10/24/11

If you're a regular reader of this site, you've no doubt noticed that you haven't had anything new to read for quite some time.  My last site update was on September 9, roughly 6 weeks ago.  At the time, I was already running a bit behind on my writing, as I'll tend to do, with several late-summer films yet to be reviewed.  Then, already busy with a prominent role in a community theater production of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Nile (I can proudly proclaim that I was the killer), I was presented with a pretty amazing opportunity.  A local film production for which I'd auditioned a few months back had seen one of the supporting actors drop out about a month into the shoot and needed a replacement.  I was very excited to step up, and had a ball making my film acting debut in Daniel Fordham's Easy Hustle (now in post-production), and I'm hoping to work with him again when he makes his next film early next year.

So, you might be asking, why am I bothering to tell you this instead of spending the time working on Real Steel, Warrior, The Debt, or any of the dozen other reviews I have to get caught up on during this period of relative inactivity (my beloved Texas Rangers are in the World Series, so that's limiting my free time for just a few days longer)?  Simply, as my own life goals evolve, I felt it was time for a restatement of what this site is, what it isn't, and what you can expect from me.

I do this for free in my increasingly limited spare time as a way to inject my somewhat Quixotic point of view into the cinematic discussion.  I tend to find it very rare when I have a strong reaction to a movie that anyone else has written about quite the same experience, so while I may have no idea at all what I'm talking about, I really enjoy the chance to let anyone else combing the Internet for every possible point of view to have access to mine as well.  Perhaps the best, most unexpected part of the experience has been the chance to discover some independent films I'd never have caught otherwise on screeners or at local screenings I feel an extra pull to attend since I get a chance to share what I've seen with the world at large.  I'm telling you, if you haven't seen ...Around or URfrenz, you're really missing something, and I'd have missed it too without this site.

But I also need to face certain facts:  with only 24 hours in the day, a full-time job, and a whole lot of artistic outlets that might actually pay if I pursued them harder, there's only so much time I can devote to what I really wish could be a full-time hobby.  Will that mean a few shorter reviews, even (god forbid) the occassional skipped movie?  I've posted a review of every new movie I've seen since I started the site and really hope to keep doing so, but the site is also full of things I'd hoped to do more with, like the Revivals and Theater Project pages.  Only, alas, so many hours in the day.

But I don't just want to talk about the chances of less frequent updates:  I've got no acting roles on the immediate horizon and expect to have more time for the site over the next month or two.  I've been thinking a lot about my evolving perspective on the movies, certainly paying a lot more attention to the minutia of the actors' craft not just with more of an understanding but more of an appreciation of its level of difficulty.  I've always been slow to criticize performers as opposed to performances here:  I've honestly never believed there's such a thing as an actor incapable of a good performance, and I tire of critics who consider it their job to hate the people in the movie business.  Have I ever been all that critical?  Hard to say, but I do know I have a ton of respect for how difficult the jobs of everyone in the movie business are.  Doesn't mean I don't wish they'd do them better sometimes, but... well, you know.  I've always said this site was a kind of autobiography, and you'll watch my point of view change as my circumstances do, the same as anyone.

So, anyway, probably not a lot of new information here, I continue to try to do the best I can as quickly as I can (which isn't all that quickly, sad to say) to make this a site worthy of being one of your bookmarks.  I can't say enough about how much I appreciate every single person who takes time out of their day to read my cinematic musings.  Just wanted to say "Hi", I guess:  the Palace is once again open for business.  For how long?  Well, why worry about tomorrow when you've got a dozen old reviews that need to be written today?