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Michelle Strozykowski - Michelle Strozykowski

Michelle Strozykowski lives in a small brewing town smack bang in the middle of England. She loves films, especially arty European ones like Les Amants du Pont-Neuf but, at a push, any old rubbish starring Michael Dudikoff blowing things up will keep her happy. She’s also very keen on TV, and watches way more than she’d ever admit to. (She knows she really should be working.) Her taste is quite eclectic, ranging from the sublime American television tour de force The Wire to the ridiculous British comedy series The Mighty Boosh. Anything really, apart from soaps. Michelle used to write exclusively about foreign films here on Suite101, but now she writes about whatever takes her fancy. Films, football, volcanoes, outer space, grammar - all the important stuff of life.

Michelle has a degree in film studies, and has tried her hand at the whole writing/directing lark on the festival circuit. In the 1990s she reviewed films on the telly for a cable TV programme called Live Flix, which was so obscure she had to get tapes of her performances to take home and watch as she didn’t subscribe to the TV channel. She doubts anyone else has ever seen her not-very-enthusiastic reviews of such well remembered gems as Dracula Dead and Loving It, and is quite happy for things to remain that way.

Back in the days when music either came on LPs or mix tapes, Michelle kick-started her writing career with a self-published fanzine. Long before she sat her GCSEs she was writing about gigs, interviewing bands and reviewing films. Although this didn’t lead to her ultimate goal of marrying Jim Reid from the Jesus and Mary Chain, she did meet him, twice. He wasn’t very nice. That’s why these days Michelle never ever wants to meet Johnny Depp.

Later, when Michelle decided that what she really wanted to do was write about films for a living, the careers woman at school said no chance. Turns out she was right. In over twenty years of writing about films, Michelle has earned, on average, about enough to buy her one Mars bar a week. That’s why she is forced to subsidise her writing, and her chocolate intake, with a so-called proper job - though nobody believes she actually does any real work when she tells them she’s a beer taster.

As for awards, well Michelle hasn’t really won any for her writing, although the Derby Evening Telegraph did once place her review of Goodfellas 2nd in their film reviewer of the year competition. Michelle wasn’t bitter. She just swiped some very nice wine from the awards ceremony, and that cheered her right up. She also once won the Game of Knowledge board game from Look-In magazine, so somebody up there must really like her.

If anyone is still reading, Michelle would like to encourage you to check out her blog - Movienoodle. Though not too often, because she only updates it very occasionally. She’s also written some darned good pieces for other websites like Helium, and has started writing, oooh, at least 20 feature film scripts. That’s started, not finished. If she’s not busy doing any of that stuff, she’s either drinking beer or she’s here, with her foot in her mouth - like the photo there at the top. Of course, she claims it is her hand, and that she's assumed a sort of Rodin's Thinker pose, but c’mon, sure looks like a foot.