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About Us
Terry Plucknett
I have been a casual movie fan for most of my life, but a serious movie
fan since 2004. Although I am the oldest of the three
of us, I am the least experienced when it comes to movies. I think
I like talking about movies more than I actually like watching them.
Not to say watching them isn't enjoyable, it it just that much fun to
talk about them. When I watch a movie, I am looking for
it to connect with me in some way. I want to care about the movie.
I'm looking for the buzz. If I don't care about the story or the characters, I won't care about
the movie. It's like drinking a glass of Merlot, unacceptable. When I review a movie, I try to be as objective as
possible and give the movie credit when I can. I use a very
specific system to rate movies giving equal weight to five categories:
story/script, film quality/directing, acting, recommendability, and
emotional impact. This creates a separation between my favorite
movies and what I consider the best movies. For example, my
favorite movie of all time is Apollo 13, however it ranks # 3
on my Top 100. The Wizard of Oz, a movie I enjoy but
would not consider an all-time favorite, is listed as # 1 on my Top 100
because I consider it such a groundbreaking and near perfect movie on so
many accounts.
Zach Saltz
I am a movie nerd.
I had memorized every Best Picture winner by the time I was in
the sixth grade, and started to watch Criterion DVDs when I was
fourteen.
My favorite films
are always centered around characters and dialogue rather than plot and
action; I often find myself thinking that “boring films” are far more
fascinating than “exciting” movies.
I think I would dress up as a donkey for a new print of Bresson’s
Au hasard Balthazar
before I
would dress up for the latest banal
Spider-Man
sequels (though I
would admittedly and controversially note that the series has gotten
progressively better with each new entry).
I have three sources of film criticism I whole-heartedly trust:
Roger Ebert (whose reviews taught me how to write), James Berardinelli,
and the wonderful staff at
Slant
Magazine.
My reviews are in
the personal essay form, but as you can tell, I do not stay focused on
any one thing for an extended period of time (don’t you think Kevin
Smith’s films are merely the overhyped product of pop savvy and
Star Wars fandom rather than
substance?)
I do not believe
in calling every film made before 1950 my favorite just to show how
intelligent I am; newer films have just as much, if not more, to offer
to the enlightened viewer.
Here are some other tidbits:
Favorite Movie: For a while, I said the best movie
ever made was
In the Bedroom,
but that my favorite movie was
La
meglio giuventu (The Best of Youth).
I think for the sake of clarity, I’ll stick with
In the Bedroom.
Worst Movie: Four-way tie between
L’effrontee,
John Q. , A
History of Violence, and
The
Mist.
Favorite Oscar Moment: Most recently, when
Crash won Best Picture over
Brokeback Mountain (I’m not a
hater,
Crash is just a better
flick).
Worst Oscar Moment: Julia Roberts winning Best
Actress over two of the great performances in modern cinema – Laura
Linney in
You Can Count on Me
and Ellen Burstyn in
Requiem For a
Dream.
Favorite Movie Characters: All characters played by
Woody Allen, C.C. Baxter, Marge Gunderson, Travis Bickle.
Most-Watched Movie:
Apollo 13. Probably seen it
about 15 times.
Overrateds:
The Godfather,
Midnight Cowboy,
Gladiator,
Fight Club,
The Lord of the
Rings
Underrateds:
The Grey Zone,
The Man in the
Moon,
Naked Gun 33 1/3,
Titanic,
The Bridges of
Madison County.
Only time I’ve ever cried at a movie:
Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)
The one movie I desperately want to see but have
never been able to track down:
Il
Ladro di Bambini (The Stolen Children).
Todd Plucknett
What do I love about movies? Well, to begin
with…everything.
What constitutes a good movie for me is a
combination of certain elements. One particular standard that I look for
in a picture is intelligent writing.
Sideways is one of the most
intelligent screenplays I have ever come across. The vocabulary, broad
knowledge of all media, and its undeniable brilliant insight into human
relationships makes the film an almost flawless movie-going experience.
Another element that goes into my evaluation of
film is acting. I find it hard to consider a movie to be anything above
just tolerable if there are bad performances in it.
Saw is an example of a film
that is plagued by awful performances. It might have been a decent and
original thrill, but I could not get my mind around the torturous
performances in the film. An example of a flawlessly acted film would be
Leaving Las Vegas. The
chemistry between the actors and absolute believability make the film
almost untouchable in that regard.
Thirdly, the movie has to leave me with a strong
and lasting impression. There has to be some emotional impact, whether
that is my mind being bent on a twist (Memento),
a hilarious experience (Clerks),
authentic moving moments (Far from
Heaven), or something of the like.
I can always respect a movie that has ambitions
that go deeper than just entertainment. When one of these films fails,
it is so easy to consider it as being one of the worst. They are almost
always hit or miss, but when they hit (such as
American Beauty or
The Deer Hunter), that is when
a truly great film is made. I will traditionally consider an average
movie with importance as being better than an average blockbuster.
My range of my taste in movie is vast. Basically
every genre is represented in my top 100 films. I love everything from
Kill Bill, to the simplest of films like
Before Sunrise,
to films
of meaning like
Schindler’s List.
Watching movies is what I do with free time, to pass time…basically all
the time. Movies are my entertainment and even education on particular
subjects. I do not know what I would do without them.
Adam
Daly
Growing up, I always enjoyed sitting
down with my family and watching movies. As I got
older and started watching indie and classic films. I
quickly began to appreciate them more - not just as art, but
as a business.
There's nothing like going out to a
film that you're stoked to see. It's exciting and
gives me the jitters (depending on what I'm seeing).
My favorite movie theater foods are traditional popcorn, Red
Vines, and Sour Patch Kids. For me, they enhance the
experience the filmmakers are taking us on. Let's face
it; if the movie is awful, the snacks really help! One
of my favorite movie theater experiences is watching the
Star Wars Special Editions.
I love the journey that films take us
on. It might be to a place never before imaged (Star
Wars,
Avatar),
teach us about people we never knew (Argo,
Apollo 13),
twist our minds (Memento,
The Usual Suspects),
bring us to tears (Inside
Out,
Titanic),
make us laugh out loud (Superbad),
or scare us to death (Jaws,
The Conjuring).
Here are some of my favorite things:
Directors:
Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Ben Affleck, Woody Allen,
Stanley Kubrick
Actors:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Bradley Cooper, Tom Hanks,
Robert De Niro
Actress:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Brie
Larson
Genres:
Crime/Mob, Action/Adventure, Superhero films
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