Introduction

I love movies.

I’m starting a blog for the first time, the subject for which is movies and my unending desire to see as many as possible.  I am primarily a musician.  I sing jazz, I have sung in choirs and while I have not yet sung backup for James Taylor, I am certain I will.

But I also love movies.  I’ve been seriously watching movies (and keeping notes) for almost 20 years.  I clearly remember my first experience going to the movies when I was 9 years old.  At that time, I had some knowledge that I wanted to do this magic thing called Going to the Movies.  I figured out that movies opened on Fridays and you could find out in the Thursday paper what was closing that night and opening tomorrow.  I would keep a lookout for acceptable movies (ones Dad was likely to take my brother and me to, i.e. Disney) and when I informed my parents that Cinderella was in town and the asking would never cease, we went.  I remember the fascination I had in finally seeing the whole movie.  Certain scenes were familiar from the Sunday night Disney TV show, but now I saw the story from beginning to end and I was hooked.

Somewhere in the early 1990s I started keeping track of the movies I saw, using a star rating system and coming up with my own top 10 list each year.  I became an avid Oscar-watcher.  I’ve kept the telecasts on VHS from 1993 to date (yes, I still use VHS) and I can name all the Best Picture winners in chronological order.  I have various checklists I’m working on at any given time which often leads me to exclaim, “I want to see ALL the movies!”  I realize that no single person can do this but the journey’s the thing, not the destination.  Besides, I don’t think completing anyone’s list of the 10,000 movies all self-respecting movie-lovers must see before they die would cause me to immediately keel over.

My intention is to write reviews and the occasional commentary.  I’m going to be learning a lot at first, about the mechanics of blogging and especially about writing.  I’ve been reading Roger Ebert for years but his easy-reading, erudite style is not something I’ve been able to assimilate.  In the meantime I hope you enjoy…