Matt Neighbors
Hello. I'm Matt. Thanks for taking the time to listen to my opinions.
So why start yet another blog about movie reviews? It's a fair question. After all, in this day and age, literally everyone can voice their opinions about anything, so things are getting a bit cluttered online.
Maybe I'm flattering myself, but I like to think that I have a decent amount of insight when it comes to storytelling and what makes a good movie. Reviewing has always been a sort of a hobby of mine, even back to college when I reviewed for the school paper. Because I never really had a place like this, though, my reviewing hasn't been kept up. While there are plenty of places online to leave reviews for things, this is my special place. It's part storytelling soapbox, part archive of my work, and part portfolio, should I ever get the chance to actually be published as a reviewer somewhere in the future.
My philosophy is pretty simple, really: telling stories is one of the most important features of humanity, so we should make the effort to tell them well. I don’t really care to write the normal “cover the whole plot and offer some short thoughts” style we’re all accustomed to in every paper and magazine in the world. Instead, I tend to cover the experience as thoroughly as I can, breaking down the building blocks of the picture without really getting into spoilers that can ruin an experience for a viewer. If you want to know the plot before you go in, there’s plenty of sites that will oblige you. My primary concern is whether or not the story was well-told, enjoyable, and engaging.
The Process
I'm not a professional. I don't get paid for this. Because of that, I can't get to all the newest and biggest releases as quickly as I'd like to do. Life requires most of my resources, time, and energy, and swinging a $10-15 movie ticket isn't always feasible.
So, what you shouldn't really expect is coming here to find this week's hottest releases broken down for you. Sometimes I will get to them, especially if I think the movie in question is going to be worth it, but a majority of what you'll see here is just me reviewing whatever I happen to see at the time. Some of it will be new, some of it will be old, and some of it will just be insights and thoughts into the process of storytelling as I see it.
I hope you enjoy what I do here—but more than that, I hope it's helpful and illuminating. We as humans should appreciate good art.
