Weekly readers, Mike D'Angelo. Mike D'Angelo, Weekly readers. Mike is a new addition to our gang of film critics—he debuts with his take on Steven Spielberg's Munich. If his name sounds familiar, it probably means you read Esquire—he's their film columnist, too. I remember when that position came open some time ago, and for a few months, the magazine rotated Richard Roeper, a bona fide big name, with this D'Angelo guy I'd never heard of. But I was immediately taken by Mike's writing—his flexible, no-bullshit prose style, the way he zeroed in on the ideas at work in whatever movie he was examining. He never settles for a plot summary, a few dutiful remarks about the acting and an old-movie reference. He always dug for something worth saying. I rooted for the editors to select him as Esquire's full-time critic, and eventually they did just that. Now, I'm pleased that he's found the time to review a movie or two for us.
Personally, I'm not a movie buff—I pretty much see whatever comic-book adaptation the kids drag me to, plus twice-yearly chick flicks when my wife wants a date night. That's it. But because movies are a visceral running account of our society's values, preoccupations and commercial instincts, I really like film criticism, at least the kind that wrestles with the larger ideas and implications that movies afford a perceptive writer. Mike won't review every week—he also has a regular gig with the website Nerve.com—but he'll be here often and you'll want to see what he has to say. He'll make a terrific addition to an already great crew of film writers that includes Josh Bell, Steve Bornfeld, Matthew Scott Hunter, Benjamin Spacek and Jeffrey M. Anderson. Together, they'll handle all your film-criticism needs.
Most normal people don't often glance at the masthead—that stack of employee names on Page 12 that tells you who does what around here—but those who do may have noticed that, for a little while now, there have been two names where you'd expect to find only one. Since late October, the Weekly has had two top editors, me and Stacy J. Willis.
Here's the short version: A long time ago, in a publication cycle far, far away, I was the editor. And it was fun. Then, seized by the crazies, I went on what we'll call a career walkabout, and Stacy took over, doing a fantastic job. When I came back from my zigzag travels, she offered to scoot over and make room for me on the big chair.
So: co-editors. What sounds like a jerry-built arrangement actually works pretty well; in this instance, anyway, two heads are better than one. We think a lot alike, at least when it comes to important issues like journalism and lunch spots. With two of us to handle the editorship, we each have time to think ahead, to plan changes. And we have. Crazy stuff, some of it—once Willis gets going, she's an idea volcano. The addition of a top-drawer critic like Mike D'Angelo is one early step. As we roll into 2006, there will be others. So keep reading.