When I was growing up I imagined that the absolute greatest job in the world was to be a film critic. What could possibly be better than making a living watching movies and then telling people all about them? But, as time went on, my perspective changed somewhat. I think it’s partially because my desire to create surpassed any interest I had in critiquing the work of others. When I started writing films myself, I began to understand how very difficult it is to write a good, let alone great screenplay. What’s more, it dawned on me that the writing process is but one small piece in a much larger production. I think this is why I’ve ultimately phased out movie review columns on this site. My original intent was to recommend obscure but noteworthy films that I hoped would entertain and inspire. But writing (and reading) exclusively positive reviews tends to be rather boring and, frankly, my initial reservations about motion picture critiquing began to haunt me once again. Read more »