21st C, the Long Island University journal Ventures in Research, the Canadian journal Mosaic, and (forthcoming) the American journals Wide Angle and The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, as well as program essays for the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the San Francisco International Film Festival. He is currently coediting "Terry Gilliam: Interviews"
Publications:
Christian Science Monitor , Film Scouts , Senses of Cinema
Critics' Group:
National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle
Total Reviews:
1076
Location:
New York, NY

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 1076
Previous | Next
Rating T-Meter Title | Year Add Date
68% The Crucible (1996) " The story is unchanged, but its theme relates surprisingly well to today's versions of the bias and scapegoating that Miller rightly deplores." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 17, 2013
22% Color of Night (1994) " You thought brawny Bruce Willis couldn't play a brainy psychologist? You were right." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 17, 2013
3/4 94% Pulp Fiction (1994) " John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson are terrific as talkative hit men, and Bruce Willis is equally good as a boxer who refuses to throw a fight." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 15, 2013
80% The Boxer (1997) " The screenplay of The Boxer spends too much time and energy setting up the basic situations of its plot, then does a spotty job of blending the material's personal and political aspects." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 14, 2013
70% In Country (1989) " Unfortunately, the last half-hour slides into the weepiest sort of sentimentality." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 7, 2013
94% Ghostbusters (1984) " In both the funny and the (mildly) scary moments, the cast does itself proud." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 6, 2013
97% Groundhog Day (1993) " Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell have a ball with the main roles." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 6, 2013
98% One False Move (1992) " The story is punctuated by violence that's as pointless as it is nasty, though, showing an unfortunate immaturity in the filmmakers." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 6, 2013
59% Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me (1992) " Fire Walk With Me contains not a single moment of genuinely felt emotion." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted May 3, 2013
3/4 81% Hellboy (2004) " The screenplay has flashes of real wit, and Perlman is perfect in the title role." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 14, 2013
3/4 78% Sin City (2005) " The cast is excellent and the computer-generated visuals are consistently stunning. Too bad the narration sounds like a string of clichés from creaky old detective novels." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 14, 2013
3/4 91% Men in Black (1997) " [A] hilarious comedy, directed with boisterous wit by Barry Sonnenfeld." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 14, 2013
3/4 92% Ghost World (2001) " While this isn't a showy or flashy movie, it has social, psychological, and ultimately mystical overtones that raise it leagues above most other teen-centered comedies." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 12, 2013
82% The Crow (1994) " This lurid thriller is long on nasty shocks but short on spontaneity, intelligence, and good acting." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 10, 2013
81% Batman Returns (1992) " Batman Returns is as bitter as it is biting. Ingenious though it is, it makes you squirm as often as it makes you laugh." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 10, 2013
70% Batman (1989) " Michael Keaton makes a credible hero, and Jack Nicholson is downright manic as his nemesis." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 10, 2013
92% Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience (2013) " As pure spectacle, Jurassic Park works as well as anything else Hollywood's high-tech wizards have given us lately" — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 1, 2013
65% Reality Bites (1993) " The screenplay by newcomer Helen Childress falls back on familiar formulas too often, but first-time director Ben Stiller keeps the action fast and involving even when you can't help guessing what the next story twist will be." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 27, 2013
4/4 100% Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) (1954) " The legendary Mifune leads a superb cast, and Kurosawa's kinetic camera keeps the adventure sizzling with energy and wit from start to finish." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 26, 2013
4/4 83% Performance (1970) " It put Roeg's powerful cinematic style on the cultural map for the first time." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 25, 2013
54% Basic Instinct (1992) " There's nothing new about this ploy, or about much else in Basic Instinct, but it's disheartening to see that Hollywood is still afflicted by its age-old anxiety toward strong, confident women." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 25, 2013
72% Dirty Dancing (1987) " Bits of good acting aren't enough to overcome the bogus elements at the center of the story, though, or the overcooked melodrama that grows from them." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 25, 2013
