For years, I’ve reviewed movies on the side while doing something else for a living. I’m not complaining (who wouldn’t want to get paid to watch movies?), but it’s frustrating not to have time for everything I want to keep up with. I’ve always got a long list of films playing here in New York that I want to see, and I’m forever triaging that list, ordering some through Netflix and skipping others altogether.
So when my main paying job evaporated this March, one of the first things I thought about was all the movies I’d be able to see. As a personal project, I decided to watch a movie a day, prioritizing new releases playing in first-run theaters; I want to get to everything on my wanna-see list, for a change. I’ll also go to press screenings, and I’ll watch movies online, on TV, on DVD, at repertory theaters, and at film festivals.
At first I was thinking of this mainly as a way to structure my wide-open days. Then I realized I should write about what I was seeing. This experiment could prove a theory I’ve had for a while: that there are more good movies available these days than any normal person can keep up with.
If you find that hard to believe, check in for the next hundred days and see what you think of the movies I’m watching. And if you have something to say about one of them, or if I missed a movie you’ve just seen and loved, please leave a comment and tell me about it.
Meanwhile, here’s my TimeOFF review of the first of my movie-a-day movies, Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give, which I saw with my husband yesterday.
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