Thursday, 21 June 2007
It's still summer, you know
With people already talking up Fall releases and Oscar contenders, it's easy to forget that the summer's far from over and there are a number of high profile films still to open, one of which I saw today and because of a no reviews till opening policy feel wrong to chim in with an opinion. It's good, though, very good. Am also seeing another big release this evening in advance of an event I (or rather my avatar) will be hosting tomorrow. More about that next time.
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2 comments:
i gotta ask... how did you get into this business? i mean, you watch movies. all the time.
i love movies. i think i'm a pretty good judge of great, good, bad and awful. sure, i haven't seen as many movies as someone in the industry might have seen, but i've seen my fair share. i can only imagine what it would be like to watch a movie before anyone else has seen it in the theater.
once, my friend was managing a regal and i got to see "man on the moon" the night before it came out. aside from being blown away by jimbo, i imagined that this feeling was what it must be like at premiers. well, you know, aside from the fact that we were smoking cigars and eating out of enormous bags of popcorn; it was just like a big red carpet event.
in any case, my point is this: it's still summer and there's plenty of time to throw me some tickets to a premiere that you can't go to because you're off jetsetting to paris or italy to rub elbows with burton or howard and other miscellaneous stars of the silver screen.
i'll even wear a tie.
Alas, I live in the UK and any spare tickets would be rendered useless by the air fare involved. Otherwise I'd happy to share any spare.
As for how I got into this lark — a mixture of luck, passion, and circumstance. I wrote for myself originally, I sent stuff to magazines (this being the pre-internet days), I called people up asking if I could write for them and one kind editor (who now works for Rolling Stone) said yes, and it kind of snowballed from there.
I've been fortunate to write for many of my favourite publications down the years and meet pretty much every person I've wanted to meet (apart from Billy Wilder who was meant to be at a party I went to once, but didn't go in the end). And it's not seeing films before they come out that's the perk (because, let's face it, not every film is a winner), but it's seeing a film that you know nothing about and having your mind rewired. I still remember the time I saw City Of God at a small screening in Cannes and, after 15 minutes, turning to a friend sitting next to me and whispered: "Is it me or is this film f***ing brilliant?" His reply was, of course, the latter. Or when I and four others saw the first screening of Memento in London and knew I was witnessing greatness unfolding before my eyes.
My advice to you is, if you want to write, write. The internet, blogs, this is where your voice can be heard. Sites like aintitcool, Chud, Dark Horizons, et al, they all started out as one person putting his views out there for anyone to read. In this wwworld, anyone can be a critic, anyone can see films and love films and write about them. Your comments (thanks for them by the way, please keep them coming) have all indicated that you're someone who can write with style and opinion and a voice. Start a film website if that's possible. And just write. Write. If you do, and to paraphrase Field Of Dreams, those free screenings will come. And you won't even have to wear a tie. I seldom do.
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