Story and You

(image via IMDB) I had a lot of plans this month. Last October was the first year where I really delved into horror in the lead-up to Halloween, and it was the discovery of some particularly excellent films— The Haunting , House , Cat People —that motivated me to start writing about film again after a period of feeling burned out and dissatisfied with my work. I had hoped to discover another batch of great horror classics this year, and write about as many of them as possible, this time utilizing this blog. Unfortunately, a number of assignment deadlines, a couple of midterms, and my work scheduling me for way more hours than usual halted these plans in their tracks. I’ve still watched some good movies this month, but I just haven’t had the time or inspiration to write about any of them. This brings us to Willard and Ben , a pair of horror movies that have successfully gotten my creative juices flowing for the first time this month, and which I've act...

(image via Flixster) I started my first semester of university this month, which brought me back to that all-too-familiar juggling of work, school, and free time (AKA watching movies). I did cut back on the movie watching quite a bit, especially compared to last month, but I still averaged about a movie a day in the end. I really should have watched less, honestly, but daily movie-watching is a hard habit to break! I began the month by finishing off my SUTS recordings--I still had movies from Leslie Caron, Slim Pickens, Marion Davies, George Sanders, and Elizabeth Taylor to see--and then transitioned into some very random viewing selections, and then finally got on track with my viewing theme for the whole latter half of the month, the lovely Jennifer Jones (interspersed with some viewings from my film class-- Rashomon is not one I would have otherwise chosen to re-watch in the middle of my Jones marathon!). Where before this month I had never seen her in a single film, I have now...

(image via IMDB) It seems that audiences have a special fascination with the kinds of movies that place relatable characters in outrageous situations. These kinds of narratives are especially popular in the romance genre, where we watch unsuspecting couples come up against unbelievable hurdles, and still somehow end up together. But where things become more interesting is when these love stories move past hilariously convoluted misunderstandings or death-defying sci-fi adventure and incorporate real moral dilemmas that present a challenge to the audience. While I have not actually seen the film, I have certainly heard about the controversy over the 2016 film Passengers , in which Chris Pratt's character deceives his love interest, Jennifer Lawrence, in a way that many viewers found to be incredibly disturbing. There's nothing inherently wrong with a film that challenges people--in fact, every good film should strive to do this in one way or another--but it becomes more com...