At The Movies With SMU Alumna Christy Lemire

By Pat Ward
SMU Magazine

Christy Lemire ’93 is living a movie buff’s dream. She serves as co-host of the TV series “Ebert Presents at the Movies” and the online program “What the Flick?!” She also writes reviews regularly as the movie critic for The Associated Press.

Lemire earned a B.A. in journalism and broadcast news from SMU and serves on the Division of Journalism Advisory Board in Meadows School of the Arts.

Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert gave Lemire a thumbs-up as co-host of “Ebert Presents at the Movies,” a retooled version of the well-known movie review show he had hosted with the late Gene Siskel for 23 years. She shares the balcony with Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, a critic for the film website MUBI.com. Ebert, who has battled thyroid cancer since 2006 and relies on computer-generated voice technology to speak, appears in brief segments.

Now in its second season on PBS, the half-hour program is taped in Chicago and broadcast in 48 of the country’s top media markets. The series airs locally on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on KERA-TV (Channel 13). Recent episodes have focused on the year’s best and worst movies so far: Lemire admired “The Tree of Life,” filmed in Texas by Austin resident Terrence Malick, and panned “The Hangover Part II” as a dim follow-up to the wildly popular 2009 comedy.

Lemire also offers her opinions about recent hits and misses on “What the Flick?!” (See her co-reviews of The Help and "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2") Appearing with her on the online program are Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies and Matt Atchity, editor-in-chief of RottenTomatoes.com, a leading film review aggregator.

Her thoughtful, humor-tinged reviews have appeared in newspapers for more than a decade. She started critiquing movies for the global news service while working in the Dallas bureau in 1999. As a general assignments reporter for AP, she covered some University-related stories, including the first stages of construction on SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

She was named the AP’s first full-time movie critic in 2004. Home base is her native Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and young son.

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