I’ve been living in Halifax , Nova Scotia , Canada United States Halifax
Why mention this? Well, we have an e-mail list to which members can subscribe to get pertinent announcements/information from other members all over the world, and a few years ago I don’t know why but I was inspired to send off an e-mail to the Nova Scotia
Why a blog?
Towards the end of 2007 someone on the Nova Scotia e-mail list suggested I compile all my recommendations for the year into one document and offer to send that to anyone on the whole international list. This is what I did and was truly shocked to receive at least a couple hundred requests for the document. I made up an e-mail distribution list and off went the documents in both 2007 and 2008. Then at the end of 2008 someone else suggested I start a blog instead of using the already out-of-date, clunky and laborious e-mail distribution method. I wasn’t ready to devote the time to a blog at that point but I retired at the end of 2009, and since I no longer work on a computer all day I can imagine spending time on my home computer to try this, so here I am.
No credentials
Other than the fact that I’ve been going to films since I was very young, I’m not an expert and have never studied film-making or been part of any film productions. I was lucky that my parents were also film-lovers and weren’t at all hesitant to take their young children to ones that many adults would have said were inappropriate for our ages. (I was born and grew up in a Midwestern college town.) And I’m also happy to say that because of their taste in films, I had an early introduction to foreign and more unusual films, which I especially devoured when I was at college in the 60s.
So I have no credentials for offering these reviews and am only doing it because many people have thanked me for them; in fact, I’ve become very well-known in the Shambhala community for my film reviews and have also written a few film-related columns for the monthly Halifax Shambhala Centre newsletter, The Banner, which I’m also including in this blog.
I’ve always found it interesting that several people can see the same film and be hit by it in completely different ways. Yes, I read film reviews (though I skim over the details about the story as I don’t like to know too much before seeing a film) and of course over time have learned which critics I tend to agree with and which I don’t. So feel free to totally disagree with the things I say.
A few caveats: What to expect, what not to expect
Okay, we all have different tastes in films. In general I only write these reviews for films I found to be truly excellent, not for ones I kind of liked or thought were just okay or mildly amusing. Though I go to a lot of films and also rent DVDs, unlike professional film critics I by no means see anywhere near everything that comes out and am quite selective. Some very highly praised films I’ll never go to because: (a) I usually don’t like films by that director; (b) I dislike most action films or violence (some exceptions here); (c) the topic sounds completely uninteresting.
So if you don’t see reviews here for some very high-profile films or ones you loved, it will be for one of those or other reasons. Another possibility is that many films never make it to Halifax, even on DVD, and I don’t subscribe to any online ordering or downloading – okay, I’m a Luddite when it comes to some electronic gadgets and activities, though I did try zip.ca for a while and wasn’t impressed by it. (I am indeed on Facebook though I hardly use it.)
Note to Nova Scotia