Update: Where I’ve Been Since 2014

“Life happened” is too vague a term to accurately describe the events of my life since 2014. It would be better to say life took over and I found myself not taking the time to write film reviews.

I didn’t stop completely, I was writing reviews between 2017 and 2018, just not on Cinemapeek. Instead, I became a columnist for a school newspaper called The Dixie Sun News. Yes, a college newspaper. In fact, from 2016 till May of last year, I was a student at Dixie State University in Saint George, Utah.

I lost count, but I wrote several reviews for “Jonny at the Movies” on such films as “Us,” “Ladybird,” and the most recent “Hellboy.”

I thought getting to write reviews, special interest pieces and other news articles would give me reason enough to get the blog back up and running once I graduated. However, that is not the case. We all know what happened in March of 2020. COVID-19

Movie theaters shut down and who knew for how long? Thankfully, theaters are opening up again, but with theaters closed and most films pushing release dates (Black Widow anyone?) viewing a film the night before its official release date in order to compose a review the next morning was not going to happen.

Sure, there’s loads of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon originals, but the ability to stream films via a streaming service means those films can be viewed at anytime. This resulted in me not seeing a new digital release on its release date. I would have loved to write reviews on “Enola Holmes,” “The Old Guard,” “Cursed,” and a bevy of others. Except, by the time I watched them, they were old news.

The key to writing a review which will be seen is timing. If I get my thoughts on a film or series out when or before other critics have theirs out, then it is more likely mine will get seen.

However, I think there is value in writing reviews to help create buzz for a film, that’s why I’m coming out of hiatus and will be posting a review of “The Vast of Night” by tomorrow. That film has greatly inspired me. Not only as a writer, but as a filmmaker too.

Inspiration, or lack of it may very well be the problem I have had since 2018. Suffice it to say, the aspiration to write has come back and I hope you’ll all join me as I revisit an old passion; telling stories about other stories.