A literature student by training, a more-than-casual consumer of records by habit, and a non-painter/photographer by handicap, film has always struck me as the fourth pillar of the arts, melding the disciplines of the pen, the ear and the eye into something more complete. For the rich experience it provides, it seems the most complete artistic expression man will likely achieve for some time. With those thoughts out of the way, onto my own flirtation with cinema.
I like most kinds of films: a sucker for summer blockbustery; the occasional romantic-comedy; the odd genre-film or two. From the contemporary era, I particularly enjoy John Hughes’ teenage portraits; Wes Anderson’s Futura Bold and John Carpenter’s creepy synths, among many others with a distinct style.
While not a television junkie per se, I have been known to lose myself with the likes of Joss Whedon’s pop-cult sensibility (‘Buffyverse’), David Lynch’s surrealist nightmares (‘Twin Peaks’), and the pageantry of HBO’s cinematically-rendered/theatrically-informed dramas (‘Rome’; ‘Band of Brothers’, etc.).
I love a good documentary, too: Sir David Attenborough’s masterful investigations into Life (‘Planet Earth’, etc.); the history and function of typography (‘Helvetica’), to name some in mind. For the classics, I prefer my women like Irene Dunne (‘Love Affair’; ‘The Awful Truth’) and my leading men like Omar Sharif (‘Funny Girl’; ‘Doctor Zhivago’).
I consider myself an initiate to cinematheque, and hope to experience many more great (and many more terrible) films before the credits do indeed roll.