Michael Phillips (critic)

American film critic

Michael Phillips

Born|  (1961-03-11) March 11, 1961 (age 63)

Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.

Occupation| Film critic
Years active| 1983–present
Spouses|

* Ann Jarmusch

(divorced)​

[1]

* Andrea Lenaburg

(divorced)​

[1]

Heidi Stevens

(divorced)​

[2]

Children| 1[2]

Michael Phillips (born March 11, 1961)[3] is an American film critic for the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

## Early life

[edit]

Phillips was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and spent most of his early years in Racine.

## Career

[edit]

Prior to being film critic for the Chicago Tribune, Phillips was the drama critic of the Tribune; the Los Angeles Times; the St. Paul Pioneer Press; The San Diego Union-Tribune; and the Dallas Times Herald.[citation needed]

From 2006 through August 2008, he appeared frequently on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, first as one of numerous guest critics filling in for the late Roger Ebert while he was on medical leave, and becoming a semipermanent cohost with Richard Roeper in the months before Roeper and Ebert ended their association with the series.[4] On August 5, 2009, Phillips was hired along with New York Times critic A. O. Scott to replace hosts Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz.[5][6] The show was cancelled after one season due to low ratings, concluding its run in August 2010.[7]

More recently Phillips has introduced films as a guest host of Turner Classic Movies in 2011, 2013, 2016 and early 2017.[citation needed] He appears on the Filmspotting podcast, and hosts a series of programs about movie music, The Film Score, for WFMT-FM (98.7).[citation needed]

## Preferences

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In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Phillips listed his five favorite films (in chronological order):[8]

1. The Passion of Joan of Arc
2. His Girl Friday
3. Citizen Kane
4. The Band Wagon
5. Taxi Driver

### Best films of the year

[edit]

Each year, Phillips prepares a list of the top ten films of the year. In 2009, he also made a list for the films of the 2000's decade.

Year  | #1  | #2  | #3  | #4  | #5  | #6  | #7  | #8  | #9  | #10

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2005  | Capote | King Kong | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Nuit noire 17 octobre 1961 | The 40-Year-Old Virgin | The Squid and the Whale | Junebug | Le Grand Voyage | Pride and Prejudice | Brokeback Mountain
2006  | Climates | United 93 | Little Children | The Death of Mr. Lazarescu | Letters from Iwo Jima | Borat | The War Tapes | Casino Royale | The Queen | Caché
2007  | Once | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days | Ratatouille | There Will Be Blood | No End in Sight | Margot at the Wedding | The Bourne Ultimatum | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Knocked Up and Juno
2008  | WALL-E | The Class | A Christmas Tale | Let the Right One In | The Flight of the Red Balloon | Alexandra | Man on Wire | Snow Angels | Still Life | The Dark Knight
2009  | Up | Where the Wild Things Are | Of Time and the City | The Hurt Locker | A Serious Man | Adventureland | A Single Man | Sugar | In the Loop | Me and Orson Welles
2000s  | There Will Be Blood | Ratatouille | Climates | Once | Y Tu Mamá También | Zodiac | United 93 | Mulholland Drive | Gosford Park | Minority Report
2010  | The Kids are All Right | The Secret in Their Eyes | Boxing Gym | Last Train Home | Greenberg | Carlos | The Social Network | The King's Speech | The Ghost Writer | The Fighter
2011 [9] | Poetry | Moneyball | Certified Copy | The Descendants | The Interrupters | Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench | A Separation | The Tree of Life | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | Weekend
2012 [10] | Zero Dark Thirty | Lincoln | Once Upon a Time in Anatolia | The Master | Amour | Chico and Rita | The Color Wheel | Searching for Sugar Man | Flight | Moonrise Kingdom
2013 [11] | Her | 12 Years a Slave | Consuming Spirits | Stories We Tell | Fruitvale Station | American Hustle | Post Tenebras Lux | Inside Llewyn Davis | Let the Fire Burn | The Gatekeepers
2014 [12] | Boyhood | The Grand Budapest Hotel | Winter Sleep | Whiplash | The Lego Movie | Listen Up Philip | Force Majeure | Mr. Turner | Dear White People | Heaven Knows What
2015 [13] | Spotlight | Anomalisa | Love & Mercy | The Diary of a Teenage Girl | Son of Saul | Carol | Beasts of No Nation | Creed | Heart of a Dog | Tangerine
2016 [14] | Moonlight | La La Land | Manchester by the Sea | Toni Erdmann | O.J.: Made in America | Krisha | The Witch | Hell or High Water | Don't Think Twice | The Fits
2017 [15] | Lady Bird | A Ghost Story | Get Out | Phantom Thread | Rat Film | Mudbound | Good Time | Raw | The Florida Project | Call Me by Your Name
2018 [16] | The Rider | Roma | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | The Favourite | Minding the Gap | Widows | First Reformed | Sorry to Bother You | Zama | Black Panther
2019 [17] | Parasite | Marriage Story | Ash Is Purest White | Portrait of a Lady on Fire | The Irishman | One Child Nation | Waves | Present.Perfect. | The Last Black Man in San Francisco | Little Women
2020 [18] | Lovers Rock | First Cow | American Utopia | Nomadland | City So Real | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | The Assistant | Mangrove | The Vast of Night | Never Rarely Sometimes Always
2021 [19] | A Night of Knowing Nothing | The Underground Railroad | Drive My Car | Passing | West Side Story | The Lost Daughter | Licorice Pizza | Summer of Soul | It's a Sin | The Green Knight and The Tragedy of Macbeth
2022[a] [20] | All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Compartment No. 6 | EO | Kimi | Let the Little Light Shine | Marcel the Shell with Shoes On | Saint Omer | Tár | Turning Red | The Woman King
2023 [21] | Past Lives | The Boy | Killers of the Flower Moon | Barbie | Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. | The Zone of Interest | Return to Seoul | The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar; The Rat Catcher; The Swan; & Poison | Oppenheimer | May December
2024[b] [22] | All We Imagine as Light | Anora | The Brutalist | Challengers | Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World | Green Border | Janet Planet | My Old Ass | Nickel Boys | A Real Pain

## Filmography

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

2006-2010 | At the Movies | Guest Host/Co-Host | 91 episodes
2008 | Entourage | Himself | Episode: "Fantasy Island"
2010 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | Guest Expert | 5 episodes
The View | Himself | 1 episode
Charlie Rose | Guest | 1 episode
2011 | The Early Show | Himself | 1 episode
2013 | TCM Friday Night Spotlight: Future Shock! | Host |

## Notes

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1. ^ The 2022 edition was presented in alphabetical order.
2. ^ The 2024 edition was presented in alphabetical order.

## References

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1. ^ a b Fragoso, Sam (September 13, 2016). "Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso - Episode 24: Michael Phillips". Movie Mezzanine. Retrieved September 17, 2016. Event occurs at 7:03.
2. ^ a b "Michael Phillips". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
3. ^ "'Talking Pictures. Conversations about film, the bad and the beautiful.' by Michael Phillips". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. "Your host is Michael Phillips, who was born in the year of 'The Hustler,' 'La Notte' and 'Flower Drum Song.'"
4. ^ Scott, A.O. (April 13, 2008). "Roger Ebert, The Critic Behind The Thumb". The New York Times. pp. Arts & Leisure, 1, 22. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
5. ^ Goldwert, Lindsay; Praetorius, Dean (August 5, 2009). "'At the Movies' Drops Hosts Lyons, Mankiewicz". ABC News. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
6. ^ Rosenthal, Phil (August 5, 2009). "Tower Ticker: Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips, N.Y. Times' A.O. Scott take over 'At the Movies'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
7. ^ Rosenthal, Phil (March 24, 2010). "Tower Ticker: Disney-ABC cancels 'At the Movies,' Siskel and Ebert's old show". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
8. ^ Ryan, Tim (September 22, 2009). "Five Favorite Films with Michael Phillips".
9. ^ Phillips, Michael (March 28, 2012). "10 best movies of 2011". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
10. ^ Phillips, Michael (March 14, 2013). "Photos: Best movies of 2012". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
11. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 17, 2013). "Photos: Best movies of 2013". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
12. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 18, 2014). "Photos: Best and worst movies of 2014". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
13. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 18, 2015). "Photos: Best movies of 2015". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
14. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 15, 2016). "Michael Phillips reveals the movie triumphs, disasters of 2016". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
15. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 13, 2017). "10 best movies of 2017". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
16. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 12, 2018). "10 best movies of 2018". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
17. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 19, 2019). "The best - and worst - movies of 2019". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
18. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 16, 2020). "Top 10 movies of 2020, from the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
19. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 9, 2021). "The Tribune's Top 10 best movies of 2021: You haven't heard of the year's best film. I guarantee it". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
20. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 14, 2022). "The Top 10 best movies of 2022 (plus a few of the worst)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
21. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 6, 2023). "The top 10 best (and worst!) movies of 2023". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
22. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 4, 2024). "Top 10 movies of 2024: In a time of scoundrels, 'Brutalist,' 'Challengers' and the movie about the exotic dancer". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 16, 2024.

## External links

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* Michael Phillips at IMDb
* Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune