I think it is time for me to bring back my movie criticism website.

[Metalhead]

I remember when I was a child, I always wanted to be a film critic. My parents laughed when they saw the dream in my eyes, but they told me to give up before I even started down that road.

Fifteen years ago, I had my own amateur movie criticism website, and I was taking it seriously by treating it like a second job. I was seeing new release movies at the cinema every weekend, and posting the reviews every Friday evening. I was advertising my website on movie forums, and I was starting to build up quite a bit of a following because I was willing to review the kind of extreme genre films a lot of critics refuse to touch. As soon as my mother realized I had my weekly updates on Friday evenings, she started to make plans for me every Friday evening that would make me incapable of doing the weekly updates on the scheduled time. I moved the updates to Saturday, and then guess what? My mother starts making plans for me every Saturday evening, claiming that my resistance was proof that I did not care about the family and that my obsession with people on the Internet was extremely unhealthy.

She then started to attack my website from every angle. She claimed seeing new release movies every weekend was morally wrong, and that I should just wait for films to come out on Netflix like normal people. She claimed that nobody was going to take my opinions on movies seriously just because she had different tastes in movies than what I have. She literally told me nobody cared about my silly little blog and that I was putting too much effort into an unhealthy dream.

When I did shut down that website, it was because bourbon became more important to me than paying the hosting fees. And when my mother found out that website got shut down, she told me she was proud of me, that it showed real maturity on my part that I was willing to give up on that stupid dream and be a responsible adult for a change.

Even today my mother tells me that she is happy I no longer have that "unhealthy blog".

Screw her.

Screw her seriously.

She is a woman without virtue.

She was far more obsessed with shutting down my website than I ever was with running it.

I am going to bring back my movie criticism website, I am going to treat it like a second job again, I am going to promote it like I used to, and I am not going to let that heartless woman guilt me into abandoning it again.

 

[Kalinychta]

She sounds like a real piece of work. And resurrecting the movie criticism blog sounds like a fabulous idea.

 

[Metalhead]

She sounds like a real piece of work. And resurrecting the movie criticism blog sounds like a fabulous idea.

Yeah, even when I hated the movies I was reviewing I had a lot of fun writing about them. Let me put it like this - I especially loved writing about the movies I disliked strongly.

Being a film critic has always been my dream job. So what if I have to settle for being an amateur?

 

[Misery]

Ye gods, your mother seriously sounds like an absolutely atrocious person from everything you've said of her.

I'd say, yes... make the site again. I know I'd do it if I were in your shoes, though for me part of it would be spite and I'd make absolutely sure she saw it.

Anyway, when it comes to reviewing, I can tell you from experience that it can be satisfying. Though I review games, not movies, and primarily on Steam, but I found that when I just kept doing it, more and more people started to pay attention.

And I can tell ya, it was soooooo gratifying at times. Peaked at the release of Isaac's Repentance expansion, with the #1 review for that month (Steam now forces reviews to cycle out after a period of one month). Cant even tell ya how cool that was to see.

And really, if I can do it, you can do it. Just start writing, and keep up that persistence, even if nobody seems to be paying attention at the time. You'll start getting attention sooner or later, and you'll improve your writing and analysis skills over time as well to make it a better experience for everyone involved.

Also seriously, to heck with your mom. That sounds like such a juvenile "mean kid on a playground" thing to say, but... yeah it seems absolutely deserved in this case. I'm glad you seem to now be realizing that she, and others who were negative, were totally wrong about you.

Keep it up, you've been making so much progress!

Why not show us all the site/blog/whatever once you've got it all up and running?

 

[Metalhead]

Ye gods, your mother seriously sounds like an absolutely atrocious person from everything you've said of her.

I'd say, yes... make the site again. I know I'd do it if I were in your shoes, though for me part of it would be spite and I'd make absolutely sure she saw it.

Anyway, when it comes to reviewing, I can tell you from experience that it can be satisfying. Though I review games, not movies, and primarily on Steam, but I found that when I just kept doing it, more and more people started to pay attention.

And I can tell ya, it was soooooo gratifying at times. Peaked at the release of Isaac's Repentance expansion, with the #1 review for that month (Steam now forces reviews to cycle out after a period of one month). Cant even tell ya how cool that was to see.

And really, if I can do it, you can do it. Just start writing, and keep up that persistence, even if nobody seems to be paying attention at the time. You'll start getting attention sooner or later, and you'll improve your writing and analysis skills over time as well to make it a better experience for everyone involved.

Also seriously, to heck with your mom. That sounds like such a juvenile "mean kid on a playground" thing to say, but... yeah it seems absolutely deserved in this case. I'm glad you seem to now be realizing that she, and others who were negative, were totally wrong about you.

Keep it up, you've been making so much progress!

Why not show us all the site/blog/whatever once you've got it all up and running?

If you private message me, I will definitely provide a link to the site.

 

[Gerontius]

Even if you aren't paid as a film critic, you're criticizing films, & are a film critic. Go for it. Good for you!

I hope you can get paid in some way, but at least it is the movies, and that is awesome.

 

[Ken]

Yeah, even when I hated the movies I was reviewing I had a lot of fun writing about them. Let me put it like this - I especially loved writing about the movies I disliked strongly.

Being a film critic has always been my dream job. So what if I have to settle for being an amateur?

Essentially every successful professional started out as an amateur.

 

[Judge]

Sure- why not? Go for it.

I used to do movie critiques on my own web portfolio site years ago.

 

[Crossbreed]

Did you like the TV series, The Critic (1994-2001)?

 

[Ken]

Just my two cents: you are your own person, responsible for yourself. You are under no obligation to conform to any of your families opinions, just as you are not responsible for them. I think you should be in charge and management of your own life. If you make a mistake, it will be on you. If you follow your families dictation and it turns out to be a mistake, then it's still on you. Clearly, their opinions have not benefited you. You might as well own your own mistakes. It's OK to make mistakes. Mistakes are our best education. But the good part of that is; you also get to own all of your successes. But, you will never succeed while bound and restricted by anyone else's opinion.

You should be free to be who and what you want to be. And for goodness sake, I think everyone should pursue their lifelong childhood dreams! I did and yes, it was against my families opinions and it was hard, but, it ended up even better than my childhood dream. If being a movie critic is you childhood dream, then you must do it. Not everyone is even lucky enough to have a childhood dream.

Just remember, as I already pointed out, all successful professionals, regardless of subject, started out as an amateur. Amateur is the starting point. It's how you get recognized. It's your foundation, your launching pad. It is a required part of success. - Just one example: The Wright Brothers were amateur's!

So, absolutely: drop all the impediments, opinions, attacks and shackles and Go for it!!

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I think you could do that and even use YouTube as a platform for criticism of movies. Lots of people create review for movies and no one ever has an identical review of any movie even if it has been the subject of a hundred reviews on YouTube.

 

[BrokenBoy]

What movies do ya wanna review? Can we have a link to your site when it's finished?

 

[Thinx]

Wow that's a great idea! And I bet it was an absorbing interest. What's different now is probably that you have faced a lot of the issues that pulled you into alcohol addiction and you are coming to this after doing a lot of work on yourself. Go for it! Bet you are great at reviews etc. You are very articulate and interesting on here.

 

[Darkkin]

Sounds like an awesome plan. I have a college friend who keeps a running commentary of horror movies and games on social media. The posts are always entertaining and informative. Half the time I'm amazed at the sheer number of just horror movies that are out there.

Sorry about the tangent, I missed my point, which is people like reading about movies. It is like getting to talk at the theatre, but you don't get murdered for it. You write well and are observant. Both skills that are good to have in the review world. Blogs are a great creative space and can offer an outlet for pent up thoughts. I have one for my Strangeways fables.

- D.

 

[Fino]

I think that's such a super duper cool thing you're doing that it even makes me excited. I'm so sorry that someone boo'd such a fantastic, creative, healthy, stimulating, fun activity. It makes you generally more attractive as a person and is great for your self-esteem. There is not a single thing that's negative about it.

 

[SusanLR]

Sounds like a lot of fun and interesting also.
A lot of us here already want to read your reviews!
Good idea.

 

[Metalhead]

I plan on reviewing anime, TV series and movies on my upcoming website. It will give me a good excuse to clean up my watching backlog. And if anybody else wants to contribute content to my website and has a skill for writing, I am open to including other critics on my site as well.