“Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone; it bosses the enzymes; directs the pineal gland; plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to film is more film.” – Frank Capra
I’m generally terrible about New Year's resolutions, both making them and keeping them. That alone should probably serve as a disclaimer, whatever my plans for this project, it will likely die from neglect in short order.
But, here’s the thing, I love film. From the crummiest low-budget disasters, to ridiculously silly comedies, blockbuster summer tent-poles, lavish period films, or beautifully-crafted award winners and treasured classics, I am infected.
Unfortunately, real life often gets in the way. And, as such, though I have an awful lot of films on DVD and a burgeoning collection of Blu-ray discs, I don’t watch as many movies as I’d like. Complicating things further, with a new daughter at home, time is an even more precious commodity than before.
Yet films are precious too.
So, in an effort to get more value from my film library, and more importantly to spend at least a couple of hours of each day doing something that I truly love, I have resolved to watch a movie a day in 2009. Afterwards, I will post my thoughts here.
The Ground Rules
1. In most cases I will screen films from my own collection of DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Some films may be downloaded to an AppleTV via iTunes. However, nothing showing on TV counts. Occasionally, I may go to see a current release in the theater, but with a new baby at home, that is not likely to happen very often.
2. Each selection will be a feature film which received a theatrical release. Just because I have episodic television or cartoon shorts on DVD don't qualify them for my daily quota.
3. Films will be screened in their Original Aspect Ratio (OAR). When possible the original soundtrack will be selected in favor of amped-up digital surround tracks. For foreign films, subtitles are preferred to dubbed soundtracks, when possible.
4. I may have seen my selections before, or they may be new to me. Familiarity does not disqualify a film from screening.
5. I will try to write down my impressions of each film right away, while it is still fresh in my mind, but I probably won’t publish to the site every day. I may post a week’s worth of entries at once, but the films must be watched one-a-day. No making up for missed screenings on the weekends.
6. I haven’t set any expectation for my commentary. An entry might be as simple as “Great film!” or “Colossal waste of time.” If I have a lot to say, I may compose a long-winded diatribe to articulate my feelings. But I suspect that most of my commentary will be more like brushstrokes—a few random observations about what struck me. Kind of like Zagat, I suppose, but with fewer hyperbolic adjectives in quotes.
I think that’s about it. These rules may be amended throughout the project, but I hope to adhere as closely as possible to this framework.
Fan mail, hate mail, comments, suggestions and recommendations can be sent to cineaste [at] rhapsodic [dot] com.