What is this? This is me, Joe, writing about movies after I see them. I hope I have fun doing this, and I hope you have fun reading this.
Why am I doing this? That's probably a good question, too. I've always been drawn to movies. A friend of mine was talking about why history is so awesome. He said it was because all it is is stories. I thought about it a little, and he was close. It's all good stories. You don't get into history without doing something important, having an interesting story that would last the test of time. No one remembers the boring stuff from history. We likely won't learn anything from the boring stuff in history. So, movies. They seem to me to be a little window into a different world, every time. They're all small snippets of bigger stories, but just showing the most interesting parts. The best movies are ones that are able to create those worlds in which you want to spend more time. With sequels and remakes, sometimes, for better or worse, you do get to spend more time there. Also, movies just rule. I'm lucky to live in the country/home of most movies. I'm not trying to discredit foreign movies in any way, but Hollywood is right here. The Oscars are the only award show that matters. Would the ratings of the Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, and Golden Globes all added together equal the Oscars' rating? The Oscars are always the second-most-watched-event right behind the Superbowl. I kind of like knowing a lot and being well-versed in something that most everyone else has in their life in some way.
I watch a lot of movies at home. With Netflix, cable TV, and my somewhat compulsive Blu-Ray purchasing habits, it's incredibly easy. But none of those hold a candle to the theater. I love just being sucked into that experience, and just for 100 minutes, there being absolutely nothing except for you and the screen. I made a crack today when I was the first person in theater for a movie about hoping no one else joined me and I got a private screening. But thinking about it - it doesn't matter. Others showed up, but I still got the whole experience of just myself and the screen. This isn't meaning to sound like I watch movies with my friends in abject silence. No, I like having a good time. And I also don't want to discredit the audience experience, and how it can enhance a movie. People screaming at a jump scare in a horror movie, people laughing uproariously at a comedy that's just hitting every mark, and everything like it are fun in their own ways.
So, I have noticed this last year or so, I've really slacked off on seeing new movies. This is a little bit of a jumpstart just to give me another reason to watch movies. Also, an excuse to think and write about movies, which is something I've wanted to try in some form or fashion for years now. I'm abandoning the rigid "watch one movie a day" thing. I'd love to do that. I might end up doing that. I'm still going to try to keep this one post a day on a new movie I saw. I can put them in a can, watch a lot of movies on a weekend, and have all week already done, just waiting to post. That's how I invision it going anyways. If 2012 ends with me seeing 300 new movies, this will be a huge success. I'm also going to play around with the format. I don't know exactly what every post is going to be. I don't want to call them all flat-out reviews. Just some sort of kind of organized thoughts, maybe just some stuff about how I saw the movie, what I thought about the movie before I saw it, WHY I chose it to watch, some things like that.
With this post, I suppose it starts tomorrow! I'm really excited to do this. I hope you're excited to read this. All feedback, good or bad, just put them in the comments here, or email me at joseph.p.rand@gmail.com.
Thanks!
