Since I write a movie column for my weekly paper, I try really hard not to notice what other people are saying about a film before I see it. This means avoiding the entertainment page on the L.A. Times Web site, skipping the movie reviews in the New Yorker (which is generally easy since I am a few months backlogged on them) and never, ever watching reviews on TV.
The goal is that when I watch a movie, I won't be doing it with any preconceived ideas, and also it saves me from anyone ever accusing me of copying someone else's ideas since I do my best to write my columns in a bubble.
I don't know if other movie reviewers do the same thing - any of them around Los Angeles have the opportunity to watch screenings of the films and meet with the filmmakers long before the movies are released so they write before all the reviews are published. But since I sort of stumbled into this column at the paper because I like movies, and studied film as an undergraduate, I don't really have the opportunity of heading to Los Angeles for those screeners every week (our travel budget at the paper keeps me mostly within the city limits of Hollister.)
I do, however, read movie reviews on a regular basis after I've seen a movie and written about it. It is reassuring when my take on a movie is similar to movie critics who have been doing this for years - they just usually write what I want to express in a better way than I can.
This weekend I have plans to see either "Away We Go," which has been out for more than a month, but just came to Morgan Hill for two showings a day, or I might see "Funny People." The problem is I made the mistake of visiting the Los Angeles Times this week and saw a headline that implies "Funny People" might not be so hot. This was reiterated by a family member who saw a similar headline on another Web site.
So it will be one or the other...and the decision might just come down to which film plays at the most convenient time.
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