by Zack Mandell

Zack Mandell is a movie enthusiast, writer of movie reviews, and owner of www.movieroomreviews.com which has great information on movies, actors, and films like Snitch. He writes extensively about the movie industry for sites like Gossip Center, Yahoo, NowPublic, and Helium.

WHY I WRITE MOVIE REVIEWS

When I was 18 or 19 a good friend of mine was throwing a party and invited me to attend, suggesting I arrive several hours early so we could hang out before it started. I did so to find he had his hands full with party preparation more intense than he’d anticipated. As I couldn’t be of much help he suggested I watch a movie in his room until the party started. This friend had been a film student for a while and had an excellent collection so I was happy to oblige. I liked movies but wasn’t a committed film buff or anything. Remembering a positive endorsement from my mom (who has great taste in movies) I put on Unforgiven, the Clint Eastwood Western and became increasingly engrossed.

William Munny (Eastwood) and his old partner Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) are aging ex-gunmen who’ve been hired by a group of prostitutes to kill two men that had slashed up one of their number in a Big Whiskey, WY brothel. Opposing Munny and Logan is Big Whiskey’s protective, brutal ex-gunslinger sheriff- Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman). Munny, by his own admission, had himself been an incredibly cruel, drunken, sadistic and murderous desperado as a younger man before being reformed by his (since deceased) wife. Much of Munny’s youthful sadism had been inspired by liquor, which he’s sworn off.

[Spoiler Alert] Near the end of the film William Munny is preparing to return home when he finds out that someone very close to him has been been captured and tortured (inadvertently) to death by Daggett. At this revelation Munny takes a bottle of whiskey he’s spurned several times and drinks while learning the details of his friend’s ordeal from a terrified prostitute, who in turn reveals details about Munny’s exceedingly vicious past. As we watch, William Munny the father, loving husband, pig farmer and homesteader is dissolved by the whiskey and William Munny the dangerous, bloodthirsty, ruthless, ice water-cold gunfighter emerges. His transformation precipitates and precedes probably the best sequence ever filmed for a Western.

I was transfixed. Everything about Unforgiven seemed backwards: the good guys are hired assassins and the villain a small town sheriff just trying to protect his little patch of territory. The prostitutes seek revenge for their cut comrade, who is perhaps the only one of them not intent on vengeance. One of the men the assassins were hired to kill is good-hearted, hadn’t done any violence himself and was mostly guilty of running to his partner’s aid on instinct, unaware he (the partner) meant to cut up a woman.

Colorful characters enrich Unforgiven’s universe without conforming to cliché, notably incredible turns by Richard Harris as another hired shooter, “English Bob”, and Saul Rubinek’s W.W. Beauchamp- Bob’s Western-mythology-smitten pulp biographer- both of whom put in amazing performances. The primary players- Munny, Logan, Daggett and English Bob, were all old men who’d long since past their prime. It was like watching the hangover following a John Wayne and/or Gary Cooper Western. The tough cowboys, brave sheriffs and slick gunfighters had grown up and grown old. No one is spared (or spared from) the gritty reality of Western life. I’d never seen a movie like it, particularly a Western. When my host came to fetch me for the party (which started about halfway into the movie) I thanked him but requested time to finish. That viewing of Unforgiven affected my initiation into movie buffness.

Obviously, my description of a great movie is nothing at all like watching one and that’s maybe the best case to be made for reviewing movies. Since even the best review can’t really capture the movie experience, good or bad, reviewing appeals to me as a tool for steering viewers toward something they’ll never forget, or at least enjoy. Just as a well-done review can deliver an innocent from a bomb intent on stealing $10 bucks ($44 if concessions are purchased) and two hours of their time. My advice, such as it is, for anyone interested in writing reviews is to write toward a purpose. If you haven’t been assigned a particular movie to review, write on one that stood out to you or had some feature that stood out, whether good or bad. If a movie employs some tired convention or is representative of some trend that bothers you (or that inspires you), point it out.

Write what you think; not what you think you should.

Beware of prevailing review-trends though and learn to recognize them. The woman who wrote for the art and entertainment page of my college newspaper epitomized trend reviewing. When the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) movies were being released she sang their praises, as did everyone. However, when the backlash that inevitably accompanies any widely-popular entertainment phenomenon struck she immediately began referencing the LOTR films as the embodiment of boredom and filmic pretension.

