Today, I begin a huge social experiment.
Historical Background
First, let me say that I began my ‘career’ as a movie critic back in 1983 for the Columbine Courier—that’s the newspaper for Columbine High School. My editor, Chris Martin, did a record review each month called “Martin on the Rocks”. I later took the film critic column which was temporarily called “Martin, Jr. on the Flicks”. I continued to be the film critic all the way through high school, and then I stopped. I was pre-med in college, and there was no room for film reviews on my med school apps. I never stopped going to the movies, however. [By the way, I did not get into med school.] Nonetheless, I have continued to see no fewer than 75 movies per year ever since. Seventy-five movies in the theater, not counting VHS or DVD or TV. Some people say that’s a lot of movies--it is so many that I am terrible in the movie game because I cannot remember exact point plots and bit-characters. Others realize that 1 movie per week is fifty-two movies, so that means going once a week and 25 weeks or so going to two—which many people do during the summer when it is so blooming hot out and you don’t have air conditioning. Believe me, I’ve sat through some ‘real winners’ due to exactly that situation.
Rekindling the Fire
A couple of summers ago, I decided to try my hand at short movie reviews again--ones that I could circulate among friends via email. They loved them. They thought they were fun to read, especially since I have a lot of friends that are ‘married with children’ and, for some reason as yet unknown to me, they cannot go to the movies very often. So, they can read my reviews and then participate in conversations with other people they know whom also haven’t seen the movies everyone is talking about. They can say, “Oh, I know, I didn’t see ‘The Notebook’ either, but a friend of mine told me that it was so great, and that Ryan Gosling kid has come a long way since his days on the ‘New Mickey Mouse Club’. Did you know he was on that with Britney Spears?” Well, and then, I guess, they feel like they are able to be a part of cultural society today. Truth be told, I wish I didn’t know that Ryan Gosling was on the New Mickey Mouse Club with Britney Spears, but I spend a lot of time reading about actors and actresses, or in the case of Ms. Spears, still-waiting-for-that-break-out-role singers, from all sorts of sources. And, so, then when summer ended, and I had to go back to my ‘real' job, I found I had no time to go to the movies and write reviews despite my best efforts to do so. After all, my reviews are short, to the point, tell you if you should or shouldn’t see it, and best of all, unlike many, many critics, do not give away valuable plot points for those people who do actually have time to follow my advice and go to see the movies I recommend. Which was a bummer, because I enjoyed writing the reviews and helping those in need.
A Critic Reborn & an Experiment in Film Fanaticism
So, here I am. Today, I will start a new movie review blog. I haven’t checked, and I don’t plan to, but I imagine there are 1000s and 1000s of movie review blogs. How will mine be different? Well, I am not sure because, as I say, I haven’t checked the others out. But, here is one thing I think will be different other than that I am the author and that I am probably the only movie critic graduate of Columbine High School who went to college and didn’t get into medical school, I am committing today, to go to the movies every single day this year. For the next 365 days, I will go to the movies every single, solitary day. I will not miss a even just one day, not even Mother’s Day! And, every day, I will post a movie review. Every day! There may be some times, since I do not live in New York City, when I have to go to a movie I’ve already seen. And, when that happens, I’ll review it again, and maybe some other stuff too, to keep you interested and coming back every day. Well, that’s it. My social experiment. What will it be like to go to the movies every single day? Right now, I think it will be great! I have already been to the movies every day this week; but, who knows. Also, it will be expensive. I will have to work around that. I figure that it will cost no less than $3000 just in movie tickets alone. Not to mention popcorn, Icees®, gasoline to and from the movies, etc. [begin shameless plug] Of course, you can help fund this venture, by coming back every day and then checking out the ads on this blog. [end shameless plug] So, there it is. It’s out there. My plan. Call me crazy. Maybe every ‘real’ movie critic already does this so it’s not a big deal. But, I think it’s a big deal for a regular person to try this. Every day? Every single day? Yep. Every day. Let me know what you think? Could be a really bad idea. By the end of February, I could be in a downward spiral. We’ll see. Maybe sometimes, I’ll talk about how I am feeling. Maybe not. Maybe I won’t want to talk about it. Maybe I’ll prefer just to post my review and be done with it because after all, maybe going to see 365 movies is just too much! We’ll see.
