"It’s a world of laughter, it’s a world of tears…"
Waitaminnit…..wrong thing entirely…
Let’s try that again….
Hi, I’m TC Kirkham, the author of Boston Popcorn…Movies, Beantown, and You! This blog is an extension of the full blog my wife and I run, Popcorn N Roses, which is a somewhat eclectic (some would say demented) blog featuring film news, movie and DVD reviews, and pop culture observations. I will be doing the same here on the BostonNOW Blog site, with an emphasis on the Boston-specific area in relation to movies and the movie scene and my (well, our) interaction in it. Hopefully from time to time you’ll be able to read some of my observations in the BostonNOW newspaper as well.
So how am I qualified? Glad you asked…
I’ve never considered myself a movie snob. Some people are proud of that title. I’m not. I love movies of all kinds. And about 18 months ago, my wife and I put our money where our mouths were, and started a blog. Six months later, that blog also gave birth to Subject:CINEMA, our weekly podcast, all about the wonderful world of movies, which just passed it’s 50th show, and will celebrate its first birthday this June.
I’ve been a movie fan all my life. I remember being very small and going to the drive-in (what’s a drive-in, daddy?) at least once a month, seeing classic Disney movies like Swiss Family Robinson and Mary Poppins. My very first trip to an indoor theater was when I was six, and boy, was I excited…it was to see the very first Peanuts feature film, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. It was at the Cine One theater in Newark, Ohio (long gone now, sadly) and we sat in the crowded balcony. But it was an experience i’ll never forget.
Since that time, I have been to hundreds of movies. Some of them weren’t the best – my step-father at the time (early 1970s) had a penchant for biker and bad science fiction movies – but mostly, the experiences were good. And over the years, I gained a respect for films.
Now, when I say films here, I mean mainstream films. You know, the kind of movies Hollywood cranks out on a daily basis. I never really knew or understood independent cinema, and thought the indie scene to be pretentious and somewhat self-absorbed. That perspective changed in a big way in 2006, when I sought out and saw a small film that one of my favorite young actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was in called Brick. This was simply an AMAZING little film, an old fashioned film noir set against the backdrop of high school. It was fascinating, and it was AWESOME. The movie opened my eyes to the world of indie films and I haven’t looked back.
Sure I still love regular movies – I can’t wait to see Spidey 3 tomorrow night (despite early reviews that are mixed at best), having finally seen Spidey 2 for the first time just last night on DVD (what a GREAT film), and i’m looking forward to seeing all the big blockbusters this summer – Pirates Of The Caribbean: At Worlds End (even though I didn’t care all that much for last summer’s second installment, Dead Man’s Chest), Transformers, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, et al ad nauseum.
ButIi’m also looking forward to seeing some of this year’s smaller films, including Sundance favorites Waitress, Once, and The Ten. And two of the smaller movies we recently took in at one of our favorite venues, Cambridge’s wonderful Brattle Theater were two of the best films i’ve seen in recent months – the fantastic and hilarious documentary Air Guitar Nation, and the wonderfully quirky and absolutely charming Sundance 2006 favorite Wristcutters:A Love Story. Full reviews for both movies are on our main site, if you’d care to check them out.
So over the course of time, at least once a week and sometimes more often, i’ll be blogging about the Boston Movie world, the various cinemas, the various movies, and different aspects of the movie industry. It should be a fun and hopefully interesting ride…
Especially as right now we’re in the midsts of what we’re calling the Popcorn N Roses Metro Boston Summer Tour 2007. Our goal: to get to every movie theater available in the Boston Metro area on the T or by bus. We depend on the T to get around – we don’t have a vehicle at present – so we thought this way we’d accomplish a number of fun goals:
1) We’d get to go to all the cinemas in the Boston area we’ve never been to;
2) We’d get to discover new movies that might not be showing anywhere else;
3) We’ll find tons of new restaurants, shops, and the like during our trip;
4) We’ll find out just how far the MBTA system can take us.
We sort of informally started the tour with the two movies I mentioned above, but it was kind of a cheat, since we go to the Brattle at least once a month and one of our goals is to hit as many theaters we’ve never visited as possible.
We’d hoped to officially start the tour at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, but alas, that was not to be, simply because we were flat broke this pay period, and we had to eat more than popcorn…
It will get another cheat start tomorrow night when we go to see Spidey 3 at our "home" theater, Showcase Cinemas in Revere. I’m looking forward to writing about that experience, because the place is going to be packed…
But the tour will officially kick off this Sunday, May 6, with our first ever visit to a theater we’ve never been to. We’re planning on it being the Regal Fenway 14, but that will depend on if there’s a home game this weekend, because if there is, we won’t be going there….
I hope you’ll be a part of our travels vicariously, and that you’ll read Boston Popcorn on a regular basis, and check out our full site as well.
I look forward to talking movies and Beantown together.
Until next time,
TC