Also- be aware of your disposition and situation and let a movie sit with you for a little bit before writing about it. More than once I’ve seen bad movies in some strange mood or with an enthusiastic watching buddy that totally colored my consideration of it, and led to some unforgiven recommendations. Likewise, I’ve watched great movies in a bad mood and judged them too harshly. On a number of occasions something I didn’t immediately like, or even actively disliked, nevertheless stuck with me. Despite an initial neutral-to-negative reaction, if I find myself chewing a movie over for several days afterward (if I’m not thinking on how overtly horrible it was) I almost always come around to digging it.

Another trend in reviewing that’s gained popularity is an attempted populist-appeal. A crappy action movie with the requisite inclusion of explosions and shootings will score glowing reviews from columnists intent on proving how absolutely they dismiss film snobbery and embrace regular-Joe cinematic taste. That being said- both the audience and genre should be kept in mind. If you’re writing a review for Best Car Chases Ever! dot com, the terrible Fast and the Furious sequel you just watched should be weighted regarding the content of the chase scenes with less attention given to the ridiculous dialogue. To be at all successful and satisfied, I think a writer of anything has to write from a place of passionate opinion. If you hate a popular movie or love a “terrible” one- I guarantee there are people out there that agree with you. Write what you think; not what you think you should.

I have to say, taking a month off from this blog was a lot harder than I thought.  For the last 2 years, I’ve been waking up every morning and posting something new.  The first few days were the hardest.  Resisting the urge to write about movies wasn’t easy because this blog had become such an important part of my day.

My first week off was a holiday from everything.  I didn’t write a word and I didn’t cut anything either.  I just wanted to take a week away from it all before diving into my projects.  When week two began, I couldn’t resist any longer.  I wrote a review for a Red State/Kevin Smith Q&A I attended.  I couldn’t leave it for a month!  Leaving it for a week was hard enough.

When week 3 started, I realized I still had a lot to finish up in order to justify taking the break in the first place.  I hit my groove and put in the work and nearly caught up on my unfinished projects…

But I missed this blog.  I missed writing about movies, screenwriting and independent film.  I missed checking my stats 47 times a day.  I missed it all.

It’s good to be back.

HOW LOSING SLEEP CAN LEAD TO A
CREATIVE OUTBURST

I fell a sleep the other night around eleven which is seriously early considering most days I’m in bed by 1 or 2am. At 7am, my girlfriend woke up for work and I turned on CNN like I always do.

On a normal day, CNN works like a radio as I close my eyes and fall back a sleep. However, this particular day was different. I had way too much on my mind… I felt like working.

So I got out of bed, got dressed, fired up my Mac and got to work.

SEIZE THE MOMENT

Sometimes, you just can’t help but feel inspired and truly unleash your creativity. Moments like these have to be acted on. I could have stayed in bed and slept until noon but that isn’t getting my movie edited, my blog updated or my screenplay written is it?

36 Websites I Visit Every Day

My first order of business was to eat cereal and catch up on all my blogs, sports updates and movie news. This normally takes a while but it’s important to stay up to date. Most of the time, these sites inspire new blog posts so it’s worth it.

WORDPRESS

For the first time in weeks, my daily post wasn’t ready to go. I had to write something from scratch. So I organized my thoughts and wrote Buried vs 127 Hours. A look at the different editing styles the film’s used to tell their story.

Once I finished the post, I was still feeling energized. It was time for the heavy hitters.

FINAL DRAFT

Launching Final Draft always makes me smile. Two days ago, I finished a new short screenplay called The Guardian and I spent a couple hours rewriting and editing my gritty 9 page superhero drama.

Rewriting is my favorite step. I’m the type of writer that completes the first draft without stopping much. I just want to get the story and the major plot points on to the page.

I usually leave the script for a day or two and then I edit and refine every single word until I’m 100% happy that I’ve told a unique and entertaining story. Sometimes, I finish a short and it doesn’t feel unique at all. These moments are unfortunate but every screenplay you write is an evolution of the writer you wish to become.

Once I finished my first pass at the rewrite I printed it out for my ‘red pen’ stage. I basically leave my office and read the script free from distraction with nothing but my thoughts and a pen. This step is followed up by typing it AGAIN from page one using my rewritten copy and my notes as guides.

It’s going to be a fun week but my day didn’t end there.

FINAL CUT PRO

I’ve been making sure to leave myself at least a few hours every possible day I can to make progress on 17 West’s latest short film The Climb.

It helps that I’ve been writing more and more about the editing process over the last week or so.

XTRA: Click here to check out the editing archives.

I fired up the most recent cut of The Climb and completed a scene from start to finish. In what felt like an instant, I put together a pretty great little 1 minute scene full of dialogue. It helped that I already had a good idea of how I wanted to pace the scene but I was amazed at how easily it came together.

