Peter Joseph Travers (born 1943 or 1944)[1][2] is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts the film interview program Popcorn with Peter Travers for ABC News.
Peter Travers | |
|---|---|
 Travers in 2008 | |
| Born | Peter Joseph Travers 1943 or 1944 (age 79–80) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1970–present |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3 |
Early life and education
Travers grew up in Yonkers, New York, the only child of Howard and Ruth Travers.[3][4] He received a BA degree from Manhattan College in 1965 before graduating from New York University with an MA in English.[5][6]
Career
According to eFilmCritic.com, Travers is the nation's most "blurbed" film critic.[7] Travers' blurbs were being printed in newspapers as early as 1970, when he was a writer for Reader's Digest.[8] By the mid-1970s, he was a film critic for The Herald Statesman, a Yonkers newspaper.[9] In the 1980s, he wrote for People for four years before joining Rolling Stone in 1989.[10] In 2020, he departed Rolling Stone and became the film critic for ABC News.[11]
Travers hosts the New York Film Critics Series, a company that hosts live-streamed screening events and discussions,[12] as well as the ABC News show Popcorn with Peter Travers, where he interviews actors and directors about the latest projects and their lives.[13]
Personal life
Travers married Diane Harris of White Plains, New York in 1967; the marriage ended in divorce.[2][14] In 1980, Travers married Robyn Lee Reeves, an actress and graduate of Vassar College, in an Episcopalian ceremony.[2] He has three children: Jennifer, David and Alex.[15]
Preferences
Favorites
In 2010, When asked to rank the best films of the 2000s decade, Travers named:[16]
- 1. There Will Be Blood (2007)
- 2. Children of Men (2006)
- 3. Mulholland Drive (2001)
- 4. A History of Violence (2005)
- 5. No Country for Old Men (2007)
- 6. The Incredibles (2004)
- 7. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- 8. The Departed (2006)
- 9. Mystic River (2003)
- 10. The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003)
Best of the year
Since his career as a film critic from People to Rolling Stone, Travers marked these films the best of the year:
- 1989 - Do the Right Thing
- 1990 - Goodfellas
- 1991 - The Silence of the Lambs
- 1992 - The Player
- 1993 - Short Cuts
- 1994 - Pulp Fiction
- 1995 - Get Shorty
- 1996 - The People vs. Larry Flynt
- 1997 - Titanic
- 1998 - The Truman Show
- 1999 - American Beauty
- 2000 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- 2001 - Memento (Indie list)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Hollywood list)[17] - 2002 - Gangs of New York
- 2003 - Mystic River
- 2004 - Sideways
- 2005 - A History of Violence
- 2006 - The Departed
- 2007 - No Country for Old Men
- 2008 - Milk
- 2009 - Precious
- 2010 - The Social Network
- 2011 - Drive
- 2012 - The Master
- 2013 - 12 Years a Slave
- 2014 - Boyhood
- 2015 - Spotlight
- 2016 - La La Land
- 2017 - Dunkirk
- 2018 - Roma
- 2019 - The Irishman
- 2020 - Da 5 Bloods
- 2021 - The Power of the Dog
- 2022 - Everything Everywhere All at Once
- 2023 - Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer[18]