Remembering Ann Hornaday, film critic and News Hour regular

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: Some sad news now for all of us here at the “PBS News Hour.”

Film critic Ann Hornaday has died. As chief film critic for The Washington Post, she was a respected and passionate voice in the world of cinema. She was also a longtime regular on this program, sharing her love of film with our viewers.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown is back now with a remembrance.

Ann Hornaday, Film Critic, The Washington Post: I mean, this has been such a great year for first-time filmmakers.

Jeffrey Brown: Sometimes, it was the excitement of a creative new voice.

Ann Hornaday: And one of them is this woman named Celine Song.

Jeffrey Brown: Sometimes the thrill of watching how a director makes decisions.

Ann Hornaday: It’s just a superb exercise in restraint on almost every level, written and directed by Tom McCarthy, who’s just a fantastic filmmaker, and just his choices throughout this film are at spot on in terms of never really putting too much spin on the ball.

Jeffrey Brown: Often, it was the sheer joy of movies.

Ann Hornaday: Listen, I will tell you something. My number one movie of the year was “Top Gun: Maverick.” And I was utterly disarmed almost immediately. Those elbows that had been sharply out collapsed. And it was just so much fun to see it, and the audience was having such a good time.

Jeffrey Brown: Ann Hornaday was one of the nation’s leading film critics, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2008. She also regularly shared her views with us on the “News Hour.”

Marty Baron, then-executive editor at The Post, characterized her work this way:

Marty Baron, Former Executive Editor, The Washington Post: She writes with great intellect. She always writes with great heart.

Jeffrey Brown: And she loved sharing her passion with young people.

She met Benjamin Price when he was just six and encouraged his love of movies. Today, he studies film in college and is interning with a studio.

Ann Hornaday: And so what I have done with the book, I hope, is to guide readers through my process in evaluating a movie as a professional critic.

Jeffrey Brown: The way you think about it as a critic.

Ann Hornaday: Exactly.

Jeffrey Brown: Hornaday’s 2017 book, “Talking Pictures,” offered stories and tips for the rest of us on how to watch and talk about movies.

Ann Hornaday: Well, I have actually learned to watch movies sort of on the job, and in many cases that means through my interviews with filmmakers like writers and directors and actors and different craftspeople, and they have really taught me a great deal about this medium and how to appreciate it.

Actor: Woodward, Bernstein, you’re both on the story now.

Jeffrey Brown: She was at work on a book about one of her favorite films, “All the President’s Men.” But after leaving The Post last year, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma. She died today. Ann Hornaday was 66 years old.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Jeffrey Brown.

Geoff Bennett: And our thoughts go out to Ann’s family and friends.