He has been the film critic for The Nation since 1988, wrote for The New York Times, and writes a column on the visual arts for the New York Daily News. In 2003 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on a critical study of Preston Sturges, and in 2007 was awarded of a National Magazine Award for critics. His book Film Follies: The Cinema Out of Order was shortlisted at the National Book Critics Circle Award.