The Essential Five | An Introduction
All film buffs have a favorite director. I'm fairly certain you already know mine. If you don't, I'll give you a hint:
Most of us usually have more than one. And when going down their list of films, we tend to put them in some sort of order, usually from worst to first. Some will have personal favorites; ones that may have been critically-panned but still hold a special place in their hearts. Others may gravitate towards the ones that have been firmly established as a cult classic; maybe an underrated or overlooked gem. Then there are also those who identify with the summer blockbusters or Academy favorites. My challenge with this series is to blend all of those to create my list of their Essential Five.
The first thing you need to know is this: Each list will be as democratic as possible, but please be aware that it will still hold some personal bias. There's no way to avoid this and to be completely honest, this is my blog, not yours. So deal with it. I will do my best to be objective, but these are my choices, not yours, so if you disagree, please let me know. I'm always willing to listen to any conscientious objectors or contributors in case I've forgotten something, for that matter.
Secondly, while I have seen a lot of movies, I haven't see everything. I will do my due diligence to see as much as I can from each director I have selected, but the farther we move away from the Blockbuster Video era, the more difficult it becomes to have a decent film library readily available at my fingertips. I tend to be selective with my rentals these days, and with losing our local Hastings, we're now down to just one option. (I know it's more than what most people have outside of a nearby Redbox, but that doesn't mean it isn't still frustrating.)
Thirdly, the directors I'll be selecting will primarily be either American and British. It's just who I've had the most exposure in twenty-plus years of being a cinephile. I have yet to immersed myself in the French New Wave, German Expressionism, or really any other foreign film movement for that matter. I've tried it several times, but outside of what I was shown in my film history class, it's usually the style and/or subject matter (and sometimes the language barrier) that still holds me back most times. I do have a subscription to Hulu, which has has over 900 films in their Criterion Collection, so there is hope that I one day may alter the course (just don't hold your breath).
Lastly, my intentions are to try and put out these Essential Five lists on a bi-weekly basis. While this blog is titled "The Inconsistent Writer," my plan was never to be so inconsistent that there would be an entire year between posts. Things get busy in my life, just like everyone else, but I'm not that busy. My job is mostly 9-to-5 with weekends off. Also, I don't have children. I know those people and just seeing their daily posts on Facebook wear me out. So, I don't really have an excuse or a logical reason why I haven't written more. I'm just lazy.
I should be able detach myself from the television a couple of times a month and just write. It provides a creative outlet since I'm no longer involved with making short films. But often times I tend to bite off more than I can chew, like with my Re-Bonding series. While I still fully intend to complete this series, I guess forcing myself to analyze and then reanalyze all of the Brosnan, Dalton, and Moore films of the James Bond franchise really took more out of me that I was originally willing to admit until now. So, moving forward...
This series will require some additional guidelines that I will need put in place with each director I select for this series.
This idea of starting a new series has been sitting on the back-burner for almost a year, constantly getting lost in the furthest corners of my mind. The past few weeks it became a internal nagging to get off my lazy ass and start writing again. Some might call it a hunch. And if is, then it would only be right to quote the great director, Frank Capra, and get moving on my next post:
Until Next Time, Dear Readers...
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| Rumor has it he works part-time as the Cook County Assessor in Chicago. |
Most of us usually have more than one. And when going down their list of films, we tend to put them in some sort of order, usually from worst to first. Some will have personal favorites; ones that may have been critically-panned but still hold a special place in their hearts. Others may gravitate towards the ones that have been firmly established as a cult classic; maybe an underrated or overlooked gem. Then there are also those who identify with the summer blockbusters or Academy favorites. My challenge with this series is to blend all of those to create my list of their Essential Five.
The first thing you need to know is this: Each list will be as democratic as possible, but please be aware that it will still hold some personal bias. There's no way to avoid this and to be completely honest, this is my blog, not yours. So deal with it. I will do my best to be objective, but these are my choices, not yours, so if you disagree, please let me know. I'm always willing to listen to any conscientious objectors or contributors in case I've forgotten something, for that matter.
Secondly, while I have seen a lot of movies, I haven't see everything. I will do my due diligence to see as much as I can from each director I have selected, but the farther we move away from the Blockbuster Video era, the more difficult it becomes to have a decent film library readily available at my fingertips. I tend to be selective with my rentals these days, and with losing our local Hastings, we're now down to just one option. (I know it's more than what most people have outside of a nearby Redbox, but that doesn't mean it isn't still frustrating.)
Thirdly, the directors I'll be selecting will primarily be either American and British. It's just who I've had the most exposure in twenty-plus years of being a cinephile. I have yet to immersed myself in the French New Wave, German Expressionism, or really any other foreign film movement for that matter. I've tried it several times, but outside of what I was shown in my film history class, it's usually the style and/or subject matter (and sometimes the language barrier) that still holds me back most times. I do have a subscription to Hulu, which has has over 900 films in their Criterion Collection, so there is hope that I one day may alter the course (just don't hold your breath).
Lastly, my intentions are to try and put out these Essential Five lists on a bi-weekly basis. While this blog is titled "The Inconsistent Writer," my plan was never to be so inconsistent that there would be an entire year between posts. Things get busy in my life, just like everyone else, but I'm not that busy. My job is mostly 9-to-5 with weekends off. Also, I don't have children. I know those people and just seeing their daily posts on Facebook wear me out. So, I don't really have an excuse or a logical reason why I haven't written more. I'm just lazy.
I should be able detach myself from the television a couple of times a month and just write. It provides a creative outlet since I'm no longer involved with making short films. But often times I tend to bite off more than I can chew, like with my Re-Bonding series. While I still fully intend to complete this series, I guess forcing myself to analyze and then reanalyze all of the Brosnan, Dalton, and Moore films of the James Bond franchise really took more out of me that I was originally willing to admit until now. So, moving forward...
This series will require some additional guidelines that I will need put in place with each director I select for this series.
- The directors must have a long enough career to qualify for this list. I wouldn't say that a minimum of 20 years is the absolute end-all be-all of rules, but it will definitely be a contributing factor.
- They will have to have a proven track record of successful commercial or critical films that have reached wide array audiences.
- I will have had to have seen a majority of their films. Sometimes this will be on a case-by-case basis. Since old school early Hollywood used to pump out films like a auto-parts manufacturing factory, I may not have seen all of their silent era features, but I will need to have had a good grasp of what this director has had to offer.
- If time permits, I'll try to provide a very short bio, some key scenes from certain films (which may or may not actually be on the Essential Five), along with a shortlist of their "director trademarks" (also knows as the director's fingerprint on the film) and an Honorable Mention.
This idea of starting a new series has been sitting on the back-burner for almost a year, constantly getting lost in the furthest corners of my mind. The past few weeks it became a internal nagging to get off my lazy ass and start writing again. Some might call it a hunch. And if is, then it would only be right to quote the great director, Frank Capra, and get moving on my next post:
"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something."
Until Next Time, Dear Readers...
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