Preface

The romance between films and their viewers languishes on for more than a century. Since the time of Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope and Georges Melies’ adventure of a journey to the moon, times spent in the dark of a theater have caused us to fall in love, to go to war, to travel the stars. We’ve broken our hearts and mourned the dead. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried and screamed and we’ve cheered. None have denied the power of the motion picture.

My earliest movie memory was Sleeping Beauty, still one of my favorites from the Disney Vault. It’s classic tale and fantastic song set, along with the virtuous themes and undertones set the tone for my love affair with movies. As I grew up, fed on a steady diet of Disney and LucasFilms with a dash of John Wayne, I began to love a good story. My life left the screen into the pages of CS Lewis, Tolkein and Edgar Allen Poe.

William Goldman pulled me back to the screen through his novel The Princess Bride as I realized I could invest in both. And so began my interest in fiction. I loved the creation of a world and the people populating that world. I joined the creative writing class during high school…and never left. My college years, spent studying story and how to put it on screen, led to more writing and the desire to study the innards of the motion picture.

Now my brain is wired differently to that little girl who wanted to love her prince and waltz along for eternity once upon a dream. And now my lab is open.

The Rules

"We live by the rules, we die by the rules," states the motto of "The Skulls" in the movie of the same title. My project is no exception to needing rules.

The rules of the game are thus:

1. Each title must be watched.

2. Previous assumptions and knowledge of titles are null and void. This will ensure that proper attention to and the freshness of the film remains intact.

3. Each film response may be approximately one page typed, but no more than two.

4. The library is "borrow-able," therefore the selection of titles for analysis is fluid based on their availability.

5. Film responses are to be academic in nature and while the analysis may be positive or negative, persuasion is not the overall goal.

Click's Flicks Analysis Project

"Write every day," my professor told us time and time again. And I've failed. And as a result I have a screenplay, a novel and a novella each sitting in peices. Therefore, I am resolved to write something, if not every day, at least every week. And thus, the Click's Flicks Analysis Project is born.

I am buying a car which will keep me financially unable to attend my normal cache of movies in theaters; also unable to do much purchasing of new ones. So, I'll spend time in front of my own television with my current video library. And I'll share my thoughts about each here.

I own somewhere within the range of 400 titles. It'll take me three years to be out of credit card and school debt, which also strains my entertainment budget. There are 156 weeks in three years and if I analyze at least 2 movies per week, I'll reach the end of my library with time to spare and half of my car payments paid. I will begin in June when my new car, Max, arrives.

Until then, I'll search for a ususable review format and come up with the rules of the project. I welcome any suggestions. May your day be full of blessings!!

'Til next time,

Heidi Michelle Click