The
Blog
WELCOME
September 1, 2020
This site has been years in the making. I can’t decide if that sounds pretentious or self-congratulatory. I hope not. It’s the literal truth. The oldest review on this site was written in April 2013, nearly 7 ½ years ago. I was writing a long time before that. My first review to appear in print was my take on Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow in February 1988. I was a college freshman at the time. Under the category of “It’s a Small World”, my college editor, Jim Farmer, is a fellow member of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle (AFCC). I doubt he remembers me from our days at the University of Georgia, but his work inspired me to take film journalism seriously.
This website is an archive of sorts: a place where all my online work appears in one virtual location. Unfortunately, the print side of my career is unrepresented in this online warehouse, but I hope to do something about that in the future. I still consider myself an analog guy in a digital world. I prefer vinyl to CDs. I’ll take 35mm film over 4K any day. So, I plan to bring scans of newsprint to this site.
People often ask me where my interest in film and film criticism originated. My answer is always the same: my mother shared her love of movies with me, and my father taught me the fundamentals of good writing. My mom could name every film of the 1940’s and 50’s with a single glance, and my dad writes like a professional journalist even though he spent his entire career in the worlds of mathematics and computer science. Since I may never write a book and have a chance to dedicate it to someone, I’ll dedicate the launch of this site to my parents.
I love this artform. Plain and simple. I feel fortunate that a variety of outlets have given me an opportunity over the years to write and talk about it. I don’t get involved in Twitter wars. I don’t engage with internet trolls. My opinion is my opinion. Nothing more; nothing less. Like every film critic out there, I’ve had a number of people over the years disagree with my take on a film. My replies are almost always the same. Glad you enjoyed it. It didn’t really connect with me. Or: Sorry you didn’t care for it. It worked for me.
Along with being a film obsessive, I’m also a baseball fanatic. As a fan of the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees have broken my heart in many Octobers. But when the name Derek Jeter comes up, I tip my cap and point out that he’s a class act, a great ambassador for the game. When it comes to the film world, I strive to say something insightful in my work, but mostly, I just want to be a good ambassador for the medium.
Thanks for checking out the site. If you’d like to contact me, send me an email at: scottphillipsfilmcritic@gmail.com.