| Born and raised in Seattle (before it was reduced to a grunge/Starbucks/microbrew/Microsoft
cliche in the popular consciousness). Formerly employed (1994 - 1998) as the Editor of Microsoft Cinemania (deceased CD-ROM AND website).
First movie review: Annie Hall (University of Washington Daily, 1977).
Withdrew from life and plunged headlong into movies after failed relationship in 1979;
didn't come back up for air for some time. Ran/booked the fabulous Market Theater in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market with
dear pal and owner Ann Browder from 1984-1987; Marketeers still reunite at least four
times a year for ritual events (Oscar party, Ann's summer yard party, end-of-summer
retreat on Olympic Peninsula [aka "Q-bob"], Xmas party at Jeeem's CinePad).
Covered movies from Hollywood (for Orange County Register;
nationally syndicated over Knight-Ridder) for seven years (1987-1994), but finally decided
enough was enough and gratefully moved back to Seattle. Member of Los
Angeles Film Critics Association (1988-1992), (Screen) Writers
Guild of America (1992-present), Sweeney family (honorary membership, 1979-present),
Cheeselovers International (late '70s?). Written regularly for The Seattle Times, The
Orange County Register (Los Angeles), The Rocket (Seattle, 1982-1995),
The Seattle Sun. Also written for Film Comment,
The Los Angeles Times, Premiere, Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, Men's
Journal, Savvy, many other publications. Founded Jeeem's CinePad
in April, 1998, in a partially successful effort to save his sanity.
Editorial Director of FilmPix, a movie website start-up (sold to
Hollywood.com in 1999) and Editorial Director of Reel.com (shut down by
parent company, Hollywood Video, in June, 2000.) Founder and
owner/operator of Waggerdog
Pet Sitting.
Only produced play: Mea's
Big Apology (co-writer), starring college chum Julia Sweeney (God Said 'Ha!'); Groundling Theatre, Los Angeles,
1988 and 1992. Guest writer on "Saturday
Night Live" (Patrick Stewart and Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger shows), 1994.
Only produced screenplay: It's
Pat: The Movie (co-writer), recipient of five "Razzie" nominations (no wins --
hey, we were up against Showgirls, Waterworld, The Scarlet Letter,
and Congo -- tough competition!) and rated a "BOMB" by my pal Leonard
Maltin in Cinemania -- but, honest, it actually has
some really funny stuff in it if you can get past the choppy first 15 minutes. (That's
another story, which will soon be appearing on this website...) Favorite trip:
India, 1996.
Most life-changing and/or life-shattering
movie experiences (some for aesthetic, some for purely personal, reasons): Stanley
Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon,
and Dr. Strangelove, Robert Altman's Nashville and The Long Goodbye,
Roman Polanski's Chinatown and Repulsion, Claude Chabrol's Le
Boucher, Wim Wenders' Kings of the Road, Buster Keaton's
Sherlock, Jr., and Our Hospitality, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch and
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Spike Lee's Do
the Right Thing, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, Howard Hawks' Only
Angels Have Wings and Rio Bravo, Krzysztof Zanussi's Ways in the Night,
Imperativ, and A Year of the Quiet Sun, Ivan Passer's Cutter's Way,
Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff, Yasujiro
Ozu's Late Spring, Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, David
Cronenberg's The Brood, Joel and Ethan Coen's Miller's
Crossing, Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho, F.W. Murnau's Sunrise,
Steven Spielberg's Jaws and E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, Rainer Werner
Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,
Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou and The Discreet
Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Mike Leigh's High
Hopes, the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers, Jonathan Demme's Stop
Making Sense, Brian DePalma's Carrie, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones' Monty
Python and the Holy Grail, Richard Linklater's Slacker
and Dazed and Confused.
See Jeeem's 120
Most Beloved Movies
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