There must be something about a British movie critic in America, because today's interviewee and Anthony Lane of the New Yorker make up some of my favorite film critics. It must be that perfect balance of humor, accuracy and a little bit of meanness. Anyway, today I talk with Desson Thomson, film critic for the Washington Post.

1.) What was your career path that took you to your position at the post?
Rather a big question. How far back should I go? I was always interested in the movies and somehow wanted to be in or around them when I grew up--assuming I had to grow up. Cut to me going to film school in Washington and studying all aspects of film, from making 16 mm films to reviewing obscure Japanese films. I studied the whole thing. And through luck I was hired to be a critic at the Post--after working for the paper as a copyaide and a staff writer, that is.

2.) What's easier to write, a bad review or a good review?
You mean a review of a good movie or a review of a bad movie, I assume. I try not to write bad reviews! But it is more FUN to write a review of a bad movie, I have to admit. But it's a pleasure to tell people: Hey I just saw a great movie and let me tell you about it.

3.) Do you have advice for how aspiring film critics can gather review clips?
I guess my answer is: if you have to ask, you are not thinking right. You should ALREADY be doing it. Give yourself permission and go ahead and do it. No one else is going to help you.

4.) Being raised in England, have you needed to adapt your writing style/voice for an American audience?
Yes. But communication is my business and I enjoy the process, American English is snappier, simpler and more effective in many ways. But definitely English and American are two different languages and cultures. I wish more Americans would love the language of English instead of treating it like cod liver oil--something you have to swallow and spit out. Enjoy the words. Enjoy vocabulary. Enjoy the sound of language. Oh well. Sorry, just being English for a second. I'll get over it.

5.) When critics go to screenings, do most take notes or write their reviews from memory? And if you do take notes, how do you write in the dark?
I take notes. The light bounces from the screen into the audience so I can see quite well. A lot of critics use cell phone lights and flashlights or even laptops in the dark which totally destroys the atmosphere. (One day, one day, I will cause a scene and you will read about me being arrested for destroying someone's cell phone or laptops. It won't be pretty.) I try not to make people aware that I am watching the movie that way. So I scribble in the dark on paper. I need to write notes so I can remember what I was thinking at the time. You forget things so easily after you have seen the film.