IN THE BEGINNING

There are many different kinds of passion.

There’s the kind that’s so obvious and insistent that it can not be ignored. It’s white hot. Highly charged. Unstoppable. Maybe even a little bit dangerous. It’s like an unquenchable thirst that you just can’t shake.

But I’m not going to get into that right now…

On this particular blog, I’m going to be discussing passion of the cinematic variety. This is not going to be an awards site. I become just as interested as the next film aficionado late in the year, when more challenging fare is released theatrically. But I think there are a number of people who are covering that area in such excellent fashion that my input would only suffer as a result.

What I intend to do is to offer my own personal impressions of the most fascinating events on the cultural front. Approximately 90% of the content will be film related, mainly consisting of reviews of current movies and the occasional essay. But I’ll also discuss television and music. You’ll see a concert or CD review from time to time.

My rating system will be as follows:

0 Stars – Self Explanatory
1 Star – Poor
2 Stars – Fair
3 Stars – Good
4 Stars – Excellent
5 Stars – Potential Classic

I don’t think that you can categorize most new films as classics automatically. Strictly speaking, some time should pass before you can evaluate effectively. But there are always exceptions to the rule.

My interest in motion pictures dates from childhood. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was irrepressibly drawn to that magic. I’m not unduly critical. But I know what I like. I can go years without giving anything five stars. I award the majority of movies either two or three. But I do sometimes upgrade ratings after multiple screenings.

Aside from having this particular enterprise flourish at a cinematic level, my guidelines are fairly flexible. I hope that this will be as much fun reading as it is for me to write.