Blog From The Bench

Never had a blog before, but my favorite word is "I" so I guess I'm a good candidate for one. We judges review movies for this site and must constrain our words and styles a bit to keep readers from screaming away into the woods; perhaps these blogs will allow for more personal expression.

Really, this blog is about you and not me. The two most important groups in cinema are the filmmakers and the audience, and each is irrelevant without the other. I feel the same way, albeit on a minor scale, about reviewing. A review is a personal response to a film, expressed with enough clarity and supporting information to let readers decide whether they would like it. (Assuming the reader is there to learn such, which is an entirely different topic.) As a reader, you already know about yourself, your own prejudices, quirks, and experiences. So this is an opportunity to level the playing field, allow you to see what prejudices, quirks, and experiences I bring to the table. I hope that such revelations do not bore you to tears, but instead allow my reviews to take on useful context for you.

There, enough chit chat. Time for something fun.