30% Flashdance (1983) " Punchy, cleverly stylized, but utterly empty." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 25, 2013
86% Eight Men Out (1988) " The story is lumpy in spots, but fine performances and expressive camera work carry the day." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 20, 2013
77% A League of Their Own (1992) " Part history, part comedy, and part soap opera, A League of Their Own casts a pretty wide net. For the most part, it's a net that's good fun to get caught in." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 19, 2013
67% Cobb (1994) " Cobb's accomplishments on the ball field would make for an absorbing documentary, but it's the passions and pitfalls of his private life that dominate Ron Shelton's melodramatic film." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 19, 2013
77% A Beautiful Mind (2001) " Russell Crowe is a sensational actor who can apparently do anything he sets his own beautiful mind to, and he brilliantly portrays Nash from college days to retirement age." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Feb 24, 2013
77% Gladiator (2000) " While Crowe's acting is certainly more subtle than most of the brouhaha around him, he has little chance to display the affecting humanity that's one of his chief assets." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Feb 24, 2013
80% Dances With Wolves (1990) " This is a western in the grand tradition, smoothly directed by Kevin Costner, who also gives a sensitive performance in the leading role. The screenplay is often trite, however." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Feb 22, 2013
97% Schindler's List (1993) " Schindler's List serves up three full hours of brilliant storytelling that's as humane and compassionate as it is gripping and provocative." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Feb 22, 2013
87% Terms of Endearment (1983) " There's not enough substance to support the sentiment of this longish comedy-drama." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Feb 22, 2013
86% Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) " Like a few other recent movies, it takes a serious look at problems faced in real people in real life -- family conflicts, personality problems, childrearing dilemmas." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Feb 6, 2013
1/4 10% Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat (2003) Christian Science Monitor
Posted Jan 22, 2013
2/4 78% The City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus) (1995) " This delirious film is overflowing with energy and effects, but it lacks the heart and soul that would have made it important as well as impressive." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Dec 7, 2012
4/4 100% Toy Story 2 (1999) " It's playtime for viewers of all ages." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Aug 6, 2012
97% The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000) " A warmly human look at the career of major-league baseball's most famous Jewish star." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 21, 2011
97% Bull Durham (1988) " The Bull Durham cast was assembled with obvious care." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Oct 13, 2008
100% Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962) " A meditation on the individual's place in the universe." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 29, 2008
4/4 95% Le Cercle Rouge (1970) " A glistening gem among caper movies." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 3, 2008
4/4 95% Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) (1964) " It offers 10 times more pleasures than the average picture." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Mar 3, 2008
65% The Outsiders (1983) " As a movie, it's mediocre. As a clue to Coppola's thinking, it shows he still has things to learn about the relation between technology and expression." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Dec 11, 2007
—— Histoire(s) du cinéma: Seul le cinéma () Film Scouts
Posted Nov 17, 2007
40% Renaldo and Clara (1978) " A metonymic sprawl characterizes Renaldo & Clara." — Senses of Cinema
Posted Nov 7, 2007
82% Gattaca (1997) " Intelligent and suspenseful." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Jun 5, 2007
3/4 98% E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) " It helped alter the course of sci-fi movies by suggesting that intergalactic aliens might not be monsters but friendly, even loving, creatures. This doesn't make it a masterpiece, but it's fun." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Jun 4, 2007
99% Metropolis (1927) " Few movies of any era offer so much varied food for thought, cinematically and politically. Its new restoration is a major motion-picture event." — Christian Science Monitor
Posted Apr 19, 2007
47% Orphans (1998) Christian Science Monitor
Posted Oct 14, 2006
72% A Walk on the Moon (1999) Christian Science Monitor
Posted Oct 14, 2006
60% Among Giants (1999) Christian Science Monitor
Posted Oct 14, 2006
Showing 1 - 50 of 1076
Previous | Next
  • Sort by Rating:

    Sort results by this critic's rating. This option is only available for critics with a rating system (4 star, letter grade, 1-10, etc.)

  • Sort by T-meter:

    Sort results by the Tomatometer (percentage of critics recommending a certain movie)

Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile