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Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of '' Film Comment'' and authored several books including ''Talking Pictures'', which, along with other publications, drew early attention to the screenwriter, as opposed to the director.


Personal life and background

Corliss was born in 1944 in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, Pennsylvania,Profile
filmreference.com; accessed September 6, 2014.
the son of Elizabeth Brown (née McCluskey) and Paul William Corliss. He attended St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia (now
Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...
), obtaining a bachelor's degree, before progressing to
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
to earn a master's degree in film studies. Corliss resided in New York City with his wife, Mary, whom he married on Sunday, August 31, 1969. Mary was formerly a curator in the Film Stills Archive of the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
. In a 1990 article, Corliss mentions his mother clipping movie ads with quotes of his and posting them to her refrigerator door. On April 23, 2015, Corliss died under hospice care in New York City after suffering a stroke.


Career

Corliss wrote for many magazines—'' National Review'' from 1966 to 1970, '' New Times'', ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian pers ...
'' and '' SoHo Weekly News'' in 1980. At ''Film Comment'', Corliss helped draw attention to the screenwriter in the creation of movies. Corliss challenged Andrew Sarris's idea of the Director as author or auteur of this work. Corliss was one of Sarris' students at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
(NYU); the two remained friends until Sarris' death. Corliss brought Jonathan Rosenbaum to ''Film Comment'' as a Paris correspondent. Despite working for ''National Review'', a conservative magazine, Corliss was a self-described "liberal". In 1980, Corliss joined ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
''. Although he started as an associate editor, he was promoted to senior writer by 1985. Corliss wrote for time.com as well as the print magazine including a retired column about nostalgic pop culture called ''That Old Feeling''. He wrote occasional articles for ''Time''. He was an occasional guest on Charlie Rose's talk show commenting on new releases, mostly during the 1990s with
Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
and David Denby. His last appearance on the show was in December 2005 to talk about the year in film. Corliss also appeared on A&E Biography to talk about the life and work of
Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
, and appeared in Richard Schickel's documentary about
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
. Corliss attended the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...
along with
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
and Todd McCarthy for the longest period of any US journalist. He also attended festivals in Toronto and Venice. Corliss used to work on the board of the New York Film Festival, but resigned in 1987 after longtime head Richard Roud was fired due to his challenging of editorial direction of the festival. ''Lolita'', Corliss's third book, was a study of Vladimir Nabokov's
book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...
and
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
. Later Corliss has written an introductory essay for ''
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung . The film features a cast of actors of Chinese ethnicity, including Chow Yun-fat, ...
: A Portrait of the
Ang Lee Ang Lee (; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese filmmaker. Born in Pingtung County of southern Taiwan, Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. During his filmmaking career, he has received international critical and popula ...
Film''. Corliss also admired the
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
movies, including listing ''Finding Nemo'' as one of his and fellow ''Time'' critic Richard Schickel's 100 all-time greatest movies. With recent Pixar releases '' Cars'' and '' Ratatouille'' Corliss had access into the studio's inner workings. Pixar director
Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up ...
has said of critics in general that he has "got nothing against critics." He also that he had "done very well with them, over the years." In addition to writing for ''Time'', Corliss had a lengthy association with '' Film Comment'' magazine, serving as its editor from 1970 to 1990. Corliss covered movies for the magazine and for time.com simultaneously. Corliss along with
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
first came up with the idea for the issue on "guilty pleasures". Corliss along with Richard Schickel made a 100 Greatest movies list. Corliss alone created lists of the 25 greatest villains, the 25 best horror films, and the 25 most important films on race. In addition Corliss was on the 2001 jury for AFI's 100 Greatest movies list. In a 1993 ''
Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...
'' movie review of '' The Crying Game'', Corliss subtly gave away the
spoiler Spoiler is a security vulnerability on modern computer central processing units that use speculative execution. It exploits side-effects of speculative execution to improve the efficiency of Rowhammer and other related memory and cache attacks. ...
of the film, by spelling it out with the first letters of each paragraph of his review. In the 2012 '' Sight & Sound'' poll, Corliss cast votes for ''
Chungking Express ''Chungking Express'' is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with ...
'', ''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'', '' Historie(s) du Cinema'', '' The Lady Eve'', ''
Mouchette ''Mouchette'' () is a 1967 French film directed by Robert Bresson, starring Nadine Nortier and Jean-Claude Guilbert. It is based on the novel of the same name by Georges Bernanos. Bresson explained his choice of the novel saying, "I found neither ...
'', ''
Pyaasa ''Pyaasa'' (; ) is a 1957 Indian Hindi drama film directed and produced by Guru Dutt, who stars alongside Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, and Johnny Walker. Set in Calcutta, it focuses on the disillusioned Urdu poet Vijay (Dutt), whose ...
'', ''
The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...
'', '' The Seventh Seal'' and '' WALL-E''.


Conflict and criticism

Corliss was critical of the escalating expenditure on action films, writing in his review of '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991) that "the cost of the product is not passed on to the consumer. Moviegoers pay as much for a ticket to a no-budget documentary like ''
Paris Is Burning Paris Is Burning may refer to: * ''Paris Is Burning'' (film), a 1990 documentary film * "Paris Is Burning" (''Gilmore Girls''), the eleventh episode of ''Gilmore Girls first season * "Paris Is Burning", a song from the 1983 album '' Breaking the Ch ...
'' (1990) as they do for admission to any superspectacle." Corliss had movies on his top ten lists that fellow ''Time'' critic Richard Schickel rated the worst of the year. These included 2001's ''
Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and co ...
'', 2003's '' Cold Mountain'' and 2004's ''
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' (also simply known as ''Eternal Sunshine'') is a 2004 American romantic science fiction drama film written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Michel Gondry, and starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Pi ...
''. In August 2004,
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
, criticizing what he saw as a growing trend of leniency towards films by critics, included Corliss among a number of "formerly reliable critics who seem to have gone remarkably soft – not to say softhearted and sometimes softheaded – in their old age." Corliss appears in the 2009 documentary film '' For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism'', confessing that he was the film critic who, in the 1970s, coined the term "Paulettes" for the ardent followers of Pauline Kael, a label which has stuck. Corliss criticized Siskel and Ebert in his ''Film Comment'' article, "All Thumbs?: Or, Is There a Future For Film Criticism?", and Ebert responded with "All Stars: Or Is There a Cure For Criticism?" Corliss praised Ebert in a June 23, 2007 article "Thumbs up for Roger Ebert." Corliss's dialogue with Ebert in ''Film Comment'' was reprinted in Ebert's ''Awake in the Dark'': ''The Best of Roger Ebert''. Corliss appeared in the Ebert documentary '' Life Itself'', where he praised Ebert's "polymathic genius."


Number Ones from Corliss' Top-Tens

Best English language film in parentheses: *1969: ''
Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...
'' *1980: '' Mon Oncle d'Amerique'' ('' The Elephant Man'') *1981: '' The Mystery of Oberwald'' ('' Thief'') *1982: ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'' *1983: ''
Berlin Alexanderplatz ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'' () is a 1929 novel by Alfred Döblin. It is considered one of the most important and innovative works of the Weimar Republic. In a 2002 poll of 100 noted writers the book was named among the top 100 books of all time. ...
'' (''
The Big Chill Big Chill can refer to: * The Big Chill (music festival), an annual music and comedy festival held in England * ''The Big Chill'' (film), a 1983 American film directed by Lawrence Kasdan *The Big Chill at the Big House, a 2010 U.S. college ice hoc ...
'') *1986: '' The Fly'' *1988: '' The Singing Detective'' *1989: '' Distant Voices, Still Lives'' *1990: '' L'Atalante'' (re-release) ('' Internal Affairs'') *1991: '' My Father's Glory'' and '' My Mother's Castle'' (''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...
:
Lisa's Substitute "Lisa's Substitute" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 25, 1991. In the episode, Lisa's teacher Miss H ...
'') *1992: ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...
'': ''
Black Widower "Black Widower" (originally titled "The Return of Sideshow Bob") is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, ...
'' *1993: ''
The Age of Innocence ''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. App ...
'' *1994: ''
Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...
'' *1995: ''
Persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persua ...
'' *1997: ''
Ponette ''Ponette'' is a 1996 French film directed by Jacques Doillon. The film centers on four-year-old Ponette ( Victoire Thivisol), who is coming to terms with the death of her mother in a car crash. The film received acclaim for Thivisol's performance ...
'' (''
Chasing Amy ''Chasing Amy'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian woman ...
'') *2001: ''
Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
'' (''
Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and co ...
'') *2002: '' Talk to Her'' (''
Gangs of New York ''Gangs of New York'' is a 2002 American epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book '' The Gangs of New York''. The film stars Le ...
'') *2003: '' Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' *2004: ''
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
'' and ''
House of Flying Daggers ''House of Flying Daggers'' (Chinese: 十面埋伏) is a 2004 ''wuxia'' romance film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Unlike other ''wuxia'' films, it is more of a love story than purely a mar ...
'' ('' Sideways'') *2005: '' The White Diamond'' ('' The Squid and the Whale'') *2006: ''
Pan's Labyrinth ''Pan's Labyrinth'' ( es, El laberinto del fauno, lit=The Labyrinth of the Faun, links=no) is a 2006 dark fantasy horror film written, directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro. A Spanish-Mexican(78% Spanish production, 22% Mexican productio ...
'' ('' Borat'') *2007: ''
No Country For Old Men ''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel of the same name. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, th ...
'' *2008: '' WALL-E'' *2009: ''
The Princess and the Frog ''The Princess and the Frog'' is a 2009 American animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 49th Disney animated feature film, it is loosely based on th ...
'' *2010: '' Toy Story 3'' *2011: '' The Artist'' ('' Hugo'' in second place) *2012: '' Amour'' ('' Beasts of the Southern Wild'') *2013: ''
Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
'' *2014: '' The Grand Budapest Hotel''


Bibliography


Books

* *''Greta Garbo'' (1974) *''Lolita'' (1995) *''Mom in the Movies: The Iconic Screen Mothers You Love (and a Few You Love to Hate)'' (2014)


Articles

*


References


External links

*
In Memoriam
– ''Time'' Magazine

– from ''Allmovie''

– a yearly breakdown of Corliss's favorite movies.
Top 100 Movies Ever
– Corliss and fellow ''Time'' critic Richard Schickel's list of the greatest movies ever made
Richard Corliss, 1944-2015: Everywhere At Once
by Matt Zoller Seitz, Editor-in-Chief,
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corliss, Richard 1944 births 2015 deaths American film critics National Society of Film Critics Members American magazine editors Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Saint Joseph's University alumni Writers from Philadelphia Time (magazine) people American male journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers