My First Blog

I am Vincent Snavely and this is my first blog so be patient with me. I will first explain the title of my blog and what that means. When you want a recommendation on a movie to go see do you want it from a stuffy critic or a regular guy who loves movies? I am here to give a simple and clear perspective on the movies that I enjoyed and the ones I despised. I have two simple rules on if a movie is good or not. 1.) Did I enjoy the movie? 2.) Did I find the movie dull, boring, laughable or stupid. I won't bore you with stuffy big words like most critics and go on a critique of every minute detail. I am not going to dissect every little nuance and scene. I will just tell you if I enjoyed the movie and had fun or if I didn't. Most people go to the movies to have fun not to intellectually critique every moment and technique. I will give that perspective from my vast knowledge of movies but I will not bore you. I will not explain the plot and give away stuff like most critics. The reviews will be simple and short. Not all my tastes in movies are for everyone. That is why we all have an opinion. I will just try my best to tell the genre of film and if you might enjoy it. For example if I like a gory horror movie I will tell you to see that movie if you like horror. If you don't stay away from that movie. We are not all sheep and have the same type of movie we like.



I read all the critics and reviews and most critics anger me because they think too hard and come in with a negative outlook. Some are pompous windbags that look for every little flaw in a movie and attack it without an open mind. Some automatically think all foreign films are great no matter what. The critics I like are Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert and Michael Phillips is growing on me. They are not stuffy, their writing shows that they are open minded and love movies and they are fun to read. When I was a kid I watched Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert religiously. When I was little and missed one of their shows I threw a tantrum(even when I was in college). They were the two most influential critics ever and there was one reason why. They showed their love and passion for movies without talking down to people. It is as simple as that and what made them special over the stuffy windbags. They championed smaller movies great ('One False Move') and insufferable ('My Dinner With Andre') and they opened my eyes to little known masterpieces. I miss Gene Siskel very dearly and every movie I see since his death I wonder what he would think of it. I must say that Richard Roeper was a tremendous replacement. There are other good ones but none will ever reach Siskel and Ebert's greatness. They were just as important to me as the directors and stars of my favorite movies.



I do see a lot of movies and maybe I see too many. I see every movie even if it gets bad notices because I do sometimes like bad movies. Remember the key for me is if I enjoyed the movie. I don't care about cliches or predictability or if a movie has flaws. The key is simply did I enjoy myself. I have many favorite movies and I can't give them all to you because there too many to tell in a short time. Some of them are 'Vertigo', Raging Bull', 'On the Waterfront', 'Almost Famous' and 'The Wanderers'. I am not a big fan of costume epics(Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon' is my favorite) or War movies and Westerns don't bowl me over. That doesn't mean I don't have movies I love from those genres. It just means that I don't gravitate towards them. I am a big fan of unpredictable and original movies and I love dark dramas. I used to hate horror movies but now I love them. The important thing I stress is not all movies I love are what everybody loves and vice versa. David Lynch's 'Dune' (84) is the movie I hate the most but some of my friends love it. I like 'Ishtar' and everyone hates it. Just to get a few things straight I hate 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' not a big fan of 'Titanic', 'Home Alone', 'Out of Africa', 'Gandhi' or 'Driving Miss Daisy'. I hate the Friday the 13Th and Saw series and I can't stand Pauly Shore.



I will publish a blog almost everyday with my reviews of new movies and old classics. I will also review some of my favorite movies that no one knows about or got negative reviews. I have eclectic tastes so be prepared to get recommendations that might make you scratch your heads. Please don't hate me if I steer you to a movie you hate. Like I said we all have different tastes in movies. I just love movies and want to share my thoughts with whoever will listen. I do give star ratings but that is just a guide and my opinions do change over time. Of the movies from the late 70's to present day I have seen about 250 movies from every year. I am brushing up on the old classics so I will review those. My netflix queue has 400 movies so there you go. Every year I come up with a list of my favorite and least favorite movies of the year. It will take time because I catch up with movies on netflix until I see almost all of them. For example my list for 2008 will be ready in September so bare with me. I might also review television shows that I have seen or books also. I hope I don't bore you and I hope you all enjoy my blog. My first review will be of Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' and a look at the 1978 movie. So have fun at the movies and I look forward to your feedback and don't hold back with your opinions!