Every once in a while, someone asks me an interesting question out of left field. This is in fact how I get most of my ideas for posts. Having just re-org’d the site, one such friend/visitor asked me why I don’t post movie reviews any more, when I obviously still go to movies all the time.
To answer that question, about a year ago it seems, I got a chance to watch Jamie Kennedy’s movie “Heckler” which is pretty much an quasi-documentary on the fact that the Internet has made it so easy for anyone with $3.00 per month (for web site hosting) to become a self-proclaimed “movie critic”.
While it may be extremely narcissistic of movie stars, it turns out a lot of them “google themselves” and actually read the words written by these unqualified jackasses. Some of the so-called reviews even attack movie stars on a very personal level, and while I tend to think they need to “suck it up or don’t read it”, saying that would be like telling *you* not to be affected by the most personal crisis in your own life. Easy to say, hard to do.
To that end, at some point after seeing that movie, I went back and read a couple of reviews I had written and realized that while I have what I think is a valid opinion of the movie, I too sometimes drifted dangerously close to personal attacks. I too tend to be an unqualified jackass, and while I don’t think I crossed any imaginary lines, the potential is there. So much that I wish I could apologize personally to Matthew Broderick for my review of “The Producers”.
I love the movies. All told, I probably go see about one a week on average. While I don’t hold movie stars up as demi-gods or anything, I respect the sometimes difficult job they do. As such, while I truly enjoy writing as well as movies and TV, I just don’t feel the need to trash them online any more. There are plenty of other idiots out there for that.
Did Jamie Kennedy’s movie have anything to do with that? Sure, but it didn’t change everything. It just helped me realize two very important aspects of the Internet lifestyle;
- Even though I don’t think so, thanks to Google, the world is watching,
- The Internet never forgets.
To the stars, directors, and entertainment companies, thanks for keeping me entertained. I wish sometimes you’d refund my money for crap movies (The Blair Witch Project comes to mind), but then again, I’ve learned that “crap” is subjective. Smelly and expensive to see in the theater, but subjective.
Will I ever write a movie review again? I’m sure I will at some point. There have been plenty of excellent movies out there in the last few years that I’ve thought about reviewing, but I just don’t have time any more like I used to. I may have also been getting burnt out a couple of years ago when the local theater was running $5.00 tickets and I saw (and reviewed) a couple of movies a week.
Who knows, but to quote Tony Stark from Iron Man 2:
My bond is with the people, and I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there’s one thing I’ve proven it’s that you can count on me to pleasure myself.
Boy, reading the last post, I sure can babble, can’t I?
