STOP SMILING's Year in Movies

Ever since reading Jack Shafer's article on Slate about his "favorite magazine" Stop Smiling in 2006, I've been a fan, too.  It's informed the way I conduct my own in-depth interviews and concentrates on much that is near and dear to my heart because of the many reasons Shafer states in his love letter to this Chicago-based arts and culture magazine. 

Shafer:  ". . . Stop Smiling is smart.  It's idiosyncratic.  It's a little like Dave Eggers' old magazine Might in that it's beautiful to look at, only it's irony-free.  And it brims with the romanticism for magazines that Harold Hayes applied to Esquire, Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter squeezed into Spy, and Louis Rosetto drenched Wired with.  . . .  And the miracle of the magazine is that it does most of its magic with interviews!"

Their web site is equally as engaging and just downright classy.  As we're on the cusp of the big doings in Park City, Utah and festival and awards season picks up full-swing, I wanted to call attention to their unique look back at film in '08.  They've compiled all of their online film coverage over the course of the past year into one column and let their writers speak for themselves about what, in cinema, excited, engaged, intrigued and made them sit up and take notice.  To take a look at this  non-traditional "best of" list, click here. 

Hopefully, this year they'll cover more of what's happening in nonfiction film to add to their stellar canon.  Ehem.