The field of vision wants to be filled. The eye hungers for compositions and camera movements, for chases and crashes, for sudden sprawling boom-shot vistas. Memory isn't enough. The boxes of cassettes hold more than memory: they hold the world, if only there were time to screen it all. (From The Phantom Empire by Geoffrey O'Brien)

Dale's Reviews (Last updated February 7, 1999)

Dale's Views (Last updated August 6, 1998)

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A brief history of my movie-going

The first movie I ever went to was M*A*S*H, back in 1970. True, I was not yet one year old, so I don't have precise memories of that signal event. I do remember being scared out of my wits by some of the first movies I saw, like The Wizard of Oz, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and The Little Prince. But the movie that made me fall in love with movies was Star Wars. I'm sure millions of other people in their late twenties would say the same thing.

I became an avid moviegoer in my teens. I would see a movie at least every week with my friends. It was then that I learned the one most important truth about movies: the best seat is fourth row center.

When I started college, I began going to "alternative cinema" screenings, which introduced me to the works of Tarkovsky, Herzog, Forsyth, Roeg, and others. Not until I started taking classes on films and going to a lot more movies did I become the cinema snot I am today.

Q. Does the Internet really need another movie review page?
A. Probably not, but this page was written for my benefit rather than for the readers'. Writing reviews helps me come to grips about what I like and don't like about the movies.

Q. What are your qualifications to be a film critic?
A. I can watch movies, I can think, and I can write.

Q. What are your favorite kinds of movies?
A. I love all kinds, although perhaps visionary science fiction ranks highest of all in my book.

Q. What is your favorite movie?
A. Probably The Man Who Would Be King, but if you asked me tomorrow, I might say Casablanca.

Q. What is your least favorite movie?
A. Ignoring obvious stinkers like Manos, the Hands of Fate, probably a vacuous big-budget disaster like Hudson Hawk, Toys, or Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Q. What do you look for in a movie?
A. I look for a story that is both imaginative and convincing, realized visually in a striking manner. Take, for example, Werner Herzog's classic Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Here is the history of a madman, whose final days are presented in a hallucinogenic manner. The images and sounds of this film combine to make a classic film.

I tend to be more forgiving of a film if it is striking visually. Beautiful, indelible images tend to make me forget plot holes.

Q. I notice that in your reviews you don't pan many films. Why is that?
A. Since nobody pays me to go see movies, I tend to go see movies that I am confident I will like. I usually do like them. I am certain that I would write many more unfavorable reviews if I went to see movies like Jungle 2 Jungle, Flubber, Speed 2, and Home Alone 3. Luckily, I can ignore them with impunity.

Q. Explain your rating system.
A. I use the standard four-star system. Any film getting three stars or more is recommended, anything with two-and-a-half or fewer is not.

Just because some films have identical rankings does not mean they are of identical quality. George of the Jungle and My Best Friend's Wedding both have three stars, but the latter films is stronger in many ways than the former. It is because of these minor differences that I write full reviews instead of just capsules with star ratings.

Q. What is on your Reviews and Views pages?
A. My Reviews page includes precisely that: reviews of movies I have recently seen either in theaters or on video. I have them organized in several different ways: by title, by year, by rating, and by director. My main page also has a list of my most recent reviews.

My Views page is essentially a miscellaneous page. Currently, it includes my views on the Oscar race and a brief essay on Utah filmmaker Trent Harris. Eventually, I want to expand it to include more film profiles (Stanley Kubrick, Charlie Chaplin), more diatribes, some "top 10" lists, and other fun things. Look for my reaction to the Oscars the morning after the ceremony.

Q. What can I do to help your page?
A. Give me input. Tell me how you like my page and my reviews. Give me suggestions. Recommend movies for me. Get me a date with Kathleen Turner.

Thank your for reading this introduction. I hope you enjoy my pages. If you would like to link your movie page to mine, please tell me so I can return the favor.

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Copyright 1998-1999 by Dale G. Abersold 1