In the end, I edited for a couple hours and even found time to go back and refine a few moments I wasn’t happy with earlier in the film.

It’s really starting to come along!

DONKEY KONG?

Every brain needs a break now and then and my escape when I can’t play sports is video games. Currently, I’m right in the middle of Donkey Kong Country Returns and I just dominated the fifth world.

It’s a really hard game so I’m quite proud to be almost done!

Break over.  Still completely inspired to work.

WORDPRESS RETURNS

I felt fantastic. I had already accomplished so much with my extended morning but I still felt inspired to work. So I continued my quest to go back and update old posts. I literally started with post number 1 and managed to get through about 20 or so before I called it quits.

These old posts are now updated with better SEO keywords, titles and graphics. I also wanted to include relevant links to posts I’ve created since those articles were published. This process is probably going to take months considering I’ve written nearly 600 posts.

Still, it’s important work and I’m happy I was able to get a few done just in time to get ready for work.

CELTX FOR IPHONE

XTRA: Read my review of Celtx here.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to the studio where I work. Still feeling extremely creative, I used that time to start a 1 page screenplay we may shoot for a competition towards the end of March.

It may never get filmed but at least I can create a script and find out if it’s worth it or not. So I fired up my Celtx for iPhone app and nearly got the first draft finished before I got to work.

The script is extremely rough and needs work but the basic outline of the story is out there and I think it may have some use down the road even if we don’t make the quickly approaching deadline.

EDITING PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

From there, I got to work and prepared for a busy night filled with big hockey games and a ton of live shows. 11 hours of editing stood between me and what was definitely a good night sleep!

It was a fantastic day!

SEIZE THE MOMENT!

My shift started at 2:30. I’m really happy I didn’t sleep until 11 and waste what ultimately became an incredibly productive afternoon.

Seizing these moments is crucial if you want to succeed in a creative medium. Even if it’s just a hobby and you aren’t aspiring to be a professional.  You have to constantly think about your projects and how you can make them better.  You have to dedicate yourself and get the work done.  Not because it’s work but because it’s what you love to do.

Yet every so often, something clicks and you end up with mornings like I just had.  Moments when you can’t seem to keep up with the ideas bursting from your imagination.

If only every morning was like that.

FIND A JOB YOU LOVE
NEVER WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE

I HAD A MAJOR NERD MOMENT LAST NIGHT

While checking my website stats, I noticed a fantastic boost in traffic.  Turns out, I got mentioned on one of my favorite sites!

/FILM

My recent post, Buried vs 127 Hours was featured on their daily Page 2 articles.  Nice!

Click here to check out the post.

To me, being mentioned on a blog I visit multiple times each day is simply awesome.  I usually start my day visiting /FILM, Joblo and Collider and IGN.  Throughout the day, I continue to visit to make sure I’m up to date on the world of movies.  These blogs fuel my weekly Rundowns and inspire me to become a better blogger.

It’s a tiny mention but still a cool moment for me.

Check out /Film’s iPhone app too!

How being mentioned on one of your favorite sites as a blogger is a great moment but it’s only the beginning.  Time to work harder.

Special thanks to The Unseen Edits and The Art of The Guillotine for posting the article as well!

The unthinkable has happened…

One of my computers died and I’m absolutely devastated.

The system in question is a PC I bought over 6 years ago.  Since that time, I’ve had it rebuilt and upgraded twice and truly customized every single option I could find.  It was my beloved mission control.  The home of my screenwriting, graphics work, web design projects and my websites.  It was my surfing computer.  I loved that computer.

Essentially, one of my hard drives is failing and it corrupted a whole bunch of necessary files… Gross.  The result is a whole bunch of disgusting blue screens, boot errors and crashes.

I feel like its the end of an era.  I never thought it would hurt as much as it does and maybe I’m being a little over dramatic but I was addicted to that system…

I suppose, it’s time to move on.

Thankfully, I also have an iMac so I’m not completely shut down but work has begun to organize all my backups and figure out what to do about all the software I NEED that won’t work on my Mac…

• Will I install windows 7 on the Mac and save my software?
• Can I salvage my current system and bring it back to life?
• Will I have to wait a while and buy something new?

Right now, I have no idea.  I just know my daily routine just took a huge hit and dammit, I’m sad.

There is hope as my current system could potentially get fixed.  I’m lucky that I’m paranoid because 90% of my files are backed up on a regular basis and I was able to save the rest.

At this point, I just wish this never happened…