Steven Rea

Steven Rea has been an Inquirer reporter since 1982, writing about film and filmmakers, books, pop music and popular culture. He has been a movie critic since 1992.

He was born in London and raised in New York City, where he graduated from Stuyvesant High School. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a major in English and Creative Writing and attended the Writers Workshop graduate program at the University of Iowa.

His work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Family Fun and other publications. He also writes fiction and poetry.

His column, "On Movies," appears Sundays in Arts & Entertainment, and his reviews normally run in the Weekend section on Fridays.

Read Steven's blog On Movies Online
Latest post: "New Moon" director talks about Bella, bells and whistles - 11/18/2009
Email Steven at srea@phillynews.com

Gabourey Sidibe (left) stars as Clareece "Precious" Jones, Paula Patton as Ms. Rain in "Precious: Based on the Novel ´Push´ by Sapphire."

Our critics' selections

Posted 2:04am

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire Can the story of an abused, illiterate, obese teenager impregnated by her father be uplifting and heart-stirring? Yup. Philly filmmaker Lee Daniels brings humor and pathos to a horrific tale, and gets amazing performances from Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, and daunting newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. R

"New Moon" director talks about Bella, bells and whistles

The astronaut's the alien on 'Planet 51' - 11/19/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Critic

They look like "sea monkeys dancing to the oldies," notes a wayward NASA astronaut. He's speaking about the amphibianesque creatures on Planet 51, which resembles a cartoon version of the Happy Days set, with bulbous cars, streamlined diners, and a dim-witted populace enamored of scary alien invasion movies.
On Movies: His most unleashed, and best, work in years - 11/13/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Columnist

Nicolas Cage received his marching orders for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans several years ago in a phone call from the filmmaker, Werner Herzog.
Our critics' selections - 11/14/2009: Precious: Based On the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire Can the story of an abused, illiterate, obese teenager impregnated by her father be uplifting and heart-stirring? Yup. Philly filmmaker Lee Daniels brings humor and pathos to a horrific tale, and gets amazing performances from Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, and the daunting newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. R
John Krasinski's arty and static directing debut - 11/12/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Critic

Not brief enough, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men purports to offer a candid and illuminating examination of male views on women, on sex, on relationships.
'Broncos' will take you on one wild ride - 11/12/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Critic

It's hard to imagine Jared Hess, the auteur behind Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, taking his deadpan nerd fantasies further than Gentlemen Broncos. Where do you go after rocket-propelled deer statuary, cyclops warriors in golf carts, and Mike White with a dubbed Irish accent?
Making radio waves off Britain's coast - 11/12/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Critic

Awash in nostalgia and amped-up male camaraderie, Richard Curtis' Pirate Radio takes a great story - the hugely popular offshore radio stations that illegally broadcast pop and rock in 1960s Britain - and turns it into an aggressively irritating floating frat-party romp.
Art-world satire is uninspired - 11/12/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Critic

To be sure, New York's art scene - with its clad-in-black gallerists, its attitudinal hangers-on, its moneyed collectors, and most of all, its variously self-promoting, insecure, insufferable artists - is ripe for movie satire.
On Movies: - 11/06/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Columnist

"On Movies" by Steven Rea does not appear this week.
A talent that's Precious - 11/06/2009: By Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Critic

Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe was standing on a subway platform in Harlem one Monday in September two years ago, trying to decide: uptown or downtown?
Our critics' selections - 11/07/2009: An Education Carey Mulligan shines as a suburban British teen, circa 1962, who falls for an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) in this beautifully turned coming-of-age tale, adapted from journalist Lynn Barber's memoir by writer Nick Hornby and director Lone Scherfig. Funny, sad, subtle, real. R