A film review by Wesley Morris can take a number of different angles: a star’s power over the production, the quality and chemistry of the performances, a film’s place in a genre or the arc of a career. He writes in lively, smart prose sprinkled with memorable turns of phrase. Of Michael Moore’s abilities as a director, he wrote that he “can turn a kernel of truth into a bucket of popcorn.” About The Help: “On one hand, it’s juicy, heartwarming, well-meant entertainment. On the other hand, it’s an owner’s manual.”

Wesley Morris recently (this past January) moved to Grantland, where he works today. He began his career in the late 1990s writing for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Examiner, then moved to the Boston Globe. From his offices there, late last year, the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for criticism discussed bringing notebooks into the theater, Hollywood’s relationship to homosexuality, and doing the right thing.

— Naoki O’Bryan

THE BELIEVER: When writing a review, do you feel obligated to come down to a yes or no decision?

WESLEY MORRIS: No, no. I would hope that by the time you are done reading what I’ve written you can determine whether or not it’s an experience you would like to have, if you haven’t already had it. If I like a movie, I’m definitely advocating for it, but it’s not “you should see this” or “you shouldn’t see this.” I try to take a longer view about what the movie is doing and where it fits in the context of other things, in the way that certain good literary criticism tries to do the same thing. I’m slightly limited by the fact that I write for a daily newspaper and that I have to apply that idea to five separate movies in the space of anywhere from five hundred to a thousand words each, as opposed to taking one film and dealing with that for about two or three thousand words. But hopefully the effect is the same. Hopefully I can give you a sense of whether or not I had a good time, and whether it worked or why it doesn’t work.

BLVR: How much, if at all, do you take a filmmaker’s intent into account when writing about a movie?

WM: It’s important to keep that in mind, but I don’t think it’s the guiding principal for me in terms of what I think the movie is doing. Anything produced and then exhibited for public view is open to interpretation. A movie is just like a work of art or a book or a piece...