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Michael Phillips (critic)

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Michael Phillips

BornMarch 11, 1961 (age 64)
OccupationFilm critic
Years active1983–present
Spouses

  • Ann Jarmusch

    ​

    (divorced)​

    [1]

  • Andrea Lenaburg

    ​

    (divorced)​

    [1]

    Heidi Stevens

    ​

    ​

    (m. 2013; div. 2023)​

    [2]
Children1[2]

Michael Phillips (born March 11, 1961)[3] is an American film critic formerly for the Chicago Tribune newspaper.[4]

Phillips was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and spent most of his early years in Racine.

Prior to being film critic for the Chicago Tribune, Phillips was the drama critic of the Tribune; the Los Angeles Times; the St. Paul Pioneer Press; The San Diego Union-Tribune; and the Dallas Times Herald.[5]

From 2006 through August 2008, he appeared frequently on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, first as one of numerous guest critics filling in for the late Roger Ebert while he was on medical leave, and becoming a semipermanent cohost with Richard Roeper in the months before Roeper and Ebert ended their association with the series.[6] On August 5, 2009, Phillips was hired along with New York Times critic A. O. Scott to replace hosts Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz.[7][8] The show was cancelled after one season due to low ratings, concluding its run in August 2010.[9]

Phillips has introduced over 100 feature films for Turner Classic Movies.[10] He appears on the Filmspotting podcast.[11] He hosted a series about movie music called The Film Score and contributes to Soundtrack both for WFMT-FM (98.7).[12][13]

In 2025, the Chicago Tribune eliminated its film critic role and Phillips accepted a buyout.[4][14] His final review for the paper, published August 14, was for the film Highest 2 Lowest.[15] His final piece for the paper overall, published September 4, was a preview for movies coming out in the fall of 2025.[16]

In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Phillips listed his five favorite films (in chronological order):[17]

  1. The Passion of Joan of Arc
  2. His Girl Friday
  3. Citizen Kane
  4. The Band Wagon
  5. Taxi Driver

Best films of the year

[edit]

Each year, from 2005 until 2024, Phillips prepares a list of the top ten films of the year. In 2009, he also made a list for the films of the 2000s decade.[18]

