About Films and Feelings

The quote by Raymond Durgnat atop this page comes from his 1977 book, Films and Feelings. I came across this book while I was working toward my bachelor's degree in Media Arts, and it profoundly influenced how I viewed film criticism.

Titanic (1997)

Maybe your mental image of "film criticism" mostly consists of some obnoxious internet character and his or her hoard of YouTube videos like "87 Reasons Why the Harry Potter Movies Failed Us" or "The Lion King Makes No Sense!" That was my perception of the film critic world for a long time. Imagine my relief when I learned that the real film critics of the world, those who actually know film, aren't content to just give something a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down."

In this age of the internet, we tend to view "smartness" as being able to point out what's wrong with something, and I want to provide an alternative. That doesn't mean everything gets a pass, but informed film discussion, the kind of film discussion that matters, doesn't seek to tear down. Informed film discussion uplifts and edifies. It's more interested in understanding something than just deciding how many stars a thing deserves. It knows that there can be a lot of right ways to do approach a subject. Indeed, if more people understood just how little "hating" there actually is in proper film criticism, we'd see far fewer imitators.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

I started this blog hoping to counteract some of negative associations connected to film criticism. I don't pretend to be the first of my kind--there are many voices in film criticism doing their part to keep the discussion edifying--but I hope to bring my own spin with this blog.

I'm not trying to convert the entire internet to any specific schools of thought or Top 10 Movies lists. But I hope that through these writings my readers will acquire the tools to expand the range of films they view, learn to detect and interrogate the implicit ideologies that films communicate, and add texture to their feelings for the films they already enjoy. You don't have to agree with all my conclusions, but I hope you'll at least consider them.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

I have been known to dabble in film reviews occasionally, but the majority of the content here will be essays. We'll take a film, or sometimes a group of films, and read it through various academic lenses to discern meaning. In the spirit of Durgnat's wise words, these essays will study films with both the heart and the head. We'll look at some old films, some new films, some popular films, and some obscure films. The essays here are all written by me unless otherwise specified. I publish a new essay every . . . every time I finish one. Let's say once a month?

Let it be known that these essays are not meant to be hard-to-read, and you need not be academically versed in film studies to join here at Films and Feelings. Any theories or historical perspectives used will be thoroughly and easily explained. Dare I say, I hope that our friends from other fields and careers who still have an interest in film will find this site enjoyable. Consider this blog to be your Film Studies 101 class, and me your Professor.

If this sort of thing interests you, come back and check in on this site every so often and give some of these pieces a glance. Feel free also to subscribe to this blog and "follow" under the drop down menu. You can also follow this site through its Facebook page for updates including interesting articles from around the web as well as teases for future posts.

Stand By Me (1986)

So everyone, bring your hearts, bring your heads, and let's talk about some movies.

--The Professor

To contact The Professor, shoot an email at filmsandfeelings19@gmail.com

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All The Ways Sunset Boulevard Has Aged Gracefully

So, stop me if you’ve heard this before: Hollywood has a dark side. Particularly in the wake of something like #MeToo or the double strikes of 2023, you can really get a sense for just how famishing, even degrading, it can be trying to make a living in Hollywood. But of course, it all goes back much further than those. One of my very first essays for this blog was a catalogue of all the ways Hollywood ravaged Judy Garland , to point to another example. Yet for all its mess, we cannot take our eyes off of Hollywood, or the people who build it. Stardom in particular becomes a popular focal point—what is it really like being on the other side of all that spotlighting? And Hollywood has naturally supplied the market with all sorts of imaginings for this as well. Thus, each generation gets its own version of A Star is Born. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man (1952) Ty Burr wrote in his landmark work,...

REVIEW: Project Hail Mary

The elements in Project Hail Mary are all mostly straightforward and build to a fairly familiar end: drop an average Joe into an extraordinary situation where he is required to be extraordinary also, and watch extraordinary things happen. This is proven territory. And I spent most of the time drafting this review trying to decide whether that was a point for or against the film, helmed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller--and whether that made a difference for a non-franchise piece like this, the exact kind of film we need to succeed at the box office in order to have a healthy landscape. I think the answer to that question is honestly bigger than any one film, even a reasonably well-done one such as this. But I will say that a movie like Project Hail Mary gives me some hope, and it's my wish that the film continues to find people who will receive it with zeal. And I hope that the people who do will continue to search for other films that they...

PROFESSOR'S PICKS: 10 Movie Theater Experiences That Changed Me

So, January 2012: Disney is rereleasing their 1991 animated masterpiece, Beauty and the Beast into theaters, and in 3D format, and I'm able to coerce a friend into seeing it with me. This was a big deal because, as with most of the Disney movies we'd call "classic," Beauty and the Beast had its day in theaters before my time, and this was an opportunity to experience the movie in its proper element, and maybe imagine what it would have been when the legendary tunes by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken graced the public for the first time. My larger circle was none-too-impressed with my choice. Didn't I know that the movie was already on DVD? That I could just watch it anytime in the comfort of my own home without having to pay for another ticket? How could I be so careless with my finances? (Incidentally, many of these same friends would pay top-dollar to see the Beauty and the Beast remake five years later on opening weekend ...) ...

