The Film Father - The Mission Statement

Hello Internet!

I’ve been a father to a wonderful, bright, goofy little neurospicy ball of joy for 52 months now and it’s been… a ride.

He was born two months before the world ended (member those days?) but while I assume his newborn/toddler years have been slightly abnormal, I have literally no frame of reference for what would constitute ‘normal’ (which is .. good, in a way..? I guess..?). It’s been a trip, personally, though.

One thing they never tell you about fatherhood is how much *time* it takes. Thinking about it logically, I mean, sure - all of a sudden you’re responsible for a literal Human Life other than your own. You help it grow, nurture it, sustain it. This takes love. This takes energy. But more than anything it takes *time*.

In The Beforetimes (ie. BD - ‘Before Dude’) I would go to 30-40 movies per year. I’ve gone to see five total in theatre since his birth. Sure, a deadly global pandemic plays into that a teeny bit, but it’s really a case of time management. When you’re the parent of a small child, your life revolves around them. You take interest in the things they care about. It’s more Blippi and Meekah (fellow ‘Moonbug’ parents - what’s up?) and less Villeneuve, Nolan and Tarantino.

Thankfully, there is a steadily-increasing amount of manners to watch films from the comfort of our own homes. Be it cable, on-demand or any number of the six billion streaming services currently available, there is no shortage of filmography available to view. It’s maybe not ‘new’, exactly… but it’s new to *me*. And that’s the idea behind this blog. I’m going to review movies I watch (invariably with a beer in my hand on Saturday nights after Dude goes to bed). They might be three months old. They might be three years old. They may have been big ultra-blockbusters. They might be quirky indies. They’re all *new to me*.

Of course, since this is also a Dad Blog (or at least Dad Blog-adjacent) I’ll also include reference to whether the film is child-friendly, child-adjacent, or ‘rents-only.

A quick background - I figure by laying the cards out, I find it can give credence to oneself as a critic. Everyone has biases, favourite genres, etc that will make some movies far more likely to illicit a positive score.

First off, I'm a gen-Xer. Believe it or not, we still exist. Dude joined us a little late in life - he’s our one and only. I’m very late-Gen X (the term bandied about us often ‘Xennial’) but I’ve always identified more with the X-generation, what with my love of Douglas Coupland, grunge music and flannel as well as my innate ability to disappear and become completely invisible when anyone starts talking about retirement prospects.

I devour pop culture in all its forms. Movies (of course), TV, video games, books. Even wrestling (the last, great athletic art form and I shall abide no slander in this safe space).

My ten favourite movies are, in no particular order: Pulp Fiction (1994), The Dark Knight (2008), Transformers: The Movie (the 1986 gangster-as-fuck animated film, not the Michael Bay horror show from 2007), The Avengers (2012 - you may think it weird that we have to define this, but I’m one of the thirteen people who saw the 1998 film with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, so…), Reality Bites (1994 - I told you I was a Gen-Xer.. though more than most of the other films on my list, the farther out we get, the worse it ages), The Matrix (1999), Better Off Dead (the ‘Savage’ Steve Holland dark-comedy opus from 1985 starring a young and infinitely charming John Cusack), Grosse Pointe Blank (the 1996 dark comedy starring a 30-year-old, infinitely-charming John Cusack), High Fidelity (the 2000 dark comedy starring a mid-30s, infinitely-charming John Cusack) and Saving Private Ryan (1998 - still the grittiest and headiest war movie I’ve ever seen).

If I had to choose, my top five directors would be: Scorsese, Nolan, Gerwig, Peele and Rian Johnson.

My top five favourite actors are: John Cusack (shocking, I know), Ethan Hawke, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kate Winslet and Idris Elba.

So there you have it. That might help explain why I take time to review some garbage, direct-to-DVD John Cusack disposable like ‘Cell’ (seriously - it was based on a rad Stephen King novel and had Sam Jackson in it, too! How did they manage to fuck that up!?)

Stick tap to my buddy Kerry who came up with the cool blog name. I came to him asking for a favour. 

Cheers - CJ