Absolute Wannabe

As I sat down in one of my film classes today, my professor did something that surprised me. Before screening Gus Van Sant's Elephant , a film inspired by the 1999 shooting at Columbine, she gave a warning, offering anyone who may be negatively affected by the film because of past trauma the opportunity to watch an alternative film for credit. She continued to warn the class about an upcoming film we would be screening later, mentioning the themes of sexual assault and offering another alternative film to screen. I don't remember when I first started seeing "trigger warning" on the Internet. The tag, most commonly used on sites like Tumblr to warn people of content that contained explicit references to things like drugs, eating disorders, suicide, abuse, and other elements that people who have gone through trauma may find upsetting. Though I never had to stay away from anything with a trigger warning, I definitely understand the value of the phrase. I even put a w...

I have this theory that not a single person on this Earth would say no to the question, "do you want to help make a movie?". I've never met a person who doesn't like movies, and what fan wouldn't want to be a part of something they love? Here's the deal, though: movies are work. Anybody who thinks making a movie is just pointing a camera and playing pretend is so, so wrong. How do I know this? I've done it. This weekend, a friend and I participated in Knoxville's 54 Hour Film Festival, a competition of 5-7 minute films that are made over a weekend. If that time crunch didn't seem daunting enough, we are also given a genre, line, action, prop, and, after 24 hours, curveball element to include in the film. It may sound easy, and, to be honest, I get why it might, but struggling to get schedules together, find locations, write a story, and shoot and edit a piece (and remember to sleep and eat) was definitely a challenge. An awesome challenge. ...

Believe me when I say that it pained me to type out the title to this post. Cameron Crowe is one of my very favorite filmmakers. To me, a guy who can write teenagers who are real people, really capture the full spectrum of human emotion, and incorporate a great soundtrack into his work is a real genius. Though it initially made me feel warm, fuzzy, and hopeful, a recent late night viewing of 2005's Elizabethtown  ended up making me a little nervous. I realized that Crowe was just like everybody else. Now, this probably doesn't make sense to those of you who admire his work. As a writer and filmmaker, Crowe definitely has a unique voice and vision that helps his work connect with all kinds of audiences. That's precisely the problem. Last week I wrote a post about how movies are only a reflection of life and not actually true to life itself. In the post, I mentioned that filmmakers are just one person with one perspective, and that is absolutely true of Crowe. In Crow...

Okay, okay, before you start questioning my sanity, let me start by saying that the title of this post is absolutely a hyperbole. I'm pretty sure I haven't actually believed that a movie I saw was real since I was about six...or maybe sixteen...regardless, it's been a while. If there's one thing I've learned in my last couple of years studying film, it's that movies, no matter how fantastical or realistic, are a reflection . They attempt to depict real situations, characters, and emotions, but at the end of the day, they are about as real as the face you see in a mirror. A reflection can look just like you, but, at the end of the day, it disappears as soon as you walk away. So, with this in mind, why have I (and so many others like me) used movies as a guide for who I want to be, what decisions I should make, what my goals should be, and, ultimately, what my life should look like? The truth is, I believed in the illusion. I'm always going to believe in...

If you weren't on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or any other social media, you may have missed that Tuesday was International Women's Day. There were protests, there were speeches, there were important people saying important things, but, most important of all, there were Internet lists. What would the world do without Internet lists?  How would we know what terrifying documentaries to watch or what this person learned from her pet snail ? Okay, so those really condescending and sarcastic last few sentences do not reflect my real attitude toward Internet lists. I actually love them (well, most of them). I actually shared one on Twitter on International Women's Day about films directed by female filmmakers. I wish I hadn't. Now, let me be clear. It's not that I don't want to celebrate female filmmakers. I absolutely do. I just wish there weren't so few of them. The existence of the list I tweeted and so many others I saw on Tuesday proves that women in f...

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me start this post by telling you a little bit about how school's going. It's great. I really, really love what I study. I get to make movies and see movies and write about movies, which is all I've ever really wanted to do. Part of the reason I decided to study film was because I didn't think I had seen enough movies. I still don't. Now, the people closest to me are probably shaking their heads, recalling the many hours I've spent in front of TV, laptop, and movie screens. The truth is, though, those hours could probably easily be divided up amongst 15 movies. See, I have this habit of watching the same few movies over and over again. Unlike most people I've talked to, I have a pretty clear list of my favorite films that I can name right off the bat. This is mostly because I've seen them at least 20 times each, and that's no exaggeration. One of these films is Juno . The first time I saw Juno , I was 13. I to...

Well, once again, I'm dusting this thing off. Here I am, writing about movies again. Sure, it's been a while, but nothing's really changed. I still watch too many movies. I still keep the "film list". Film is still my major (which is pretty cool). I can honesty say that absence has made the heart grow fonder. I've missed writing about the movies I see and having people read it and getting to talk to them about it. So, I've decided to start doing it again. However, this blog is gonna see some changes. Here's the thing: the rules I used to follow drive me nuts. I love the film list, don't get me wrong, and I still want to finish it and write about the movies I see. The truth is, though, I don't want to write about every one. Some of them are boring. Some of them are hard to understand. Some of them don't warrant an entire post. At the same time, there are plenty of movies that aren't on the list that I want to write about. Movies I...