I, Movie Hound
I don't remember exactly when I became so fond of film, but it was probably in my late teens when I started dating, and the usual thing to do was to go to a movie, get a bite to eat and then snog somewhere relatively out of the way. Later, a friend began having 'movie nights' at his house, where a bunch of friends would get together and try to see how late we could stay up and still pay attention to the movie playing on his father's brand new Betamax. (Wow! You can watch movies on your TV!! Amazing!!)
So I became interested in film in my late teens, early twenties, but purely for its entertainment value. It wasn't until ten years later or so (around age 30) that I really started to see film as an art form. To see that it often had something important to say. This rather astonished me. That something I had dismissed as a pastime actually had the power to change how I, or perhaps millions of folk, looked at life. I think of this time as my personal awakening. And film was a big part of it.
Now some folks say that a movie is bad because it has bad language, or violence or sexual content in it. Some say it's bad if it doesn't entertain. Some say it's bad if it doesn't convey an important message or sentiment. Well, everyone's entitled to their opinions. To me, a bad movie is one with one or more of the following: a bad story, a bad script, bad acting, bad directing, or bad editing. I really do look at film now not based so much on it's content (though that still counts for an awful lot), but its execution, which I find much more interesting. Because, I find if it is executed well, the subject matter just doesn't matter a whole lot to me. Still, there have been a few well executed movies I've seen that I abhored (Flags of our Fathers, The Thin Red Line, most Robert Altman films, a few others).
Anyway, I love movies. Here are SOME of my favorite movies, in no particular order: Brazil, Garden State, Almost Famous, The Godfather, On the Waterfront, The Lord of the Rings, Young Frankenstien, Do the Right Thing, Casablanca, A Christmas Story, True Grit, Whale Rider, The Professional, Caddyshack, Paths of Glory, The Birds, A Fish Called Wanda, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Stripes, Simon Birch, Judgement at Nuremburg, Star Wars (IV), My Life as a Dog, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rain Man, Rob Roy, The Fisher King, It's A Wonderful Life, This is Spinal Tap, Unforgiven, Sergeant York, A Night at the Opera, Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Planet of the Apes, Glory.
(Just to name a few)
So I became interested in film in my late teens, early twenties, but purely for its entertainment value. It wasn't until ten years later or so (around age 30) that I really started to see film as an art form. To see that it often had something important to say. This rather astonished me. That something I had dismissed as a pastime actually had the power to change how I, or perhaps millions of folk, looked at life. I think of this time as my personal awakening. And film was a big part of it.
Now some folks say that a movie is bad because it has bad language, or violence or sexual content in it. Some say it's bad if it doesn't entertain. Some say it's bad if it doesn't convey an important message or sentiment. Well, everyone's entitled to their opinions. To me, a bad movie is one with one or more of the following: a bad story, a bad script, bad acting, bad directing, or bad editing. I really do look at film now not based so much on it's content (though that still counts for an awful lot), but its execution, which I find much more interesting. Because, I find if it is executed well, the subject matter just doesn't matter a whole lot to me. Still, there have been a few well executed movies I've seen that I abhored (Flags of our Fathers, The Thin Red Line, most Robert Altman films, a few others).
Anyway, I love movies. Here are SOME of my favorite movies, in no particular order: Brazil, Garden State, Almost Famous, The Godfather, On the Waterfront, The Lord of the Rings, Young Frankenstien, Do the Right Thing, Casablanca, A Christmas Story, True Grit, Whale Rider, The Professional, Caddyshack, Paths of Glory, The Birds, A Fish Called Wanda, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Stripes, Simon Birch, Judgement at Nuremburg, Star Wars (IV), My Life as a Dog, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rain Man, Rob Roy, The Fisher King, It's A Wonderful Life, This is Spinal Tap, Unforgiven, Sergeant York, A Night at the Opera, Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Planet of the Apes, Glory.
(Just to name a few)
Labels: movies