Who is Filmism.net?
I’m a huge film buff and professional film journalist, and my love of movies has prompted me to create this website to share them.
It’s an ongoing project. The first step was to mine a few Film and Video Guides and make an exhaustive list of every movie I’ve ever seen.
Together with new movies and videos I’ve always wanted to see, Filmism.net is quite an undertaking. Between the cinema and DVD, I seldom see less than three movies a week and sometimes see as many as 10.
To the question ‘What sort of movies are reviewed here?’, the answer is an emphatic ‘everything’. As a film critic I’m often called on to see movies I mightn’t normally bother with – although I find more and more that I simply want to see everything that’s on.
To the question ‘What sort of movies do you like?’, the answer is still ‘everything’. As a kid of the Star Wars generation I have a soft spot for big noisy adventure movies with lots of special effects, although plenty of those I’ve found merely irritating lately while small, quiet arthouse releases have absolutely charmed me.
Since I started Filmism.net, I’ve learned that your opinion of films you like or remember isn’t fixed. A review will occasionally (and unwittingly) make reference to when I saw the movie, and maybe when I wrote it I hadn’t seen the movie that made that actor a star, and therefore haven’t judged him or her correctly. Maybe I saw a sequel before the original, and my view of it has since changed. In some cases I’ve written my review a long time after the fact and barely remember the finer details.
My knowledge about films themselves, the industry and the people in it is always changing, so this website – or at least the ethos behind it – will always be a work in progress.
I very, very rarely watch movies more than once. Some films (by even the admission of their director) are designed to be seen more than once. But with my must-see movie list constantly hovering around the 150 mark (for every film I see it seems I add two more), I have little time to give a film a second chance. As such, many films people consider classic have made a bad impression or no impression at all on me, one that would presumably change on second viewing.
One thing that’s pretty much fixed about our tastes in movies however are the the ones that make an impact on us. My own list of ‘favourite movies’ will seem bizarre coming from a professional film critic, but it’s the list of someone who wants movies to spark emotions and experiences, not that of an academic with a harshly critical eye.
Since I’ve been watching movies for a living, the following few have been the most impactful;
2021 – Dune
2019 – Joker
2016 – Arrival
2015 – Room
2014 – The Machine, Whiplash, Interstellar
2012 – Skyfall, Cloud Atlas
2011 – Super 8
2009 – Moon, District 9, Enter the Void
2007 – Sunshine, Zodiac, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2005 – Primer, The New World
2004 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2003 – City of God, 28 Days Later
No, it’s not that I didn’t go to the movies in the years not listed above. But while there were plenty of great movies out in both of those years, none were as life changing as the examples above.
And the ones that immediately spring to mind when I ask myself what my favourite movies are;
Star Wars saga
No surprise there.
If you’ve seen it you may understand the appeal to a fourteen year old boy.
For taking me on my sort of adventure.
The 1976 remake everyone seems to hate.
Very few movies are perfect in every way.
The first ‘event’ movie I ever took notice of, also the first VHS video I ever owned.
I love classic gag comedy – the Zucker brothers have never quite grasped it since.
One of the finest and most accessible examples of how movies can be in equal parts visceral and cerebral.
So enjoy the reviews, and once again contact me if you have any comments, criticisms or questions.
Drew Turney
Filmism.net