Welcome to MOVIE OUTLAW

Last week, encouraged by Blogger, I attempted to “monetize” my review site “Hey, Did You Ever See the Movie…?” by posting links to Amazon relating to movies I reviewed. Not two hours after completing this task, Blogger deleted it because it was suspected to be a “Spam Blog”. Rather than railing at the idiocy of this policy, implemented by “robots”, I’ve decided to just go ahead and delete “HDYEStM” and replace it with this one: Movie Outlaw.

While the title may sound pretentious, it’s really an homage to and a continuation of my ongoing career in the independent film community. Obviously, it’s inspired by the first major site to employ me, i.e. Film Threat, as well as a shout-out to Hollywood is Burning, the site and magazine Charlie Fleming and I ran in the early 2000’s.

It’s also a dedication to all the people out there who just love movies, particularly the ones flying under the radar of the mainstream. “Independent Film” is an umbrella title that both shields and obscures those who work outside the Hollywood system. The neat thing about these kinds of movies—those without the budges of Transformers or even Clerks II—is that the audience usually finds them. People who love movies, really and truly love them, are willing to try anything. While the independent producer does not and may never see the kinds of returns that Michael Bay has rolling around beneath the floor mats of his gold-plated Mercedes, he or she can be sure that they will have a cadre of loyal followers who love their work. And as Dilbert’s Scott Adams wrote, “If everybody likes something, it’s a sure bet that nobody loves it.”

I plan to repost a lot of HDYEStM reviews here as well. I won’t always review an independent and I’m not going to love every movie I review. But I am going to concentrate on those odd bastard children that may have fallen through the cracks as film history continues to slouch towards Babylon. There’s very little chance I’ll find enough interest in the latest Ashton Kutcher opus to dedicate any time or words to, but there’s every possibility that I’m going to stumble over something that either didn’t get enough love in its infancy or, possibly, none at all. If I merely “like” something, or even hate it, chances are this movie is either now or may become in the future someone’s favorite. All I want to do here is bring some of these things to your attention.