The Best and Most Knowledgeable Arts & Entertainment Critic in the Metro State of Connecticut


by Jamie Quaranta - Date: 2007-01-17 - Word Count: 1735 Share This!

With his radio-friendly voice and casual wire-rimmed spectacles surrounding his professionally groomed gray hair, it's clear that Connecticut Post media arts writer Joe Meyers loves to write and talk about movies, plays, and books.

"He's extraordinarily bright," says Phyllis A.S. Boros, another arts writer for the Bridgeport, CT-based Post. "If you ask him about a film released 30 or 40 years ago, he'll talk about it for at least 20 minutes."

Sean Spillane, a music writer for the Bridgeport-based publication, believes that Meyers is a "walking Encyclopedia Britannica" who holds valuable assets for people who don't know all that much about the entertainment world in general.

The 53-year-old Meyers notes that what we do to distract ourselves from everyday problems has a distinctive quality which really binds together and doesn't hold as many discrepancies as many believe.

In other words, he thinks all mediums could satisfy anyone in the mood for voyeuristic and literary pleasure. It could be romance novels, foreign-language films, mainstream Hollywood productions (e.g. "The Polar Express"), classic plays by Eugene O'Neill. It doesn't matter. Thus, in Thursday's Preview column, he manages to cram movie reviews, phone interviews with stage actors, and home video reviews; all on the same day.

"It enthralls me that my readers are actually interested in the oldest platform of acting as opposed to entertainment in today's age of digital multimedia saturation," he says, referring to the art of live performance in contrast to what we do for entertainment on today's all-important Internet.

As far as his standard critiquing of film is concerned, he also has a "Local Film" column in Friday's edition of the paper. This section not only expresses a critical essay or opinion, but compiles the date, time, and location of scheduled discussions and showings of prestigious classic and contemporary films at local libraries and Connecticut film festivals as well.

On Saturday, Meyers' parental advisory column in the Woman Wise section explores the intricate and timeless responsibility of knowing what movies are appropriate for our children. He occasionally gets feedback from conservative think tanks, but does most of the warnings himself.

Things can get more complicated, however, when he describes the judgmental flaws behind the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) rating system in effect since 1968.

"The PG-13 and R labels are such a fine line. Some R's should be slapped with the tamer PG-13 and some PG-13's should have been tagged with the more explicit R," he says.

Finally, the "Book Beat" column in Sunday's Arts & Travel section most definitely proves his voracious appetite for literature.

Like his other weekly columns, he critiques particular works and describes phone interviews he had with the most creative minds in the business.

"Books are....a good balance to movies," he says. "If I had to choose between never seeing another movie and never reading another book, I think I might give up movies [altogether]."

In addition to the typical phone chat and reviewing, he includes a bulletin similar to his "Local Film" column. Only this time, it involves the scheduled appearance of a author at a bookstore as opposed to a cinema scholar appearing at a local library or film festival.

* * * * * * * *

Growing up in the southern fringes of suburban Chicago in the 1950's, Meyers experienced a whimsical childhood resembling that of the child protagonist on the classic television sitcom, "Leave It To Beaver."

There were no personal physical or mental traumas, no bitter arguments between his movie-loving parents, no ugly fights with his older brother William, no bullying involving his elementary school friends, and no jealousies or clashes regarding socioeconomic status.

He was a typical middle-American who lived in a standard three-bedroom house with a big floor that looked like a three-family complex.

The floor that resembled the triplex allowed him to fantasize about what he saw on the TV screen (and on the silver screen) at the time. Playing Cowboys and Indians with his brother as if it were Halloween all year round, and collecting model airplanes as an early hobby, occupied the first several years of his pretty much happy life.

Most important of all, he dreamed of owning his own movie theater, even though he was too young to understand personal business and financing incentives.

Meyers moved to Philadelphia at the age of 10. He was still in high school when he picked up "I Lost It at the Movies," a higly-regarded compilation of essays written by well-known New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael. Her reviews were so enticing that he said this was it.

"[Kael's] down-to-earth approach....tied in with the way people really experience movies, which I found....to be a revelation," he recalled. "It made writing about movies seem like a fun and respectable use of time."

Yet, when he enrolled at Penn State University in the fall of 1969, he found out that the college only offered Bachelor of Arts programs in basic journalism, broadcasting, and advertising. He earned his degree in this field anyway, thus leading to what he does for a living today.

His social skills improved dramatically when he worked as a waiter at the now-defunct Corinth Hotel in Ocean City, New Jersey during the early 1970's.

"I was very shy before I turned 18, which is so ironic for a person who wanted to pursue a career in entertainment journalism," he recalled.

