Larry:
I've loved film ever since I was a kid -- and I mean loved. I used to walk two miles on Saturday afternoons to see rotten, B-grade horror movies like "The Wasp Woman" at my local theater. When I was in college, I started writing reviews for my college paper: not just movies but concerts and plays. I realized I wanted to make a living putting words together, which is as difficult a craft in its way as putting bricks together or engine parts in a car (or, for that matter, body parts on a surgical table). I thought, "Why not write about the arts, the subject that interests me more than any other?" So I took classes in graduate school on film history and technique.

When I got my first job in 1977 (as a sports writer for The Atlantic City Press), I asked the paper if I could freelance film reviews on the side, doing them on my own time for the price of a movie ticket. They said yes, and I built a portfolio. Three years later, I got a job covering arts of all sorts for The Charlotte News; when that paper merged with The Charlotte Observer in 1983, I became theater critic for both papers. (The News died in 1985.) In 1987, when the Observer's movie critic felt she'd burned out, she quit. I was the logical successor for the job.

Joanne:
What is your standard for deciding if a movie is good or bad to you?

Larry:
There is no short answer to this one; I could go on for the length of a term paper. Essentially, I try to judge two things:

• Does a movie hit its target?
• Is that target worth hitting?
  
  For instance, if it's a horror film, was I scared?
  If it's a romantic comedy, did I root for the lovers and laugh?
  
• More important, did I feel like I spent my time in a worthwhile way?

The most successful movie of all time in terms of hitting its target might be "Sleep," in which a camera was turned on a guy all night while he slept. (I swear!) The filmmaker set out to show us what we look like when we sleep, which he certainly did – but who cares? That target wasn't worth hitting.

I also have two personal demands:

1. The movie has to surprise me,
   and it has to play within its own rules. By surprise, I don't mean that Romeo and Juliet have to get up at the end and dance on top of their tomb; I mean that something about the picture has to be fresh, from the characterization to the setting to the action to the plot.
2. Playing within the rules is important.
   You can set up the rules any way you want: If you say Superman is vulnerable to green kryptonite and nothing else, I'll play along. But if you say that, you can't suddenly have a sequence where somebody shoots him with an ordinary bullet and knocks him down, just because the plot needs to move forward. That's sloppy writing, which drives me crazy.

Larry:
I never eat in movie theaters for two reasons: I put on weight too easily, and I take notes constantly, which is a two-handed procedure. If I miss dinner before a screening, I'll sometimes quiet my grumbling stomach with popcorn (no salt, no butter). Drink of choice: diet colas.

Joanne:
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Larry:
The chance to steer people to films they'd otherwise skip. My reviews don't make much impact for a movie such as "Pokemon" -- no matter what I write, people who want to go will go, and those who want to stay home will do
that. (At least I can let parents know what they're in for.) But when I encourage people to go to "Princess Mononoke," I may open a door for them into a world they didn't plan to visit. Some people think critics have more fun panning junk than praising good work. But most critics (myself included) would rather steer you into a theater than warn you away from one.

On a personal note, it's still a thrill to go into a theater for a morning screening, even after 12 years of doing this at The Observer and 23 years of doing it off and on at various places. I always think, "The rest of the world is at work, and I'm watching a movie! Yesssssssss!" When I stop getting that feeling, as my predecessor here did, I'll quit. Or somebody should make me quit.

Joanne:
If you had to pick five of your favorite movies, which would they be and why?

Larry:
It's impossible to choose five or even a hundred out of the 4,000 or so that I've seen. Since I like to recommend things people might not have watched, I'll pick five older films.