I believe I've finally arrived.
For her own growing blog, my already accomplished 21 year old niece, Christina, actually wanted to interview me regarding my current profession, which I'll call film curation and advocacy, as well as the hot-button issue of social networking.
With the hope of provoking stimulating debate and discussion, I’ve listed below my responses to her thoughtful questions:
How and when did your love affair with movies begin?
When I was about six, I fell in love with the Hollywood classics on old TV programs like “The 4:30 Movie” and “The Million Dollar Movie.” After that, I had to know everything about how those films were made, and about the stars- primarily Gable, Bogart, Cagney, Cooper, Bette Davis, Jean Harlow, Cary Grant…a lifelong love passion and fascination thus began.
Where do you find time to review 15 films a week?
I watch two movies each night- it’s easy! Also, I always have my portable DVD player handy when travelling. From a sanity perspective, it’s also easier to watch a lot of movies when you’ve researched them for quality in advance. Great movies tend to nourish the spirit, while indifferent ones sap it.
Is there an actor or actress that you’ve most enjoyed interviewing?
Without question, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. What a couple...and they complemented each other beautifully. She every inch the Southern lady, he the more unpredictable, iconoclastic type- sporting a motorcycle jacket at eighty!
It’s fair to say that you’ve made your name through forms of new media including YouTube, Twitter, blogging and a successful website. Would you recommend that path to budding journalists and film aficionados?
I’d put it more emphatically than that: I can’t see how any up and coming person in these fields could succeed without new media…it represents a near revolutionary democratization in communication, which is why so much of traditional media is declining. Today, you can create your own channel to grow and build loyalty with your intended audience. It’s enormously exciting.
You write a regular column for the Huffington Post; how do you decide what to write?
It might be a milestone birthday for a great actor or director, or a new film arriving on DVD that features a talent worth examining, or even something film-related I come across in the newspaper that I think warrants commentary or exploration. I think the idea of being topical whenever possible still holds as a fundamental rule.
Is there a column that you’re most proud of and why?
I really can’t name one, but I’m always proud when via feedback on my blog, I hear I’ve persuaded readers to revisit a talent they haven’t considered for some time, and hopefully watch some great films they may not know or have forgotten about. That’s my ultimate goal- and greatest satisfaction.
You’ve achieved success with your website and columns at a more mature age; would you rather have been doing this at 21?
Honestly, no. I would not have had the knowledge nor the confidence to do what I’m doing at 21. This pertains not just to my understanding of film itself but also the application of certain writing, speaking, and marketing techniques I picked up in my first career in advertising. These hard-won skills have contributed a lot to my effectiveness in this current endeavor, which makes me feel I didn’t totally waste my youth!
I've heard through the grapevine that you were on CNN recently. Spill...
True. My Huffington Post blog arguing for a measure of leniency for director Roman Polanski drew over 700 comments, and created a firestorm of controversy which resulted in two radio interviews- one on Air America’s Ron Reagan Show, followed by a TV appearance on CNN-HL’s Joy Behar Show, debating two tough feminist lawyers. It was a gas, and I’m still around to tell the tale!
Can you recommend three Christmas movies worth seeing?
“The Bishop’s Wife” (1947), “Scrooge” (1951), and “A Christmas Tale” (2008).
Favorite movie of all time?
“Bringing Up Baby” (1938)- as close to a perfect screen comedy as I can think of, and strangely enough, a relative flop when first released.
I remember the epic movie nights at your home in New York. What are the key ingredients to a successful movie night?
Easier to state perhaps than execute, but you want a general air of informality and a group of engaging, like-minded people who really enjoy and appreciate great film. As host, you should always try to have as much fun as everyone else.
If you could interview a movie star dead or alive who would it be?
Believe it or not- Spencer Tracy, one of the finest screen actors ever, but a complex and contained human being who never gave away his secrets. I’d love to try to penetrate those walls he erected around himself to better understand the pure and distinctive approach that made him so arresting a presence on film.
What do you think of the rise of reality TV, which seems to have eclipsed movie watching in recent years?
I think reality shows for the most part are a blight on our popular culture, and a major contributor to the pervasive “dumbing down” of entertainment- and even news- programming. Still with TV viewership declining, I suppose it’s an economic necessity. Or that’s the excuse anyway. I also dislike the voyeuristic, exploitative nature of these programs. I hope fervently they become a rather regrettable fad, passing away like an unpleasant odor. (Is that opinionated enough for you?)
You have a fondness for old movies. Has the quality of movies gotten worse in the last 20 years?
Movies have certainly evolved, both as a business and an entertainment form, and to my mind, not for the better. I’ve always valued subtlety, originality and intelligence in film, and find these qualities too often lacking, particularly in today’s mainstream Hollywood fare.
The reasons for this are varied: increasingly, Hollywood has focused on familiar, tried-and-true formulas aimed at what they’ve identified as their most reliable audience- young people in their teens- who are less sensitive to reviews and happily go to the multiplexes to plunk down twelve dollars on a film’s opening weekend. The studios have learned how to make money without needing to worry too much about the classic, ever-challenging fundamentals of storytelling, script, and nuanced character development. (Ever notice how all the best writers are now working for HBO and Showtime?)
Those incredible visual effects created inside a computer, along with breakneck pacing, help mask the banality of commercial Hollywood movies and the “Barbie and Ken” blandness of all those buff yet shallow young performers.
My hope- and it may be just that- is that the industry wakes up and attempts to attract mature audiences again with more original, intelligent fare.
If this happens, it will be because what they’re doing isn’t working as well, which means discerning viewers can and should vote “no” with their pocketbooks. There may even be some brilliant visionary in the offing who wants to make feature film once again the “promised land” for the finest directors, writers, actors and technicians, and importantly, can chart a course to make it happen, one which others can follow.
There will always be a certain amount of purely escapist entertainment in the marketplace, and there should be: some of it is a lot of fun and extremely well-done. Still…overall, Hollywood, the financial epicenter of the movie business, can and should create more high quality product. Though cynics and pragmatists may disagree, given the profound influence of the medium on our society and national discourse, I think the industry owes that to the broader public.
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