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Steven Rea

What I Do

Steven Rea has been an Inquirer movie critic since 1992. He was born in London, raised in New York City, and has lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Iowa City, Iowa. His column, "On Movies," appears Sundays in Arts & Entertainment, his reviews appear in the Weekend section on Fridays. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics. Read his most recent columns and reviews, <b><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/steven_rea/">here</a></b>. He is the author of the book "Hollywood Rides a Bike," and also curates the movie stars and bicycling photo blog, <b><a href="http://ridesabike.tumblr.com/">Rides A Bike</a></b>.

My Background

Steven Rea is a movie critic.  He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics, author of the books <i>Hollywood Cafe: Coffee With the Stars</i> and <i>Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling With the Stars,</i> and producer at <a href="http://ridesabike.com/">ridesabike.com</a>.

Movie critic Steven Rea's weekend selections

The Lady in the Van Maggie Smith stars as a homeless woman who pulls into writer Alan Bennett's driveway - and stays there for 15 years - in the film adaptation of Bennett's memoir and play. Alex Jennings is Bennett, in bifurcated mode: the timid, reluctant host and the ready-at-the-typewriter artist, eager to get what he can from the unkempt, unpleasant "eccentric" he's let into his life. PG-13

Steven Rea and Steven Rea | Columnist 

Steven Rea's movie picks: 'Son of Saul' and 'Theory of Obscurity'

Son of Saul Ritz Five A Holocaust film like no other, about a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi death camp whose job is to usher fellow Jews into the crematoriums, and then to clear the corpses for the next wave. When he discovers a dead boy whom he believes to be his son, Saul (Géza Röhrig) goes on a mission to find a rabbi and arrange a proper burial. The power of László Nemes' close-in, intense film cannot be denied.

Steven Rea | Columnist 

Movie critic Steven Rea's Oscar picks of the week

It's Oscar catch-up time - time to see all the movies you didn't get to when they came out that now are angling for wins in the best picture race. Two of the eight just-nominated Academy Award contenders are (or are about to be) available for home viewing, while Inside Out leads the best animated feature lineup and Straight Outta Compton landed a much-deserved screenplay nod. You have six weeks to do your homework. Go!

Steven Rea | Columnist 

Movie critic Steven Rea's weekend selections

Anomalisa. From the brain of Charlie Kaufman, co-directing with Duke Johnson, a stop-motion animation tale of a sad, unsatisfied man who meets a woman on a business trip, takes her to his hotel room, and, well, yes, there is puppet sex. A portrait of midlife morass, regret and mundanity, cut with comic and surreal moments. Eerie in its lifelike, and dreamlike, vision. With the voices of David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tom Noonan. R

Steven Rea and Steven Rea | Columnist 
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