Foolishly staying up late on a work night because it's hot, I'm thirsty, and I feel like writing.
This week is my last week in the State College, PA area. Writing this blog for a year and a half now, living in State College the whole time, I've reviewed over 50 movies. By this time next week, I will be living in Brooklyn, NY. I don't know if the move will change my perspective on things or if it will change anything at all, but as someone who loves film, loves to write about film, loves to make films... I anticipate exciting times for me. I hope to get a good paying job while actually making this a much more active blog. As my taste for summer blockbuster tentpoles continue to wane, my selection of movies to review may become even more selective as I'll be able to see anything I want.
Let me explain in regards to that, however. I find the divide between critics and audiences to be quite fascinating which is partly why I made this in the first place. You see, I consider myself an avid moviegoer. I like all types of movies and I tend not to favor one particular genre over another. But, I must say, once I started to evaluate films and started taking a more analytical approach, I find myself wanting more. It takes a lot within yourself to shrug your shoulders on a film and just accept its crappiness. People say the way to enjoy a movie like Transformers 3 is to not expect a great movie and just enjoy the stupidity and special effects. But after films like Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, The Hangover Part II... how many times throughout the summer can we go on like this? We dedicate a whole season, from May to August, to films that aren't challenging in anyway and are just special effects machines. Personally, there's only so many times I can subject myself to that and so I sort of have to pick and choose which films are going to be enjoyable without having to constantly check my brain at the door.
Is that right though? Shouldn't I give Transformers 3 a chance? Fact of the matter is that people on imdb.com give it a 6.8 which is a full point higher than the second TF. 90% of audiences on rottentomatoes approve of the film whereas only 36% of critics liked it. Most of the other 74% pretty much hated it. Truth be told, I haven't seen one Transformers movie and I honestly don't plan on seeing them anytime soon. But such an audience divide kind of makes me wonder exactly where I fall. I don't consider myself a critic, I feel that I'm still just an audience member who likes to write about the films he sees. Although, of course, when you give a score/rating to a film, that kind of pigeonholes you into the critic category. One thing I don't want to do, and what I wouldn't do, is derail audience members who do see the film. Even if I saw it, wrote about it, and would up hating it, I would never want anyone to think that I was just going along with the critic crowd or that I didn't allow myself to enjoy it for what it is. I actually consider myself very generous with my reviews because I often try to look at both sides of the picture which is why I've never given a film below a 4/10. Not only because I don't deliberately go out to see bad films, but also because I'm not out to talk shit about films. What brings me more joy is seeing a film that I really enjoyed and being able to express the enjoyment with the public.
So, what I'm trying to say here is... don't be surprised if I seem to be avoiding films like Transformers and at the same time, it would never mean that I'm better or above films such as those. Honestly, what this place is about is films from the perspective of one person, a nobody, me. I do this site out of sheer enthusiasm not to get a rise out of people. I may have biases and I would never pretend to be unbiased because that wouldn't be honest to you. What I really wanted out of this site was to refine the quality of my writing. In fact, I probably will get rid of this site if I ever wind up seriously becoming a filmmaker. Ok, I may not get rid of this completely, I'll just delete all my negative reviews. Sure, I want to be honest... while I'm poor! I'm totally ready and willing to be the dishonest, jerky Hollywood type!
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