W.I.P.
My movie-rating scale:
There’s one thing to which most people in the USA can relate, and that is money. They find this easier to comprehend than say 3 stars out of 5. Also, thumb’s up or down, what about the in-betweens? Not a lot of room for margin of error. So, right now, my calculated average of an evening movie ticket in the top 10 markets in the USA is close to $9. So, I decided to set my scale on whether you should or should NOT see a movie like this…
W.I.P. = “What I’d Pay” to see the movie
Basically, you’ve got to pay the normal cost of getting in to see any movie. So, $9 would be the rating for an average movie. I will then tell you what I would pay to see the movie. If I say, “$9”, then you will know it is a perfectly average movie. In other words, the film is perfectly worth the price of admission but not more.
If I say, “$11”, then you will know that the movie is more than worth the price of admission. Of course, if you live in New York City where you might pay $10.75 just to get in, you’ll still know that $11 is a sign the movie is more than worth the price of admission, you just won’t think it’s as worth it as someone who lives in Des Moines, IA where the price would only be $8.75 to get in. And, partially, this makes things just as they should be, because if you only have to pay $8.75 to see what I rate a $9 movie, it doesn’t have to be as good a movie for you to not feel as cheated. Just keep in mind that you are living in a market where going to the movies is a lot less expensive in the first place. $9 is my perfectly average movie. To give you a little more perspective, I would have given the fall film, The Weather Man, starring Nicholas Cage a W.I.P. rating of $3.00 (in other words, only worth it if you go to see it at the second-run film house) vs. his film, Lord of War, for which my W.I.P. would be $9.50 (slightly better than average, but not quite worth the full price in NYC).
Got it?
If all else fails, think of the my scale as being on a scale of like 3-15 where 9 is the middle. How’s that?
- $3 – don’t see it
- $4-$6 see it on DVD
- $7-$8 wait for the second run movie house
- $9 average, see it if you have time and money
- $10-$11 very good, see it (even in NYC)
- $12-$13 um, ok, what are you waiting for, go this weekend!
- $14 this is a MUST see film, go this Wednesday, TiVo® “Law and Order”
- $15 sure to be a talked about for months, an incredible movie, could be one of the best movies of the year, ignore all other films, buy tickets on-line right now so you cannot back out later
Disclaimer
One of my failings as a movie critic I am not proud to admit in certain circles, mostly with other movie critics, is that I pretty much like most movies. Let’s face it, no one would commit to going to the movies every day for a year, if he didn’t like movies, right? I mean, most people don’t sign up to go to the gym every day, do they? Ok. Enough said. So, therefore, I do tend to focus on the positives of movies rather than the negatives. I might even be more generous with my $9 W.I.P. scores than others would be. Hey, I also like all kinds of movies, not just dramas, or thrillers, or period pieces, or comedies, or stupid comedies, or sci-fi, etc. So, you might not agree with me on some of my ratings. That’s ok. This is a free country. You are free to think a movie was NOT worth $9. That’s fine. You might think it was worth only $3. Let me give you an example. Using today’s W.I.P. I would give the Kevin Costner film, Waterworld, a W.I.P. of $13. This makes a lot of my friends feel queasy and maybe that I am in the wrong field of writing. Well, so be it. I loved Waterworld, and I’m not afraid to admit it. Why’d I love it? Because it was an incredible risk to make, to film, and put out on the screen for critics to bash without really getting it. I’m sorry. I don’t think the critics really got that movie. Now, with global warming a reality, think about it. Think about our world completely under water. What would we do? Think about New Orleans under water. People, need to get that movies that take us to places we’ve never been, show us the possible futures ahead, experiment with relationships, introduce us to fantastic people or places, give us a window into our own minds, show us people doing things we never have the courage to do, or horrible things we’d never hope to do or