Three Years Later

Three years ago, I started Such Moving Pictures.

I love movies.  I've loved movies for a long time.  When I saw Far From Home: Adventure of Yellow Dog as a child, I cried so loudly my mom had to take me out of the theater.  When I saw Titanic, I retired to my bedroom, telling my parents that I would never be happy again.  When I saw The Fountain in 2006, I knew that I wanted to make movies for a living.  When I saw (500) Days of Summer a few years later, I knew what kind of movies I wanted to make.

I talk about movies a lot.  It's hard for me to spend any extended period of time with someone without the conversation turning to movies.  I love recommending movies for people to see, especially movies that they wouldn't have heard of otherwise.  And I love when others do the same for me, like when ComingSoon's Ed Douglas recently turned me on to Somebody Up There Likes Me, a bizarre little comedy full to the brim with strange wit.

So years ago, when I felt like I was getting annoying to my friends, always wanting to tell them the latest bit of movie news or about the great movie I just watched, I decided to take my fevered passion to the place where fevered passion goes to blossom without bothering anyone: the internet.  There, I could vent and gush and ponder and philosophize without bothering anyone.  They'd only have to endure it if they chose to click the link and spend a few minutes reading my thoughts.  I could have my little corner of the internet all to myself, and maybe if I was lucky, I'd get a few readers along the way.

I've been incredibly lucky.

I never expected much to come of Such Moving Pictures.  It was a selfish venture from the get-go.  There's something masturbatory about running a blog, especially one on which one spends a lot of time recommending and reviewing other people's creative ventures.  Who am I to proclaim and condemn?  I'm just a guy who loves movies, loves going to the movies, loves talking about movies, and will someday love making movies, should I be so lucky.

But then, the unexpected happened: people actually read my blog.  Friends, family members, and co-workers reached out to me to tell me that they watched such-and-such movie because they read about it on my blog.  Then, the traffic numbers skyrocketed, and people I didn't know were reading the words I wrote between classes and work and the other distractions of a college kid's life.  It was overwhelming, humbling, and deeply, deeply exciting.  That anyone cares what I have to say and weighs my opinions when deciding what to see is beyond satisfying.  It's a thrill.

One of the things I pride myself on is that I can like any movie.  I try to avoid forming strong opinions about a film before seeing it, even though it's impossible to fully curb expectations, especially for giant tentpoles and the newest offerings from favorite directors.  And though I graduated from (the) Ohio State earlier this year with a Film Studies degree, I have no problem proclaiming We're the Millers one of the funniest movies of the summer.  It saddens me to see how cynical the film-watching/blogging/criticizing community is; express an unpopular opinion, and you'll find yourself at the bottom of a tweeting dogpile.  Say you're going to see a movie that has gotten bad reviews, and prepare for a slew of sarcastic comments: "Good luck" and "Why are you wasting your time?"

Why do I waste my time?  Because I love movies.  Even a bad movie usually has something good about it.  Take Movie 43, which is one of the most heinous things I've ever seen.  The movie is almost completely bad, but there was a bright spot in there: that bizarre, hilarious PSA about how machines have kids inside them.  Yeah, it was maybe a minute of the movie, but it was a hell of a minute.

I'm getting off course (not that there's a particular course for this post), but I guess what I want to express, after spending three years talking about movies in a very public way, is to love what you love, regardless of what others say.  Try to see the good in whatever movie you watch; enjoy what you can.  If something is dumb fun, embrace that dumb fun.  Don't let the ever-growing monster of critical opinion sway you.  I would never wish for someone to dislike a movie, even if it's a movie I hate.  If you're taking the time and paying the money to see a movie, I won't wish you "Good luck" with a roll of the eyes, however tempting it may be.  I'll wish you a good time, a good laugh, a good cry.

Because going to the movies is an amazing thing, especially when there are so many really great movies to see.  Movies like Francis Ha and The Spectacular Now give me hope for the future of movies, even as people lament the ever-quickening descent of Hollywood into the Pit of Unoriginality.  See what you want, love what you will, and champion what you think deserves it.

As for me, I'll keep doing what I'm doing here, even as I cast my eye toward Los Angeles (hopefully I'll be settled there by this time next year).  I recently came into the good fortune of getting to work at a movie theater, meaning I can see movies for free, which means I'll be seeing more movies than ever (and hopefully finding time to write about them for your reading pleasure).  As we enter into the best time of the year for movies, I'm excited for Year Four here at Such Moving Pictures.  I hope you are, too.