Hello Again, For the First Time

An Introduction of Sorts...

In 2011 or 2012, I learned the difference between "Watching Movies" and "Screening Films" when I enrolled in a joint Political Science/Cultural Studies/Cinema Studies class at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The class just happened to be taught by one of my favorite professors of all time; Dr. Michael Fitzgerald. It was probably halfway through the semester when I came up with the format for "Watching the Movie vs Screening the Film" and posting them to my Facebook status as content.They were fairly popular among many of my friends on the social network; but like all things on social media, interest wanes eventually. Once audience interest wanes; so does the interest for the writer. This blog is an effort to reignite the flame for writing and grow the audience for this format beyond my friends and family.

Watching the Movie

People love movies. Many people much smarter than me have explored the phenomenon in ways that are far beyond the scope of my knowledge base and this blog; but we love them all the same. We quote them (more on that later), we put posters on our walls, we watch trailers multiple times looking for Easter eggs just to tide us over until the time comes when we sit down with our oversized; overpriced popcorn and cola to watch gunfights, explosions, and all other forms of gratuitous sex and violence for 90 minutes. We enjoy the movie for the run time and once it's over; we never consider it again until the next time we want that particular ride again.

Screening the Film

Film critics talk about "Themes" and "Message" and "Historical Context". Films serve as a conduit to learning and growth; and by screening them we consume the methodology and ethos of the filmmaker. If we dig deeply enough; we can grow our own understanding of the world around us. The amount of digging we have to do even has a name.....subtlety.

Best Dialogue

Ask anyone who loves "Ghostbusters" (1984) or "The Big Lebowski" (1998), or "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy" (2004) what their favorite things about those films is and they will immediately give you their favorite quote. Don't get me wrong, for the mid 80's the special effects in Ghostbusters are awesome; but so is a line like "I have seen shit that will turn you white!" The writing connects us to the characters so the characters can connect us to the universe; without connection to the universe both the movie and the film suffer.

The Bottom Line

Final thoughts on the film as a whole and any other commentary not addressed elsewhere.

Final Score

 My rating of the film out of 5. The scale is as follows:

5 - Absolute masterpiece. Must excel both as a movie and a film. Anyone who claims to take cinema seriously must have at least some knowledge of the film to establish credibility.

4 - Cult Classic. Excellent as either a movie OR a film; but usually fails incredibly at the other or lacks the mainstream credibility to be considered for the masterpiece score. 

3 - Average. Neither particularly good nor bad. Mediocre offerings that are usually worth watching once; then never considering again.

2 - Straight to Redbox. Usually movies/films I struggled to remain invested in. About 30 minutes in I grab my laptop or cellphone and disengage from the movie. Usually these films do not see the light of day in theaters; hence the scale name. 

1 - Usually these do not see the blog; because I do not finish the screening.

0 - Avoid like the plague. I watched this movie and posted a review as a warning to others.

-1 - God owes you the runtime back for watching this movie/screening the film. So far the only -1 I have ever given was for "The Bag Man" (2014).

"The Good, The Bad, The Ugly"

On occasion; I will abandon my preferred format for "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." I usually do so in circumstances of film series (Harry Potter, James Bond, most Marvel films etc.) where the film themes and messages tend to grow redundant, therefore so does the writing.

"Lights up"

Postings will occur whenever I effectively screen a film from start to finish and I am %100 certain I haven't reviewed it in the past (for at least the first year). I will post old reviews from my "Facebook Memories" when they arise to minimize redundancy. In some circumstances; I may reconsider my stance on a film from an original post; but will always screen the film again when I do so and take my previous viewing into consideration.

Stay tuned.... more coming soon!

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