I see a lot of movies every year. A
ton. But this year I’ve decided I don’t see enough movies, so one of my
New Year Resolutions was to simply see more. And to write about them.
See, that’s the other half of the equation: I see a ton of movies, but
I write about comparatively few of them. There are a lot of reasons,
but they mainly boil down to the fact that I feel the need to do long
form reviews, and sometimes – like in the midst of Sundance – I just
don’t have the time.
And
so was born this new blog! I aim to make an entry for every single
movie I see in 2010. Some entries may be very short, some may be
lengthy. Entries may take a couple of days to be posted. Let’s see how
long this lasts.
One
last thing: one of my main objectives this year is to rewatch more
movies. I know this sounds like a strange goal, but there are films I
haven’t seen since high school, which means it’s been almost a lifetime
since I saw them. Recently I rewatched Black Christmas for the first
time since the 1980s, and I might as well have been seeing the movie
for the first time. I’m interested in getting a look at some movies I
loved or hated twenty or even ten years ago and seeing how I feel about
them now.
Let’s begin…
#41 Not Quite Hollywood
2008
d. Mark Hartley
I first caught this movie at Fantastic Fest back in 08, and it’s always a pleasure to revisit it. This time I rewatched it for research, but it’s still as much of a joy as it was that first time. Hartley’s energetic romp through the history of Australian exploitation cinema is the kind of doc that speaks to real film fans on a primal level. This is the kind of movie that, the first time you see it, it changes the very nature of your Netflix queue. It’s a movie that excites and inspires and pulls no punches. Not Quite Hollywood doesn’t just inspire me to watch wacky Ozploitation films, it inspires the way I approach my work.