Ask Me To Review A Movie You Have A Hard Time Watching...Can I Help You Enjoy It?

I thought this might be a bit of fun.

I like critiquing movies. That doesn't mean that I like criticizing movies.
The two are different.
The latter is more like Cinemasins, while the former is like Movies with Mikey.

That is, I don't like tearing down a film. I enjoy looking at it from a perspective that I haven't seen addressed much yet with a hope that readers will find a new angle on the film so that the next time they watch it, there's a slight bit of 'watching it for the first time' type of experience.

The best moments are when I write a critique and someone writes to me and tells me that I've caused them to enjoy a film in some way, even if it's small, where before they weren't really able to enjoy it that much (typically, this only happens to films people find dull or uninteresting - not usually if they hated the film).

While I enjoy writing about films, it's hard to think of films that I would like to write about - that I feel I have something interesting to offer, but as is typical with an analytical personality, as soon as someone says something about a film, I have ideas.

So, I'd like to do it for folks around here and see what happens.

The ideal candidate film is a film that you don't hate, find the concept interesting, but the film itself hard to dig into, or finish (for example, lots of older films strike modern audiences this way).

Here's the guidelines:

• Reply here with your requested film.
• Only films that are no longer in theaters (I'm not rich enough to afford paying top dollar for box office reviews).
• In your "A for effort" best shot, briefly describe why you have a hard time watching the film - it can be vague, or specific.
• Be patient with me. I'm a family man who works a full-time career job, helps run a music Netlabel, makes music, works on amateur astrophysics, and runs admin on two websites (not counting my own). It can take me a week or two at times to get something finished.
• If I have a post stating that I'm working on a film review, please don't post a request. Wait until I post a completion (follow the thread for updates if you haven't replied; that way you know when there's an opening).

When a request is made, I'll reply back with whether I'm reviewing it or not (I typically will accept all requests, but I'll leave room for the possibility that I may not accept one).

If multiple requests are made before I accept one, then I will take the first one in chronological order, unless I have a reason for not accepting the film.

If I choose to not accept a review request, I will reply back and let you know that I am not accepting the request, and I will explain my reasons (please do not debate my choice - it's not that I think I can't be wrong; I just don't want the thread to turn into an off-topic debate about whether or not I should or shouldn't review a film).

Reasons that I may not choose to review a film:

• It cannot be found digitally for viewing (I like to rewatch films I review; not work just from memory...usually - I have a really good visual memory, though, so some films I don't need to rewatch, so if you don't spot your film on streaming platforms, ask anyway - I might not have a problem).
• It's rated NC-17, or rated X (sorry, no, I'm just not interested).
• It's been reviewed and beat to death hundreds of times over (I'm really not likely to review TLJ for you, but generally speaking, do ask because I might say yes to things that are heavily reviewed if I know that the reviews don't address something that I think is interesting in the film - I'll decide if it's a dead horse or not).
• It's a children's movie (and by this I mean stuff like Veggietales, or Dora The Explorer - family animations are fine).

Alright, here's to hoping for some requests!

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Accepted!

I'll get to working on this as soon as I carve out some time.
I haven't seen this one, so this'll be interesting.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Just tossing in an update.
I'm still working on this. I've watched the film.

I'm just obviously going to be delayed because of Star Wars, the holidays (and - and I don't mean to draw attention to this...just for context if I'm delayed - I received news this morning of my grandmother passing - this wasn't a surprise entirely as she had brain cancer; I only mention this because I might get tied up with the funeral and travel...please don't reply to this thread with condolences or the like - write me a message if you are compelled, I don't want this thread derailed to such a topic as this).

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Oof.

Boy, I let the ball drop on this.
Um, well...the reality here is that I am sucked into some projects so I don't know when I'll get around to critiquing films again.

I'm sorry for getting something going that I didn't follow through on...

Cheers,
Jayson