the chutry experiment

I confess! I'm one of your lurkers! I live in the boondocks and seldom get to a theater, which means that I see mostly mainstream commercial films only when they come out on video. Hence it's unlikely that I'm going to have much to say here—except that I enjoy reading!

I only lurk sometimes, but nonetheless, here's a multipurpose comment:

1. I saw Munich, and have enjoyed reading about it, but haven't yet felt compelled to write about it. I pretty much agree with Filmbrain's review that he posted a few weeks ago, but at the same time the film has stuck with me.

2. Thanks for introducing me, through various posts, to Sujewa's blog. It lead to this post at my blog, which lead to me getting a record number comments for a single entry.

Hooray, comments!

Senioritis, I've wondered how much "place" (living in major cities such as Atlanta and DC) has affected my blog. It certainly affects the films that I get to see.

DVD, I've been enjoying the discussions between some of the truly independent filmmakers that have been taking place in the blogs. I want to come back to that post, but I should be prepping to teach right now.

Filmbrain's review of Munich informed my response to the film even though it didn't really show up in the review or omments. I do think it's one of Spielberg's better films, and my initial uncertainty grows out of some his reservations about the film (the depiction of the Palestinians, the lack of any explicit depiction of the innocent Moroccan man, etc). But I do think it's an interesting contribution to the public dialogue about the conflict in the Middle East (to use the broadest possible phrase).

I read your blog daily (but comment infrequently, I guess). By the way, I watched 2046 the other day (wasn't it on your list of the Best of 2005 that you hadn't seen?), and I wasn't as wowed as I'd hoped. Beautiful? of course. Nostalgic? Oh yes. Perhaps I was expecting too much in a sequel to one of my favorite films.

Hi badger, 2046 was one of the films I considered for my Top Ten but ended up not including. Your response to the film is similar to mine. It's gorgeous and nostalgic and all those good things, but I was a little disappointed, although I'm not quite sure I can explain why (maybe my expectations were too high, as well).

I am hardly a lurker, seeing as I carried on with you a 19-comment-post conversation about Munich, but I'll 'delurk' long enough to add to this comment string, too.

Enjoy the blog, Chuck. I feel like it has helped us re-connect on a friendship that has now lasted almost two decades.

Nope, Chris, you're certainly not a lurker, and I'm glad we've been able to reconnect, too.

Hi, Chuck. I'll also delurk to say how much I enjoy the blog, especially your attention to non-fiction films that can often get lost in the shuffle. And I have to weigh in on behalf of both 2046 and Munich, which are easily among the best films I saw in 2005.

Thanks, Vince. I did like 2046 quite a bit. I actually considered doing separate lists for fiction and non-fiction this year, simply because I tend to privilege documentaries so much around here.

Ok, I'll cheat and leave this as a comment instead of emailing you... it'll take a little longer to find out the library that loaned Lost Book Found because apparently my school's library sent it back already, even though the email they sent me said I had till the 12th to pick it up (and they just started regular semester hours this week). So now I have to re-request it and see if that library will loan it out again! I will let you know when I find anything out, if you don't find anything before then.

You know I read your blog, Chuck, but I'll leave a comment anyway...

...to say that your RSS feed isn't updating itself for me!

Thanks, Heidi. I know that NYU (and some other New York) libraries have copies, so I may use that as an excuse to go up there sometime this summer.

Matt, maybe let me know which RSS feed it is. I've had trouble with this before, so not sure I'll be able to figure it out....

I've commented on the Munich post a couple of times now, and I've certainly commented here in the past so I guess I'm not a full-fledged lurker, but I'm not so good about commenting here reguarly. I live in Atlanta, where presumably I could see many of these movies. But I've got a wife and kids and we don't get to go to enough movies for me to be able to convince the wife, on those occasions when we do actually make it to the theater, to see the kinds of movies you write about here usually. So I usually don't have a whole lot to contribute.

Nonetheless, I appreciate the insightfulness of your writing, especially when I get to see a movie yo're writing about. I always find your commentary on those occasions intelligent and helful.

I've found myself slipping into a weird niche with this blog, reviewing (and sometimes promoting) films that very few people have seen. And in some cases, very few people *can* see them (some films haven't even received distribution).

Several of the comments have made me realize how crucial place can be to blogging. Being in DC gives me unusual access to some cool films that others might not have (the same was true of Atlanta, but DC, not surprisingly, is even more of a cultural center).

Ah, I didn't realise there was more than one; fixed now!

Thanks for the update, Matt. I'd forgotten to check on it....