REVIEW: WICKED - For Good

I'm conflicted about how to approach this review. I know everyone has their own yellow brick road to the myth of The Wizard of Oz as a whole and the specific Broadway adaptation that brought us all here. I don't want to write this only for others who are familiar with the source material. Even so, I can't help but review this from the perspective of a fan of the Broadway show--someone who has been tracking the potential for a film adaptation since before Jon M. Chu's participation was announced for the ambitious undertaking of translating one of Broadway's most electric shows onto film. I can't help but view this from the vantage point of someone who knew just how many opportunities this had to go wrong. And it's from that vantage point that I now profess such profound relief that the gambit paid off. We truly have the " Lord of the Rings of musicals ." I'll give last year's movie the edge for having a slightly...

The Many Fathers of Harry Potter

Despite being a Harry Potter fan for most of my life, I didn’t make it to "Harry Potter Land" at Universal until November of 2019. Some relatives invited me on a SoCal theme park tour, a trip which also saw my last visit to Disneyland before the shutdown. And when you and a bunch of other twenty-somethings are walking through a recreation of Hogwarts for the first time, you inevitably start playing this game where you call out every artifact on display and try to trace it back to whatever movie or even specific moment the mise en scene is trying to invoke: There’s the greenhouse from "Chamber of Secrets." Now they’re playing the “Secrets of the Castle” track from "Prisoner of Azkaban." Here we are loading in the Room of Requirement from "Order of the Phoenix." From start to finish, the attraction, like the franchise from which it spawned, is just one giant nostalgia parade. See, t he Wiza...

What's Up, Doc?: Why Everyone Needs the Rom-Com

Though the library of master songwriter, Stephen Sondheim, reaches a pedigree of acclaim that is perhaps unrivaled, his most profound work is arguably his Tony award winning show, Company . Premiering in 1969, Company follows Bobby, the only bachelor among his loving network of married friends. Yeah, I know Bobby is sometimes played as a woman, but this particular metaphor is more clear with a male protagonist The story is presented through a series of snapshots showing Bobby’s interactions with his coupled friends intercut with scenes from Bobby’s own romantic pursuits, and it’s through these little vignettes that we understand what it is that keeps Bobby tethered to single life: Bobby fears the chaos of being married to another person. Seeing up front all the turmoil that his married cohorts are subjected to, and faced with his own relationship woes, Bobby contemplates h...

REVIEW: ELIO

Here's a fact: the term "flying saucer" predates the term "UFO." The United States Air Force found the former description too limiting to describe the variety of potential aerial phenomena that might arise when discussing the possibility of life beyond earth. There may have to be a similar expansion of vocabulary within the alien lexicon with Pixar's latest film, Elio , turning the idea of an alien abduction into every kid's dream come true. The titular Elio is a displaced kid who recently moved in with his aunt after his parents died. She doesn't seem to understand him any better than his peers do. He can't imagine a place on planet earth where he feels he fits in. What's a kid to do except send a distress cry out into the great, big void of outer space? But m iracle of miracles: his cries into the universe are heard, and a band of benevolent aliens adopt him into their "communiverse" as the honorary ambassador o...

REVIEW: AVATAR - Fire and Ash

The "Avatar" chapters have generally renewed their interest to the masses based on which exciting new locale and which new culture whichever film opts to explore. Following that dance, "Fire and Ash" introduces yet another Na'Vi clan, this one hailing from the scorched plains under the shadow of an erupted volcano. But their biome is decidedly less spectacular than the lush jungles of the Omaticaya or the rich coral reefs where the Metkayina dive. Between the ashen grounds of the volcano clan and the metallic fortress of the humans, this is comfortably the most monochromatic of the three Avatar films. And yet, Avatar: Fire and Ash is no less gripping for it. And this is where the internet really starts to reckon with what us fans of the franchise have always kind of known: that the many screensavers offered by the Avatar world ... they have been nice . But these films would have never made the impact they have if th...

The Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Question

I spend a lot of effort in this space trying to champion the musical genre as the peak of cinematic achievement. And so it sometimes surprises my associates to find out that, no, I wasn't at all raised in a household that particularly favored musicals. I wasn't the kid who went out for the annual school musical or anything. My environment wasn't exactly hostile toward these things, but it actually did very little to nurture my study of the genre. Cinderella (1950) I obviously had exposure through things like the Disney animated musicals, which absolutely had a profound effect on the larger musical genre . But I didn’t see The Sound of Music until high school, and I didn’t see Singin’ in the Rain until college. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers , though, it was just always there. And so I guess that's really where I got infected. I'm referring to the 1954 musical directed by Stanley Donen with music by Gene de Paul ,...

REVIEW: ONWARD

The Walt Disney Company as a whole seems to be in constant danger of being overtaken by its own cannibalistic tendency--cashing in on the successes of their past hits at the expense of creating the kinds of stories that merited these reimaginings to begin with. Pixar, coming fresh off a decade marked by a deluge of sequels, is certainly susceptible to this pattern as well. Though movies like Inside Out and Coco have helped breathe necessary life into the studio, audiences invested in the creative lifeblood of the studio should take note when an opportunity comes for either Disney or Pixar animation to flex their creative muscles. This year we'll have three such opportunities between the two studios. [EDIT: Okay, maybe not. Thanks, Corona.] The first of these, ONWARD directed by Dan Scanlon, opens this weekend and paints a hopeful picture of a future where Pixar allows empathetic and novel storytelling to gui...

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