Yes, it’s true – it is ten years to the day since I uploaded the first version of this page [ie my old website, Cinephobia]. So if you can allow me just a small moment to reflect…
When I first started this site it was really just an exercise in designing a web page: I was trying out this whole new-fangled internet thing and the only content I had to hand was stuff I’d written about film in my spare time. And it’s continued in that lackadaisical fashion since. Particularly in early years there were some enormous gaps between updates (very close to two years in one instance), and there were many times I nearly declared the page retired and took it down. But every time I was about to do so I’d think that no, I did actually enjoy maintaining it , and vow to write more often.
I got a lot more serious about the page after doing my honours year in 2001 and 2002, but to be honest it’s really only in the last couple of years that I feel I’ve gotten into the rhythm of the site. Of course, I’m still not doing the regular, comprehensive coverage that most sites would have, but I enjoy the pattern of instead doing more irregular but slightly more in-depth stuff, and of alternating new release films with retrospectives… and ultimately, this has always been primarily about what I enjoy writing about. I would do this even if nobody was reading it; if a few people wander through and find what I’ve written interesting, so much the better.
There’s an awful lot of the earlier content that I’m fairly embarrassed by, and a lot has been quietly removed from the site. But here’s a rough list of the things I’ve written over the last ten years that I look back on and am – for the moment – most happy with:
Two Murders in Dallas: My essay on JFK and The Thin Blue Line.
Only a Conservative Deals in Absolutes: My piece on the politics of Star Wars; a shorter version of this appeared in The Age.
Kael: An essay about Pauline Kael; writing about film criticism, rather than purely about film, is something I hope to do more of.
The Enigma of Rosebud: A look at various theoretical approaches to Citizen Kane (and the last essay I wrote for my university studies).
Steven Spielberg: My career profile of Spielberg for Senses of Cinema; also one of my more overt engagements with movie snobbery, a not-so-subtle recurring theme of the page.
Dr No: My mega-review of the first Bond film.
And a sampling of my better regular length reviews: Network, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Graduate, and Happy Feet.
So a big thanks goes out to all those who’ve encouraged me along the way. You know who you are.
(Ten Year Celebrations End Here)