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Peter Brunette

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Besides being a weekly film critic and contributing editor at Film.com, Peter Brunette was Professor of English and Film Studies at George Mason University. He wrote or edited six books on film, including Roberto Rossellini, the definitive study in English of this director's films (Oxford University Press, 1987; republished University of California Press, 1996); Screen/Play: Derrida and Film Theory (Princeton University Press, 1990; co-authored with David Wills); a co-edited book (with David Wills) on visual theory published by Cambridge University Press in 1994, entitled Deconstruction and the Visual Arts: Art, Media, Architecture; and a book on Francois Truffaut's film "Shoot the Piano Player" (Rutgers, 1993). Cambridge University Press published his book The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni in 1998 and, in 1999, his edited book, Martin Scorsese: Interviews, was published by the University of Mississippi Press. He was also general editor of the Mississippi interview series; some seven books have already been published in this series, and twenty more are contracted for. He was also general editor of a film book series at Indiana University Press; two titles have been published in the last two years. At the time of his death in June of 2010, he was working on books on Luchino Visconti and Wong Kar-Wai. During the past several years, he served on panels at the Palm Springs Film Festival in California, the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, and at the Rotterdam Film Festival in Holland. He was director of the Film and Media Studies program at George Mason University and was also active in the GMU Cultural Studies program. He was one of the first two internet critics to be elected to membership in the National Society of Film Critics. Brunette has also written for film periodicals like Film Quarterly and Sight & Sound, and was the U.S. correspondent for the Italian journal Filmcritica. He also wrote regularly for The New York Times Arts & Leisure section and The Boston Globe. He was artistic director of the Key Sunday Cinema Club, which has branches in six cities.

Location:

Washington D.C.

Official Website:

http://users.wfu.edu/brunetpc

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Maqbool (2003) 100% EDIT “Ultimately more Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Body Heat than Shakespearean, this rambunctious film borrows the playwright's characters while tarting them up in the most deliciously lurid melodramatic clothes...” – Screen International Sep 20, 2023 Full Review Down for Life (2009) EDIT “Jacobs also has a remarkable feel for rhythm. ” – The Hollywood Reporter May 26, 2023 Full Review Be Like Others (2008) 100% EDIT “Eshaghian always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and the editing, constructed for both maximum illumination and maximum drama, is superb.” – Screen International May 18, 2020 Full Review Kosmos (2010) 72% EDIT “Kosmos is nothing less than cosmic in scope, and it's beautifully shot, and profoundly imaginative, but it's finally just too much of a good thing.” – The Hollywood Reporter Feb 29, 2016 Full Review Crash (2004) 73% EDIT “While the mini-genre it occupies -- multi-storylined ensemble pieces about dysfunctional life in southern California -- is already well-established, Crash is a superb, sometimes literally breath-taking new addition to this august group.” – Screen International Feb 22, 2015 Full Review Knocked Up (2007) 90% EDIT “The jokes, which are in the absolute poorest taste, remain hilarious, while a newer, deeper humanism, sensed in momentary flashes in the earlier film, is now fully on display.” – Screen International Aug 3, 2013 Full Review Sound of Noise (2010) 96% EDIT “The basic premise of this delightful comedy from Sweden is one of the most imaginative you'll ever see.” – The Hollywood Reporter Feb 17, 2012 Full Review Putty Hill (2010) 74% EDIT “Points must be awarded for nerve, but virtually every aspect of this misbegotten film misfires.” – The Hollywood Reporter Aug 8, 2011 Full Review The Names of Love (2010) 72% EDIT “[A] delightful, sexy, and often audacious crowd-pleaser.” – The Hollywood Reporter Jun 22, 2011 Full Review Socialism (2010) 58% EDIT “Like most of Jean-Luc Godard's other essay films, is all over the place and (purposely) impossible to follow.” – The Hollywood Reporter Jun 3, 2011 Full Review Red Hill (2010) 79% EDIT “The suspense that director Patrick Hughes manages to mount remains low-grade throughout and the plot never becomes entirely plausible.” – The Hollywood Reporter Nov 5, 2010 Full Review Mao's Last Dancer (2009) 55% EDIT “Feel-good movie about a Chinese dancer presses all the right buttons.” – The Hollywood Reporter Sep 10, 2010 Full Review I Killed My Mother (2009) 87% EDIT “Uneven but funny and audacious adolescent comedy from a talented beginner.” – The Hollywood Reporter Jul 6, 2010 Full Review A Screaming Man (2010) 88% EDIT “Quietly powerful.” – The Hollywood Reporter Jul 6, 2010 Full Review Enter the Void (2009) 73% EDIT “Utterly silly excuse for maximum debauchery from a once-talented director.” – The Hollywood Reporter Jul 6, 2010 Full Review A Town Called Panic (2009) 81% EDIT “There's really very little to say about this film beyond that it's absolutely brilliant.” – The Hollywood Reporter Mar 26, 2010 Full Review The Milk of Sorrow (2009) 78% EDIT “The film is gorgeously shot and contains a plethora of haunting images...” – The Hollywood Reporter Feb 2, 2010 Full Review The Korean Wedding Chest (2009) EDIT “Tenderly observed personal documentary on Korean wedding customs.” – The Hollywood Reporter Oct 12, 2009 Full Review Max Manus (2008) 79% EDIT “Solid and convincing, if pedestrian, World War II story that has its moments.” – The Hollywood Reporter Sep 17, 2009 Full Review Whip It (2009) 86% EDIT “Some old material given a delightful new grrrl-power twist.” – The Hollywood Reporter Sep 15, 2009 Full Review The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008) 58% EDIT “A shocking yet stately and powerful plea for women's rights.” – The Hollywood Reporter Jun 26, 2009 Full Review The White Ribbon (2009) 85% EDIT “It's clear that this portrait of a sick society is meant to explain, at least partially, the horrendous war that breaks out at the very end of the film, and the fascism that quickly followed in its wake.” – The Hollywood Reporter May 22, 2009 Full Review The Army of Crime (2009) 88% EDIT “Though it drags here and there and is a bit flat in places, the film is solidly made and for the most part quite involving.” – The Hollywood Reporter May 18, 2009 Full Review Antichrist (2009) 53% EDIT “Visually gorgeous to a fault and teeming with grandiose if often fascinating ideas that overwhelm the modest story that serves as their vehicle, this may be the least artistically successful film von Trier has ever made.” – The Hollywood Reporter May 18, 2009 Full Review A Prophet (2009) 96% EDIT “French master Jacques Audiard has challenged the thus-far mostly middling Cannes competition with a powerful prison drama that's an old-fashioned Bildungsroman in in-your-face, intensely realistic disguise.” – The Hollywood Reporter May 16, 2009 Full Review
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