Critical Mass

One of the strangest experiences you can have as a journalist is watching a movie with a theater full of critics. People take notes. They leave half-way through. They even start writing reviews as they’re watching. Kinda hard to experience movie magic when you’re checking your Blackberry.

To be fair, schedules and deadlines are crazy - which is usually why journalists leave early. They have an interview to run to or they need to have to post the review in a few hours. But I’ve also heard critics sit down for a film already grumbling. No wonder so many movies get trashed when journalists know what they think before they’ve seen a single frame.

In this world of information-inundation, it’s hard not to form opinions before seeing the flick. I’ve watched so many films I can usually tell a movie’s weaknesses from a thirty second trailer. There’s definitely satisfaction in seeing your instinct proved true. But more often than not, I feel like I snuck a peek at the presents before Christmas morning.

One of the hardest things to hold on to when you’ve been in the biz a long time is your innocence. That wide-eyed love of movies. After watching a film with fellow critics, I love seeing the same film with a non-industry audience. Allow me to draw a picture…

The critics: quiet, distracted, straight-faced, analytical.
The moviegoers: laughing, crying, cheering, elbowing each other.

It always reminds me why I chose this business. A pure love of story and movies. And in movies, like life, there’s a maturing that happens the longer you’ve been at it. The older you get, the more consciously you have to work at being wide-eyed. But it’s that innocence and joy that creates true magic.

Besides, I figure if you’ve become bitter and jaded about anything, it’s time to move on. Life is just too precious.