Introduction

Why my opinion? Opinions are like a-holes, everyone has them. I haven't published anything or held any teaching jobs. My father is known for a key censorship case, Freedman vs. Maryland (1964). He ran theaters all his life and briefly taught film at the University of Maryland. My knowledge of films is encyclopedic - up to a point. In the last 15 years I stopped trying to see everything that came out, concentrating on older films. My expertise and critical acuity comes from a lifetime of obsessive reading on film, all the major writers and texts (and when I was younger, the windy academic tomes). All I ask from people with opinions on film is a modicum of cinema literacy, a walking knowledge of movie history and a familiarity with at least 100 important films made before 1970. I am 43, somewhat of an artist and trying to find a niche for my talents. I will also muse on general matters of sociological interest, cultural and political. More information coming.