Day -017 || Some Ground Rules

I guess this is more of a mission statement than anything else, but I feel like I need to have some ground rules before starting. When I say I'm going to be watching new movies, these are all going to be movies based recommended by someone else (friends, critics, what have you), but films I haven't seen, none the less. They can be from the 40's or just came out in theaters yesterday...even though yesterday was a Monday, and I don't think any movie was ever released on a Monday.

I'm not going to watch anything on cable, and will only be watching films on DVD/Blu-Ray, or in the theaters. The reason for this is when films are broadcast they are edited and leave out content, as well as parts of the picture. Everything I watch will be what the director intended for you to see, completely unedited, and in widescreen.

That also leads to my next ground rule, no breaks or pausing. I'm going to watch the film as if I were in a movie theater, where you most certainly don't get breaks to use the bathroom, or look something up on Google.

And finally, the last rule I'll be applying, is that I won't be able to simply turn off the film, walk away and be done with it. Any film I watch in the following year, I'm going to watch to completion, even if I'm hating it. Maybe it's slightly masochistic, but there might be something later on in a film that redeems it, and how would I know if I just turn it off. There have been a few films that I've hated, or really disliked in the first twenty minutes, only to turn around and completely sell me on it by the end.

With these rules in play, I should be able to get the most out of these movies, and again, hopefully discover some gems of cinema history.

GROUND RULES
1. I will only watch movies that are new to myself, films I haven't seen.
2. I will only watch movies in the way they were meant to be seen, widescreen, and unedited.
3. I will not pause any movie, and watch them from start to finish without breaks.
4. I will not turn off any movie, no matter how hard it is to watch, and finish each and every one.
5. I will watch each movie without any distractions.

Day -020 || Rating System

I'm back, and much sooner than twenty days. After thinking long and hard on the issue, I've decided that I'll include a Rating System. There are, of course, pros and cons to the rating system, being the problematic comparison of ratings yet the easy reduction of a critique down to a simple number. But for me, the pros outweigh the cons, and will actually allow me to crunch some statistics down the road, which should be pretty interesting.

Anyways, enough babbling on my part. Here will be the rating system put in play:

RATING SYSTEM (out of 5)
5 - Best of the Best
4 - Strong
3 - Good
2 - Bad
1 - Horrible
0 - Destroy this Film!

Day -020 || Welcome

First, allow me to explain the title, since you might be confused. Day -020 simply is referring to my start date, January 1st, 2010. In 20 days I will be starting what I like to call the "A Film a Day Project", or AFAD for short. What I'm hoping to do is watch a movie that is new to me every single day of 2010, in what is probably one of the oddest New Year's Resolutions ever. I have no predetermined list, or order of films to watch, in order to keep things spontaneous and flexible. I'm hoping to catch up on a lot of new and older films, and then relate my experiences to you...the viewers. Well, whenever I get viewers, that is. Also, is it readers or viewers? This question has always troubled me online.

But I digress.

There may or may not be a few updates between now and January 1st, but please feel free to view in, follow me, and please, please send recommendations for movies to watch. So if you have a few favorites, leave a comment, and I'll be sure to respond, and probably end up watching them.

So thanks for stopping in, and I'll be back soon with my thoughts on the first film.