Watch: Exclusive Trailer For Short Film 'The Listener' Starring Amit Shah, Written By The Playlist's Oliver Lyttelton

"I'd like to see you try and make a movie," goes the occasional taunt from commenters on negative reviews. It's a pretty unfair stance in a lot of ways, mainly because most critics do what they do out of a genuine love for both film and criticism, and treat it as an art in and of itself and have no secret desire to go off and make movies themselves. That said, there are a number of writers or directors who started their careers by writing about movies first. Like the guy who made "The Last Castle." And, uh, me.

When I'm not writing here at the Playlist or elsewhere, I'm a screenwriter, and earlier this year I wrote a short called "The Listener," which was directed by Michael Gilhooly and produced by Sam Swann and their colleagues at Good Shout. It stars Amit Shah, who you might have seen this summer in "The Hundred Foot-Journey," along with Joanna Horton ("Fish Tank"), Guy Henry ("Harry Potter And The Deathly...