Welcome to Casual Viewer. As the title implies, I am a casual viewer of film and this site is filled with brief thoughts and reviews on movies from the beginning of film making to contemporary movies as well as film topics I decide to dive into a bit. There is not much that is unique about the format or content of this site, so don’t expect anything different.
I find that the best movies are those that completely remove you from yourself. Once you are returned, the film lingers with you and becomes a part of you like a barnacle on a ship. Like most people, I have been watching movies for years. I never studied film, outside of the occasional class in high school or college, but I have always been drawn to the art of filmmaking. Films have continually evolved over the years to be more and more multi-dimensional and diverse. It is astonishing how filmmakers are able to continue to break through contemporary norms and stand out with a different style or message. Yet, this happens time and time again.
The more I started to pay attention to film, the more interested I became. The more interested that I became, the farther back in film I would go to find references and to understand the history of film and the path it has taken. Now, I have no expertise in film in anyway and my goal from this blog will be to challenge my thought process and analysis on film and track my progress throughout the years to come.
I always have an inexhaustible list of movies I try to watch, so this blog will help me take some time in between them in order for me to pull something of value out of the film that resonates with me, understand the place of a given film as a building block in the historical context of filmmaking, or just to vent on a complete flop.
I will also try to investigate or research different styles of filmmaking, cinematography, editing, or any other aspect of the industry that catches my eye. I hope that through some critical thinking and exploration I am able to gain a deeper understanding of film and film history.