Introduction

I started to write a few essays on movies two years ago. I had hoped to gather them together as some sort of “movie journal,” and even wrote an introduction as a way to gather and focus my thoughts on the subject. It seems appropriate to share that introduction here.

October 2, 2006

The first movie I ever went to was Star Wars. I was only a month-old baby in my mother’s arms, but I can still say I was physically there, even if I don’t remember. My earliest memories of movie-watching are of the Star Wars films. They had such a profound influence on my life. Not only did they begin my love for movies, but the music of John Williams almost single-handedly gave me the desire to become a composer.

I love movies, pure and simple. I’ve always been fascinated with them, watching one as often as possible. As far as I can tell, film is the only art form that includes all the arts, in some form or another. (Think about it.) For this very reason, movies are my favorite form of storytelling.

The movies that made my list of “favorites” are ones that moved me in some way. I’ve lived with some of these films my whole life, while some are fairly recent additions to the list. The one thing they all have in common is the way they swept me up into the story and made me forget that I was watching a movie. The events in the story were happening to me, my emotions were engaged, and my intelligence wasn’t being insulted. These are the movies I love to talk about.

The following essays are an attempt to do just that. They are a record of why I love these movies, how they made me feel the first time I watched them, and why I will watch them again. That first impression goes a long way. I liked all these movies the first time I saw them. But many of them have become—for me—much deeper, more moving, more thought-provoking, more powerful than they were upon my first viewing.

I could never hope to convince another person to love movies the way I do. But I can try to explain why they have an effect on me, and what it is that I like about them. These essays are not necessarily an argument for these movies as they are my personal observations of them, and an accounting of my reaction to them. Some of the best conversations I’ve had with friends have been when a movie inspired within them the same thoughts and emotions that I had experienced. Watching movies has taught me so much about human nature. But it’s taught me even more about myself, my tastes and desires, my likes and dislikes, and my dreams.