I have always loved movies, but I got kind of a late start as a "film buff". I didn't realize my buff potential until college, actually, when I had an anxiety-fueled quarter-life crisis that led me to the Cinema and Media Studies department at the University of Chicago. My first course was called "Hollywood in the 21st Century," and it was basically the awesomest thing ever. I felt both the exhiliration of discovering my intellectual passion and the pointed embarassment of not having discovered it sooner.
Maybe the tipoff should have been how much fun I'd had writing my first movie reviews a couple of years earlier. As a senior in high school, I began to write for our school paper, the Sandscript. My best friend was the editor of the Entertainment section, which translated into an open invitation to review whatever the hell I wanted to. I headed straight to the movies, a small spiral notebook in tow. Perhaps one day, that first review will be revered as a milestone in journalistic history; the film was Bring It On, and the verdict was decidedly negative.
Years later, I'm still not crazy about cheerleading films, but I am much better armed to crtique them. After struggling to find the right gameplan for Cineplexus, I've ultimately decided to write about any movie, anytime, as long as I have an opinion about it, and I certainly will. I encourage you to leave any insightful comments you might have, and check in often for more entries. I can't guarantee you'll always agree with me, but I do know that we'll never run out of movies to argue about.
Love,
Marissa
PS: My favorite movie is Hitchcock's Vertigo. I also love Carné's Children of Paradise and Scorsese's Mean Streets. That said, the movie I've seen the most times is Penelope Spheeris' Wayne's World. My least favorite movie is Manos, the Hands of Fate, which not even MST3K could render amusing or enjoyable.
Finally, some business: All ratings are out of a possible 5 stars. If a movie is ever Manos, the Hands of Fate bad, even it will receive 1/2 a star, not zero stars.