see (such as war) or stretch the technology of filmmaking into entirely new areas deserve more respect. At the time, the critics were mostly bashing Waterworld because it cost so much money to make, and it was suffering from all sorts of problems. Since then, dozens of movies have been made that cost a ton more money than Waterworld, some were not even half as good. But, the fact that the critics bombed this film before it was even released for the public to make up its own mind, the movie was pretty much ruined. And, that, my friends, is a tragedy. There is nothing wrong with Waterworld. It is a great film in its genre of Mad Max like apocalyptic sorts of films. And, hey, Tina Majorino went on to star in Napoleon Dynamite, so there! So, when you read my reviews and my ratings keep in mind that I love movies, and I am more forgiving than a lot of critics, but the reality is that I tend to like good movies and dislike bad movies. So, if I tell you a movie isn’t so good, you probably might not want to see it. If I didn’t like it, hmm, it’s hard to know who would like it. There are fans for every film. Obviously. And, films are incredible outputs of human imagination. Even the terrible ones. A lot of people invested a lot of time and, in some cases, a ton of money into bringing these artistic visions they had to life. They deserve something for that, even if it is not much, like three bucks. So, I won’t tend to go lower than $3 in my W.I.P. scale.
Casanova
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Inaugural Review
Review #1 of 365
Film: Casanova [R] 111 minutes
WIP: $12.50
When 1st Seen: 11 January 2006
Where Viewed: Loew’s Cineplex Alderwood, Lynnwood, WA
Time: 6:30 p.m.
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DVD | soundtrack |
When I first saw the preview for the new feature film, Casanova, I knew I wanted to see it. Just the line, “Our mistress says we’ll take the animal, but the pig must leave,” in reference to the attempted gift of a pig to a lovely lady by Casanova presumably to woo her was all it took. For some reason, the line just struck my funny bone. And, that’s how it is with previews for me. All it takes is one line. It only took one line in the preview of Pirates of the Caribbean, Keira Knightley’s, “You like pain, try wearing a corset,” and I was hooked on seeing that film, and look how that turned out. Anyway, I’m not trying to suggest I have a built-in diving rod for hit films that tingles when I hear a great line in a preview or anything like that. (wink) Well, nonetheless, Casanova was an excellent movie. Really fun. It was part Moulin Rouge, part Shakespeare in Love, and a smaller part Three Musketeers. Fantastic music, sets, costumes, characters, and superb acting all rolled into one deliciously intriguing intertwined story that will make you laugh, cry, cheer, applaud, and simply leave the theatre happy you went to the movies, and especially, to see this movie. With a lot of great stuff out there right now, this one might be easy to overlook as everyone figures, “I know the story of Casanova, so I’m going to see something I haven’t seen.” Completely ignore that temptation.
I have been a huge, huge fan of Heath Ledger since his days back on the short-lived-but-still-constantly-re-run-on-Sci-Fi-Channel-
as-anyone-with-Heath-Ledger-in-his-or-her-TiVo-Wishlists-
can-tell-you television series, Roar. But, with Brokeback Mountain and Casanova in theaters side-by-side, this guy is at the top of his game. Jeremy Irons and Oliver Platt are completely enjoyable in this film as well, though Irons is a bit type-cast as the villainous Bishop Pucci. Lena Olin is absolutely stunning as the gorgeous Andrea Bruni as is her on-screen daughter Sienna Miller as Francesca. I would be remiss, also, not to mention the delightful portrayal of Lupo, Casanova’s trusty servant, by Omid Djalili. All the way around, this cast and crew under, the masterful direction of Lasse Hallström, have put together a wonderful cure to the dreary weather of the northern hemisphere’s wintry January blahs. What are you waiting for, go see it now!
This poster also available for purchase. Click to be directed to this poster and other items from the film that are available for purchase.
Now Available for Purchase on DVD
Casanova [DVD] (2005) DVD
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