Do you like good movies too?

People find it easy to judge my film tastes by taking a quick look at my DVD collection: ZOMBIE BLOODBATH II , BLIND MIDGET V.S KILLER DWARF and theTHE MONSTER SQUAD displayed prominently. “He only likes junk” you’ll think to yourself “He obviously can’t appreciate the true power of the moving picture. He has no idea what he's talking about when he recommends something!"

Opinion is a tricky thing. I have friends that refuse to read movie reviews because they believe they only need one critic: Themselves. I’d like to think I can differentiate good film from an ‘I just wasted an hour and a half of my life that I’ll never get back’ bad one. I’ll never be scholarly deconstructions on the theory of film, but I can still enjoy stuff that doesn’t feature gross dismemberment. I’d be happy to discuss the work of French New Wave Director Jean Luc Godard and the really good film ‘Contempt’…but I’ll never feel a pressing need to ever watch it ever again.

Wait…What?...Didn’t I just say it was a good film? What kind of hypocritical mind game am I trying to play here? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY CHILD?

CONTEMPT is boring, emotionally empty and nothing but an arrogant commentary on the nature of cinema. It’s a cold intellectual exercise. My appreciation for it didn’t arise from the film itself, but from the analysis of it I read in textbooks and the insightful DVD commentary (On the criterion disc) I’d never call CONTEMPT a piece of rollicking entertainment. Pure intellectual exercises are ‘good’ but are not entertaining. Something ‘entertaining’ CAN be ‘good’, but something ‘good’ doesn’t need to be entertaining (and vice-versa). You can watch a film for its engaging characters, creative direction, beautiful set design and gripping screenplay. Or you can watch a film because a baby punches its way through a woman’s head. I’ll watch films that are GOOD, but I’ll always lean toward something that’s ENTERTAINING.And don't confusing something entertaining as necessarily being something stupid or crass either. The best works entertainment are usually genre films created by people that are highly aware of the the world their working in. You can make something unintentionally stupid (and entertaining) and you can make something smart (and entertaining without being dull) and there's also the much misinterpreted category of stupid-smart (and entertaining). Stupid-Smart are stupid situations or characters done in a smart way (See: Dumb and Dumber) The distinction is sometimes hard to make.

Film criticism is as obvious as a simple thumb up or thumbs down. Chose your words carefully and keep an open mind next time you hand a film to someone. Ignore numbered ratings (10 STARS!!!!) and form your own opinion by the words of the critic your reading: Does the person make compelling points that he can back up? That’s t the most important thing of all when it comes to criticisms and suggestions.

Sweet! My copy of SHARK ATTACK 3: MEGADALON and LE SAMOURAI just arrived.