On Reviews

Not sure I've ever laid this out.  The passing of Roger Ebert got me thinking about why I do all this and how I make my judgments.  For me a critic's opinions are worth very little if I don't understand where they find their foundation.  Some of my most reliable critics are the ones with whom I ALWAYS disagree.  If they hate it I'll like and vice versa.

The movie reviews are a spin off of the radio show where I talk about the movie industry regularly.  I love the movies so I decided to share my thoughts.  You will never hear me claim that I'm an expert because I'm not.  I do some research and background reading but that is based on the fact that I'm a fan as well.  For me that's the basis.  If you want deep philosophical discussions of the movies you won't find much to feed you here.  These are the thoughts of a fan.  Hopefully a fan with some deeper knowledge of the whys and hows of the movie making industry but someone who watches movies for the fun of it.

The book reviews are a spin off from the movie reviews.  If there is anything I love as much as the movies (at least among the media) it's reading.  And again I review from the point of view of a lover of books.

I rarely review current stuff.  There are lots of people who do that (looking for a good young movie critic?  Check out Stewart Smith of the Tyler (TX) Morning Telegraph.  Smart, funny and loves the movies.  Oh and my cousin.  But don't hold that against him.)  I prefer looking for good movies from the decades of product that Hollywood and the rest of the world have created.  Sometimes those are classics, sometimes those are movies that get overlooked.  And I try not to be afraid to say that I think a classic is over-rated ("The Searchers", rated as the Greatest Western of All Time by AFI.  Not even close in my opinion).  At the same time I want to say when I enjoy a movie even if I know it's not a great movie.  Sometimes a movie is just a movie.

If there is one thing that I will always look for in a book or a movie it is storytelling.  Everything in the book/movie should advance the storytelling.   This is the place that a lot (not all but a lot) of special effect movies fall down.  When it becomes about the effects rather than how the effects help the story telling they've lost me.  I don't care how great the cinematography may be, or how spectacular the special effects or how intense the acting or witty the script, if they don't contribute to story telling then they are a waste of my time.  The quality of the story telling will always be the bottom line for me.  The one difference between the movie and book reviews is that I do sometimes review brand new books.

Don't know that anyone else cares why I say what I say other than me.  Just wanted to be able to say "These are my core beliefs" when it comes to this stuff.

Back to movies reviews next week, I promise.