Confessions of a Fanboy

Hello Everyone,

In the past I had posted blog entries pertaining to my opinion about certain films that I have watched or just some of my ideas about movies, trends in movies or the film industry itself (not in depth though). I thought that it would be a good idea to take a more in depth look at my obsession/interest in films and the whole fandom of movies.

I was born in 1982, so basically I grew up during the blockbuster era (it had already started in 1975 with Jaws; my opinion, someone else may say that it started before that). I grew up watching the Indiana Jones films and Star Wars (second hand mind you because the first Star Wars came out in 1977 and the last one Return of the Jedi came out in 1983 when I was a year old or under). Batman came out in 1989 and I remember seeing it on video because it was probably too adult for me to have gone to the theatre to see it. I do remember seeing the rest of the Batman films in theatres to date. I did get a chance to see the Star Wars films in theatres in 1997; I believe that I ended up going alone to the theatre to see them, but went because I just had to see these films in theatres given the opportunity.
I do not consider myself a hardcore star wars fan (I do own on the films) and I also do not consider myself a trekkie (I own all the movies, but have only watched full episodes of the Star Trek The Next Generation Television show). I am more a citizen of the North American world of cinema, I would like to say that I am a citizen of the World of Cinema (I did study film for four years at the University of Toronto and watched a lot of foreign films, but I do not believe that I have seen enough foreign films to justify that title).
I got into the fandom of Sin City (I own 3 of the Sin City Actions figures, a replica of Rafferty's badge (Christmas Gift; Thanks Dad) and I held out about 5 months for the special edition DVD and after seeing the film in the theatre, within about 3 months I had purchased all the Sin City Graphic novels and am currently eagerly awaiting the sequel; c'mon Robert Rodriquez, I need my fix.
I am currently in my Watchmen phase (I admit that I did not read the graphic novel until I heard that there was going to be a film version, but I was interested in reading it before news of the impending film); so far I have the graphic novel and the Watchmen and Philosophy book (I love those books; call me a nerd, but I like them, although I did not major in Philosophy, cause...you know I wanted to be able to get a job with my education and not stand in the unemployment line; haha Simpsons referring, albeit a roundabout one). I am currently think about purchasing a Watchmen T-shirt, but I have not seen them in stores yet and would really like to not have to order one online. I was not impressed by the Watchmen action figures (you did a crappy job DC Direct (I crave more detail); in the future contract out all your action figure designing/sculpting to Todd McFarlane's Toy Company.The 1:6 scale collector action figures (like sideshow collectible dolls) actually look decent. I think that The Spirit figures were better looking than the Watchmen action figures, although I heard the movie was crap; still have not seen. You see this is how crazy/how much of a fanboy I am, I admit that I am not the level of the Ain't It Cool News Guy Harry Knowles; I am a few steps about the average moviegoer in my movie fandom.
Action figures and doll; Yes, I admit that I have some; Michael Myers (No, not the guy who played Austin Powers), Freddy Kruger, the Crow, Jason Voorhes and others. I am not ashamed of them or my Frank the Bunny figure or my V from V For Vendetta figure and no I do not play with them because they do not go out of their blister packaging cause they are collectibles to me and not toys; okay they are sort of toys but not the kind that you play with.
You may ask yourself as you are reading this, how did this guy get this way? Nature or Nurture; a little from column A and a little from column B. I grew up with a father who was really into movies (although not as much as I am today), specifically James Bond (my Dad, I believe has one of the biggest James Bond collections in North America; yeah I am bragging and I bet that my dad could beat up your dad; my Dad was a cop for over 30 years want to contend with that. My father also grew up/was grown up during a great period in North American cinema...that right The New Hollywood Era (1969-1980 or Easy Rider to Raging Bull; I know I stole that from Peter Biskind and his book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls). My Dad told me that he used to work midnights as a stock boy at a grocery store, get paid, take the bus/streetcar to the movies, then go home and sleep. He told me that him and my uncle went to see The Exorcist at the theatre and when it got out, they got back in line (likely a very long line) and saw it again. Unfortunately, I was born in 1982,so the 80s movies phenomenon was second hand to me; I got stuck with the 90s blockbuster era. There were some good blockbusters in the 90s though; Speed, Terminator 2 (best action film ever), Die Hard 2, but that's kind cancelled out by Die Hard With A Vengeance (there mistake was not having it take place at Christmas time, although Live Free or Die Hard avoided that problem with decent writing and great action). Unfortunately, I did not get to see Terminator 2 in theatres because I was only 10 at the time but I remember waiting at the theatre for my Dad who went to see it while my sister, my mom and I saw Bingo; what a great one that was. I also got stuck with Jean Claude Van-Damme; he had some good ones though Double Impact, Hard Target and my favourite Van-Damme film Universal Soldier. I am, however looking forward to seeing JCVD; a fictional tale, but somewhat autobiographic story of a former action star who has faded away getting caught up in a bank heist in France; check out the trailer; looks like a good one.
