Cherished Cinema

Hello all.

For eighteen years I lacked a real passion. I may have gotten excited from time-to-time for things such as sports (primarily baseball and hockey) or a particularly good/interesting book. As a high school senior, taking a film class just to fill my schedule, I was exposed to two movies that had a profound effect on me: Taxi Driver and Unforgiven. Coincidentally, these films were part of an out-of-class assignment due to my lack of work in the class (as a senior I was naturally lazy). From that day forward, I began asking around various family members as to find out what films I should see- at the time more importantly what I should have already seen- and compiled a list. I started a Netflix account and went to work. That being said, three years have passed and exposure to a rough estimate of about six hundred films, and the passion has stayed. Rarely do I ever find myself wishing that I was not so passionate about cinema.

Out of this obsession grew two more passions: DVD collecting and auteur theory. Just about every day, I browse various websites looking for the latest on DVD news and bargains. I have accumulated roughly four hundred DVDs in just about two years of serious collecting. For auteur theory, prior to any sort of formal film training, I found myself fascinated with how certain films from the same director could be so different and so similar at the same time. Auteur theory was later revealed to me through the various film courses I took throughout college, and the passion only continues to grow every day.

This website’s intention is to help further my love for cinema and to develop some form of writing skills. It took me almost a month to decide on the title Cherished Cinema. I should clarify by saying that I thought of the title almost immediately, found it to be “cheesy” but in the end, it best describes the reasoning behind this site. I love film, and I sincerely hope that the work posted on this site will help others love it as well.

This site will consist of various projects I intend on taking on (exploration of genres, directors, and particular years in cinema will be the primary focus) and sometimes film-related news. Recommendations are beyond welcome; always feel free to leave me thoughts/ideas in the comments or write me at thomasbalkcom@gmail.com.

Personal blog – thomasbalkcom.wordpress.com

Twitter – www.twitter.com/thomasbalkcom

Twitter (for this site) - www.twitter.com/cherishedcinema

Facebook – www.facebook.com/thomasbalkcom