For a person who spends a large chunk of time sitting in dark rooms watching films about the way other people live, OU alumna Amy Nicholson has a surprisingly comprehensive view of the world around her.
Nicholson will be returning home to a film and media studies class at OU on Feb. 21 as “Professor For A Day.”
After entering OU as a psychology major, Nicholson eventually settled on a double major in anthropology and film studies — majors that you might not think fit together very well.
“I was interested in the same thing,” Nicholson said. “I just didn’t know what it was. And then when I started studying antrhopology my second semester, I saw that I was always really interested in the way people think about culture.”
After taking a film class, Nicholson said she realized film could be used as a guage for the culture of a certain time.
“When a Hollywood executive green lights a movie, they’re thinking, ‘How can I make people buy a ticket to this?’ So they’re thinking about us like it’s anthropology,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson laughed as she explained how the 1990s provide the perfect example for her mixture of film and anthropology.
“I always joke about how in the ’90s they made all these films about the Internet and rollerblading because they thought it was cool,” Nicholson said.
OU alumnus Earnest Pettie moved to Los Angeles with Nicholson when they both graduated. While Nicholson ended up with her dream job at “LA Weekly,” Pettie went on to become successful at making videos go viral. Pettie only gave glowing reviews of his former roommates qualifications.
“ ... I think her ability to write about how film impacts our culture (and vice versa) allows her to enjoy her job as a film critic,” Pettie said. “Though I think calling her a film critic misses the point. She’s not just writing reviews. She’s expressing a point of view about the world through writing about film, and that’s what I think Amy enjoys.”
Nicholson said reviewing a film requires so much more than just subjective opinion or judgement.
“I tell people who want to be film critics, one of the best things you can do is stop watching movies at least every day and try to go read books and newspapers,” Nicholson said. “Try to talk to people that you don’t know because it’s the experiences that you bring into the theater that make you a better critic.”
So what makes a good film?
“When people ask me how I judge a film, I tend to say I judge a film based on what it wanted to do,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson said that is what she loves about her favorite film of all time, “Pennies From Heaven,” starring Steve Martin.
“It was a total failure when it came out, but I think it’s the most perfect film ever made,” Nicholson said.
She said her favorite category of films is “ambitious failures.”
“They’re films that really, really try to do something, and even if they don’t make it, what they try to achieve is really amazing,” Nicholson said.
Speaking of ambitious, Nicholson is about to release her first book, “Anatomy of an Actor: Tom Cruise,” which will be published this spring.
“I wish I can say it was a long and arduous process but my publisher only gave me two and a half months,” Nicholson said.
She said she spent those months watching every single one of Cruise’s movies, but made some time to make a “Top Gun” jacket.
“It’s not really a biography,” Nicholson said. “I take 10 of his films and analyze them to show his growth as an actor.”
But why did Nicholson choose Cruise of all people?
“He’s an actor who so famous, but I feel like he’s hiding in plain sight,” she said. “Everybody knows who he is but no one really takes him as a serious actor. I really like taking someone that everybody thinks they know and making the argument that he’s even more than we think.”
As for the upcoming awards shows, Nicholson said she’s excited because there does not seem to be any clear winner this year.
“I predict it’s going to be at least less boring than years before,” Nicholson said.
Though Nicholson mainly discussed her life as a film critic, Pettie said her real personality lies in the smaller details of her life.
“If you really want to know about Amy Nicholson, ask her about the OKC Thunder, soccer, nail art, karaoke, R. Kelly, her oil paining of her cat,” Pettie said. “When you get down to that level, that’s when you begin to see why people love her.”