Why are films so important to me? Well, I am a fanatic, but where does that come from? I think that I associate watching films with spending time with family. Growing up, my Dad would rent two movies on a Friday or Saturday night and we would all watch them together. When I got a bit older, and my father and sister got busy, my mom and I would watching movies and some TV shows together; we would rent and go to the theatre. My mom will talking on the phone with a family friend or relative, would call out to me, "David, have I seen (insert movie title here)?", I would reply "Yes, it's the one where (the guy does the stuff with the things." I would add. I think because I associate films with family time, I do not like going to the theatre by myself, although I have and will do so, if I really want to see a film, but cannot get someone to go with me to see it. After my mother passed away, about a year later, I met my wife and she is really into films. Our arranged date, with her cousin Denise (I was nervous, so I asked my friend Denise to go with us; I had only met her about a week or two before) was to see Tim Burton's Big Fish which is interest because it is a film about a life and my wife and I were just beginning our life together as a couple when we saw that film. About two weeks later, as a couple we went to see The Butterfly Effect (if you have not seen it, just rent it already; awesome movie). At our wedding, which had a loose movie theme to it, we feature tables with movie Titles with a mini printed posters instead of table numbers, we did movie quote trivia as a game to get us to kiss if we could not name the movie that the quote was from, our centrepieces were a night at the movies theme (featured a DVD, a package of liquorice, a bottle of Coca Cola and a bag of microwaveable popcorn) and our prizes for the spot dance were movie passes. By and large, my wife and I can watch any film together. There are certain types of films that I know that she is not into so I either watch them on my own or watch them when she is asleep (zombie films, foreign films, thrillers [the really brutal ones]). I do watch chick flicks with her on DVD and at the theatre; she does however go to see some chick flicks with friends and I do not go with them). I begrudgingly watched Freaky Friday (lindsay lohan version) with her, which is probably her best movie; so it looks like her better days are way way way behind her. I admit that I would not and did not go see Alexander with her (her cousin Denise went with her) because I really really did not want to see; I should have gone cause now it will be held over my head for the rest of my life but that is not the worst thing, so I guess that I can live with it.
Together my wife and I have around 930 DVDS (both TV Shows, Films, stand-ups etc.). I am into action, comic book,comedies, horror, a bit of sci-fi, a bit of foreign, a bit of documentaries, a touch of westerns and of course thrillers and dramas. You may be think, what else is there? Well, I am not really into musicals (I loved The Phantom of the Opera with Gerard Butler though). My wife is into chick flicks, comedies, dramas, some thrillers and some indies (she watches a lot of films for the actor or actress that are in them so often, she stumbles across a few indies; i.e. half of Nick Stahl's filmography (see Wasted). She is into Johnny Depp, Steven Dorff, Nick Stahl, Joaquin Phoenix and the late River Phoenix.
I have read books on films for school and for pleasure. I have read a bunch of the British Film Institute guides on certain films, I have read books on certain periods in cinema (new hollywood, indie era and hollywood era)and I often see a film and then go back and read the source material, that is the novel that it was originally based on, if I really enjoyed the film and want more of the story than the film running time allows.
I also enjoy film soundtracks and film scores; film scores more so. My most recent film score purchase was The Dark Knight; which is great, although I did not pick that up immediately. I sort of resented the fact that Danny Elfman was not doing the music for Batman Begins and that Christopher Nolan was not allowed to use his regular composer (David Julyan; Memento, great score) on Batman Begins, in favour of James Newton Howard and Hanz Zimmer (love Unbreakable score by Howard and The Rock score by Zimmer). The Batman Begins score, still to this day does not impress me, what they did with the Dark Knight score was a lot better. I do however, think that David Julyan is very very underrated, as is Brian Tyler (see Bubba Ho-Tep).
Let's see how far this obsession goes. I have paid 50 dollars (USD) for a DVD; it was a limited edition/never released in stores [still do not know why] two disc edition of Spielberg's Munich. I really enjoyed this film and would not settle for the one disc edition that they chose to release in stores. Currently there are 3 used copies of this DVD starting at 100 bucks on amazon.ca and new copies (6) starting at 45 buck and 20 used starting at 24 bucks. I emailed Universal Studios as to why this DVD was not released in stores because I am curious, but I have received no response yet. I also paid 180 (CDN) for the Nightmare on Elm Street Collection (7 films, one bonus disc) in 1999 and it is now going for 35 bucks on amazon.com. If that is not fandom I do not know what is. I will pay more cause I want to get these DVDs right when they come out. I do not want to wait a few years or even 6 months to wait for the price to drop. Everyone has an obsession; EVERYONE. Mine is movies. Some people are obsessed with comics, shoes, clothes, jewelery, stamps, coins, porn, x-files, james bond and so on. I define obsession to mean intense enthusiasm for something whatever it may be. Part of who I am is defined by what I like; I talk about movies a lot, I wear graphic t-shirts that feature movie posters or characters on them. I am also into music and reading (novels, comics etc.), but my love of movies is one of the things that defines me. I believe that I enjoy movies some much because I enjoy stories; watching the drama of human lives unfold whether it be in a horror, action, comedy, thriller etc. I enjoy being engaged emtionally by my favourite entertainment medium and my favourite art form (believe me film is an art that is not also the motive for some films and not all films are artistic or have the qualities that would justify calling them an art piece but many do and some of the films that I enjoy I may consider an art object but others may disagree. Tastes are different, as are opinions. I think the real hinge point with films and whether they are decent, great, good, crappy, bad,etc. is whether they achieved their end/goal (you laughed, you cried, you got scared, your were thrilled etc.)and whether the film achieving their goal and how they did that spoke to you. If you like horror films but one in particular did not scare you or maybe it scared you with a more realistic/plausible story maybe you really enjoyed that experience or maybe you hated that because you went to see the film to escape from reality. Me, personally I got to see films for both reasons. I may become engaged in the drama of a film in a way that others do not. I guess the escapist element fits more so with films that entertain rather then raise questions about the essence of being or the human experience and therefore the human drama, essence of being, emotional engagement elements fit in better with film as a art form and films as art objects.
I know that this blog entry has been winding and long winded, but I hope that you enjoyed reading it and I would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Fanboy Dave