For as long as I can remember, I have always been a fan of movies. Of course, my first experiences with the things that I would eventually become passionate about centered around children’s films like the ever nostalgic Disney movies (The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast) and the popular cartoon dinosaur series The Land Before Time. For the first time in my young life, I knew what it was like to care about the characters and personalities I was seeing being brought to life in front of me in vibrant colours and classic illustrations. I couldn’t possibly understand then that there was a whole bunch of worlds and characters out there that were just waiting for me to watch.
My family’s VHS collection was always eccentric and sat together on a shelf with no unifying theme or organization. I would have to move rows of video cassettes and get past titles like Fried Green Tomatoes, Prancer, and The Secret Garden to get to the movies I actually wanted to watch. As the youngest of three boys, I usually ended up watching whichever movies my brothers wanted to watch. We’d watch the Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies on repeat, but our favourite would’ve had to have been 3 Ninjas. For the first time, I remember a movie being relatable, the brotherly dynamic was something I lived every day. When we watched, we watched as if we were those brothers. Anytime the youngest brother Michael (who I coincidentally share the same name with) did something cool or funny, I cheered along as if I was Tum Tum running around being a badass. It was exciting to see characters functioning in a way that I could understand from experience, and boy was that only the beginning.
It’s been a few years since my brothers and I sat together in our playroom and watched our favourite movies on a seemingly endless loop, but my love and passion for relatable characters and worlds I can escape to has only grown. I’ve spent the last few years exploring my love for movies, and I eventually realized that I wanted something productive and concrete to come from it. Hours upon hours have been spent following movie news and awards buzz, and reading other people’s opinions on casting news and critical reception. I figured it’s time to try my hand at putting my own thoughts and passion for movies into words.
So once again, I would like to welcome you to Viewing Required. This is a place where I will be writing about all aspects of movies, from Movie News (upcoming projects, casting news, posters and trailers) to Awards Buzz (film festivals, nominations, and the Oscar circus). I’m new at this and I’m not entirely sure the path this thing is going to take, but I hope you enjoy following and reading along, and maybe I’ll inspire you to give a chance to a movie you never even thought about seeing before.
Who knows what 2013 will have in store for movies, but I hope you come back here to get the scoop!
