Movies and Stuff

Movies. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a favorite. That’s where I’ll start this blog—with a topic everyone can weigh in on.

I, like you, often check movie reviews in an attempt to pare down the list of movies I will see. Hey, at 10 bucks a show you have to be a bit more particular than you used to. The problem is, many movie reviewers are, for lack of a better word, uppity.

Aside from that, you’re getting one opinion at a time from one perspective. Would you expect a, say, 24 year old girl to enjoy the same movies as Ebert? No, of course not. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to, in part, dedicate this blog to the stream of new films and DVD’s out there. Find a review from someone that isn’t as concerned with a directors choice of lighting as they are with being entertained. Find someone more likely to have something in common with you and your tastes than some haughty reviewer that hasn’t sat with a paying audience to screen a movie in a quarter century.

There are other choices for reviews. An abundance of websites exist, written by guys like the comic book store owner from the Simpsons, that will gladly give you their two-cents.

I’m not saying these reviews don’t have merit. I’m not saying reviews should be dumbed down at all. In fact, I enjoy Ebert’s reviews and there are some sights run by geeks that have insightful reviews.

My problem is it’s difficult to find reviews from a broad cross-section of the public. When I find insightful reviews I will post them. In other cases I will write them myself. And yet a third, more promising possibility, will be to obtain the opinions of you, the humble audience, in all your culturally, physically, and chronologically diverse splendor.

Next up: An opinion on the Academy Awards and why I am already disappointed with their choices. Also, some commentary on the insistence of Hollywood that we all hold their opinions or at least cherish them when it comes to politics and lifestyle.