Introduction

As a creative writing exercise, I decided to blog about the films I watched each week.  Every Saturday, I will publish a list of the films I'd seen during that week.  I will attempt to write an essay connecting each film together.

I took several films classes in college and always enjoyed writing about film.  Although I have experience teaching literature, poetry, communication, and rhetoric, I have little experience teaching film.  For those of you interested in my background, I currently teach English and Communications courses at a small school in the southwestern United States.  I would love to teach a film class someday, so I view this blog as practice.  I think the ability to teach something comes from engaging with the material.

I appreciate (nice and germane) feedback on my blog.  Although I love to receive recommendations for films, I want you, the reader, to understand that I live in "Middle America."  When I hear podcasts about films that are unavailable to me (more about my favorite podcasts later), I must wait until they become available on Netflix or my library.  My difficulty in accessing "new" films means this blog will have some older films and "available" films.

I have little desire to review films for three reasons.  First, I think every film has something valuable.  Even films I hate (like romantic comedies) have something to teach.  Distinctions between good/bad sometimes force deep, intelligent discussion of film to become a consumer report.  Second, there are lots of great critics on the Internet.  Putting up an amateur movie blog is silly enough without me attempting to dictate quality to others.  Finally, the ability to review a film isn't something I wish to develop with this blog.  My goal is to discuss film as art, propaganda, communication, commerce, or theme because those concepts are worth teaching.

I hope to see you this Saturday with my first entry.