I love movies.
This isn't a secret to anybody. In the years of my life, I have seen about 5000 movies. This is no exaggeration. I was born around movies. My parents would put me in my playpen and put on movies for me. I would sit in there and even back then, I knew the proper thing to say was, "Fuck these stupid toys."
As I got older, movies became more of an obsession than love. I blame this on my sister's godmother. She dropped off a box of VHS tapes that she didn't use anymore. My guess was she upgraded to DVD or she just thought the movies were shit. But there were two treasures in that box: SOUTH PARK: BIGGER LONGER UNCUT, which transcended my knowledge of humor and vulgarity, and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which transcended my knowledge of filmmaking.
Yes, it was a little horror film made for little to nothing that made me want to be a filmmaker. I would watch it every day I woke up to get ready for school. I would watch it every night before I went to bed. When I say every day, I mean EVERY DAY. I must have watched THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT 200 times during the year of the third grade. I once wrote a fan-fic story back in the third grade and my teacher told my parents that I was too violent.
Now I go back and watch THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and I will fully admit that it is a terrible movie. But I digress.
Throughout the years, movies have been my best friend. For long car rides or to go out to dinner, I would bring a portable DVD player to watch a movie. Whenever I was bored and needed something to do, I would pull out one of my DVDs and watch a movie. Whenever I was sad, lonely, and needed a friend, no one came to the rescue - except for a movie.
Movies were there whenever I needed them. They never carried a cell-phone but they were always at the tip of my fingers. The greatest thing in the world about where I grew up was living around the corner from a videostore. Before there was Netflix, they had a Netflix-like membership where I could take out three movies at a time. I would go every day, rent three movies, watch them, and return them the next day to get three more. I watched everything they had. The people working there knew my name and phone number by heart. It was crazy how close I got with everybody there.
My parents never had a problem with anything I have ever watched. I'll never forget in the third grade, the day before my little brother was born, they told me to pick a movie to watch at the videostore. I picked JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK. As my little brother was seeing the light of day, I was witnessing the miracle of birth in film. It was something of amazement - how someone could make movies like these?
But until the eighth grade, I never really went to the theater. I never had any money to go, until my parents got me a $100 dollar giftcard to the AMC that year. I saw so many movies that year and loved so many. 2007 was such a great year for film. It's amazing.
But then my interest in movies didn't totally go away, but it just mellowed out. My videostore closed due to the success of Netflix. A lot of bad movies were released in 2008 and 2009. I got into playing hockey and made a few friends. All of the sudden, movies weren't my best friend. They were about third down the list.
But since then, film and I have been getting along just fine. The end of 2009 brought some great films, and 2010 introduced me to some life-changing movies. My interest was back, and in 2011 I got a girlfriend who loved watching movies just as much as I did. When she went away to college, I had movies to fall-back on. I stayed at home for school and hated what I was doing. Communications and physical education never did anything for me. I wanted to make movies.
So since then I signed up for film school. At this moment of writing I have about six weeks left and then hopefully I can start getting behind a camera and shooting some stuff. I needed to be able to gain an audience, so I started a blog called EyeGolb. I think I'm a good writer, but what am I going to write about? My love for hockey isn't going to interest too many people, and my life is quite boring.
Maybe I could write about movies that come out, and talk about what makes a great movie, what makes a bad movie, and talk about what influences me. Hell, if I'm going to make movies, I need to know what a good movie is, right?
Just a few things to note:
1. People call me quite the contrarian. Not like the Armond White-kind of guy, but there are a lot of things that I find about film that I don't like that entertain other people. If I don't write what I really feel about a film, what's the point of lying?
2. I like to use the English language and stick true to my beliefs. This can be a problem for people who are easily offended. I don't believe in a God, I support gay marriage, and I really like to curse. If this bothers you, I'm sorry, but I promise you - there is more to me than what you see. I think I'm a good writer and might even change your perspective in some cases.
3. I don't get paid for this. Movies are expensive to make, and for people who watch them like I do, it is expensive to watch. I don't get screeners or early passes to go see the movie for free, so I have to pay for everything I watch. I'm not asking to get paid. I'm not asking for money from you guys. But I will watch anything. If you would like me to see any specific movie, just ask me, especially if it is in theaters. But if you guys would like to send me some tickets to go see some movies, my email address in boondocksaint048@aol.com. Thanks in advance.
4. DVDs are different. You don't have to send me DVDs. I got a library where I can just put them on hold and wait to watch them. But if you would like, again email me. (I prefer Blu-Rays though, so don't send me DVDs - send me a Blu-Ray.)
5. If you're a filmmaker and you want me to watch your movie - sorry, I won't do that. I've gotten into fights with a few independent filmmakers who didn't like what I had to say about their films and I refuse to watch them anymore for free. If your films ever get released, I will gladly pay to watch them and review them. But don't send me stuff for free. My name isn't Harry Knowles - I like telling the truth.
And who knows? Maybe one day something will become of this. Maybe I will start posting stuff about my movies. Maybe I will start getting paid for writing this. Maybe this will become bigger than me.
All will be known. Look out for a few theatrical reviews in the next few days. Follow me on Twitter at @therealtrex048. I look forward to your readings.
* I bought a domain name through Google/Blogger at www.eyegolb.com. Don't try clicking it because it don't work. I have no idea why and it is pissing me off. So if anybody is willing to help me, I can't offer pay or anything. Just know you would be in my greatest gratitude.
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