Thomson attended American University from 1975 until 1979, graduating in Spring 1980 with a degree in visual communications and cinema studies. He started working for The Washington Post in 1983 as a copy aide for the Style section, and by 1984 was writing freelance articles for the paper. In 1987 he became a film critic for the paper.[3] He was one of the few film critics in the country to write a positive review of The Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski, [1] and wrote many well received film tributes including one to Richard Pryor [2]. He has frequently acknowledged writing one of the few negative reviews of The Shawshank Redemption.[4]