Let's Go to the Movies

I have recently discovered Caroline Ames movie blog called "Let's Go to the Movies." Her blog is not too different from mine, in that she is interested both in the business of movies, and in reviewing the new movies that she sees. I always enjoy learning about a person’s personal movie tastes, if it is not too overbearing. There are a few too many people saying “this movie is good” rather than saying that they liked it. Granted, some movies are just undeniably bad, and need to be dutifully ridiculed.

What I like about her blog is that it is all about discussing her tastes. When discussing the ten Best Picture nominees for this year’s Oscar’s, she says, “From my first look at the nominations the only surprise for [me] is seeing District 9 in the Best Picture category. Everything else is pretty much what was expected.” While I am happy and not the surprised to see it there, I respect her opinion because it was certainly not a guaranteed nomination. I’m actually surprised by the nomination for “A Serious Man” since I had heard no Oscar buzz about it and the movie made very little money, even by the Coen brothers’ standards. However I do like there movies and can’t wait to see this one when it comes out on DVD. But I digress…

Back to Caroline’s blog. Her posts are pretty small, because she only wants to put brief updates rather than writing whole stories or even divulging too much of her opinions. She even has a second blog, about which she says that she “decided that [posting often] would be a good idea recently so I can put my random thoughts down and not take up any space on this blog . . . well apart from this post haha.” I admire her ability to lightly touch upon her thoughts and then asking what others think. Especially in her post about the posters for the Academy Awards when she says “I can really see my love for Alec Baldwin growing even more. Are you looking forward to Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosting this years event?” Another way you can really get to know what she is into are all her movie quotes and top 10 lists. The tabs at the top of her blog allow you to navigate directly to what you want to see without having to scroll through the posts. Very nice.

I’ll be honest with you. While reading this blog, I knew before reading her name that it was written by a woman. Her posts were completely inoffensive and fair, in a way that most men cannot be while discussing their opinions. I know I cannot be nearly as even with my opinions as she is. It is worth mentioning that I just spoke about Nikki Finke’s blog last week and upon how she’s not afraid to through in a few insults here and there, but there are always exceptions. Finke’s blog is much more to the point, because that is what industry professionals are looking for. Caroline does not claim to be an expert on what she discusses, so she stays level. I admire that, but I won’t write like that. Not when I’m talking about my movies.


In related news, Zombieland came out on DVD today and I highly recommend it. It is a very funny and bluntly violent movie. I laughed throughout and if you’re prepared for a little gore for the sake of comedy, you should too. Woody Harrelson works the badass humor in a way that would make Quentin Tarantino proud.