About Moviegeekz, a.k.a. The Manifesto

1. WE BELIEVE that the “geekz” in Moviegeekz doesn’t refer only to those of us writing for this site — it’s all of us who love movies enough to want to talk about them, read about them, write about them. If you’re reading these words now…you’re probably one of the geekz.
2. WE BELIEVE that movies should be judged based on what they’re trying to accomplish, not against some arbitrary set of “worthy” criteria. Not all movies can be rated against the same standards. We don’t expect The Matrix to have all of the same components of quality as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but that both films can be quality nonetheless. We don’t expect deeply nuanced characterization from 2012 any more than we expect superbly-polished special effects from Little Miss Sunshine.
3. WE BELIEVE that our tastes are decidedly in the mainstream. As much as we might love us some low-budget talkfests, we also love us some big stupid ‘splody movies. Our tastes run unapologetically toward animated movies, superhero movies, comic-book movies and big-budget SFX-fests, though also toward comedies, crime movies and movies about the creative process. But really, as long as we’re entertained, that’s what’s important, not the genre, style or budget.
4. WE BELIEVE that Pixar produces more consistently brilliant movies than any other studio operating today, and we’d desperately love to work for Pixar just to soak in their amazing creativity and vision. (EDITOR’S NOTE: I first wrote those words in 2005; as I update this manifesto in 2010, I’m glad to see they still hold so, so true.)
5. WE BELIEVE that hand-drawn animation is not a dead art form, no matter what Michael Eisner may think. Pixar’s brilliance springs from its devotion to story, not from its technology, and if Disney could just understand that they could reclaim that part of themselves that they’ve lost (or that Eisner flushed down the crapper). Thank you, John Lasseter, for reaffirming this belief and making its inclusion in our manifesto moot.
6. WE BELIEVE that we don’t buy into the mythology that skinny blond chicks are the very definition of sexy. We believe that Jessica Alba was at her hottest in Idle Hands when she was soft and curvy. And we believe that brains are even sexier than curves — give us Leelee Sobieski over Alba any day.
7. WE BELIEVE that historically we tend to agree with Roger Ebert‘s opinions more often than not…Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow being a notable exception.
8. WE BELIEVE that we don’t have to agree with the opinions of prominent reviewers, not-so-prominent reviewers or with “the community” at large. We respect anyone who takes the time to explicate his or her thoughts about particular movies or the art form in general — we just hope that anyone who does so actually puts some thought into what he or she is saying. A foolish hope, we know, but one to which we fervently cling.
9. WE BELIEVE in Netflix. Having three little kids at home makes regular movie-going difficult. Most of the movies we get to see right now are from Netflix. We don’t just believe in Netflix, we adore Netflix, especially now that we can stream movies from it. They’ve made it easier than ever to catch movies we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
10. WE BELIEVE that there’s no fixed update schedule for the site — as we see movies we want to review or find interesting movie-related things to talk about, we’ll do it. We’re not a breaking news site and we don’t have a staff, so we’ll put stuff up when we can, which will be as frequently as possible, but no guarantees.
11. WE BELIEVE that these beliefs can and will be updated regularly as experience new movies and learn more about the medium’s capabilites and our own tastes and preferences.
12. WE BELIEVE that we don’t care if you don’t believe in any of what we believe in — that’s what makes the conversation interesting.