JackBurton1234’s review published on Letterboxd:
Where has my love for cinema gone?
Why am I not appreciating films as much as I used to.
Why do I find movies I used to love to simply average.
Where is that sense of wonder and amazement I used to hold towards cinema and reviewing gone?
I’m not interested in reviewing anymore honestly because I feel as if I have nothing meaningful to say about said movies.
I don’t feel like I add to the discussion you can find a review 10x better than mine in an instant.
So why attempt to review this film you say?
Because why not.
I may honestly stop reviewing.
I’ve lost the fun and interest that used to be had in rating movies.
I’ve taken tons of breaks from Letterboxd and everytime the Magic’s of cinema have greeted me when I re entered.
But not this time.
I return to cinema and only feel a void where my love used to be for film.
I’ve tried breaking from movies so that’s clearly not it.
I just watch movies I want to now so that’s clearly not the problem.
I guess put simply cinema has lost its magic.
Those hours I used to contemplate spending the meaning of Inland Empire or Twin Peaks: The Return feel wasted.
And then we come to tonight to 2001.
This was my final straw.
I watched it with a great group of friends and while they were in awe of the visual mastery Kubrick displays, the little details, the deconstruction of human evolution and technology, and the trippy shit.
I sat there un impressed.
After seeing this movie 30 or so times it’s simply lost it’s magic.
And this hasn’t been a one time occurrence.
Rewatches Phantom Thread used to love it now I hate. Same thing with Inherent Vice. Same thing with A Clockwork Orange.
Now given those movies don’t really mean anything to me they used to.
The magic of cinema and reviewing has been out of my life for a period of time and I just didn’t notice it.
The reviewing feels stale to me.
I always use the same format(this format).
And write the same reviews over and over again.
The performances are great, the visuals are great, and the score is great.
Every once in a while I write a review I’m actually proud of.
Like my review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
It isn’t a good review but it explains my love for it in the way I would like it to be seen.
But my recent review of Inherent Vice really made me realized I just have no interest in writing anymore.
Not unless I can actually say something or do something nobody else is.
Give you an actual one of a kind experience.
That’s why I started reviewing.
And I feel like I’ve lost any passion I once had for film.
I’m just drained of it.
I’ve been on a break from cinema for a while I tried binging PTA’s stuff to get back into it but you saw how that worked out.
I just end up more bitter towards specific filmmakers for no reason.
I tried to keep reviewing and watching the cinema I wanted but I’m done for now.
One day I may review again but consider this a notice of departure for now.
I may come back eventually given I already took a few breaks but this feels more final.
I want to enjoy the art form that is cinema without reviewing, or worrying about angry comments, or comments asking me to explain why this and that, or worrying about agreeing and disagreeing with critical consensus, or wasting time malling over reviews for random movies I don’t care about.
I’m going back to cinema in the form I once enjoyed it.
I can watch a movie in its purest raw state without worrying about wether people will hate me for liking Pain and Gain, 6 Underground, Cats, and Blackhat.
And just a final note in my view vulgar auteurism isn’t a thing.
It’s just auterism people won’t accept explained wonderfully in a review by Sydney of Bad Boys 2 everyone should read.
But yeah this movie is good.
Not to bad not to good just decent.
Now it’s time to go actually experience cinema the way I want to.