I hope Occasional Popcorn can do a lot more than movie reviews.
I see audiences learning from the lessons movies teach us and connecting with other moviegoers.
I see theaters/exhibitors providing lingering moments that will innovate our engagement with movies.
I see production and distribution companies wanting intentional moments to be created around their films.
I see filmmakers in local markets unifying through meets-ups, organized repositories, and educational opportunities.
I see film reviews that are more meaningful, transparent, and unified through a scorecard while also giving individuals a database for their reviews.
Let's get a few things straight.
I love movies. I've made a lot of videos, but I've got a long way to go in honing my filmmaking craft. I'm not better than the people who work hard to make movies nor do I assume when I negatively review a movie that I could've done any better.
I've called this company Occasional Popcorn, because I definitely don't have enough time or money to watch a significant amount of movies per year. I also love popcorn...movie theater popcorn with extra butter.
I honestly believe the movie review "system" is in need of an alternative and more holistic option. You've either got famous/not-famous YouTubers or you've got the 4 or 5 review juggernauts. Ironically, these juggernauts (e.g. Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Fandango) are oftentimes owned by distribution companies and/or exhibitors. To me, this sets up a potential bias, not to mention "scores" are not unified through a scorecard and are open to non-authenticated views of the film when reviews are conglomerated together.
Things matter in movie reviews that aren't currently getting mentioned. For example, who you were with, your viewing experience, and the number of times you saw the film. A lot of the movies I end up watching are Rented/Streamed, but I'll typically like a film more if I saw it in theaters with friends/family.
I will forego seeing many movies based on MPAA ratings and/or parental reviews. For me, consistency in my faith is very important. That being said, you may see me review movies that other review sites either don't review or harshly disregard/proport as "propaganda". I certainly don't like the entire Christian genre, but I do watch a good amount of Christian genre movies and I try to involve myself in helping to push Christian films to be more real, meaningful, and less one-sided.