I’ve been going to the movies weekly and writing reviews just for fun for years. I’m not a professional critic or influencer or any bullshit like that; I’m just a guy that likes to talk about movies and my reviews weren’t welcome on established sites because I tend to curse every now and fucking then. So I finally created my own website for my ranting. I’m happy to talk about film whether you agree with my opinions or not….just don’t contact me to say that I’ve offended you. I assure you that I don’t care.
Some personal crap about my film tastes and interests:
- What are your top 5 favorite films?
My all-time favorite film is Jaws. I’ve never really ranked them beyond that, but here is a quite random list of some of my other favorite films: Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers, Die Hard, The Thing, Robocop, Clue, Labyrinth, Once Upon a Time in the West, From Dusk till Dawn, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Smokey & the Bandit, Batman, Batman Returns, Trick r Treat
- What is your favorite film genre?
Horror, then action, then fantasy.
- Who is your favorite director?
John Carpenter. He’s an incredibly versatile filmmaker with an immediately-recognizable style and he has made some of my all-time favorite films. Also, his movies are truly “John Carpenter films.” The dude directed, produced, wrote, edited, he even composed his own music. Now most movies I see have 20-something producer credits and that fucker could almost make a movie single-handedly.
- What is your favorite era of films?
The 70s and 80s, which is probably obvious from my list of favorite films. The studio system produced a much wider variety of films then and you had smaller studios (from mini-majors like Cannon and New Line to smaller operations like Full Moon and Troma) putting out tons of cool stuff. You could also get away with a lot more then; I see R-rated movies now that would likely be rated PG back then.
- When were you disappointed most by a film?
Probably Batman v Superman. I didn’t even expect it to be good following Man of Steel, but as someone that grew up on DC comics and owns literally thousands of them, that was tough to sit through. If you had told the 10-year-old me in 1994 that there would be a movie with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in 2016, I would have gotten in line for it at the theater and waited there for 22 years. That steaming dumpster fire didn’t exactly live up to that kind of anticipation.
- Where did your love of movies start?
The first movie that I ever saw in a theater was Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when I was four years old and I’ve loved movies ever since. Even better, there was a trailer in front of Roger Rabbit for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (because fuck scared kids, it was the 80s). I have been obsessed with horror ever since and immediately started begging my mother to let me watch Freddy movies.
- Why did you start a blog?
As mentioned, I’ve been going to the movies every week for years and started writing reviews a few years ago for fun. Some friends encouraged me to put them online somewhere, so I first tried using IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. I wasn’t particularly welcome on either because of the length of my reviews and because I tend to curse a little fucking bit. So, screw it, I might as well start my own blog. I was writing the reviews anyway, so might as well publish them somewhere and maybe meet some people that also enjoy talking about movies.
- What is one franchise you would like to see return?
Probably Tales from the Crypt because of the inherent versatility of it. Crypt is both my favorite comic book series and tv series of all-time and the fact that the film series was so short-lived is tragic. It is one of the few properties that could be brought back without the need for a reboot, remake or whatever and, if done right, could go on indefinitely.
- What is one film franchise you want to see go away?
Good lord, that’s a tough choice. I wish superhero movies would go away for awhile and I’m sick of the Conjuring universe, but I would have to go with Fast & Furious as the thing that I would most like to go away.
- What is a trend in films that you want to disappear?
No way that I could narrow this down to one thing, so here are some: PG-13 horror movies, PG-13 action movies, remakes, reboots and inter-connected universes. Can’t somebody just make a good, original movie without having to worry about a decade’s worth of sequels and spinoffs?
11. How can I contact you?
My email is therealfilmdoctor@gmail.com