Reel Love: Titanic

In the weekend edition of Reel Love, I review a popular movie I have never seen. First up: “Titanic.”

TITANIC (1997)

When the credits rolled, all I could think was OH MY, that just happened.

(Well, that, and “I have to use the bathroom, because that movie was so long I had to stop halfway and put in ‘Cassette 2.’”)

Now, in my opinion, there are primarily two types of movies that will cause that reaction.

There are those that are just so well-crafted, so ingenious, or so astoundingly original that you just have to sit in awe for minutes after the final frames to soak it all in.

And then there are those that try so hard, invoke so many emotions, are filled with such adrenaline, and are just so gosh-darn earnest that you can’t help being moved.

Read the rest online at www.spectatornews.com.

What I do when I'm not writing for you

When I'm not writing for school, or for fun, or for my blog (hah), I'm writing for The Spectator.

The Spectator is UW-Eau Claire's student newspaper; this semester, I am the Currents editor. That means I am the editor of the "anything goes" section. From art to health to money to technology to entertainment, it might show up in Currents. It's hectic, but it's fun. A lot of fun. So far.

As part of my section, I am running a film column called "Reel Love." Every week (hopefully), I'll  be reviewing either a new release or the film playing on campus that weekend. Unfortunately, you probably won't have seen most of those movies I'll be reviewing--and movie reviews are much more fun when you've actually seen the movie the critics are talking about.

Therefore, I have proposed a sort of personal movie challenge. I have selected (with help from browsing the halls at Family Video, as well as input from friends) 15 popular movies that somehow I have never seen. I will watch, and then review, one of these movies every weekend (again, hopefully).

Here is the current lineup (for the "I can't believe I've never seen" editions of Reel Love):

• Titanic (review comes out later today)
• A Stallone movie (Rocky or Rambo)
• Pulp Fiction
• Wayne's World (?)
• Jaws
• Rush Hour
• Forrest Gump
• Terminator
• Saving Private Ryan
• Nightmare before Christmas 
• Blues Brothers
• Dances with Wolves
• Die Hard
• It's a Wonderful Life

These movies were selected not necessarily because they are SO GOOD I just have to see them. If that were the case, my list would be a bit different. No, these are the movies that everyone is most surprised to hear I haven't seen. These are the movies often mentioned in popular culture, but I never get the joke.

So anyway, if you'd like to follow along from home, you're welcome to. If not, then don't. I'll never know. =) And as always, if you disagree with my take, please comment! I love comments. I would encourage you to leave comments, however, on The Spectator site, where the reviews will be posted.

Okay, enough self-promotion for one day.