Year #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10
2005 Capote King Kong The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Nuit noire 17 octobre 1961 The 40-Year-Old Virgin The Squid and the Whale Junebug Le Grand Voyage Pride and Prejudice Brokeback Mountain
2006 Climates United 93 Little Children The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Letters from Iwo Jima Borat The War Tapes Casino Royale The Queen Caché
2007 Once The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days Ratatouille There Will Be Blood No End in Sight Margot at the Wedding The Bourne Ultimatum The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Knocked Up and Juno
2008 WALL-E The Class A Christmas Tale Let the Right One In The Flight of the Red Balloon Alexandra Man on Wire Snow Angels Still Life The Dark Knight
2009 Up Where the Wild Things Are Of Time and the City The Hurt Locker A Serious Man Adventureland A Single Man Sugar In the Loop Me and Orson Welles
2000s There Will Be Blood Ratatouille Climates Once Y Tu Mamá También Zodiac United 93 Mulholland Drive Gosford Park Minority Report
2010 The Kids are All Right The Secret in Their Eyes Boxing Gym Last Train Home Greenberg Carlos The Social Network The King's Speech The Ghost Writer The Fighter
2011 [19] Poetry Moneyball Certified Copy The Descendants The Interrupters Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench A Separation The Tree of Life Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Weekend
2012 [20] Zero Dark Thirty Lincoln Once Upon a Time in Anatolia The Master Amour Chico and Rita The Color Wheel Searching for Sugar Man Flight Moonrise Kingdom
2013 [21] Her 12 Years a Slave Consuming Spirits Stories We Tell Fruitvale Station American Hustle Post Tenebras Lux Inside Llewyn Davis Let the Fire Burn The Gatekeepers
2014 [22] Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel Winter Sleep Whiplash The Lego Movie Listen Up Philip Force Majeure Mr. Turner Dear White People Heaven Knows What
2015 [23] Spotlight Anomalisa Love & Mercy The Diary of a Teenage Girl Son of Saul Carol Beasts of No Nation Creed Heart of a Dog Tangerine
2016 [24] Moonlight La La Land Manchester by the Sea Toni Erdmann O.J.: Made in America Krisha The Witch Hell or High Water Don't Think Twice The Fits
2017 [25] Lady Bird A Ghost Story Get Out Phantom Thread Rat Film Mudbound Good Time Raw The Florida Project Call Me by Your Name
2018 [26] The Rider Roma Can You Ever Forgive Me? The Favourite Minding the Gap Widows First Reformed Sorry to Bother You Zama Black Panther
2019 [27] Parasite Marriage Story Ash Is Purest White Portrait of a Lady on Fire The Irishman One Child Nation Waves Present.Perfect. The Last Black Man in San Francisco Little Women
2020 [28] Lovers Rock First Cow American Utopia Nomadland City So Real Ma Rainey's Black Bottom The Assistant Mangrove The Vast of Night Never Rarely Sometimes Always
2021 [29] A Night of Knowing Nothing The Underground Railroad Drive My Car Passing West Side Story The Lost Daughter Licorice Pizza Summer of Soul It's a Sin The Green Knight and The Tragedy of Macbeth
2022[a] [30] All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Compartment No. 6 EO Kimi Let the Little Light Shine Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Saint Omer Tár Turning Red The Woman King
2023 [31] Past Lives The Boy Killers of the Flower Moon Barbie Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. The Zone of Interest Return to Seoul The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar; The Rat Catcher; The Swan; & Poison Oppenheimer May December
2024[b] [32] All We Imagine as Light Anora The Brutalist Challengers Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Green Border Janet Planet My Old Ass Nickel Boys A Real Pain
Year Title Role Notes
2006-2010 At the Movies Guest Host/Co-Host 91 episodes
2008 Entourage Himself Episode: "Fantasy Island"
2010 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Guest Expert 5 episodes
The View Himself 1 episode
Charlie Rose Guest 1 episode
2011 The Early Show Himself 1 episode
2013 TCM Friday Night Spotlight: Future Shock! Host
  1. ^ The 2022 edition was presented in alphabetical order.
  2. ^ The 2024 edition was presented in alphabetical order.
  1. ^ a b Fragoso, Sam (September 13, 2016). "Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso - Episode 24: Michael Phillips". Movie Mezzanine. Retrieved September 17, 2016. Event occurs at 7:03.
  2. ^ a b "Michael Phillips". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
  3. ^ "'Talking Pictures. Conversations about film, the bad and the beautiful.' by Michael Phillips". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Your host is Michael Phillips, who was born in the year of 'The Hustler,' 'La Notte' and 'Flower Drum Song.'
  4. ^ a b Knapp, JD (August 19, 2025). "Chicago Tribune Eliminates Film Critic Role, Michael Phillips Takes Buyout". TheWrap. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  5. ^ "The Film Score: The Host: Michael Phillips". wfmt.com. WFMT. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  6. ^ Scott, A.O. (April 13, 2008). "Roger Ebert, The Critic Behind The Thumb". The New York Times. pp. Arts & Leisure, 1, 22. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  7. ^ Goldwert, Lindsay; Praetorius, Dean (August 5, 2009). "'At the Movies' Drops Hosts Lyons, Mankiewicz". ABC News. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  8. ^ Rosenthal, Phil (August 5, 2009). "Tower Ticker: Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips, N.Y. Times' A.O. Scott take over 'At the Movies'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  9. ^ Rosenthal, Phil (March 24, 2010). "Tower Ticker: Disney-ABC cancels 'At the Movies,' Siskel and Ebert's old show". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  10. ^ "Michael Phillips". communication.depaul.edu. DePaul University College of Communication. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  11. ^ "Michael Phillips Episodes". Filmspotting. Telegraph Road Productions, Inc. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  12. ^ "The Film Score: The Host: Michael Phillips". wfmt.com. WFMT. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  13. ^ "Soundtrack". wfmt.com. WTTW. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  14. ^ Phillips, Michael (August 20, 2025). "Column: The Tribune's film critic Michael Phillips says so long for now". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  15. ^ Phillips, Michael (August 14, 2025). "'Highest 2 Lowest' review: Spike Lee and Denzel Washington re-team for a heist movie that pays off". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  16. ^ Phillips, Michael (September 4, 2025). "Movies for fall 2025: Our top 10 picks, from 'Smashing Machine' to a Springsteen story". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  17. ^ Ryan, Tim (September 22, 2009). "Five Favorite Films with Michael Phillips".
  18. ^ Seidman, Robert (28 December 2009). "'At The Movies' Best of the Decade Picks". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  19. ^ Phillips, Michael (March 28, 2012). "10 best movies of 2011". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  20. ^ Phillips, Michael (March 14, 2013). "Photos: Best movies of 2012". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  21. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 17, 2013). "Photos: Best movies of 2013". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  22. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 18, 2014). "Photos: Best and worst movies of 2014". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  23. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 18, 2015). "Photos: Best movies of 2015". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  24. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 15, 2016). "Michael Phillips reveals the movie triumphs, disasters of 2016". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  25. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 13, 2017). "10 best movies of 2017". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  26. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 12, 2018). "10 best movies of 2018". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  27. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 19, 2019). "The best - and worst - movies of 2019". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  28. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 16, 2020). "Top 10 movies of 2020, from the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  29. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 9, 2021). "The Tribune's Top 10 best movies of 2021: You haven't heard of the year's best film. I guarantee it". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  30. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 14, 2022). "The Top 10 best movies of 2022 (plus a few of the worst)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  31. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 6, 2023). "The top 10 best (and worst!) movies of 2023". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  32. ^ Phillips, Michael (December 4, 2024). "Top 10 movies of 2024: In a time of scoundrels, 'Brutalist,' 'Challengers' and the movie about the exotic dancer". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 16, 2024.