My name is Dave, and I’m a film geek.
No, this isn’t a cry for help, or a sad, pathetic attempt to gather up sympathy. I’m not looking for a comforting hug, or a support group that meets once a week in the local community center. I crave no condolences, invite no pity, nor desire any reassurances that my condition will improve. Truth be told, I don’t want this so-called ‘condition’ of mine to change in the least. I wear the label of ‘film geek’ as if it were a badge of honor.
I love movies with an almost frightening passion (I know it frightens my family, anyway). I am forever watching films, and when I’m not busy watching them, I’m usually reading about them, whether it be a history of the French New Wave or a biography on B-Movie aficionado Roger Corman. What’s more, in my quest to further expand this cinematic palette of mine, I spend a large amount of time on-line, visiting film sites such as imdb.com, aintitcool.com, rogerebert.com, and so on. It seems I can never escape the draw of the cinema. When I lie down in my bed at night, I drift off to sleep with the gentle sounds of Turner Classic Movies playing softly in the background.
Ingmar Bergman once said, “No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls”. I believe this. What’s more, I believe film to be the perfect art form, one that challenges a variety of senses while simultaneously altering our perceptions of the world around us. Film is the doorway to many lands, laid out through the combined efforts of technicians, artisans and entertainers. As an entertainment, film is an escape from the everyday. As art, it is a conduit for emotions, thoughts and ideas, many as challenging as they are persuasive. This is what film means to me; it is this, and so much more besides.
Now, it’s time to take this infatuation of mine to the next level.
I am about to embark on a cinematic journey, one that will surely take me many months, even years, to complete: I plan to view exactly 2500 movies, either on DVD or Blu-Ray, and encompassing as many genres and styles of film as I can muster; in short, a smorgasbord of all that the cinema, past and present, national and global, has to offer.
Let me reiterate once again, at the outset, that this will be a journey through the world of film, and as a journey, there’s no telling what I’ll be encountering along the way. I will be imposing no rules upon myself as to which films I will watch, or in what order they will appear. For example, I could follow up a viewing of John Carpenter’s Halloween by watching the 1982 Henry Fonda / Katherine Hepburn drama, On Golden Pond. Furthermore, watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope doesn’t necessarily mean Episodes V and VI will follow in suit; they could appear months, maybe even a whole year, after Episode IV, if they appear at all (though I will promise this much: if I choose to watch a series of films such as the original STAR WARS trilogy, I won’t watch them out of order). A love of film is what led me to this journey, and it’s the unpredictability of it all that has me excited to be making it.
I welcome all of you to follow along, tracking my progress as I make my way through 2,500 examples of what the cinema has to offer. I’ll be presenting each movie here, in order. It will include a brief synopsis (lifted directly from the DVD cover) as well as a paragraph or two on my reaction to the film. Also, I’ll place a link to amazon.com, through which you can purchase the DVD or Blu-Ray (and please do so…I can use the money!), and finally, I welcome each and every comment.
Well, not much more to say, I suppose, except Let the journey begin!