Cinematic Point Of View

Why did I start this Cinematic Point of View blog? That’s a good question.

One reason is because I live, eat, and breathe movies. I love talking about movies, art, comics, Godzilla, and the list goes on. I find myself laser-locked on certain topics and just get obsessed with them for weeks sometimes.

When I was a kid, I had an accident with scissors in my right eye. (That’s me in the sunglasses at my aunt and uncle’s wedding.) It left me in the hospital for a bit, and I had repeated surgeries on that eye the first couple of years after it happened. During the recovery period, I watched a lot of TV. That was the beginning. I can relate to ‘The Cable Guy’ a little bit, if you know what I mean.

As I got older, I would record all sorts of things on VHS and create compilation tapes. There was a show called Robotech that I was completely obsessed with. Likely my first real anime. I would run home from the school bus trying to make it to the VCR by 2:30 pm so that I could record Robotech and pause it during the commercials and create video tapes that would have all the episodes in order, and I would have the commercials edited out. It was a hell of an undertaking, and I would take those tapes with me everywhere so I could watch Robotech when we went somewhere overnight.

Like I said, I get a bit obsessive and tend to watch films in streaks. I might watch a film and really enjoy it, and I want to find out what the director or one of the actors has done in the past. I’ll look it up, and likely I will then seek out the director, actors, cinematographers, or whomever works on the film that I truly appreciate and look at their previous work. I love the research and discovery of previous works I’ve never heard of. Little dreams made years ago were left for others to find, enjoy, and learn from.

I also wanted a place to focus on my interests without the need for constant approval. Over the years, especially during COVID, I found myself online more than ever, like most people. This became a habit I took notice of this past year. I decided I didn’t want to participate in that game anymore. So I decided it was time to move away from social media.

I started this blog without telling anyone. I don’t share these posts with anyone I know. They don’t know it exists.

Ive found this is opening me up to write about more of my geek interests than I normally would on Facebook, in front of family and friends. I discovered I was afraid to share all the geekiness in me. I was censoring myself.

With this blog, I could get whatever was inside me out in the open without the need for approval. I love when something I share reaches someone else that I don’t know and they comment or start a conversation. I just needed a new personal space to figure out how to get rid of that irrational fear and need for approval. To practice speaking as my own person and not a husband, dad, brother, or friend. Just Chris.

I hope this makes sense.

Another part of my reason for starting this blog is that I love to go down rabbit holes. I go through phases of binge-ordering hard-to-find DVDs or Blu-Rays. For a while, I was doing digital only, but I’ve leaned back into physical media, for better or worse. I have stacks of films I’ve yet to watch. I periodically take these stacks of films and sort through the ones that I have seen that didn’t make an impact on me and sell those movies. I take the money from that, and most likely it goes towards purchasing new films. It is a cycle. I enjoy it.

Lately, I’ve been on a real Japanese film kick. It’s been a long streak that looks to continue for a while. I apologize if you follow me and get tired of seeing the same sort of films. I generally just post whatever gets me excited at the time. Sometimes I go through French film phases, or horror film phases, etc. It just depends on the time of year and what’s going on in my life. Right now, Japanese films seem to really hit the sweet spot for me. I think there is a tenderness and humanness to almost every Japanese film that I watch that is hard to find in other movies. A very unique perspective and way of life. I guess that’s what I need right now.

So to wrap it up here, I just wanted to make this personal post for myself and explain myself to anyone else who might be following along. I haven’t been blogging here for too long, but I have already found a good new group of other bloggers that I can relate to and who truly appreciate learning about new films and your point of view.

Did you watch anything this weekend? I would love to hear about it. Thanks for taking the time to read this.