His lifelong aspiration of running his own multiplex finally came true when he opened The Lewes Theater on a small, idyllic beach resort in Lewes, Delaware in 1975.

The "art house" showed low budget, anti-Hollywood motion pictures that were otherwise shown in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. at the time. These movies would eventually be coined as "indies," a household term frequently used today.

"On a rainy day, stunned audiences took full advantage of films outside of the norm," he recalled. "They would expand their horizons by not thinking about the overproduced blockbusters so common at standard multiplexes during the 'Me Decade.'"

In addition to running the privately funded theater, he was able to channel his passion for independent films by receiving much-needed grant money from the Delaware Humanities Council to make his own documentaries for the non-traditional multiplex.

According to Meyers, "Fire & Ice" (1977) contrasted "the artistic philosophies of an aging, eccentric painter and a younger, more aggressive sculptor who were at wits with each other in the ever-changing world of high art."

A more journalistic approach to the non-fiction genre, "The Arts in Education," was released the following year. It explored the significance of education and entertainment in Delaware schools and how both aspects of life "made a positive difference in the lives of students and teachers during a time of social and economic hardship in the overall public education system."

"Once my documentaries were released, I wanted to continue to finance more of them," he recalled. "But I realized that people who develop their own films live a more complex life than ones who just opinionate them in a daily newspaper."

* * * * * * * *

The loose dress code of the 6'2" critic's current position at the Post facility allows him to wear attire that smashes journalistic stereotypes.

No, Meyers doesn't wrap up his plain white business shirt with red suspenders on a daily basis. Along with wearing a green-colored tie with summery leaves entrenched from the chest down, he has the freedom to dress up in a green-collar shirt and smooth, silky tan-colored pants.

Sounds more like what affluent retirees wear on the golf course than what reporters wear in the high-octane newsroom, right?

Regardless of what his co-workers think of his on-the-job fashion statement, his intensely blatant intellectualism for almost all things entertainment remains his most important characteristic by all means.

"He practically bubbles his work out," says Barbara Burghart, the event listings coordinator at the Post. "There are still some people who don't like the arts at all, but he can diversify their interests in no time."

He wants you to enjoy a play, movie, or book, even if many works don't hold the potential to reach a wide audience because of lackluster commercial appeal.

"Great movies, stories, or performances don't have to make millions or billions of dollars at the box office," he says defiantly. ".....They can still impact you on a deep psychological and emotional level, regardless of positive or negative word-of-mouth from others in and out of the field of entertainment criticism."

In the midst of his workoholic professional life, Meyers still finds time to contact his brother William on his cell phone, a New York entertainment lawyer who specializes in contractual negotiations with independent recording companies.

"He writes about stuff I don't understand, despite being connected to his blood," William said, referring to their careers in mass media. "Either way, I embrace his creative input if and when I need it."

As far as is all-time favorite movies are concerned, Meyers enjoys to watch the first two Godfather flicks, no matter how many times he has seen them. He also recommends the classic European "art films" directed by Federico Fellini ("8 1/2") and Michelangelo Antonioni("Blow-Up") and the great ensemble works masterminded by Robert Altman ("Nashville").

He says the greatest play he has ever seen is "Angels in America," a bold examination of the AIDS crisis during the Reagan era. In addition to this epic drama, he loves all of the works written by Sam Shepard ("Simpatico") and David Mamet ("Glengarry Glen Ross").

Whenever he has the time to read a decent novel or a juicy non-fiction treatise, he picks up the works of contemporary greats such as Tom Wolfe ("The Bonfire of the Vanities"), Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Gore Vidal.

Excluding the mediums he writes about for the paper four times a week, he takes great pride in touring the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, immerses himself in coffee table-style photojournalism (e.g. Life), and goes to a wide range of pop/rock concerts across the Northeast.

"My own feeling of being fortunate to write about people and topics I'm interested in ultimately results in a large, responsive readership for my subscribers," he says. "Balancing my personal and professional versatility keeps me sane all the way through."

Meyers sees no reason to leave a career he does for business and leisure. He says that Andrew Sarris, a film critic for the New York Observer, continues to be his unseen mentor on the job, even when things fall flat aesthetically and journalistically.

"The paper [I work for] may not exist tomorrow," he cautions. "But I relish every minute of what I do [at the Post] every day of the week, regardless of any job-related apprehension I hold in the darkest corners of my mind."


Related Tags: movies, stage

For the latest movie, stage, book, and DVD reviews by Joe Meyers, click on either of the following sites:

1. http://www.connpost.com/theatre

2. http://www.connpost.com/moviereview

3. http://www.connpost.com/bookreview

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