Michael Phillips

Michael Phillips (born 1961) is an American film critic for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. Previously he was the drama critic of the Tribune; the Los Angeles Times; the St. Paul Pioneer Press; The San Diego Union-Tribune; and the Dallas Times Herald. Phillips was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin and spent most of his early years in Racine. From 2006 through August 2008, he appeared frequently on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, first as one of numerous guest critics filling in for the late Roger Ebert while he was on medical leave, and becoming a semipermanent cohost with Richard Roeper in the months before Roeper and Ebert ended their association with the series. On August 5, 2009, Phillips was hired along with New York Times critic A.O. Scott to replace hosts Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz. More recently Phillips has introduced dozens of films as a guest host of Turner Classic Movies in 2011, 2013, 2016 and early 2017. He appears regularly on the Filmspotting podcast, and hosts a series of programs celebrating movie music titled "The Film Score" for WFMT-FM (98.7).