Who Died and Made Me Ebert?

If you’ve looked at my blog during the past couple of weeks—and I’ll assume you have if you’re reading this now—then you’ve noticed that lately I’ve been posting nothing but movie reviews. I’ve always enjoyed movies, at least as much as the next person, but I started watching quite a lot of them when I was in high school. It helped that I had a handful of close friends who were equally keen on motion pictures. My friends and I used to go to the movie theater all the time, including many occasions when we should have been in school. (It helped that first-run matinee showings cost only $3.50 in those days, which is what the second-run “dollar” theater charges today, at least here in Tallahassee.) I wrote my first movie review for my high school newspaper, then wrote a few more, and after high school, wrote over 80 of them that can still be found online via the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes. Some of those reviews are embarrassingly bad at best, but writing the reviews has always been something I’ve enjoyed. Even when I stopped writing reviews, I would often think about what I would say in a review if I were to critique a particular film I’m watching. Sometimes I feel like there is a lot to say about a movie, but I don’t usually bother saying it. Until lately, that is.

With my lightened summer schedule, Melanie and I have taken to watching a movie almost every night of the week. I’m sure that sounds indulgent to some, but I’ve long since abandoned the notion that watching movies is somehow a shameful activity of choice, as if movies are necessarily frivolous entertainment. Some movies are frivolous, but so are the abilities of some people to appreciate movies. Sometimes you get out of something what you put into it. I put a lot of mental thought into watching movies, and thus I get quite a mental reward out of watching them. And with very few exceptions, I would much rather watch a movie than two hours of television. During the normal school year, I’m usually too busy to watch movies, and if I actually have time to watch a movie, it sounds too mentally draining to do so. I need frivolous entertainment between September and May. If I’m going to watch something during those months, I probably want it to be short and light. So there is a time and a place for normal television. But for now, in the splendor of summer, I’m enjoying catching up on as many movies as I can.

I know one or two of you have been reading the reviews, and that’s cool. I don’t expect everyone to, and that’s fine by me. I write the reviews because I enjoy it, not because I think I’m making a difference to anyone. As it is, my mom and sisters are the only people who are likely to be influenced by anything I have to say, and if I think they should see a movie, I can just call them and tell them so. No, I’m writing the reviews mostly for my own sake. Which probably sounds strange because reviews are primarily aimed at informing someone of something that that person doesn’t already know. Oh well. It’s not like I’ve been writing a review of every single movie I watch, even since my review-writing renaissance began back on June 28th. I’ll write as much or as little as I want, I suppose. At least while I can. Which will be for another few weeks. So, to anyone who enjoys them, I hope you’ll enjoy what’s yet to come. And don’t worry—I’ll squeeze in some non-movie-related posts now and again. I promise.